Starbucks: Leave Xinjiang, the Uyghurs Deserve Better
Brian Niccol, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks
Starbucks has opened its first cafés in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has carried out mass detention and repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. We call on Starbucks to close its Xinjiang locations and commit publicly to opening no more in the region.
For years, international experts, journalists, and human rights organizations have documented the Chinese government’s systematic persecution and genocide of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim communities in Xinjiang, the Chinese word for the Uyghurs' region in China. These abuses include mass surveillance, arbitrary detention of over one million people in internment camps, forced sterilization, torture, and forced labor. Multiple governments, including the United States, have formally recognized these actions as genocide and crimes against humanity.
Starbucks is giving the Chinese government exactly what it wants: a familiar, trusted global brand that makes the region look normal. Human Rights Watch has warned that corporate presence in Xinjiang feeds the government's narrative that nothing is wrong. Chinese state media is already using foreign investment that way, citing it as proof that international concern is "unfounded."
There is no reason for Starbucks to open locations in Xinjiang. Let them know that you prefer your coffee free of genocide.
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This week, Starbucks opened its first two stores in Xinjiang, at the Ürümqi airport and the city's Grand Bazaar. Chinese state media promoted both with "locally inspired" menus and "Xinjiang elements" in the décor.
This is not an ordinary market expansion. In 2022, the UN human rights office found that large-scale arbitrary detention occurred in Xinjiang and that it may amount to crimes against humanity. The US government has determined that China is committing genocide against Uyghurs. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs remain imprisoned because of their ethnicity and religion.
Starbucks is giving the Chinese government exactly what it wants: a familiar, trusted global brand that makes the region look normal. Human Rights Watch has warned that corporate presence in Xinjiang feeds the government's narrative that nothing is wrong. Chinese state media is already using foreign investment that way, citing it as proof that international concern is "unfounded."
Starbucks says every store operates under the same brand standards and values, including responsible business practices. In Xinjiang, those standards cannot be met. Independent auditing is not possible, workers have no freedom to speak out, and the surrounding system rests on coercion and forced labor.
We urge you to:
* Close the Starbucks locations in Xinjiang.
* Commit publicly that Starbucks will not open or license any further stores in the region.
* Explain what human rights due diligence Starbucks conducted before this expansion, and who was consulted.
Your customers want to know that their coffee is not helping to whitewash genocide.