Published on: 04/20/2022 – 15:17 The Chinese Parliament on Wednesday ratified international conventions prohibiting forced labor, while Beijing is accused of resorting to this form of labor in its predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang. China, accused of using forced labor in its predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang, ratified, on Wednesday April 20, the international conventions prohibiting this practice. China’s ratification of the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions on forced labor was one of the conditions set by the European Union to ratify a bilateral investment agreement reached at the end of 2020.The Assembly’s standing committee National People’s National Assembly (ANP, China’s parliament) has ratified the 1930 ILO Convention on Forced Labor and the 1957 Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labor, parliament announced after a three-day session This ratification comes after an ILO committee of experts had expressed, last February, its “deep concern” at the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in China, particularly in Xinjiang.According to defense organizations human rights, at least a million Uighurs and members of other Muslim ethnicities are or have been incarcerated in camps in this region of northwestern China. Beijing claims that these are vocational training centers intended to keep them away from terrorism and separatism. >> See: China: Xinjiang cotton singled out ILO experts had demanded that Beijing ” reorients the mandate of vocational training and education centers” which are currently “centers of political re-education based on administrative detentions”. The subject is of concern to the international community. Thus, a law prohibiting the purchase of products that would be made from the forced labor of the Uyghurs came into force in December 2021 in the United States, which accuses China of genocide against this minority. Beijing vigorously rejects this accusation, which has forced certain multinationals to commit not to supply to Xinjiang. In 2021, the Swedish clothing giant H&M thus found itself facing a boycott of its stores in China after its ‘meaningful and unhindered access’ to XinjiangThe controversy has prompted the Europeans to mention the issue of forced labor in the investment protection agreement they reached with Beijing, the December 31, 2020. In this text, supposed to protect European investments in China, Beijing undertook “to work for the ratification of the fundamental conventions of the ILO, including those (prohibiting) forced labor”, had then indicated Brussels. The ratification of the agreement has since been frozen, following the mutual sanctions taken in 2021 by Europe and China around the question of Xinjiang. In March 2021, the European Union, the United States and Canada have sanctio nborn four rulers and one entity from this Chinese region. In response, Beijing retaliated with sanctions against a dozen European figures, including five elected members of the European Parliament, accused of “spreading lies”. The ratification of ILO conventions comes as the High Commissioner for Human Rights UN man Michelle Bachelet will travel to China next month for a long-awaited visit. Michelle Bachelet has for years been asking Beijing for “meaningful and unhindered access” to Xinjiang, where she is also expected to visit during his trip to China. With AFP