Camel Group

Camel Group is among China's largest battery manufacturers. Its primary focus is the production, distribution, and recycling of lead-acid storage batteries for automobiles worldwide, counting U.S., European, Japanese, and Korean car manufacturers among its customers. Camel Group operates facilities in Xinjiang, Hebei, Jiangxi, Guangzhou, Hubei, Jiangsu, and Guangxi Provinces, as well as in Malaysia and South Korea. Camel Group received a loan from the World Bank’s private lending arm, the International Finance Corporations (IFC), to expand its recycling operations into Toksun County XUAR, on the property of its recently built manufacturing facility.

Camel Group faced sanctions for "frequent blood lead incidents" during the Chinese government’s crack-down on harmful industry practices in 2011. However, it survived the mass shutdowns and became the first company to conduct recycling and manufacturing of lead batteries in the XUAR.

Camel Group faced sanctions for "frequent blood lead incidents" during the Chinese government’s crack-down on harmful industry practices in 2011. However, it survived the mass shutdowns and became the first company to conduct recycling and manufacturing of lead batteries in the XUAR.

Camel Group benefits from the labor transfer scheme facilitated by the Toksun County government. Under a "Three-Year Plan for the Organized Transfer of Urban and Rural Surplus Labor Forces in Kashgar and Hotan Regions (2017-2019)," issued by regional and municipal governments. In 2017, this government-sponsored labor transfer program transported 165 people from the southern XUAR (as much as 1300 kilometers away) to Turpan for a 10-day "closed pre-job training" (封闭式岗前培训工作), which indicates that the participants were not allowed to come and go freely from the training. At the training, they received military and ideological training, and they were required to sing patriotic songs and learn the Chinese language. Workers performed a flag raising ceremony and declared their commitment to fight religious extremism and ethnic division, and to "profoundly expose and criticize the crimes of violent and terrorist activities and resolutely fight against nationalist separatists." Then officials handed the workers to Camel Group and others, to be bussed to their new jobs. There is no indication that Han migrant workers are subject to the same "closed training" or political/ideological oath taking to work at Camel Group. 

These labor transfers may also be highly hazardous to the workers. Camel's own EIA indicates that no residential areas should be within one kilometer of the facility, and that workers should labor with a 10-150m buffer from several components of the facility. However, Camel has worker dormitories directly on the property. These workers are thus exposed to hazardous contaminants during their shifts and their rest periods.

See extended discussion of Camel Group in Murphy, Salcito, and Elimä, "Financing & Genocide"