China ratifies international conventions on forced labor
A detention center located in Xinjiang, China (illustrative image).
© AP/Mark Schiefelbein
Text by: RFI Follow
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China on Wednesday ratified international conventions prohibiting forced labor.
This ratification comes as the Chinese regime is accused of using forced labor in its Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang.
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The standing committee of the National People's Congress (ANP, China's parliament) has ratified the 1930 Convention on Forced Labor and the 1957 Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labor, parliament announced after a session of three days.
This ratification comes as a committee of experts from the ILO expressed last February its “
deep concern
” about
the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities
in China, particularly in Xinjiang.
Pressure from the international community has mounted against Beijing over the treatment of Uyghurs in the region.
According to human rights organizations, at least a million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim ethnicities are or have been incarcerated in "re-education camps" in this region of northwestern China.
A condition set by the EU
Beijing says they are vocational training centers meant to steer them away from terrorism and separatism.
A law prohibiting the purchase of products that would be made from the forced labor of Uyghurs came into force last December in the United States.
Some ready-to-wear multinationals have also pledged not to source from Xinjiang.
China's ratification of forced labor conventions was also one of the conditions set by the European Union to ratify a bilateral investment agreement signed at the end of 2020. The UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet
is expected to visit Xinjiang next month on a long-planned trip to China.
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