November 2024
After ten years of operations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Volkswagen is to sell its plants in Xinjiang and end its complicity with Uyghur forced labour and abuses committed against the Uyghurs and other Turkic groups.
Earlier this year, new evidence provided by Dr. Adrian Zens, directly implicated Volkswagen in Uyghur forced labour: The SAIC[1]-The Volkswagen test track in Turpan, Uyghur Region, was built using transferred “Uyghur labourers” in military drill uniforms, where they were subjected to indoctrination, biometric data collection, assimilation and surveillance.
This week Volkswagen announced it will sell its operations in China’s Xinjiang, after years of mounting pressure to abandon its presence in a region where rights groups have documented abuses against the Uyghur population.
Read the full briefing on Volkswagen’s complicity with Uyghur forced labour here.
[1] SAIC Motor Corporation Limited is a China-based company principally engaged in the research and development, manufacturing and distribution of whole vehicles and auto parts.
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