An investigation into the VW plant in the Chinese region of Xinjiang is becoming a problem for the car manufacturer. Uighur representatives and experts are outraged.
Urumqi – China is a trading partner for Germany, but also an important production location. Several German companies, including Volkswagen (VW), have factories in the vast empire. Also in the Uyghur province of Xinjiang, which the Muslim ethnic group calls East Turkestan. In the region, millions of Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic groups are interned in re-education camps.
“The camp inmates are being held indefinitely without charge or legal representation and are being subjected to political indoctrination. They are housed in unsanitary and overcrowded cells; Reports of torture, lack of food, sexual abuse and deaths in the camps are widespread,” writes the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) in one of its reports.
The Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer Volkswagen has several plants in Xinjiang. “The network of plants where Volkswagen works in China “The company involved, or which Volkswagen itself operates, comprises 39 component and vehicle plants,” the group explained in response to a request from FR.de from IPPEN.MEDIA. A total of 90,000 people are said to be employed in these plants.
No evidence or evidence of forced labor in Urumqi? Examiners provide clarification
Volkswagen recently had possible human rights violations investigated at a plant in Urumqi that the group operates together with its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC. The investigation (audit) was carried out by the Berlin consulting firm Löning, which specializes in human rights issues. “We were unable to find any evidence or evidence of forced labor among employees,” company boss Markus Löning told our editorial team.
However, this audit raises questions – also because it apparently caused unrest within the company's own workforce. Löning had to go to one opinion clarify on LinkedIn: “The project was led and supported by Markus Löning and Christian Ewert. The technical audit at the facility was carried out by two Chinese lawyers and supervised on site by Christian Ewert. No other Löning team member took part in, supported or accompanied this project,” it says.
The situation of the Uyghurs – and the role of German companies
As early as 2022, the human rights organization IGFM accused German companies of profiting from the exploitation and forced labor of the Uighurs. “The companies have factories and production facilities in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has been committing genocide against the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities for years,” the ISHR ruled. The human rights organization is therefore calling for this practice of putting profit before human rights to end.
Also numerous others Human rights organization confirms China's most serious crimes against the Uyghurs. “The Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) writes on its website.
Volkswagen itself also wants to know nothing about human rights violations or forced labor in their Chinese factories. “There is no evidence of forced labor or forced labor among our Chinese joint venture partners,” it said.
Uyghurs question VW report on Xinjiang – correct assessment “hardly possible”
Uyghurs, on the other hand, consider both the audit and Volkswagen's statements to be untenable. It is not possible to check the human rights situation in the Chinese factories. “In a region where Uyghurs are heavily monitored and even the slightest deviations from the Communist Party’s guidelines lead to indefinite internment, torture and severe ill-treatment, a credible and independent audit seems hardly feasible,” said Dolkun, President of the World Uyghur Congress Isa, FR.de.
The Berlin management consultant's investigation into the human rights situation in the Urumqi plant apparently does not correspond to reality. “The obvious distancing of some responsible employees from the Löning company is alarming. It points to internal differences that call into question the credibility of the entire audit.”
Isa fears misuse of the paper: “The Chinese government could use the audit to conceal the true conditions. China's new counterespionage law, which criminalizes corporate due diligence, further challenges the independence of international audit firms, as illustrated by the arrest of Mintz Group employees and orders for state-owned companies to divest from major international audit firms.
China can abuse audit – Xinjiang researcher questions Volkswagen expertise
One of the leading Xinjiang researchers, the ethnologist Adrian Zenz, also reports on massive human rights violations and forced labor in the Uyghur province. “New files from the Xinjiang police show that Uyghurs were sent from re-education camps directly to vocational training institutions that organized job fairs with Volkswagen and advertised degrees with Volkswagen as a typical work destination,” writes Zenz on X.
The consequence is that Uyghurs released from re-education camps “will probably work for larger companies such as FAW-Volkswagen in Xinjiang”. Zenz also has doubts about the audit commissioned by Volkswagen, “since Uighurs cannot speak freely about their experiences in the camps/re-education measures.”
Erkan Pehlivan
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