The use of forced labor is a tool of control, exploitation, and dehumanization. Throughout history, forced labor has been used by governments as a way to dominate people, to deprive people of their freedom, and to use them as mere tools of production. Although forced labor takes many forms around the world, it reaches a level of brutality when it is used as part of a wider system of oppression and genocide. In modern times, there is no clearer example of this than East Turkistan, which Beijing refers to as the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”, where China is using forced labor as the main part of the genocide against the indigenous Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. What may appear on the surface as economic exploitation is, in reality, a systematic attempt to dehumanize and destroy an entire population, physically and mentally. Since 1949, when the PLA invaded East Turkistan, the Uyghurs have been subjected to various forms of forced labor. For example, the word “hashar” is a Uyghur word meaning forced or unpaid labor in fields and roads, still used in East Turkistan.
The systematic colonization and persecution of East Turkestan people increased in 2014 under Xi Jinping’s directives, when China established a large network of prisons and detention camps. In these institutions, millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turks are imprisoned, tortured, indoctrinated and killed. Besides camps and prisons, millions of Uyghurs are forcibly transported to factories inside and outside East Turkistan, where they endure forced labor, adding to the modern system of slavery.
This forced operation of the Uyghurs is not limited to East Turkistan and China—it has international implications. Many global companies contribute to this crime against humanity, as China uses deceptive language such as “reducing poverty through labor transfer” to hide the truth. Both domestic Chinese companies and international brands participate in this abuse. Well-known car manufacturers such as General Motors, Tesla, BYD, Toyota, and Volkswagen are accused of failing to reduce the risk of Uyghur forced labor in their supply chains. Likewise, fashion brands such as H&M and Zara are complicit in the exploitation of Uyghur workers.
In response, the United States enacted the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, effective from 2022, prohibiting the importation of goods produced through forced labor in East Turkistan. However, despite international attention, China continues its cruel practices by moving Uyghur forced laborers out of East Turkistan to Chinese provinces or by placing false labels saying that the goods were produced in Chinese provinces other than East Turkistan.
In China, forced labor is an important tool in killing the Uyghur people. It enables greater political, economic, social and psychological control of the Uyghur people. Politically, China uses cheap Uyghur labor to attract foreign companies, making them complicit in the genocide. By doing so, China has leverage in countries like France, Germany and the United States, where these companies are headquartered, blocking any political or diplomatic action against the genocide. This strategy not only strengthens China’s political power but also allows it to enter foreign countries by partnering with their businesses and governments.
Economically, forced labor is the most beneficial aspect of the Uyghur genocide. As has happened in other genocides, the work of the persecuted group is exploited to benefit the perpetrators and perpetuate the oppression. The Holocaust is a clear example of history. Today, Chinese companies make huge profits from the forced labor of the Uyghurs. Fast fashion companies like Shein and Temu, which are gaining popularity in western markets, owe their low prices to the exploitation of Uyghur forced labor.
The use of forced labor in the Uyghur genocide not only disrupts family structures and destroys social cohesion but also aims to dissolve Uyghur cultural identity by melting the people into a China-centered environment. As Uyghurs were forcibly removed from their communities, traditional support networks weakened, prompting the Chinese government to impose its own ideological framework on Han Chinese. Psychologically, the trauma caused by constant threats of violence, abuse, and indoctrination leads to serious mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD, which fosters a sense of hopelessness and subordination among all people.
Finally, Forced Labor obscures the true extent of the killing of the Uyghur population. By using exploitative policies such as “Poverty Reduction through Labor Transfer,” China creates the impression that it is “improving” the lives of Uyghurs through employment. While this program may not lead to the immediate mass deaths seen in concentration camps and historic massacres, it does facilitate the systematic use of Uyghurs as slaves. In a very perverse way, this policy portrays slavery as a “better” alternative to death, forcing the Uyghurs to feel “thankful” to China for the opportunity to survive slavery.
In this context, forced labor can be understood as a form of “gentle genocide.” The Uyghurs were mentally and physically destroyed, dehumanized, and destroyed through forced labor. As they endure endless, humiliating, and isolating jobs, they find no purpose in their work or in their lives. For some, death seems better than life as a forced laborer. As Fyodor Dostoevsky once said, “Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for being; they are crazy, they are crazy.” Uyghur forced laborers are destroyed from within—they are physically toiled to death.
Currently, the Uyghur population can be divided into three separate but interconnected groups. The first includes those outside the camps and prisons, who live in a way that hides the genocide. This includes politically compliant Uyghurs, including nearly a million Uyghur children separated from their families and subjected to trauma and mental disorders in government-run residential schools and orphanages, and Uyghur officials working for the colonial state. The second group consists of millions of forced laborers separated from their families, working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, and living in factory dormitories, including hundreds of thousands who have been forcibly taken to the provinces of China, toiling to death. A third group is imprisoned in concentration camps and prisons, facing constant torture, forced starvation, organ harvesting, and awaiting their eventual death.
Forced Uyghur labor ultimately serves China’s goal of reducing the financial costs of genocide while accelerating the extermination of the Uyghur population. This trend represents a profound legal and moral shift, reducing the discussion of genocide to one of forced labor—something that is seen around the world. This reduction minimizes the unique horror of the Uyghur genocide, allowing the perpetrators to escape full accountability.
This change also reframes the genocide in terms of racial consciousness and debate, diverting attention from broader, more general discussions about racism. While this may give Western audiences something tangible to focus on, it also allows them to ignore the ongoing destruction of the Uyghur people and the failure of the international community to stop it. For others, it becomes a matter of good signing, which hides a deep indifference to the humanitarian crisis in East Turkistan. Finally, this fact leaves us with the conclusion that, for the Uyghurs, the only way to survive (even a temporary one) would be through forced labor in a world where human life is considered disposable, and the destruction of all people. reduced to a moral dilemma that will soon be forgotten.
Further Studies in E-International Relations
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