The use of forced labor is a tool of control, exploitation and dehumanization. Throughout history, forced labor has been deployed by regimes as a way to subjugate populations, deprive them of their individual freedoms, and use them as mere tools of production. Forced labor exists in many forms around the world, but reaches particularly brutal levels when used as part of a broader system of oppression and genocide. In modern times, no clearer example of this exists than East Turkestan, which China calls the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” Here, China uses forced labor as a key element of genocide against indigenous Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. What on the surface may appear to be economic exploitation is in fact a systematic effort to dehumanize and destroy entire populations, both physically and mentally. Since the People’s Liberation Army invaded East Turkestan in 1949, Uighurs have been subjected to various forms of forced labor. For example, “hashar” is a Uyghur term for forced and unpaid labor in fields and roads, and is still used in East Turkestan.
Systematic colonization and persecution of East Turkestan’s peoples intensified under Xi Jinping’s orders in 2014, when China established an extensive network of prisons and detention centers. In these facilities, millions of Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Turkic people are imprisoned and tortured, brainwashed and exterminated. Outside the camps and prisons, millions of Uyghurs are forced into factories in and around East Turkistan, enduring forced labor and creating modern-day slavery.
This system of Uyghur forced labor is not limited to East Turkistan and China and has international implications. Many global companies are complicit in these crimes against humanity, and China is using the deceptive language of poverty alleviation through labor transfer to conceal the reality. Both domestic Chinese companies and multinational brands are participating in these abuses. Prominent automakers, including General Motors, Tesla, BYD, Toyota, and Volkswagen, have been implicated for failing to minimize the risk of Uyghur forced labor being used in their supply chains. Similarly, fashion brands such as H&M and Zara have also been implicated in the exploitation of Uyghur labor.
Accordingly, the United States enacted the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which will take effect in 2022, banning the import of goods produced through forced labor in East Turkistan. However, despite international attention, China continues inhumane practices, including relocating forced Uyghur workers from East Turkestan to Chinese provinces and falsely labeling products as being produced in Chinese provinces rather than East Turkestan.
For China, forced labor is an essential tool in carrying out the genocide of the Uighurs. This will allow for greater control over the Uyghur population politically, economically, socially, and psychologically. Politically, China is using cheap forced Uyghur labor to attract foreign companies, implicating them in genocide. This allows China to exert influence in countries where these companies are headquartered, such as France, Germany, and the United States, to suppress political and diplomatic action against the genocide. This strategy not only strengthens China’s political power, but also allows it to penetrate foreign countries by absorbing Chinese companies and governments.
Economically, forced labor is a profitable aspect of the Uyghur genocide. As in other genocides, the labor of persecuted groups is exploited to benefit the perpetrators and further perpetuate oppression. The Holocaust is an obvious historical parallel. Today, Chinese companies profit enormously from the forced labor of Uyghurs. Fast fashion companies such as Shein and Temu, which are popular in Western markets, have made their prices cheaper by exploiting forced Uyghur labor.
The use of forced labor in the genocide of the Uyghurs not only aims to destroy family structures and weaken social cohesion, but also to dissolve Uyghur cultural identity by dissolving individuals into a Sino-centric environment. As Uyghurs are forcibly removed from their communities, their traditional support networks are weakened, making it easier for the Chinese government to impose a Han Chinese ideological framework. Psychologically, trauma caused by the constant threat of violence, exploitation, and brainwashing can lead to serious mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD, creating a sense of hopelessness and conformity among the entire population.
Finally, forced labor obscures the true scale of the Uyghur genocide. By implementing exploitative policies such as ‘poverty alleviation through labor transfer’, China is promoting the illusion that it is ‘improving’ the lives of Uyghurs through employment. Although this system may not result in the immediate genocide seen in concentration camps or historical genocides, it nonetheless facilitates the systematic use of Uyghurs as slaves. In a very perverse way, this policy presents slavery as a “better” alternative to death, making Uighurs “grateful” to China for giving them the opportunity to survive through slavery.
In this context, forced labor can be understood as a form of ‘soft genocide’. Uighurs are being psychologically and physically degraded, dehumanized, and destroyed through forced labor. As they endure endless humiliating and alienating work, they find no meaning in their labor and life. For some people, death seems preferable to a life of forced labor. As Fyodor Dostoevsky said, “Without meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existing. They go completely crazy.” Uyghur forced workers are being destroyed from within, physically toiling until they die.
The current Uyghur population can be divided into three different but interconnected groups. The first includes people outside camps and prisons who live in ways that obscure genocide. This includes nearly a million Uyghur children who are separated from their families and subjected to trauma and brainwashing in state-run boarding schools and orphanages, as well as politically compliant Uyghurs, including Uyghur officials working for the colonial regime. The second group consists of millions of forced workers separated from their families, working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week and living in factory dormitories, hundreds of thousands of whom have been forcibly relocated to rural China to slowly work to death. The third group awaits ultimate death in concentration camps and prisons, facing constant torture, forced starvation, and organ harvesting.
Uyghur forced labor ultimately serves China’s goal of accelerating the eradication of the Uyghur people while minimizing the financial costs of genocide. These practices represent a significant legal and moral shift that reduces the discussion of genocide to one of forced labor. This is a phenomenon seen around the world. This reduction has diminished the unique horror of the Uyghur genocide and allowed the perpetrators to escape full accountability.
This shift also reframes genocide in terms of racial consciousness and debate, turning attention to broader, more familiar discussions of racism. While this may give Western audiences something concrete to focus on, it also allows them to ignore the ongoing destruction of the Uyghur people and the failure of the international community to stop it. For some, it is a matter of virtue signaling that conceals a deeper disregard for the humanitarian crisis in East Turkistan. Ultimately, this reality leads to the conclusion that forced labor may be the only way for Uyghurs to survive (even temporarily) in a world where human life is treated as disposable and entire peoples are destroyed. It degenerates into a moral dilemma that will soon be forgotten.
Additional Resources on E-International Relations
