Dhaka, Feb 3 (NationPress) For years, Beijing’s spokespeople have dismissed accounts from minority groups in China, including Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tibetan survivors as mere fabrications, mischaracterized satellite imagery as misinterpretations, and characterized leaked documents as forgeries, deriding the evidence as ‘Western propaganda’.

This argument has now crumbled, as the United Nations—once cited by them as the ultimate neutral arbiter—has confirmed the harsh reality: “China’s labour transfer system operates through coercion on a massive scale,” a report indicated on Tuesday.

The report from the online magazine ‘Bitter Winter’ states that UN experts have identified “a persistent pattern of alleged State-imposed forced labour involving ethnic minorities across multiple provinces in China,” warning that “in many cases, the coercive elements are so severe that they may amount to forcible transfer and/or enslavement as a crime against humanity.”

The findings from the experts effectively indict the world’s second-largest economy through significant human rights mechanisms.

The report asserts, “Forced labour in China’s minority regions is not a myth, not a geopolitical talking point, not an American fabrication. It is a documented reality. Those who previously dismissed it must now confront the truth confirmed by the institution they relied on to ascertain reality, which aligns with what survivors, researchers, and journalists have been reporting all along.”

Last month, UN experts conveyed grave concern regarding ongoing allegations of forced labour impacting Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz minority groups, and Tibetans within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and other areas in China.

“There is a persistent pattern of alleged State-imposed forced labour involving ethnic minorities across multiple provinces in China. In many cases, the coercive elements are so severe that they may amount to forcible transfer and/or enslavement as a crime against humanity,” the experts noted.

According to the experts, forced labour in China is perpetuated through the government-mandated “poverty alleviation through labour transfer” initiative, coercing Uyghurs and other minority groups into employment in Xinjiang and other regions.

They are reportedly subjected to systematic monitoring, surveillance, and exploitation, with no option to refuse or change their work due to an overwhelming fear of punishment and arbitrary detention.

The experts pointed out that Xinjiang’s five-year plan (2021 to 2025) anticipates 13.75 million instances of labour transfers, with current figures reaching unprecedented levels.

“The labour transfers are part of a governmental strategy to forcibly reshape the cultural identities of Uyghurs, other minorities, and Tibetans under the guise of poverty alleviation,” they cautioned.