China is global hotspot for goods made by forced, child labour: Report

Washington DC [US], October 1 : China is the leading global hotspot for the goods' manufacturing by forced labour and abusive child labour, the US Department of Labor said in a report on Wednesday.
"Today's list illustrates China's disturbing role - the world's second-largest economy - in sponsoring these exploitative practices," US Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a statement.
"Forced labour and abusive child labour are dehumanizing, ruining lives and families," he added.
The list for these goods is part of a broader US government's effort to address forced labour in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, where more than one million Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities have been detained, the US Labor Department said.
"Estimates range from at least 100,000 to possibly hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in China who may be working in conditions of forced labour following detention in Chinese Communist Party re-education camps," the release further stated.
The Labor Department has in the past highlighted its growing concern over Uighurs' treatment in Xinjiang.
Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security had said that it will block the import of goods made in Xinjiang to combat alleged forced labour practices.
Human rights groups say Chinese authorities have detained more than a million people -- from mostly Muslim ethnic groups that include Uighurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz -- in a vast network of detention centres as part of an assimilation campaign.
Beijing has repeatedly denied the charges, saying the camps were built for vocational and Chinese language training.