GENEVA—The United States, Britain, and other countries on Thursday called for the International Labor Organization (ILO) to set up a mission to probe alleged labor abuses in China’s Xinjiang and urged Beijing to allow unfettered access.
A committee at the U.N. agency is addressing the Chinese regime’s compliance with global labor standards after describing its practices in the western region of Xinjiang as discriminatory in February, ILO documents showed.
Thursday’s meeting comes just days after the end of a trip by U.N. High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to Xinjiang that has been widely criticized by both civil society and U.N. member states including the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in March that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity” against mostly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
A so-called tripartite mission, if accepted by the ILO committee, could shine a light on allegations that Uyghurs have been unlawfully detained, mistreated, and forced to work.
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Sheba Crocker called for the CCP to accept the mission to investigate what she described as “systemic violations of labor and human rights.”
Britain’s envoy asked for the trip to be conducted before the next major ILO conference in 2023. Australia, Canada, and the European Union also voiced support.
Through a series of virtual interventions, the Chinese regime argued that its laws, regulations, and practices are fully in line with the principles of a Convention on Discrimination it has ratified.
The CCP in April approved the ratification of two conventions on forced labor but they have not yet submitted the full documentation needed to take effect. This can frequently take weeks or months, an ILO official told Reuters.
Instead, the prospective ILO mission would evaluate the CCP’s practices on the basis of conventions that the regime has ratified.
Thursday’s committee, made up of government, employer, and workers’ delegates, is set to make a decision next week on whether to accept the mission request.
Sending a tripartite mission to China could be a first step towards further action.
As well as a tripartite mission, ILO members also have the option to seek a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to go to China, which would have even more investigative powers.
This requires a formal complaint. Some 35 such complaints have been filed in the ILO’s more than 100-year history, of which less than half have led to COI missions, the ILO official said. In only one case were sanctions applied, against Burma (also known as Myanmar) in 1998.
China has been a member of the Geneva-based ILO since 1919 and has ratified many of its legally binding conventions.
