PARIS: According to a legal source, French magistrates have begun an investigation into charges that four fashion companies, including Uniqlo and the owner of Zara, benefitted from forced labor of the Uyghur minority in China (Jul 1). The insider confirmed a story on the Mediapart investigative website that magistrates at the national anti-terror prosecutor’s office in Paris are looking into charges that multinational corporations are participating in crimes against humanity.
The lawsuit stems from a complaint filed in April by the anti-corruption organization Sherpa, the French branch of the Clean Clothes Campaign, and the Uyghur Institute of Europe, as well as a Uyghur lady detained in a Xinjiang detention center.
They accused Inditex, the Spanish owner of Zara and other well-known brands, Uniqlo, SMCP, a French fashion conglomerate, and Skechers, a footwear company, of utilizing cotton from Xinjiang.
At least one million Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim minorities are believed to have been imprisoned in Xinjiang camps, where China is also accused of forcefully sterilizing women and enforcing forced labor.
The US claims the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the region have been subjected to “genocide,” while Beijing denies any allegations of maltreatment and maintains that its policies in Xinjiang are vital to combat violent extremism.
The US has imposed import restrictions on a number of Xinjiang-based businesses, including solar panel manufacturer Hoshine Silicon Industry.
Last year, several large consumer companies, including Uniqlo, H&M, Nike, and Adidas, stated that they would no longer buy cotton from the region, prompting demands for a boycott in China.
Inditex denied ever using cotton from Xinjiang.
“We were able to verify that the charges in the complaint are unfounded because the organization has strict traceability procedures,” a company spokeswoman told AFP.
According to the spokesman, the company has a “zero tolerance policy for forced labor” and “procedures in place that ensure such practice does not exist in our supply chain.”
Uniqlo, which has spoken out against Uyghur forced labor, is said to have sourced cotton from Anhui province, where tens of thousands of Uyghur workers have been relocated.
SMCP has been accused of being a shareholder in a company with factories in Xinjiang, but the corporation has denied this and has stated that it will cooperate with investigators./n
