EURO 2024 sponsors linked to forced labour and pornographic content for minors

The Chinese government has forcibly detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and others in indoctrination camps under the guise of an anti-terrorism campaign, and facial recognition and surveillance played a central part in this oppressive system.

In April 2021, Human Rights Watch published a damning report on the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. The report detailed mass arbitrary detention, torture, mass surveillance, cultural and religious erasure, family separations, forced labour, and sexual violence against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. This situation has led the United States and numerous international human rights organisations to label the situation as a form of genocide and “crimes against humanity.”

Alongside this, a vast surveillance network using facial recognition and genetic testing has been deployed to monitor these groups. The United States and other countries have condemned the program, imposing penalties on Chinese companies believed to be involved.

The Covid-19 pandemic as a cover up?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Alipay faced significant scrutiny over allegations that its software was used to enforce strict quarantines on the Chinese population.

When people in China signed up to the Alipay app, they were assigned a colour code by the Chinese government – green, yellow, or red – that indicated their health status. The Chinese government demanded the population to use this software on smartphones, it allowed the authorities to track people’s movements over time and dictate whether they should be quarantined or allowed into subways, malls and other public spaces.  

A New York Times analysis of the software revealed that it not only assessed contagion risk but also shared data with the police and transmitted data to law enforcement, and thereby set a troubling precedent for automated social control.

Maya Wang, senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, warned that the coronavirus outbreak would likely accelerate the expansion of China’s surveillance regime, similar to what occurred after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo. And as already highlighted, surveillance in China has only strengthened in recent years.

Uyghur forced labour: EURO 2024 on the spot

There are also links between some EURO 2024 sponsors and the practice of forced labour in China. 

According to a 2020 March report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), the Chinese government compels thousands of Uyghurs to work as forced labour in factories across the country. The report, ‘Uyghurs for Sale’, reveals that prominent global brands in the clothing, technology, and automotive sectors are implicated. 

Vivo, a Chinese multinational technology company and EURO 2024 sponsor, is among those who reportedly benefit directly or indirectly from using Uyghur workers.