New information has come to light about how the forced labor system implemented by the Chinese government in Uyghur camps is being implemented. After first publishing his report on forced labor in the camps in 2019, Dr. Adrian Zenz, a researcher at the Victims of Communism Memorial Fund in the United States, recently published an updated report on the issue based on new information, new testimonies and satellite images. .
Dr. Adrian Zenz tells us that the report details the process of forced labor in camps in Uyghur. He said:
“In mid-2019, I published my first report exposing the forced labor system. But since I have focused more on labor migration policies, there has been no exploration of the forced labor system within the camps. So I re-analyzed the system with new evidence."
Adrian Zenz's report reflects on the innovation of the "educational" system of "transformation by labor" created and implemented by Mao Zedong, the founder of the Chinese Communist Party, which was linked to forced labor camps in Uyghur. He said that in the forced labor system, prisoners were kidnapped and subjected to severe labor in forced labor camps, which led to allegations of inefficient rehabilitation and labor in the system. However, the Chinese government has reformed the labor exchange system for the Uighurs, separating retraining and forced labor. He says: "Under this system implemented in Xinjiang, the Uyghurs imprisoned in the camps were first subjected to very oppressive and harsh manual re-education. In this, reconstruction was the main focus. After this stage was completed, those who were considered to be performing well were taken to work for half a day under the supervision of the police in the factories built inside or near the camp. In the end, these captives left the camp and became full-time forced laborers in factories.
According to Adrian Zenz, "the forced labor system attached to the camps under the name of "Vocational Skill Training Center" in Xinjiang can be said to be a developed version of the "labor conversion system". He said the factories built in and around the camps were mostly privately owned or operated entirely independently, and the efficiency of these factories was much higher than that of state-owned factories and/or former labor conversion camps. Adrian Zenz says:
“It can be seen that exploitation is facilitated and long-term is determined. "Because these people work in private companies, even if the camps are closed, they will continue to do forced labor in these factories."
According to Adrian Zenz's report, based on a new witness, all women in the camps, aged between 18 and over 60, were forced to work in multi-storey garment factories where prisoners worked day and night shifts. Due to the lack of air conditioning in the factories, there are cases of suffocation. In addition, the female witness also said that since the time of going to the toilet is fixed, they are also restricted from drinking water, those who cannot fill the quota are made to work overtime, and those who are unconscious are treated rudely.
According to Adrian Zenz, vocational training and forced labor factories were gradually standardized and common in camps throughout the Uyghur region. At that time, it was described as the "New Southern Xinjiang Vocational Training Center Model". Adrian Zenz says:
"An instruction document from the Texas County Public Security Bureau disclosed in the ``Xinjiang Police Documents'' sets out some requirements for vocational training in the camps. It mentions that there should be a vocational training facility in the camp to attract private companies. "Another document we seized mentions that companies that want to build factories in and around the camp will receive state aid."
According to the report, the Texas County Public Safety Bureau issued the document as a "work measure" to local "vocational retraining centers" in 2018 to address "deficiencies" in camp work.
Dr. Adrian Zenz said that the Uyghur forced laborers who have left the camp and are working full-time in the factories are not allowed to freely move and get any job. Even if some of them are allowed to return to their homes, they are not free from police surveillance and control. He concluded his report: "This so-called vocational training system for Uyghurs, by separating 'camp' and 'labour', has the effect of making them harder workers, but on the other hand, it is a sustainable platform for the forced assimilation of Uyghurs into mainstream society under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. "It's possible," he warned.
Dr. Adrian Zenz's new report was published in The China Journal, a prestigious biannual scientific journal, and attracted strong attention.
Myanmar : In each of the Irrawaddy districts, they are forcing people to attend militia training
Residents of Pathein and some townships in Erati said that in some townships in Irrawaddy, including Pathein and Mawlam Mying Gyun, three to six people per village must register for militia training, and they are being pressured to attend mandatory training.
Locals said that some villages in Pathein Township also charge a rate of six per village to attend militia training, and for a group of six villages, a mandatory list of thirty people is required.
He said that the militia training is being conducted by the military council's Khlara (271) battalion in Pathein at the Southwest Regional Military Headquarters.
A resident of Pathein, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told RFA that there is no age limit for the course.
"In the Irrawaddy, they don't have an age limit for the militia. As for the young adults, there is no age limit. They organize as they can. They give training as a militia."
It is said that there are some who are forced to attend the course because they are being pressured by the village administrators to attend the course.
In the past, training was conducted for two weeks at the battalions and military headquarters, but some of them did not want to attend the training after registering and fled and went into hiding, so now the soldiers of the military council have been going down to the villages themselves and giving training, the locals said.
In a village in Mawlam Myain Gyun Township, whose name is not disclosed due to security reasons, three youths aged 18 and under 18 have been recruited for militia training this week.
A resident of Mawlamyine Island, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told RFA that recruiting minors for military training is against international law.
"As for the children who have not yet reached the age of majority, this is also an international law. Those who have not yet reached the age of entering the war are young soldiers. We must not do that. We should not do it."
Pathein residents said that some of those who attended the two-week militia training were sent back to their villages to act as guards at the villages' security gates, but others were not sent back home.
He said that in September, at least 80 local people from Ngaputaw Township as well as Khao Tha and Nga Sang were recruited to attend militia training.
RFA has not been able to independently confirm the locals' statements.
RFA contacted General Zaw Min Tun, who was authorized to speak at the Military Council, to get feedback on the fact that he was being pressured to attend militia training, but he did not receive an answer.
In addition, although RFA contacted Social Affairs Minister U Maung Maung Than, acting spokesperson of the Military Council, he did not receive an answer.
Very disappointing.
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