There is substantial evidence that the enslavement and forced labour of Uighur minority groups in Xinjiang, China are being used in the manufacturing supply chains of the 'big three' gaming companies: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released a report in 2020 showing that more than 80,000 Uighurs were forced to leave their homes to work in factories across China, some of whom were sent directly from concentration camps.

The full report from the ASPI, detailing the implication of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo in this matter, can be read here. A brief summary of the report is available here.

The findings of this report entails that that the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles, in addition to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch consoles, are linked to the enslavement of a specific group of people.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claim that there is a significant terror threat in Xinjiang, and that large groups of Uighurs need to be 're-educated' in 'internment camps' and forced to work in factories because in future they could otherwise have the potential to commit crimes against the state.

In reality, Uighurs from Xinjiang are being forcibly taken to concentration camps and enslaved. In scenes reminiscent of Nazi Germany, there is footage of Uighurs being shackled, shaved and loaded onto trains, accounts of forced sterilisation, and leaked footage from inside a concentration camp showing a victim handcuffed to a bed whilst being played CCP propaganda.

When challenged on this, the Chinese ambassador to the UK dismissed it as false and overblown.

More recently, harrowing survivor accounts from these camps have emerged, with some accounts alleging systematic rape and torture being commonplace in the camps.

If allowed to leave these camps, Uighurs may then be forced to work in factories until they are deemed safe to be allowed back into society. The CCP has acknowledged that a large number of labourers from Xinjiang have been involved in 'vocational training centres'.

The actions of the CCP towards the Uighur people amounts to a calculated and systematic effort to eradicate an entire people group, against whom there is no evidence of wrongdoing. This is genocide.

A formal legal opinion has recently been published in the UK concluding that there is a very credible case for genocide being carried out by the CCP. A summary of the legal opinion can be found here.

Whilst we acknowledge that a disturbingly large amount of global brands are implicated in the previously cited ASPI report, we want to specifically call out the industry leaders in our area of enthusiasm: video games.

As gaming enthusiasts, we are not willing to accept that the products we enjoy for entertainment, escapism, community, expression and competition have to be linked to this dire situation.

Since the ASPI report's publication in March 2020, Sony and Nintendo have not directly addressed the situation. And although Microsoft committed to investigate the matter one year ago, they have failed to provide a follow-up or any evidence of actually making an inquiry.

We demand that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo immediately divest from the firms identified in the ASPI report to benefit from Uighur slave labour, and to instead employ manufacturing firms not linked to the genocide of the Uighur or to the use of slave labour.

We realise this may result in product delays and/or increased hardware prices. We consider the human rights or the Uighur to be incomparably more important than our desire for cheap consumer products.