The company has been questioned for forcing Xinjiang Uyghur people to produce cotton in an inhumane way, and the Italian national brand Benetton and OVS have posted an announcement on their official website that their products will no longer use Xinjiang cotton based on the suspicion that Xinjiang cotton violates human rights and forced labor.
The company’s official website announced that the cotton produced by Xinjiang Uyghur people has forced labor concerns, and OVS decided to suspend all commercial transactions related to Xinjiang cotton. (Photo/reproduced from OVS official website)
The Italian bishops’ conference official newspaper “Futuroscope” (Avvenire) reported on the 26th that OVS and other well-known Italian fashion brands stopped using Xinjiang cotton, representing Italy’s first step in response to support the human rights of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
OVS is Italy’s largest retailer of ready-to-wear, accounting for 5% of the Italian national retail market, with sales points in 35 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, with up to more than 1,000 retail stores worldwide.
OVS announced on its official website that the cotton produced by the Uyghurs in Xinjiang is suspected of forced labor, and OVS decided to respond to the initiative launched by the Italian Clean Clothes Campaign by suspending all business dealings with Xinjiang cotton, thereby calling on the Chinese government and related companies to stop persecuting the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Chinese companies should immediately stop persecuting the human rights of Xinjiang Uyghurs and stop the forced labor of Xinjiang Uyghurs.
Another announcement to stop using Xinjiang cotton, the Italian national brand Benetton (Benetton) has more than 5,000 stores around the world, Benetton has repeatedly solidarity with international human rights events, Benetton 12 just announced to stop orders to Myanmar garment business, in protest of the bloody crackdown on the protesters by the Myanmar military.
Benetton’s official website announcement pointed out that the cotton produced in Xinjiang, China and Uzbekistan has been accused of abusive child labor and forced labor situations, so all Benetton products will not use cotton from these areas, Benetton’s cotton production chain, from planting to the processing process, are firmly rejected any oppression of underage labor or forced labor.
The future of the newspaper pointed out that, according to the United States, Canada, Belgium, human rights organizations, the global market share of up to one-fifth of the Xinjiang cotton, in fact, is the Xinjiang Uighur people were locked in “re-Education camps” forced labor production products, the Chinese government persecuted minority Uighurs believe in Islam, requiring them to work overtime in harsh conditions to The Chinese government persecutes the Muslim minority Uighurs, requiring them to work overtime under harsh conditions to produce low-cost cotton.
Deborah Lucchetti, a researcher for the Clean Clothes Campaign, was quoted by the Future News as saying that stopping the use of sweat cotton in Xinjiang is of great significance to the defense of Uyghurs’ human rights, and that even the European Union has taken the first step in 30 years to impose sanctions on some Chinese officials and companies for persecuting Uyghurs. If the political sphere is no longer timid, the economic sphere should no longer make excuses.
Rusty said that multinational apparel companies have a strong influence, I hope that through the Italian national brands, so that more international apparel companies realize that 84% of China’s cotton is the product of forced labor of Uighurs in Xinjiang, international brands should uphold the “United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” and stop using Xinjiang cotton as soon as possible to appeal to the Chinese government to respect the human rights of ethnic minorities. The Chinese government should respect the human rights of ethnic minorities.
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