Coercive Labor in the Cotton Harvest in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Uzbekistan: A Comparative Analysis of State-Sponsored Forced Labor

Journal of Communist and Post-Communist Studies (2023). https://doi.org/10.1525/cpcs.2023.1822939

40 Pages Posted: 19 May 2023 Last revised: 12 Sep 2023

See all articles by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz

Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

Date Written: May 5, 2023

Abstract

This study traces the evolution of systemic state-sponsored coercive labor in the cotton harvest in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The recent situation in the XUAR is compared to Uzbekistan, which implemented forced labor in cotton-picking until 2021. Both regions create structurally coercive labor environments through a centralized authoritarian state apparatus that deploys human resource–intensive local grassroots mobilization efforts. The article finds that while both regional entities’ coercive labor dynamics are in many ways comparable, the resulting labor settings are not easily captured through static standard measures such as the ILO forced labor indicators. Instead, state-sponsored forced labor is characterized by pervasive state-induced and systemic dynamics of coercion that are deeply embedded within sociocultural contexts. Whereas Uzbekistan’s coercive labor practices were primarily driven by economic considerations, Xinjiang’s labor transfer program, which continued through 2022, pursues some economic aims but is predominantly designed to achieve Beijing’s wider ethnopolitical goals in the region.

Keywords: China, Xinjiang, Uzbekistan, cotton, forced labor, Uyghur, ILO

Suggested Citation

Zenz, Adrian, Coercive Labor in the Cotton Harvest in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Uzbekistan: A Comparative Analysis of State-Sponsored Forced Labor (May 5, 2023). Journal of Communist and Post-Communist Studies (2023). https://doi.org/10.1525/cpcs.2023.1822939, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4439694 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4439694

Adrian Zenz (Contact Author)

Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation ( email )

300 NEW JERSEY AVENUE NW, SUITE 900
WASHINGTON, DC 20001

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