Zara uighur labor
France probes claims that Uniqlo, Skechers, Zara used forced Uyghur labor The investigation is based on a legal complaint filed in France earlier this year by a Uyghur worker in exile and three. The authorities have also been putting pressure on foreign companies that do try to carry out due diligence studies, Richardson said. Yet Uniqlo was decidedly slow in withdrawing from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in February , waiting until August to "suspend" operations.
Activist groups are demanding an investigation of a number of leading international fashion brands, accusing them of being complicit in crimes against members of the Uyghur ethnic community in China. Inditex has been questioned before about its role in Uyghur repression, which several human rights organizations and the U.S. government consider genocide. The group also has deep concerns that components made by forced labor are finding their way into clothing sold by famous brands.
And that was after a previous announcement that it would remain in the Russian market was met with a strong public backlash. Human rights organizations believe that over a million people, mostly Uyghur Muslims, are being held in "reeducation camps" and that many of them are forced to work against their will. Aral Fulida, a subsidiary of Xinjiang Zhongtai Group and a supply chain partner of Zara’s, per the Helena Kennedy Centre, they add, likewise harbors a “high risk” of Uyghur forced labor.
The problem, however, is the lack of access in areas tightly controlled by the Chinese government. Three months after the original complaint was filed, the US Senate passed a ban on importing products from Xinjiang, unless it can be proven they are free of forced labor. In focus. Latest audio Latest videos. Related topics. A new complaint was filed in Paris last week by the anticorruption campaign organization Sherpa, the Ethics on Labels collective, the European Uyghur Institute and a Uyghur woman who was detained in a camp run by the Chinese government in the Xinjiang region.
Zara and Uniqlo owners face investigation over profiting from alleged Uyghur forced labor in China
The same groups filed a similar complaint in April However, the public prosecutor in Paris shut it down on the grounds that it did not have the jurisdiction to prosecute this type of offense. A clothing giant such as the Japanese Uniqlo will understand the "likely commercial consequences if it were found to be failing in this obligation," he added. Latest videos Latest audio. While Human Rights Watch is not one of the organizations behind the complaint filed in Paris, its activists are closely monitoring China's treatment of its minorities.
Roy Larke, senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Waikoto, in New Zealand, and an expert on retailing and consumer behavior, points out that brands "have an ethical and moral obligation to uphold basic human rights. The complaint focuses on the alleged abuses in the Xinjiang region of China.
Uyghur rights: Clothing firms under fire over forced labor
The Chinese government has dismissed claims of forced labor and insists the camps are vocational centers designed to stop the spread of extremism. Specifically, the NGOs believe that the companies do not have full control over their subcontractors, which is causing them to sell goods with components from forced-labor factories. The activists say the companies are complicit in crimes against humanity , genocide, aggravated bondage and human trafficking.
In a statement to DW, a spokesperson for Fast Retailing in Tokyo said that the company was aware of the complaint due to media reports. UN council rejects debate of China's human rights record in Xinjiang A slim majority of countries in the UN's Human Rights Council rejected a proposal to hold a debate on China's alleged abuses against the Muslim minority Uyghur people in Xinjiang.