Harvard University is facing growing criticism from Uyghur human rights groups for providing executive training to officials from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a sanctioned Chinese paramilitary organisation accused of grave human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
According to a recent investigation by China-focused think tank Strategy Risks, individuals linked to the XPCC attended training programmes at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2023 and 2024. The programme, conducted in partnership with China’s National Healthcare Security Administration, focused on governance in health insurance and public health policy.
The findings, first highlighted by Strategy Risks and later reported by the Washington Free Beacon, were confirmed by Radio Free Asia (RFA), which noted that these engagements may breach US sanctions laws.
The XPCC—also known as the “Bingtuan”—was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in July 2020 under the Global Magnitsky Act for its role in the mass surveillance, detention, and forced labour of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The sanctions bar US persons and institutions from engaging in most forms of collaboration with the XPCC.
“The XPCC is not a neutral administrative entity; it is the paramilitary wing of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Sabrina Sohail, director of advocacy and communications at Campaign for Uyghurs. “By providing training to its officials, Harvard risks legitimising a system involved in genocide,” she told RFA.
The XPCC operates as a quasi-military and economic structure with sweeping powers in Xinjiang, including control over large-scale agricultural and industrial enterprises. It also maintains its own police force, court system, and media network. US authorities allege that the XPCC has been instrumental in the establishment and management of detention centres and forced labour schemes that form the backbone of what the US government has designated as a genocide.
Since 2017, it is estimated that around 1.8 million Uyghurs have been detained in camps across Xinjiang. The region has become a focal point of international concern over systematic human rights violations targeting the Muslim minority.
While the Chinese government continues to reject these allegations, describing the XPCC as “a strategic force for national stability and border defence,” critics argue that its extensive role in Xinjiang’s governance makes it central to Beijing’s repressive policies in the region. China’s Ministry of Commerce says the XPCC operates under a “unique management system that merges the roles of the Party, government, military, and enterprises,” and oversees 16 publicly listed companies and more than 3,000 businesses.
Henryk Szadziewski, research director at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, urged American institutions to act responsibly. “US entities must be aware of the legal and ethical consequences of collaborating with sanctioned organisations,” he told RFA.
The controversy raises uncomfortable questions about due diligence and oversight in international academic cooperation, particularly with entities implicated in human rights violations.
Harvard University has not issued a formal response to the findings.
