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On June 11, 2o25, a non-governmental organization, Global Rights Compliance, published findings of their investigation into the issue of Western companies linked to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) critical minerals industry in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The report examined titanium, lithium, beryllium, and magnesium supply chains in particular, analysing PRC policy documents, government shipping records, in addition to academic articles, and other documents. As the report indicates, “China’s critical minerals sector is the latest industry to face scrutiny over alleged links to forced labour by Western companies, following the BBC’s damning report on tomato purée supply chains at the end of 2024 and also a recent report by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism focusing on the use of Uyghur state-imposed forced labour in China’s economy.”
The alleged Uyghur forced labor concerns the dire situation of the Uyghur community in the region. The ethno-religious minority community is said to have been subjected to forced incarceration in camps, followed by their forced labor across factories in the region. In 2021, the U.S. State Department determined the atrocities to amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. The research of the Global Rights Compliance revealed the coercive and abusive nature of forced labor transfers Uyghurs endure, but also loss of income, harassment, violence or detention. The UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery identified the XUAR’s labor transfer system as a state-mandated form of forced labor, which in some instances “may amount to enslavement as a crime against humanity.”
The use of Uyghur forced labor in the supply chain is not a new allegation. However, the report produced by the Global Rights Compliance is the first investigation to examine Western links to forced labor in the critical minerals sector in the PRC’s Uyghur Region. China’s critical minerals are essential for the components, infrastructure, and advancement of modern economies, technologies, and national security. The global economy relies on a stable and sufficient supply of minerals and metals. According to U.S. government data, in 2024, the PRC was the leading producing country for 30 of 44 critical minerals.
According to the findings of the Global Rights Compliance, 77 critical minerals sector companies and downstream manufacturers of minerals-based products operating in the XUAR are at risk of participating in labor transfer programs, in the titanium, lithium, beryllium, and magnesium industries. The report identified 15 companies documented as sourcing directly from the XUAR region-based companies in the last two years. The report found 68 downstream customers of those Chinese suppliers with sourcing from the XUAR, indicating a risk that inputs may have been sourced from the region.
Among others, the report identified Wujo Group’s trading company, Wujo International, as one of the companies sourcing in XUAR. Wujo International is responsible for the import and export of Wujo Group products worth 60 million USD to over 100 countries annually across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Wujo Group’s verified Alibaba page indicates that its “cooperative partners” include Avon, Gibson, Carrefour, Metro, Auchan, Walmart, Disney, Quaker, Coca-Cola, Nescafe, Starbucks, Kaufland, and Costa Coffee. The company indicates explicitly that it is the “supplier of global commerce chains,” Auchan, Walmart, Kaufland, and Carrefour.
The report provides recommendations to Western companies sourcing from the Uyghur Region, who must urgently trace their supply chain and address any points of exposure to Uyghur forced labour at every tier of the supply chain. Additionally, Western governments should address their relationship to the ongoing atrocities in the Uyghur Region and the deepening reliance on the PRC’s dominance of the critical minerals supply chain with immediate and decisive action.
It stresses that Western countries and companies must address the PRC’s increasing domination of critical minerals and supply chains which exploit Uyghurs.
The issue is currently being looked into the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights.
