Since 2017, the People's Republic of China has been running what it calls "Vocational Education and Training Centers," or re-education camps. These camps were established by Xi Jinping's administration, with the stated purpose of countering terrorism. The camps are mostly populated by Uyghurs, a largely Islamic ethnic minority group in China, who are reportedly sent to the camps without trial or charges, and are subjected to forced labor. A new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute claims that some tech companies have benefited from this forced labor, either directly or indirectly, and they include console makers Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.
According to the report, at least 80,000 Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities from China's re-education camps were forced to work in factories from 2017 to 2019 under "potentially abusive" conditions. These individuals were reportedly assigned "government minders" and supervised by "dedicated security personnel." As stated in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute report, individuals were told that if they disobeyed their work assignments, they would have to return to the re-education camps.
As noted by TechRaptor, it's not detailed in the report exactly how much each company benefited from the forced labor of the re-education camps or if the companies were even aware that they were benefiting from forced labor. One tech company implicated in the report, Apple, has released a statement on the matter indicating that it likely was unaware of the forced labor. "Apple is dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. We have not seen this report but we work closely with all our suppliers to ensure our high standards are upheld."
China's re-education camps have proven to be hugely controversial, with various countries in the UN asking Xi Jinping to shut them down. A number of politicians in the United States have condemned them repeatedly, including Florida senator Marco Rubio. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has said that the re-education camps may even be described as a "crime against humanity."
China has long had a complicated relationship with the video game industry. Video game companies like Blizzard have been criticized for pandering to China despite the country's authoritarian regime and things like the re-education camps. China has long censored or banned video games in its country, though it has become more accepting of games and other forms of entertainment in recent years.
Right now, the coronavirus in China is threatening to delay various tech hardware, with some believing that even the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 could be impacted. That remains to be seen. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if other companies release statements similar to Apple about how they potentially benefited, either directly or indirectly, from China's re-education camps.
Source: Australian Strategic Policy Institute (via TechRaptor)