US politician accuses China of exploiting African workers, Uyghur Muslims

US politician and Vice President of the House Armed Services Committee Republicans, Rob Wittman, has expressed his concerns about China’s actions on African workers and Uyghur Muslims, terming the atrocities as “absolutely criminal.”

He said, “China is the greatest human rights violator on the face of the earth. What they are doing with Uyghur women is absolutely criminal. They exploit workers in Africa. They destroy the environment in Africa”.

The US’ Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party shared the statement on social media platform.

Since 2007, Robert Joseph Wittman has been the US representative for Virginia’s 1st congressional district, and he has also served on committees related to police and public safety.

China has faced widespread allegations and international scrutiny regarding its human rights abuses, particularly concerning the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Numerous reports from human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have detailed allegations of mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

They allege that over a million people have been detained without due process in so-called “re-education” camps where they are subjected to forced labour, political indoctrination, and severe restrictions on religious and cultural practices.

Several reports have highlighted allegations that Uyghur women are subjected to forced birth control methods, including sterilisation, as part of efforts to reduce birth rates among the Uyghur population. Family separations, where children are placed in state-run orphanages or boarding schools, have also been reported. These allegations are supported by a wide range of sources, including investigative journalism, satellite imagery analysis and testimonies from survivors and witnesses.

Recently, the United Kingdom, the United States, and several other nations voiced criticism of China’s human rights practices during a rare review of its policies at the United Nations.

The UK urged China to stop persecuting and arbitrarily detaining Uyghurs and Tibetans, and to ensure genuine freedom of religion, cultural expression, and freedom from surveillance, torture, forced labour, and sexual violence.

Similarly, the US called for China to release all individuals detained arbitrarily and to end policies aimed at forcible assimilation, such as the operation of boarding schools in Tibet and Xinjiang.