Uyghurs: an investigation opened against four clothing giants for "concealment of crimes against humanity"

Posted on July 02, 2021

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Zara, Uniqlo, Sandro, Maje... Did these brands take advantage of the forced labor of the Uyghurs for the production of their clothes? This is what will try to determine the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office which is conducting an investigation for "concealment of crisis against humanity" targeting four textile giants in France. An investigation which follows the complaint of several NGOs, last April.

They are clothing heavyweights. Inditex, which owns the brands Zara, Bershka and Massimo Duti, Uniqlo France, the sports shoe Skechers and SMCP, of which Sandro, Maje and De Fursac are part, are at the heart of an investigation for "concealment of crimes against the humanity" opened by the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office. This investigation follows a complaint filed last April by three NGOs, the Sherpa association, the Ethics on Etiquette collective, the Uyghur Institute of Europe as well as an Uyghur woman who had been interned in Xinjiang province. , northwest of China.

For more than two years now, human rights defenders have accused China of persecuting the Uighur Muslim minority. More than a million of them are said to be interned in forced labor camps. A year ago, 180 NGOs published a report in which they estimated that around one in five cotton garments sold worldwide contained cotton or yarn from Xinjiang that was linked to forced Uyghur labor. For the plaintiffs, the question is whether the big names in clothing profited from the forced labor of this persecuted community.

Ouïghours : une enquête ouverte contre quatre géants de l’habillement pour

"Since at least 2019, journalists and researchers have uncovered the existence of systematized forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Chinese government, in which nearly 20% of the world's cotton is produced", write the associations. complainants. "However, according to the public information available to date, the companies Inditex, Uniqlo, SMCP and Skechers, as well as many other transnational companies, continue to subcontract part of their production there or to market goods using cotton produced in the region, making themselves complicit in the serious crimes that are perpetrated there", they add.

Inditex contests "firmly"

In a press release sent to Novethic, the Inditex group "firmly contests the criminal qualifications which seem to be covered by this complaint". And adds: "Inditex recalls that rigorous traceability checks are carried out within the group. They have made it possible to verify that the allegations arising from this complaint are unfounded", affirms the group which ensures that it cooperates with the French judicial authorities.

The associations have received the support of MEP Raphael Gluksmann who has been mobilizing for years on this issue. According to him, the accused brands risk "record fines and criminal prosecution". "Multinationals have long been above the law, we must show them that the law applies to everyone, even the most powerful and wealthy. This investigation is a key moment in a larger fight. A step this autumn: the European duty of vigilance", writes the MEP on Twitter.

On March 10, Parliament adopted an ambitious text on the duty of vigilance, under the inspiration of France, which is the first country to have adopted a law obliging companies to prevent social, environmental and governance risks linked to their subcontracting chains. The European Commission is expected to propose new rules in this direction by the end of the year but the companies are conducting an intense lobbying campaign to block the project.

This is reported by a coalition of NGOs including Friends of the Earth and two European organisations, the EECJ (European Coalition for Corporate Justice) and the European Business Observatory, which have published a survey showing how companies are fighting for the judicialization of their responsibility and push towards voluntary steps to better choose their mode of action.

Marina Fabre, @fabre_marina with AFP

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