a bbc investigation has found evidence
that china's policy
of transferring hundreds of thousands of
uyghurs and other ethnic minorities
from northwest xinjiang to factory jobs
often far from home
is being used as a method of uprooting
and assimilating
the population it's also uncovered
possible connections between these
workers
and some major international brands
china says that transferring workers
away from the region is a way of
tackling
rural poverty and unemployment our china
correspondent john sudworth has this
report
at this factory the uyga workers are
clearly visible
more than 2 000 miles from home
brought all the way to central china by
a massive
relocation scheme
now the bbc has found compelling
evidence of how it works
in this xinjiang village the authorities
need a hundred people to send to jobs
on the other side of the country they
set up a stall
but this 2017 state media report shows
no one's interested
the bbc has new evidence that this
separation from family and culture
is in part at least precisely the point
a chinese study produced for senior
officials says labor transfers help
assimilate uiga minorities
transform their thinking and reduce
uighur population density
the study was posted online in error
some of xinjiang's mainly muslim
minorities are sent
first to the giant re-education camps
where china says it's fighting extremism
then to the factories
very few have managed to leave china
after their release
there were 200 workers in the factory we
sold
children's clothes and we are obliged to
sing the chinese national anthem they
said
the faster you work the faster we'll let
you go
but most of those transferred to work
have not been in the camps
and are sent direct from poor villages
the study also outlines how they are
transported in groups
accompanied by security guards and put
through political indoctrination
this is just an unprecedented
authoritative source
written by really leading academics and
former government officials with
unprecedented high-level access in
xinjiang itself
that drives home the implications of
what is going on here there are higher
goals of manipulating
population density and demographics that
in my opinion are very concerning and
they really point us
towards crimes against humanity
we found products that may contain yarn
from this company on sale on amazon in
the uk
the factory says it no longer employs
wigas and amazon told us it doesn't
tolerate forced labor
and this factory makes plastic moldings
for some major
international brands so we've spoken
to one worker here who has confirmed
that
as many as a few hundred uyghurs are
employed in this factory but unlike
the chinese staff they are unable to
leave the factory premises
in a statement the chinese government
said the study seen by the bbc
reflects only the author's personal view
and much of its contents
are not in line with the facts but in
large part it echoes government thinking
some uyghurs it concludes are unwilling
to leave their homes
a problem that should be tackled with
strong guidance
and persistent measures john sudworth
bbc news
beijing