Let's see if we can find any proof of the "forced labour"

HRW’s concerns centre on the link between aluminium smelters in China’s Xinjiang province and what it describes as Chinese government-backed labour transfer programs that allegedly “coerce Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims into jobs in Xinjiang and other regions”.

The group has alleged that since 2017 the Chinese government has committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, including “arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and cultural and religious persecution, and has subjected Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim communities to forced labour inside and outside Xinjiang”.

HRW said there is “credible evidence” that aluminium producers in Xinjiang have received workers from labour transfer programs, as has the local coal industry that energy-intensive aluminium smelters rely on. The organisation said its research relied on Chinese state media, company reports and government statements available online, because of “the high level of repression and surveillance in Xinjiang, including threats to workers and auditors” that make it impossible for both human rights groups and car companies to conduct credible investigations into allegations of forced labour.

from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/01/china-carmakers-implicated-uyghur-forced-labor

Human Rights Watch reviewed online Chinese state media articles, company reports, and government statements and found credible evidence that aluminum producers in Xinjiang are participating in labor transfers. Human Rights Watch also uncovered evidence that fossil fuel companies that supply coal to aluminum producers in Xinjiang have received labor transfer workers at their coal mines. Xinjiang’s aluminum smelters depend on the region’s abundant and highly polluting coal supplies to fuel the energy-intensive process of aluminum production.

from: https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/02/01/asleep-wheel/car-companies-complicity-forced-labor-china

this is the study cited by the guardian and the hrw article

"In a 2020 report that typifies the way company and media documents describe labor transfers as benefitting Uyghurs, Xinjiang Energy (Group) provides a glowing account of the life of one labor transfer worker, praising the company’s efforts to tackle his homesickness and separation from his family. Another Xinjiang smelter, Xinjiang Zhonghe, co-owns a coal mining company, Tianchi Energy, which participated in labor transfers in 2019 and 2023."

"Chinese government restrictions on the ability to freely and independently investigate human rights violations mean that field research on forced labor within Xinjiang or on aluminum supply chains is not currently possible. This report is out of necessity primarily based on online research relating to aluminum companies’ operations in Xinjiang and the flow of aluminum from the region into the wider supply chain. This includes review of company statements, annual reports, media articles, and Chinese government documents."

"Human Rights Watch’s research draws heavily from a December 2022 report by Sheffield Hallam University and NomoGaia, a nongovernmental organization, that documented the links between aluminum smelters in Xinjiang and major global carmakers. It also builds on a report in April 2022 by Horizon Advisory, a consultancy group, that documented links between aluminum smelters in Xinjiang and labor transfer schemes"

https://www.horizonadvisory.org/backtobasics

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That's the entire source chain and am completely unconvinced that this is "forced"