This ratification was required by the European Union during a bilateral investment agreement signed at the end of 2020.
The Chinese parliament on Wednesday ratified international conventions prohibiting forced labor, while China is accused of using this form of labor in its predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang (northwest).
Read alsoClaudius Meyer: “China is gripped by a religious fever»
SEE ALSO – War in Ukraine: what is China’s position?
China’s ratification of International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions on forced labor was one of the conditions set by the European Union to ratify a bilateral investment agreement signed at the end of 2020. The Assembly’s Standing Committee National People’s National Assembly (ANP, the Chinese Parliament) has ratified the 1930 Convention on Forced Labor and the 1957 Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labor, Parliament announced after a three-day session.
This ratification comes at a time when a committee of experts from the ILO expressed last February its “deep concernin the face of the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in China, particularly in Xinjiang. According to human rights organisations, at least a million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim ethnicities are or have been incarcerated in camps in this region of northwest China.
Read alsoUyghurs: new “Xinjiang papers” confirm Xi Jinping’s role in the crackdown
Beijing says they are vocational training centers meant to steer them away from terrorism and separatism. The subject is of concern to the international community. Thus, a law prohibiting the purchase of products that would be made from the forced labor of Uyghurs in China came into force in December 2021 in the United States, which accuses China of genocide against this minority. Beijing vigorously rejects this accusation, which has forced some multinationals to pledge not to supply to Xinjiang. Last year, Swedish clothing giant H&M faced a boycott of its stores in China after pledging not to buy cotton from Xinjiang.
Mutual Sanctions Linked to Xinjiang
The controversy prompted the Europeans to mention the issue of forced labor in the investment protection agreement they reached with Beijing on December 31, 2020. In this text, supposed to protect European investments in China, Beijing committed “to work towards the ratification of the fundamental conventions of the ILO, including those (prohibiting) forced labor“, had then indicated Brussels. Ratification of the agreement has since stalled, following mutual sanctions taken last year by Europe and China over the Xinjiang issue.
In March 2021, the European Union along with the United States and Canada sanctioned four leaders and one entity from this Chinese region. In response, Beijing had retaliated with sanctions against a dozen European personalities, including five elected members of the European Parliament, accused “to spread lies“. The ratification of ILO conventions comes as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, will travel to China next month for a long-awaited visit. Michelle Bachelet has been asking Beijing for years for a “meaningful and unimpeded accessin Xinjiang, where she is also expected to visit during her trip to China.
PODCAST – In politics as in life, saying is doing? The Philo Moment, by Aziliz Le Corre
Listen and subscribe on your favorite audio platform