Strengthening the international response to alleged Xinjiang forced labour
Funder: UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Duration: September 2021-March 2022
Project Lead: James Cockayne
Programme: Law and Policy
About the project
Making Xinjiang Sanctions Work
Can economic sanctions address Xinjiang forced labour? The Xinjiang Sanctions research project seeks to answer this question, through 3 original datasets containing over 12,000 data points, confidential interviews, and more than a year of research leading to a major research report and 10 Policy Briefs.
Multiple independent reports suggest that as many as one million people from Uyghur, Kazakh and other ethnic minorities have been arbitrarily detained in China’s Xinjiang province in the last five years. Many of these people are allegedly forced to work – both in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China – on worksites supplying goods to global markets, notably in the cotton, tomato and solar panel supply-chains.
In response, countries have begun adopting import bans, targeted sanctions and other economic coercive measures – binding instruments intended to cause the target some harm or economic loss with the purpose of inducing a change in policy or practices. The Chinese government has adopted its own counter-measures, sanctioning actors in more than a dozen countries, and adopting new regulatory frameworks to discourage cooperation with foreign measures targeting alleged forced labour in Xinjiang.
Our project provided analysis of these measures and their impacts. The project collated and published data on these measures, and analysis covering:
Insights from sanctions theory regarding the actual and potential impact of these measures;
understanding where Xinjiang production fits in global trade in cotton, tomatoes and solar energy and the likely market dynamics of these measures;
Chinese counter-measures and their impacts;
recommendations for strengthening the preventive impact of responses
Full report, Making Xinjiang Sanctions Work
All policy briefs:
Individual policy briefs:
1. Xinjiang forced labour
2. The XPCC
3. Legal considerations
4. Western sanctions
5. Chinese countermeasures
6. Corporate responses
7. Cotton
8. Tomatoes
9. Solar
10. Strengthening Xinjiang sanctions
Complete Policy Brief Series (one document)
Datasets:
Government Measures
The Xinjiang Sanctions Government Measures (XJS-GMS) dataset includes over 300 measures proposed or adopted by official government bodies in response to alleged forced labour in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
This is version 4 of the dataset (March 2022).
Corporate Responses
The Xinjiang Sanctions Corporate Responses (XJS-CRS) dataset collates open source information regarding more than 250 corporate responses to alleged forced labour in XUAR. It is important to note that some companies taking steps in response to such allegations may not publicize them, out of concern for worker and stakeholder safety or for other legitimate reasons.
This is version 1.1 of the dataset (July 2022).
Chinese Counter Measures
The Xinjiang Sanctions Chinese Counter-Measures (XJS-CCM) dataset includes counter-measures proposed or adopted by the People’s Republic of China in reaction to measures covered in the XJS-GMS dataset.
This is version 4 of the dataset (February 2022).
To learn more about how these datasets are compiled, download the Datasets Coding Manual
Podcasts
In this short podcast series, Professor James Cockayne speaks with several global experts on Xinjiang forced labour and global efforts to address it. They consider how and why millions of Uyghur and minority citizens in Xinjiang have been forced to work and the import bans and other sanctions imposed by Western governments in response. What does this mean for business with China? And will these sanctions work to address forced labour? Tune in to find out.
Xinjiang Sanctions Episode 1 - Zumretay Arkin and Jewher Ilham
Xinjiang Sanctions Episode 2 - Adrian Zenz
Xinjiang Sanctions Episode 3 - Anasuya Syam
Xinjiang Sanctions Episode 4 - Chloe Cranston
Download our report:
Briefing on responding to Alleged Forced Labour in Xinjiang: Findings from a Database Version 2.0
Briefing on Responding to Alleged Forced Labour in Xinjiang:Findings from a New Database of Country Responses
Briefing on Strengthening International Response to Alleged Xinjiang Forced Labour: An Overview
Making Xinjiang Sanctions Work - Complete Policy Brief series
Making Xinjiang Sanctions Work - Final Report