The global production of solar panels is using forced labour from China's Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, an investigation has found.
Xinjiang produces about 45% of the world's supply of the key component, polysilicon, the research by the UK's Sheffield Hallam University says.
It says the material is obtained under a massive system of coercion, a claim denied by the Chinese authorities.
The report urges top panel makers to source the component elsewhere. Smart Energy Answers sources high performance panels manufactured exclusively in South Korea.
Polysilicon is extracted from mined quartz, and the research says the world's four biggest manufacturers use materials tainted by a massive system of coercion in Xinjiang province.
China is facing mounting criticism from around the world over its treatment of the mostly Muslim Uyghur population in the north-western Xinjiang autonomous region.
Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uyghurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps".
There is evidence of Uyghurs being used as forced labour and of women being forcibly sterilised.
Article sourced from BBC News 14/5/21 and Business and Human Rights Resource Centre 9/1/21
Comments