Muetter Iliqud on the Use of Uyghur Forced Labour

In this conversation Muetter Iliqud speaks with Francesca Fairbairn about the use of Uyghur forced labour by the Chinese communist party in factories and farms producing both commodities (such as cotton, polysilicon) and manufactured products from toys and apparel to technical devices and even products made from human hair, that are destined for western markets. 

Muetter is a project analyst at the Uyghur Transitional Justice Database (UTJD), based in Norway. The UTJD is an ongoing project that focuses on the registration of the disappeared and extrajudicially interned Uyghurs in East Turkistan. The UTJD project was founded by the Norwegian Uyghur Committee (NUC) in 2018; Muetter has served as the head of communications for the NUC, and as project analyst for the UTJD since 2020. Muetter’s recent work at the UTJD has included testimony collection, data gathering, and data analysis, as well as authoring books and reports about the current Uyghur Genocide. Muetter is a master's student in International Human Rights Law at the Kent Law School, the University of Kent.

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Sources cited in this podcast include research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (including “Uyghurs for sale: ‘Re-education’, forced labour and surveillance beyond Xinjiang”) and the End Uyghur Forced Labour Coalition.