Human Rights Crisis in the Uyghur Region
Update on Uyghur Region Engagement:
After five years of leading investor education and engagement on various human rights risks and abuses of the Uyghur peoples, this coordinated engagement has been transitioned to ICCR's Equitable Global Supply Chain (EGSC) program.
For more information, please contact Chavi Nana, Director of the EGSC program.
Background on Uyghur Region Engagement:
The government of the People's Republic of China has been subjecting Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples living in the Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region (Uyghur Region) to an unprecedented system of state-imposed forced labor programs not only in this Region but across other parts of China. Uyghur forced labor is connected to global value chains including apparel, automotive, electronics, mining, and solar industries.
Institutional investors are potentially linked to egregious human rights abuses through their investments in companies with operations, investments, partnerships, and other business relationships in or connected to the Uyghur Region.
Against this backdrop, from 2020-2025, the Investor Alliance coordinated a focused investor engagement of portfolio companies which have value chains exposed to the Uyghur human rights crisis. This covered state-sponsored forced labor and state repression, as well as mass surveillance of the peoples in the Uyghur Region. A set of investor expectations developed in 2023 guided the engagement.
Overview and Impact of Engagement:
From August 2020 to September 2025, the Investor Alliance's coordinated engagement involved:
- 70+ institutional investors Over USl$6 trillion in assets under management
- 9 sectors, including apparel & footwear, technology, food & agriculture, renewable energy including the solar sector, and automotive including EV batteries
- The Investor Alliance was a member of, and participated in the Steering Committee (2020 - 2025) of the Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labour, which unites civil society organizations, Uyghur human rights groups, and trade unions who are taking action to end state-sponsored forced labor and other egregious human rights violations against people from the Uyghur Region.