Sheffield Hallam University in England terminated a project about Uyghur forced labor after Chinese state security officers reportedly interrogated a staff member in Beijing and a Chinese company named in a report filed a defamation lawsuit in the United Kingdom. The project was led by Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights and modern slavery at Sheffield Hallam.
In February, the university removed reports from its website that Murphy and others had published at the Forced Labor Lab of its Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice and restricted her from working on Uyghur forced labor. It lifted the restriction in October. A spokesperson for the university told The Guardian in November that “following a review, we have since approved Prof Murphy’s latest research and are committed to supporting her to undertake and disseminate this important work.”
The university apologized for its actions, but only after Murphy began legal action against it for violating her academic freedom.
The Chinese government’s efforts to manipulate information abroad, affecting academic freedom, should be cause for alarm. China studies scholars from British universities have reported harassment when teaching topics critical of Beijing. The issue of China’s “transnational repression”—cross-border human rights abuses—has been raised in the UK parliament, including in a recent report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.
In 2022, the Chinese government denounced Sheffield Hallam University by name for Murphy and her team’s research on forced labor in Xinjiang, which they later linked to global supply chains for apparel, solar, and cars.
These abuses have also been well-documented by others, including Human Rights Watch, which released a report in 2024 documenting Uyghur forced labor in the aluminum supply chain and the automotive sector. Human Rights Watch also condemned the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang.
In recent years, the Chinese government has escalated its transnational repression and harassment of its critics abroad. In July, Chinese authorities arrested a Chinese student, Tara Zhang Yadi, for “inciting separatism,” a serious crime, because she had advocated for Tibetan rights while studying in Paris. Chinese companies, including some government-owned, have filed defamation and other lawsuits to silence rights researchers and activists.
The UK government should ensure that academic freedom is protected from Beijing’s transnational repression.
