The Prevalence of Uyghur Slave Labor in Fast Fashion

Inaya Bajwa – The Public Trust

The Uyghur people, a mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to the Xinjiang region in northwestern China, are currently facing an ongoing genocide (as classified by the United Nations) by the Chinese government. The government has imprisoned an estimated 1.2 million Uyghurs, subjecting them to cruel punishment, religious restriction, and forced labor [1]. Not only are these policies within the Chinese government discriminatory against the Uyghur people, but they also provide an upper hand to major fast-fashion corporations. 

Religious Persecution

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, including ethnic Kazakhs and Uzbeks, have been detained since 2017. The Chinese government has reportedly sent a majority of these detainees, mostly Uyghur, into “re-education camps.” Despite the Chinese government claiming that these re-education camps have been shut down after scrutiny from the United Nations, they have been reported as being converted into detention centers instead [2]. As well as subjugating Uyghurs to camps, the administration has been forcibly sterilizing Uyghur women to suppress the Muslim population within the country [1]. Along with mandatory birth control, forced abortions, systematic rape, forced nudity, and other forms of gender-based violence, the Chinese administration is committing atrocious crimes against young Uyghur women and teenage girls [3]. 

There’s a longstanding history of Islamophobia in China, as can be seen in the post 9/11 era. By putting out stereotypes, propaganda, and Islamophobic rhetoric, the Chinese media portrayed Muslims as “terrorists.” [4]. By creating fear within the country towards a prominent minority, the Chinese government made the burning of mosques and mass systematized surveillance a normal practice that was accepted without much rebuttal from its citizens [5]. This lack of revolutionary behavior allowed the administration to carry out greater discriminatory measures such as the banning of religious headwear, unauthorized versions of the Quran, praying in both private and public settings, and attending mosque below the age of 18 for Uyghurs [6]. The restriction of religious freedom in the country, along with subjecting a specific group of people to detention facilities and abuse, is a clear violation of human rights within the Chinese nation. However, a recent development in China’s anti-Islamic mission is quietly affecting the daily lives of US citizens, helping to aid in the genocidal rampage against Uyghurs: fast-fashion corporations. 

The Role of Fast-Fashion Industries

According to a 2020 report, more than half a million Uyghurs have been corralled into the cotton fields since 2018 to provide raw materials for China’s textile industry. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadets raid Uyghur homes and coerce them into state-imposed forced labor, suggesting that all cotton produced in Xinjiang, the location where Uyghurs primarily reside, must be considered tainted by slave labor [7]. But what does that mean for the everyday American consumer? 

According to a recent report by the US House of Representatives, Chinese fast fashion brands, such as Shein and Temu, are potentially profiting from CCP forced labor. Temu, an online discount e-commerce marketplace, openly admitted that it “does not expressly prohibit third-party sellers from selling products based on their origin in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region” [8]. In other words, Temu is not condemning the selling of cheap products made from the forced labor of the Uyghur population in its business model, highlighting its casual acceptance of discrimination towards Muslim populations in China. 

Similarly, Shein, a global online-only retail giant, has been facing scrutiny over its lack of transparency regarding its ethical practices. In 2025, Yinan Zhu, the general counsel for Shein’s European arm, stated that she was unable to answer any questions about whether the company’s yarn is sourced from the Xinjiang region amid concerns over forced Uyghur labor. Shein’s refusal to ban its use of cotton from the region casts further suspicions about the company’s inability to address slave-labor allegations [9].

Conclusion

The abuse of Muslim minority populations such as the Uyghurs isn’t just affecting China; it’s affecting everyday US citizens. With Temu and Shein shipping an estimated 1 million packages a day in the United States, our purchasing habits are quietly tied to this system of abuse. As this normalization of violence against Muslim populations creeps further into our daily lives, it falls on us as citizens to question it rather than look away. Boycotting these brands, seeking out alternatives, and pressuring corporations to stop trading morality for profit are small yet necessary acts of accountability.

Sources

1. BBC News, “Who are the Uyghurs and Why is China Being Accused of Genocide,” 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037. 2. Lindsay Maizland, China’s Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Council on Foreign Relations, October 3, 2025, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounders/china-xinjiang-uyghurs-muslims-repression-genocide-human-rights. 3. BBC News, “China Forcing Birth Control on Uighurs to Suppress Population, Report Says,” 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53220713. 4. Ian Johnson, “Islamophobia in China”, China File, May 14, 2019, https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/islamophobia-china. 5. Amnesty International, “China: Draconian Repression of Muslims in Xinjiang Amounts to Crimes Against Humanity”, 2021, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/06/china-draconian-repression-of-muslims-in-xinjiang-amounts-to-crimes-against-humanity/. 6. Dolkun Isa, “Religious Freedom: The Human-Rights Situation of Religious Minorities in China World Uyghur Congress Written Statement”, Deutscher Bundestag, April 26, 2019, https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/641292/d6a655f3a7c2358cd26db73ecb8a230c/stellungnahme_isa.pdf. 7. Ruth Ingram, “Uyghur Forced Labor in the Cotton Fields: Denial is Futile, The Evidence Is Here”, Bitter Winter, December 18, 2020, https://bitterwinter.org/uyghur-forced-labor-in-the-cotton-fields-denial-is-futile-the-evidence-is-here/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=11726773838&gbraid=0AAAAAC6C3PfPGABGKyNgtdlwRymyHJSey&gclid=CjwKCAjw1vXTBhB-EiwAEKr_k5rPr7fiEVLV71gNqnsJ6OyVJMIDFMD6v7ruMxWvvHH74cOtiNcd7xoC_80QAvD_BwE. 8. U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China, Fast Fashion and the Uyghur Genocide: Interim Findings, https://chinaselectcommittee.house.gov/media/reports/fast-fashion-and-uyghur-genocide-interim-findings. 9. The Guardian, “Shein Lawyer Accused of ‘Wilful Ignorance’ Over Cotton Linked to Forced Uyghur Labor,” 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/07/shein-lawyer-accused-of-wilful-ignorance-over-cotton-linked-to-forced-uyghur-labour