3 episodes
Follow This Thread: Made in Xinjiang? CSIS
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- Government
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region lies in far Western China and is of strategic importance. The Belt and Road Initiative runs through it, and the Chinese government is pouring millions of dollars into the area for both development and security. However, the government is violating the rights of millions of Uyghurs and other ethnic groups who call Xinjiang home. Ubiquitous surveillance, thousands of extrajudicial detention facilities, and large-scale forced labor are just some of the tactics the government is using in an effort to stamp out dissent and secure the region. Xinjiang presents one of the direst human rights situations in the world, but how can multilateral institutions, governments, companies, and we as consumers start to shift such practices? It’s a thorny question with no single answer. Amy Lehr, Director and Senior Fellow of the CSIS Human Rights Initiative, will take us through past case studies and policy options to point to potential ways forward.
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Who Are the Uyghurs?
To discuss potential solutions for Uyghur persecution in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, we first need to examine just who the Uyghur people are and the dire human rights situation that they face. Nury Turkel and Adrian Zenz take Amy to the cotton fields, labor camps, and workshops of China as they answer the important questions of how and why. How is the Chinese government surveilling and oppressing the Uyghur people, and why are they doing so?
Nury Turkel is a Commissioner to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). He founded the Uyghur Human Rights Project. In September 2020, Turkel was named one of the TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Adrian Zenz is a Cambridge-educated academic who lectures at a European theological institution and is a senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. -
Government-Imposed Forced Labor is, Alas, Nothing New
This episode examines other examples of government-imposed forced labor, beyond Xinjiang. We speak to Bennett Freeman, an expert on business and human rights and a former US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary, about the coalition that has made great strides in addressing government-imposed forced labor in Uzbekistan. We talk to Bennett as well as Penelope Kyritsis of the Workers Rights Consortium to better understand whether the tools used to make progress in Uzbekistan can be translated to the Xinjiang context.
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Down the Rabbit Hole of Global Supply Chains
This last miniseries episode dives into the complexities of global supply chains and the huge challenges involved in tracing cotton from the field to the clothing we wear. We speak to Patricia Jurewicz, founder and Vice President of the Responsible Sourcing Network and on the advisory committee of the Cotton Campaign about the supply chain and innovative approaches to traceability. With Sharon Waxman, we discuss other models for supply chain traceability as well as policy prescriptions to address the crisis in Xinjiang. Sharon is President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association, and previously served in senior roles at the US State Department and the International Rescue Committee.
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