Amazon is reportedly using Chinese suppliers with ties to forced labor

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

According to a report from the Tech Transparency Project, Amazon is employing suppliers in China with links to forced labor. Despite evidence of their association with Uyghur labor camps, Amazon continues to work with these suppliers.

Uyghurs, the country's Muslim ethnic minority, are mostly located in the Xinjiang region of China. The group has been subject to a number of human rights abuses over the years. China uses labor transfers to transport Uyghurs from the Xinjiang region to factories throughout China in order to force them into labor programs.

There are five companies on Amazon's supplier list that have been publicly denounced for being indirect or direct suppliers. The wide range of affordable products sold as part of the Amazon Basics line are made by Amazon's suppliers.

Three Amazon suppliers have been found to have used forced labor themselves. Two other companies, GoerTek and Hefei BOE Optoelectronics, are indirectly involved, and use suppliers that have been accused of using forced labor. In the past, these companies have been linked to forced labor in reports from The Information and The Washington Post, although those reports did not implicate Apple.

Amazon's supply chain standards do not allow forced labor.

The TTP found a number of accounts selling cotton from China that has been banned by the US government. The US banned imports from Xinjiang altogether in December, after a number of countries imposed sanctions on the region.

Apple and Amazon aren't the only US-based companies with ties to Xinjiang. The TTP report from December of 2020 states that the company was accused of being a customer of the company in the wake of the opening of the showroom in the Xinjiang region.

Amazon complies with the laws and regulations in all of the countries in which it operates, and expects suppliers to do the same, according to a statement from the company. We take action when we find or receive proof of forced labor.