Development bank accused of lending millions to companies allegedly linked to forced labor in Xinjiang

The International Finance Corporation, one of the world's leading development banks, has for decades touted its success in funding companies it says can help end extreme poverty in developing countries.

But new research suggests the organization, which operates under the World Bank Group, has been providing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to companies that may be relying on forced labor from Uyghur and other ethnic minority groups in China's western Xinjiang region.

The report, titled "Financing and Genocide: Development Finance and the Crisis in the Uyghur Region," presents evidence that in recent years the IFC has loaned money to four Chinese companies that have been linked to forced labor and land expropriation in the region, along with environmental damage and the destruction of indigenous cultural heritage sites.