In the coming week, the Parisian judiciary will be hearing lawsuits against Zara, Uniqlo, Sandro and Skechers. Several human rights organizations and individuals are suing these companies for human rights violations due to the misuse of cotton materials from Xinjiang, China, which are allegedly produced by forced labor of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. This is the first large-scale judicial action in France, the public prosecutor said that the prosecution will be in Europe and many places around the world, accused and prosecuted for the alleged use of Xinjiang cotton companies. How these companies respond to the lawsuit is also under the spotlight.
Did Zara, Uniqlo, Sandro, or famous ready-to-wear brands, including Skechers, use cotton and cotton products made by Uyghurs in Xinjiang that were subjected to forced labor? Several human rights NGOs first filed a lawsuit in Paris against the four brands for human rights violations and allegedly concealing forced labor and crimes against humanity.
Zara, Uniqlo, Sandro and Skechers, as well as the supply, service and sales chains associated with the four brands, including Bershka, and Massimo Duti, SMCP (Sandro, Maje, de Fursac…) All of them are charged jointly and severally. The accusers are the anti-corruption NGO Sherpa, the trademark ethics group le collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette, the European Uyghur Institute l’Institut ouïghour d’Europe (IODE), and a Uyghur woman who has been imprisoned in Xinjiang.
According to AFP, the lawsuit was made public in Paris the previous Friday by a joint announcement, which informed that the lawsuit would be filed in several European locations. According to the announcement, the Paris lawsuit is just one part of a worldwide campaign by human rights organizations defending Uighurs.
The fate of the Uighur minority, a predominantly Muslim population of 25 million in Xinjiang, has recently sparked an increasingly acrimonious conflict between the West and China. Several countries, including the United States, have used the word ethnic massacre to accuse, while some NGOs have accused China of holding more than a million people in political rehabilitation centers camps since 2017.
Communist China denies the figure, explaining it is a vocational retraining facility designed to keep Uighurs away from the radical Islamic religion and separatism that has been accused of terror attacks, the report said.
Several ready-to-wear companies including Japan’s Uniqlo, Sweden’s H&M, the U.S.’s Nike or Germany’s Adidas announced boycotts of Xinjiang cotton last year, but they are now being boycotted in China in turn.
According to AFP, the lawsuit in France, filed on behalf of lawyer William Bourdon, is based on an investigation report issued by the Australian non-governmental organization ASPI (Australian Strategic Policy Institute) in March 2020, which counts the use of Xinjiang cotton, in whole or in part, in garments and shoes. According to the ASPI (Australian Strategic Policy Institute) report, published in March 2020, there are various suspicions that Uyghurs are subjected to forced labor in factories that produce cotton and products.
Human rights groups argue that these accused companies have not been thorough in their efforts to boycott Xinjiang cotton because their upstream and downstream supply chains have not been assured that they will not participate in the persecution of Uyghurs.
Based on the details revealed, the prosecution wants the companies to be convicted of concealing slavery, concealing organized human persecution or genocide, and crimes against humanity.
Inditex, a leading Spanish company, has been accused of being deeply involved in the import and export of forced labor products for Uyghurs in Xinjiang, but the company denies the charges.
Japan’s Uniqlo, despite a clear statement of resistance to the forced labor of Xinjiang cotton, is accused of deep-rolling the production of raw materials in the Xinjiang region as well as in Anhui, where, according to the allegations, thousands of Uyghurs labor, who are likely to be forced to migrate.
And SMCP, whose main shareholder is Topsoho, is owned by Shandong Ruyi, which has built several factories in Xinjiang.
As for the American shoe company Skeche, its French subsidiary has a factory in Guangdong, which, according to the prosecution, employs Uyghurs, who are also allegedly forced to work long distances.
AFP said that according to the prosecution’s announcement, it will hold a joint press conference in Paris tomorrow, Monday, where sociologist Dilnur Reyhan, co-founder of the European Uyghur Academy, and European Parliamentarian Raphaël Glucksmann will be present. Raphaël Glucksmann was recently sanctioned by China for criticizing the Chinese authorities for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and for ignoring forced labor in the European Union’s investment agreement with China.
As for the Sino-European investment agreement, according to the French presidency, France reiterated its frequent warnings to China about French expectations and urged China to ratify the UN ILO conventions, especially the regulations on forced labor, according to AFP. France also said that it shares the great concern of European popular opinion about the overall situation in Xinjiang.
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