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A damning new 77-page report by international human rights organization Global Rights Compliance has unveiled compelling evidence linking dozens of major Western companies to state-imposed forced labor in China’s critical minerals industry, centered in the Uyghur region.

The investigation is the first of its kind to methodically uncover the role of state-sponsored labor transfers in fuelling China’s strategic dominance over minerals such as titanium, lithium, beryllium, and magnesium – essential to industries ranging from electronics to defense.

The report identifies 68 international corporations – among them household names like Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, and Walmart – whose supply chains may be exposed to goods sourced from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), a part of China notorious for mass internment, surveillance, and forced labor of its Uyghur and Turkic Muslim populations.

“Western companies in sectors ranging from household goods to nuclear energy are exposed to state-imposed forced labor in the Uyghur region through critical mineral supply chains,” said Caroline Dale, legal adviser at Global Rights Compliance and co-author of the report.

GRC offered all companies named in the report the chance to respond. As of writing, only one – BASF – had done so. The chemical giant said that it “has not had a business relationship” with the Chinese firm named in the report since 2018, and expressed “longstanding self-commitments to human rights due diligence, in our own activities as well as along our supply chain.”

The findings stem from an 18-month investigation drawing on Chinese government records, academic studies, shipping data, and prior investigative journalism. Analysts focused on China’s industrial strategy, which increasingly concentrates critical mineral production in the Uyghur region – a key global source for titanium sponge, accounting for 11 percent of the world’s output.

“This investigation is the first to systemically document the PRC’s development of titanium, lithium, beryllium and magnesium industrial chains in the Uyghur region,” Dale added. “The report is also the first to document detailed evidence of state-sponsored labor transfers in the XUAR’s industries.”

The Uyghur region is central to China’s critical minerals strategy. In 2024 alone, trade from the region rose by a staggering 21.8 percent, reaching nearly $60 billion. Exports to the United States surged by over 280 percent, while exports to the United Kingdom spiked by an alarming 595.2 percent.

Experts say this growth comes at an unacceptable human cost. Uyghurs are forcibly transferred to mines and processing facilities under state control. Those who resist risk punishment, including harassment, loss of income, or even imprisonment.

The report names 77 minerals sector companies operating directly in the Uyghur region, and identifies 15 companies – within and outside China – actively sourcing from them. These include entities involved in state-run labor transfer programs flagged by the U.S. government and the United Nations.

Among them is Xinjiang Nonferrous, a major lithium processor, which the U.S. has sanctioned under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act for its involvement in labor transfers.

Yet China is erecting barriers to just such due diligence. “Censorship and sensitivity around critical minerals data has increased across private and public sectors,” Dale explained. “Chinese intelligence has escalated enforcement of the Anti-Espionage Act against supply chain due diligence.”

Despite China’s efforts to obscure data, researchers compiled evidence using unconventional sources including state media, public contracts, and investment policy reports.

“China’s Xinjiang has never forced anyone to transfer employment. The so-called ‘forced labor’ in China’s Xinjiang region is a complete lie fabricated by individual anti-China forces,” Lin said. “We advise individual organizations to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs under the guise of human rights and stop undermining Xinjiang’s prosperity and stability.”

China has consistently rejected allegations of forced labor and human rights abuses in Xinjiang, framing such claims as politically motivated interference by foreign powers despite the mounting evidence and the widespread testimonies from Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

“Western governments and companies must urgently confront the reality that many critical mineral supply chains they rely on are underpinned by Uyghur forced labor,” said Lara Strangways, Business and Human Rights Division lead at Global Rights Compliance.

Meanwhile, U.S. entities have no excuse for ignorance, according to Samir Goswami, forced labor director at the organization.

“U.S. companies should already have robust practices to ensure that they are not sourcing anything with connections to XUAR… The fact that we were able to find connections through publicly available data represents a failure in due diligence.”

“This report demonstrates that it is possible to identify and trace supply chain links to forced labor,” said Dale. “It provides an evidentiary basis to evaluate exposure to forced labor in the Uyghur region through critical minerals.”

With mounting international pressure, the findings from GRC could serve as a watershed moment for corporate accountability in the era of supply chain transparency. Analysts suggest this unprecedented report could accelerate the momentum behind regulatory initiatives such as the EU Forced Labor Regulation and expand the enforcement scope of the United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.