Munich: The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and the Society for Threatened People (STP) have called for a complete investigation into "Uyghur forced labour in the supply chains" of Volkswagen (VW), a German automobile manufacturer, at the VW Annual General Meeting on Wednesday.

"Volkswagen must finally accept its responsibility for upholding the human rights of the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in northwest China. Volkswagen group can no longer remain silent about the human rights violations and genocide of the Uyghurs that are taking place right outside the Volkswagen factory gates otherwise, the company will become an accomplice of a criminal and anti-minority system," World Uyghur Congress said in a statement, calling for the complete investigation in VW Annual General Meeting.

"Despite evidence of human rights violations, Volkswagen operates a plant in Urumqi and a test track in Turpan in the Uyghur region of East Turkestan or Xinjiang as a part of a joint venture with the state-owned Chinese car manufacturer SAIC Motor," the statement added.

Gheyyur Kuerban the Director of WUC Berlin stated, "Those responsible have persistently ignored all indications and evidence of forced labour for years. Volkswagen is examining various options and is no longer ruling out a withdrawal from the controversial plant in Urumqi, but there have been no concrete consequences so far. The company must make it transparent whether and to what extent the Chinese supply chains are being checked."

Further, Kuerban also doubted whether the decision makers at VW are actively discussing the human rights issue of the Uyghur community and have taken any serious action regarding the matter.

According to Jasna Causevic, spokesperson of the Society for Threatened People (STP), "We are demanding a public statement from VW as to when the company became aware of the use of forced labour in the construction of the SAIC-VW test track."

Citing Chinese researcher Adrian Zen, the World Uyghur Congress stated that forcibly relocated Uighur workers were employed there as part of so-called "poverty alleviation" projects. The company also actively participated in state work teams that monitored Uighur families and organized and carried out assimilation activities for "ethnic unity."

The same statement also claimed that the questioned test track situated in Turpan, was built between 2015 and 2019 jointly by the Fourth Office of the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and SAIC-VW.

"For years, VW has willingly used itself as a fig leaf for the Chinese government in the Uyghur region, potentially becoming ever more deeply entangled in its crimes," the STP spokesperson said.

"VW is obviously submitting to the rules and norms of the Chinese leadership. The strategy can only be understood as a capitulation to China's dominance, with no regard for human and minority rights," he added.

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