China Could Soon Ratify Forced Labor Conventions in Effort to Assuage EU’s Xinjiang Fears
20:15 GMT 11.04.2022 (Updated: 17:14 GMT 12.04.2023)
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Chinese lawmakers on Monday prepared to consider ratification of several international agreements on forced labor that have stood in the way of implementing an investment deal with the European Union.
On Monday, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, a body that meets in lieu of a full session of the full legislative body, included in its agenda for next week’s session reviewing ratification of the 1930 Forced Labor Convention and the 1957 Abolition of Forced Labor Convention, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The two conventions ban most forms of compulsory labor, with the 1957 agreement amending the 1930 convention by barring forced labor as punishment for strikes and for holding certain political views. They are part of the UN-affiliated International Labor Organization’s (ILO) eight core conventions, which also include abolition of child labor and protection for the right of workers to collectively bargain with their employer.
All but a handful of states have ratified the two conventions the NPC is taking up on Tuesday. China’s absence from either agreement has raised objections in the European Union, which paused ratification of the massive Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) with China last year.
“I take the concerns of some MEPs seriously, and talk to them frankly,” Zhang Ming, China’s ambassador to the EU, told the European Policy Center in March 2021, just weeks before the CAI was paused.
“Some MEPs care about the ratification of ILO conventions on forced labor. I said that China has sound institutions for labor rights protection. The Labor Law prohibits any format of forced labor. China will fulfill its commitments in the CAI, including making sustained and continuous efforts toward ratification of the relevant ILO conventions. I also expressed the wish that the EU honors its commitments, as well,” she added.
The European Parliament (EP) froze ratification of the CAI in May 2021 after Beijing sanctioned 10 EU politicians, as well as think tanks and diplomatic entities, in response to sanctions imposed against China by the US, EU, UK, and Canada over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. EU lawmakers said that China must lift the sanctions if it wants the CAI to be ratified, but so far, Beijing has not backed down on what it considers to be an internal matter.
In a February phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would push a positive agenda in the EU on its relations with China and would champion ratification of the CAI.
US-backed human rights groups have accused Beijing of subjecting millions of Muslim Uyghurs in its western Xinjiang Autonomous Region to forced labor, brainwashing and genocide, and several Western governments have issued sanctions over the claims. However, their claims rest on little evidence and many have been proven to be totally fraudulent.
Beijing denies that a genocide is taking place in Xinjiang. The ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) also denies accusations that it forcibly sterilizes Uyghur women or restricts Uyghur culture and the practice of Islam, saying that its rehabilitation and training programs for former extremists are voluntary and in line with guidelines contained within the United Nations Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. The CPC additionally asserts that Uyghurs have been voluntarily enrolled in vocational training centers as part of a deradicalization program aimed at eliminating support for groups like the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a separatist terrorist group aligned with al-Qaeda*.
Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet announced that an agreement for her to visit Xinjiang had been reached and she would make the trip in May, along with other parts of China.
*A terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries
