#Newspaper
Hair Product Industry Linked to Uyghur Forced Labor Booming in Xinjiang’s Lop County
//The U.S. recently sanctioned a hair products company based in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) for its links to forced labor, but a closer investigation by RFA’s Uyghur Service shows that several firms in the area operate similar business models and are likely linked to internment camps
//China is the largest exporter of hair in the world, supplying more than 80 percent of hair-based products, including human-hair wigs and false eyelashes made from human eyelash hair.
//China exports around U.S. $6 billion worth of hair products each year.
//Haolin had been registered in an industrial park... for companies manufacturing products made from human hair. The park was built close to the Beijing Industrial District in Lop in 2018 and now is home to 24 different companies that employ 4,000 local Uyghurs.
//RFA was able to determine that many Haolin products are partially processed in Lop factories, after which they are sent to factories in Shandong province’s Qingdao city for further processing before being sent to the U.S. and other countries.
//“We have our own manufacturer, we just go [to the XUAR] to source materials,” she said, when asked about the company’s product referred to as “dark brown virgin Xinjiang human hair.”
//The source of the hair used in products being manufactured in the XUAR remains unclear
//Uyghur cultural traditions dictate that women leave their hair long and there is no history of people selling their hair in the region, raising suspicions about whether in addition to using forced labor to manufacture hair products, the raw hair may be coming from detainees in the XUAR’s camp network.
//at least 10 female former camp detainees have described having their heads shaved immediately upon entering the detention facilities
//a Pakistani trader who gave his name as Amir and claimed to have visited a Haolin factory in Lop county four months ago... he stopped trading in hair products once he learned from a friend who works in the camps that the raw material was hair “taken from detainees.”
//Amir cited his friend as saying that the heads of all detainees are shaved when they are sent to the camps.
//“I have a friend who works in a camp. He told me that the companies take away all of the hair.”
//RFA was unable to independently verify the Pakistani trader’s account.
Source: Rfa, (28-May)
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/hair-05282020155504.html
#HairProduct #Uyghur #Xinjiang #Haolin #XUAR #Lop
Hair Product Industry Linked to Uyghur Forced Labor Booming in Xinjiang’s Lop County
//The U.S. recently sanctioned a hair products company based in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) for its links to forced labor, but a closer investigation by RFA’s Uyghur Service shows that several firms in the area operate similar business models and are likely linked to internment camps
//China is the largest exporter of hair in the world, supplying more than 80 percent of hair-based products, including human-hair wigs and false eyelashes made from human eyelash hair.
//China exports around U.S. $6 billion worth of hair products each year.
//Haolin had been registered in an industrial park... for companies manufacturing products made from human hair. The park was built close to the Beijing Industrial District in Lop in 2018 and now is home to 24 different companies that employ 4,000 local Uyghurs.
//RFA was able to determine that many Haolin products are partially processed in Lop factories, after which they are sent to factories in Shandong province’s Qingdao city for further processing before being sent to the U.S. and other countries.
//“We have our own manufacturer, we just go [to the XUAR] to source materials,” she said, when asked about the company’s product referred to as “dark brown virgin Xinjiang human hair.”
//The source of the hair used in products being manufactured in the XUAR remains unclear
//Uyghur cultural traditions dictate that women leave their hair long and there is no history of people selling their hair in the region, raising suspicions about whether in addition to using forced labor to manufacture hair products, the raw hair may be coming from detainees in the XUAR’s camp network.
//at least 10 female former camp detainees have described having their heads shaved immediately upon entering the detention facilities
//a Pakistani trader who gave his name as Amir and claimed to have visited a Haolin factory in Lop county four months ago... he stopped trading in hair products once he learned from a friend who works in the camps that the raw material was hair “taken from detainees.”
//Amir cited his friend as saying that the heads of all detainees are shaved when they are sent to the camps.
//“I have a friend who works in a camp. He told me that the companies take away all of the hair.”
//RFA was unable to independently verify the Pakistani trader’s account.
Source: Rfa, (28-May)
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/hair-05282020155504.html
#HairProduct #Uyghur #Xinjiang #Haolin #XUAR #Lop
Radio Free Asia
Hair Product Industry Linked to Uyghur Forced Labor Booming in Xinjiang’s Lop County
Profits are significant with free labor but may also benefit from the sourcing of raw materials.