The human rights situation in China is horrific: In the province of East Turkestan (Chinese Xinjiang), Uighur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz communities are being repressed and kept under surveillance on a massive scale. To date, over a million people in East Turkestan have been indefinitely detained in re-education camps without trial, and tens of thousands have been subjected to forced labour.
Most of the international community has failed to respond. This includes officialdom in Switzerland, which puts trade relations with China before human rights. Companies do not always comply with human rights standards in their business dealings with China either. Together with affected communities, the STP is calling on the Swiss government to prioritise human rights and to oblige companies to act responsibly.
