Norway wealth fund to probe firms for Uighur labour links

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund tells Reuters it will investigate whether the firms it is invested in may be using the labour of ethnic Uighurs linked to China’s internment camp system in Xinjiang.

Norway’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund will probe whether companies it is invested in may be using the labour of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims linked to China’s internment camp system in the country’s Xinjiang region, the head of the fund’s ethics watchdog told Reuters news agency. The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which has massive market influence because it owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares across 9,100 companies, operates under ethical guidelines set by parliament. Johan H Andresen, chair of the fund’s Council on Ethics, said the fund had begun identifying companies that it said used workers that had been held in internment camps in Xinjiang.