A new podcast exploring Chinese government’s scheme to
detain, brainwash, and enslave Uyghurs in Xinjiang while profiteering
2, March 2023
Made in Slavery is a four-episode podcast that explores the intricate mechanisms used by large global market brands that exploit modern slaves in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The podcast written by Eleonora Mongelli, human rights expert and Vice President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU), was first released in Italian in March of 2021. It is now available in an English and updated version made in partnership with FIDU, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and Solent University.
Thanks to first-hand accounts such as that of Gulbahar Jalilova, a former Xinjiang prisoner, and contributions from experts including Daria Impiombato, Researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and Ciara Berry, Policy and Campaigns Manager at Fashion Revolution, each episode recounts a different aspect of the violent and growing repression of the Uyghurs. The Uyghurs are a Turkish-speaking Muslim minority living in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, and this podcast exposes the complicity of well-known international brands in practices of outright slavery.
The brands involved, directly or indirectly, strengthen their economic power and market presence thanks to the profits derived from the use of the Uyghur forced labour: the total number of people at risk of forced labour is approximately 2/2.5 millions according to estimates provided by researcher Adrian Zenz.
Extremely low-cost production appeals to many leading apparel, technology, and automobile companies, which by taking advantage of the opaque supply chain have so far been able to claim they did not know.
“Regulating corporate responsibility for human rights when operating abroad remains the only way forward,” says the podcast author, “so as not to become complicit and stop abuses that, as in the case of Xinjiang, can become crimes against humanity.”
Listen to MADE IN SLAVERY
If you have any questions, please email Madeinslavery@gmx.com