Texas A&M, UPenn merchandise made by force labor in China
CHINA — According to the Associated Press, the Chinese government is forcing some minorities who have been detained in internment camps to work in production factories.
The camps are located in Xinjiang and house Uighurs, Kazakhs, Muslims and other minorities and, according to Chinese authorities, serve as free vocational training centers to stop militancy and fight poverty in the area.
There are reportedly one million detainees in the camps where, according to testimonies gathered by Amnesty International, they are separated from their families, tortured and forced to give up their language, religion and political views.
An investigation by ABC News Australia documented the shocking expansion of 28 detention camps in Xinjiang in from 2016 to 2018. The biggest camp was reported to cover over 500,000 square kilometers after just two years of construction.
Once released from the internment camps, Chinese authorities send ex-detainees to work in food and manufacturing companies.
Some of these factories are in the camps, while others are privately owned and state-subsidized.
The Associated Press traced ongoing shipments from one factory that employs ex-detainees to an American sportswear company in North Carolina called Badger Sportswear.
Photos posted in February on a Chinese social media platform show Ginny Gasswint, Badger Sportswear's marketing director, posing and smiling next to factory workers during a visit to the Hetian Taida Factory.
In April this year, the 47-year-old sportswear company began shipping polyester T-shirts and pants from Hetian Taida Apparel in China. The address of the shipping records is the same on as the detention camps.
The clothing company distributes sportswear to universities across the US. Among them: Texas A&M, the University of Pennsylvania, Appalachian State University, the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Evansville and Bates College.
Badger Sportswear says it will stop all shipments from China and move production while it conducts investigations.
The camps are located in Xinjiang and house Uighurs, Kazakhs, Muslims and other minorities and, according to Chinese authorities, serve as free vocational training centers to stop militancy and fight poverty in the area.
There are reportedly one million detainees in the camps where, according to testimonies gathered by Amnesty International, they are separated from their families, tortured and forced to give up their language, religion and political views.
An investigation by ABC News Australia documented the shocking expansion of 28 detention camps in Xinjiang in from 2016 to 2018. The biggest camp was reported to cover over 500,000 square kilometers after just two years of construction.
Once released from the internment camps, Chinese authorities send ex-detainees to work in food and manufacturing companies.
Some of these factories are in the camps, while others are privately owned and state-subsidized.
The Associated Press traced ongoing shipments from one factory that employs ex-detainees to an American sportswear company in North Carolina called Badger Sportswear.
Photos posted in February on a Chinese social media platform show Ginny Gasswint, Badger Sportswear's marketing director, posing and smiling next to factory workers during a visit to the Hetian Taida Factory.
In April this year, the 47-year-old sportswear company began shipping polyester T-shirts and pants from Hetian Taida Apparel in China. The address of the shipping records is the same on as the detention camps.
The clothing company distributes sportswear to universities across the US. Among them: Texas A&M, the University of Pennsylvania, Appalachian State University, the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Evansville and Bates College.
Badger Sportswear says it will stop all shipments from China and move production while it conducts investigations.
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