Reports

Building BYD Szeged: Labor Risks for Chinese Migrant Workers in Hungary’s EV Supply Chain

DOWNLOAD REPORT Executive Summary This report documents the working conditions of Chinese migrant workers at the construction site of BYD’s new electric-vehicle manufacturing facility in Szeged, Hungary.  The investigation reveals a pattern of labor rights violations affecting Chinese migrant workers employed through subcontractors and intermediary recruitment agencies. These abuses cluster into three interrelated areas: systematic excessive working hours without adequate rest, coercive and opaque recruitment and management practices, and wage and cost arrangements that, through the withholding of wages and…

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Invisible Corners of the Factory Floor: Forced Labor in China’s Prisons

Download Full Report   Executive Summary This report examines the issue of prison labor in China. Against the backdrop of increasing international attention, monitoring, and enforcement regarding systemic forced labor in China, the report aims to explore the institutional foundations of this practice within the Chinese prison system, analyze how prison-run enterprises embed products made by incarcerated laborers into global supply chains through multi-layer subcontracting, disguised registration, and local economic collaborations, and finally discuss the legal frictions and responsibility frameworks…

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Labubu, Unboxed: the labor behind the global toy phenomenon

Downdload Full Report Overview In 2025, a small, fang-toothed, wide-eyed designer toy known as Labubu emerged as a global cultural phenomenon. Created by artist Kasing Lung and then licensed by designer toy company Pop Mart, Labubu products have sold out rapidly across Asia, Europe, and North America, generating long queues and viral attention. In the summer and fall of 2025, China Labor Watch conducted an in-depth investigation into a Labubu factory, Shunjia Toys Co. Ltd. at Xinfeng County, a core…

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ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT 2024

Download Report Here This report looks at China Labor Watch’s impact in our strategic outcome areas for 2024.  It details achievements in worker training, research & investigations, and advocacy efforts, followed by steps for the years ahead, and a brief summary of the organization’s finances.  Read our 2024 report here.

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Unseen Workers: Conditions of Foreign Workers in Serbia

Download Report “I am a poor man, don’t let me get trapped,” a foreign worker in a tire factory in Serbia, told a staff at China Labor Watch (CLW). “Will I get in trouble for speaking to you?” These sentiments are not uncommon amongst foreign workers that CLW has reached out to in Serbia.  From July to October 2024, we conducted in-person and online interviews with migrant workers at two Chinese-owned companies – the Zijin Copper Mine and Linglong Tire Factory…

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Work Injuries, Deaths, and Labor Protests in Select Chinese Companies in Indonesia – 11/4 update

Download data From CLW’s survey of workers in more than a dozen countries from 2021 to 2024, we found that many Chinese multinational companies set up facilities overseas, and recruit migrant workers and send them to facilities where they have little access to support and networks.  While investments brought job opportunities and economic development to local communities, they also brought social and environmental problems that have severely undermined the wellbeing and livelihood of local residents. Meanwhile, in these projects, substandard…

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The Hypocrisy of Barbie’s Feminism – Labor Conditions of Working Class Women in a Mattel Factory in China

Download Full Report Executive Summary:   The Hypocrisy of Barbie’s Feminism: Labor Conditions of Working Class Women in a Mattel Factory in China In 2023, the Mattel-backed film featuring Barbie dominated the global Box Office, resonating with audiences globally due to its progressive feminist themes. Unsurprisingly, the sale of Barbie dolls boomed shortly after the movie’s release. While Mattel reaps significant financial rewards from Barbie’s cultural prominence, questions arise regarding the increased demand for the toys: where are these toys…

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China’s recent enforcement against scam operations in Myanmar: from resolving a human trafficking crisis to national interest

Introduction During the COVID-19 global pandemic, we saw an increase in cyber scams across the globe. Interpol issued a warning regarding “…large-scale human trafficking where victims are lured through fake job ads to online scam centers and forced to commit cyber-enabled financial crime on an industrial scale.” These online scam centers concentrated in Southeast Asia, with massive trafficking hubs and scam syndicates found in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. These operations drew victims mainly from China, Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore to…

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