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World Bank accused of ‘funding campaign of repression’ in Xinjiang
- Report finds several clients of International Finance Corporation ‘active participants’ in campaign accused of rights abuses and environmental destruction
- Researchers tell of firms that specify ‘Han-only’ job applicants or take part in labour schemes known for delivering military and ideological training to Uygurs
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Finbarr Berminghamin Brussels
The World Bank has been accused of “funding a campaign of repression” of Uygurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang in a new report that reveals the Washington institute’s exposure to the Chinese region.
The report by the Atlantic Council, a prominent Washington-based think tank, found “significant evidence” that several clients of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank subsidiary, were “active participants” in a campaign in which China has been accused of the widespread use of forced labour, forced displacement of people from their land, cultural erasure and environmental destruction in Xinjiang.
The researchers called on the World Bank to leave the region, claiming the funding – totalling US$486 million in direct loans and equity investments to four companies operating in Xinjiang – breached the development finance institute’s own standards.
02:46
UK parliament declares Uygurs suffering ‘genocide’ in China’s Xinjiang
UK parliament declares Uygurs suffering ‘genocide’ in China’s Xinjiang
European politicians echoed these demands.
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“The World Bank exists to support global development, not to finance modern slavery. There can be no further excuses. They must divest from these companies linked to forced labour abuses immediately,” said Samuel Cogolati, a Belgian MP who was sanctioned by China last year for sponsoring a debate on alleged genocide in Xinjiang in the Belgian parliament.
A letter signed by 20 European and North American lawmakers, sent to the World Bank president David Malpass and coordinated by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a pan-national pressure group, said the “World Bank must have no part in the financing of these abuses”.
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“We, as parliamentarians from across the world, call on the World Bank and the IFC to divest from companies perpetrating human rights violations in the [Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region],” read the letter.
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