A new complaint against fashion brands allegedly sourcing cotton from Uyghur forced labor has been filed a French human rights organizations. Experts however stress government-to-government solutions for addressing forced labour concerns worldwide.
It is alleged that 20 percent of global cotton production originates from the Uyghur region. The French complaint was lodged on May 16, by human rights organizations Sherpa and Collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette, the European Uyghur Institute, and an Uyghur plaintiff. Earlier a previous complaint in was dismissed in April 2021 in which fashion brands like Uniqlo, SMCP, Inditex, and Skechers were concealing crimes against humanity.
An expert on Chinese affairs said the private sector has a responsibility to take action to address forced labor in their supply chains, government-to-government solutions are essential and fundamental to addressing the forced labor concern in China’s Xinjiang region.
The concerned NGOs are wondering why April 2021 complaint in France, was first taken up by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecution however two years later on 12 April 2023, the public prosecutor closed the inquiry, citing a lack of jurisdiction to prosecute such offenses.
The French NGOs filed the new complaint it filed last week based on the charge of concealment, focusing on four crimes: crimes against humanity, genocide, aggravated bondage, and human trafficking within an organized gang.
The NGOs are now also calling for the launch of a judicial investigation to uncover the extent of multinational garment companies’ involvement in so-called “profiting” from Uyghur forced labor for the manufacture of their products.
A spokesperson from Collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette says forced labor for hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs still happens in the region. Sherpa says companies using cotton from the region cannot ignore the possibility that their products may be associated with Uyghur forced labor.
Some experts doubt that the Chinese government could be guilty of some of the things that are being claimed – especially “genocide”, doesn’t apply in this case.
Earlier this year (January), the UK courts ruled against blocking the UK’s import of forced labor cotton from Xinjiang. At the time Global Legal Action Network explained UK clothing brands and retailers would have faced serious ramifications if the courts ruled the UK government would need to ban imports of cotton products from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Labour exploitation in cotton production in the Uyghur region
