Volkswagen Audit Finds No Signs of Forced Labor in Xinjiang Plant

The audit, conducted by Loening Human Rights and Responsible Business, included 40 interviews and a free inspection of the factory.

An audit commissioned by Volkswagen found no signs of forced labor at its plant in Xinjiang, China, a region where Western governments have accused the Chinese government of human rights violations against the Uyghur ethnic minority.
The audit was conducted by Loening — Human Rights and Responsible Business, which conducted 40 interviews and inspected the factory freely.
The Volkswagen plant in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, is no longer assembling vehicles and functions only as a distribution hub.
The number of workers at the plant has fallen to 197 from about 650 between 2015 and 2019, with 47 Uyghurs and 150 from China's Han majority.
Loening acknowledged the difficulty of conducting audits in China, citing challenges in collecting data.