A train of agricultural products from Urumqi to Salerno. Uyghur NGOs: fruit of slave labour
A journey of 10,000 kilometres extolled by Beijing as an opportunity for development (and revenge on Italy's exit from the Belt and Road Initiative). But cotton and tomatoes from Xinjang are at the heart of the ‘policy of poverty alleviation through the transfer of labour’, which according to numerous reports is a form of forced labour.
Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) - A train loaded with agricultural products set off from Urumqi, in the troubled Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang, and destined after a 10,000-kilometre journey by rail and sea to reach Salerno, Italy.
The new flagship voyage of the China-Europe Railway Express left China on 29 April, with extensive media coverage by the official press in Beijing, which extolled its benefits for the Xinjiang economy.
In addition to relaunching the ‘potential’ of that Belt and Road Initiative - Xi Jinping's new ‘Silk Road’ - from whose agreements even the Italian government last year allegedly withdrew, cancelling the memorandum signed by Rome and Beijing in 2019 but without closing to other forms of trade cooperation.
Remaining in the background, however, is the issue of respect for human rights in Xinjiang, a region where abuses against Uyghurs often also take the form of forced labour used in agriculture.
This is highlighted by a public stance launched in the last few hours by three of the most active groups on safeguarding the rights of the Muslim population of Xinjiang: Uyghur Human Rights Project, Uyghur American Association and Safeguard Defenders.
Together they wrote an open letter to the Italian ambassador in Washington, Mariangela Zappia, expressing concern about the initiative and calling for a thorough investigation into the origin of the products transported on that train.
‘The modern slavery of the Uyghur people and the ongoing crimes against humanity,’ the document reads, ‘have been widely documented by international organisations, independent media and government bodies.
The use of forced labour in any form violates fundamental human rights principles, including the right to freedom from slavery and forced labour, as enshrined in various international conventions and treaties to which Italy is a party’.
The China-Europe Railway Express initiative is also relevant because of the weight of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's agricultural production: it grows 85 per cent of the country's cotton, over 70 per cent of its tomatoes (producing up to 90 per cent of tomato paste for export), 50 per cent of its nuts and 28 per cent of its grapes. There are also significant crops of wheat, maize and other cereals in the region.
‘Significant evidence,’ write the Uyghur Human Rights Project, Uyghur American Association and Safeguard Defenders, citing specific reports on agriculture in Xinjiang, ‘reveals that labour transfers in the Uyghur region take place in a context of unprecedented coercion, with the constant threat of re-education and internment.
Many indigenous workers are unable to refuse or voluntarily leave agricultural work, and thus the programmes amount to forced population transfer, forced labour, human trafficking and enslavement’.
One of the faces of this exploitation today is also what Beijing calls the ‘policy of poverty alleviation through labour transfer’ (转移就业脱贫). Concretely: thousands of people are trained and transferred to seasonal agricultural work, such as picking cotton or tomatoes.
As part of Xi Jinping's broader programme for targeted poverty reduction, it is a system tailor-made for pervasively coercive social contexts characterised by a lack of civic freedoms, such as that of Xinjiang.
‘As a member of the international community,’ Uyghur Human Rights Project, Uyghur American Association and Safeguard Defenders conclude their appeal, ‘Italy has a responsibility to ensure that its trade practices are in line with its commitment to human rights and ethical standards.
Allowing goods produced through forced labour to enter its borders not only condones these serious human rights violations, but also undermines the credibility of Italy's position on the promotion and enforcement of human rights. We urge the Italian government to take immediate action to investigate the origin of the goods arriving in Salerno and to put in place measures to prevent the importation of products obtained through forced labour’.
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