Ever hear of the Uighur community?
There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang.
Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps". There is evidence of Uighurs being used as forced labour and of women being forcibly sterilised.
Recently, the US and other countries have accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its repression of the Uighurs. Europe was the latest to do so by imposing sanctions on few Chinese officials linked to the Uighur repression. Moments later China retaliated.
This is a historic situation and we talk to Shada Islam, a well known Brussels based commentator and analyst on all things EU-Asia relation to understand why this is extremely important, what is a sanction in international law and what is the role of fast fashion brands who source cotton from the Xinjiang province!
Ever hear of the Uighur community?
There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang.
Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps". There is evidence of Uighurs being used as forced labour and of women being forcibly sterilised.
Recently, the US and other countries have accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its repression of the Uighurs. Europe was the latest to do so by imposing sanctions on few Chinese officials linked to the Uighur repression. Moments later China retaliated.
This is a historic situation and we talk to Shada Islam, a well known Brussels based commentator and analyst on all things EU-Asia relation to understand why this is extremely important, what is a sanction in international law and what is the role of fast fashion brands who source cotton from the Xinjiang province!