Leading brands are scrambling to ensure their global supply chains do not go through Xinjiang — but it's harder than it sounds.
Uighur women work in a cloth factory in Hotan county, Xinjiang province, China. Credit: Azamat Imanaliev, Shutterstock
Last March, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a prominent think tank, released a report documenting the Chinese government’s effort to force the Uighur population and other ethnic minorities to work against their will in factories across the country. Separated from their families, confined to factory compounds and under round-the-clock surveillance, the predominantly Muslim workers were compelled, according to the report, to produce goods for dozens of international brands, such as Apple, Nike, Patagonia and Ralph Lauren.
Human rights groups and labor rights advocates quickly condemned the alleged abuses. And in July, the Trump administration said that it would impose economic sanctions on 11 Chinese companies linked to human rights abuses and forced labor practices involving the Uighurs. Last Friday, the U.S. government imposed an additional set of sanctions, targeting Chinese officials with oversight of the programs and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Co
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