(TibetanReview.net, Feb14’25) – The United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) has on Feb 10 said authorities in China are not only using what it calls “vocational skills training and education centers” for forced labor in East Turkestan (Xinjiang) and Tibet, but also to make large-scale transfer of so-called “surplus” rural workers to exploitative state-led labor programs across the country.
The report details how Chinese authorities have intensified efforts to supposedly “investigate and monitor” poverty levels, setting higher targets for cross-provincial labor transfers, while pressuring ethnic smallholder farmers to cede their land to large state-led cooperatives, reported the voanews.com Feb 13.
In the name of “liberating” rural workers, China has used this process to force tens of thousands of Uyghurs, Tibetans and other ethnic minorities in East Turkestan and Tibet into industries such as solar panel production, battery manufacturing, seasonal agriculture and seafood processing under what the report has found to be coercive conditions.
The ILO report has found that in the case of Tibet, “these policies would apply coercive methods such as military-style vocational training methods and the involvement of political cadres to have Tibetan nomads and farmers swap their traditional livelihoods for jobs providing measurable cash income in industries such as road construction, mining, or food processing, thereby diluting ‘the negative influence of religion’,” the report said.
The report cited the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) as estimating that labor transfers in Tibet had increased significantly, affecting as many as 630,000 workers in 2024. Incentives for local labor brokers and companies were stated to have contributed to this rise, reinforcing concerns that Tibetans are being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands and cultural traditions.
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The voanews.com report noted that in recent years, human rights organizations, government bodies and UN agencies had repeatedly called for accountability and transparency regarding labor conditions in East Turkestan and Tibet, urging countries and international companies to reassess their ties to supply chains linked to these regions.
The ILO report has noted that while China has maintained that its policies are aimed at poverty alleviation and economic development, its own findings reinforce concerns that these initiatives are mechanisms of repression and control.
The ILO Committee of Experts has formally requested China to provide detailed explanations and clarify the measures it has taken to address these allegations. Their report concludes by urging Beijing to amend national and regional policies to ensure that ethnic and religious minorities are not subjected to forced labor under the guise of employment and deradicalization programs.
However, China has rejected the report in an off-handed manner. Liu Pengyu, spokesperson at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, has called it “baseless” and labeled the information as “false,” aimed at attempting to “deceive the international community and disrupt the stable development” of East Turkestan and Tibet.
“Some forces keep spreading lies that there are ‘forced labor’ in Xinjiang and Xizang. The aim is only to smear China’s image, denigrate the Chinese government’s policies governing Xinjiang and Xizang, interfere in China’s internal affairs, and attempt to deceive the international community and disrupt the stable development of Xinjiang and Xizang,” Liu told VOA, using China’s Sinicized name for Tibet.