Costco

Retailer
Written By Lina K

In March 2020, Costco was named in ASPI’s report as one of at least 82 global brands whose supply chains were highly likely to contain Uyghur forced labour. Costco did not respond to the report’s findings, though in a virtual shareholder meeting in February 2021, Costco’s CEO offered no explicit denial of the forced labour accusation.

Costco was also named in a report from the Helena Kennedy Centre, published in November 2021, as one of many international brands whose supply chains were linked to textile companies known to source cotton from Xinjiang, who also own subsidiaries documented to have employed state-sponsored labour transfers.

Reading:

Featured
Investigation
Laundering Cotton: How Xinjiang Cotton is Obscured in International Supply Chains
Investigation

An investigation into how forced-labor-produced cotton and cotton-based goods from the Uyghur Region wend their way into international supply chains. Based on international trade and customs data, the report concludes that at the same time as Xinjiang cotton has come to be associated with human rights abuses and to be considered high risk for international brands, China's cotton industry has benefited from an export strategy that obscures cotton's origin in the Uyghur Region.

Investigation
Investigation
Uyghurs for Sale: ‘Re-education’, forced labour and surveillance beyond Xinjiang
Investigation

(First published 1 March 2020) The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.

Investigation
Reporting
Coscto Dodges Allegations That Its Supply Chain Main Utilize Slave Labor
Reporting

Costco leaders sidestepped suggestions yesterday that the company’s Chinese supply chain may involve Uyghur Muslim slave labor. Craig Jelinek, CEO of the big box wholesaler, instead offered no explicit denial of the forced labor accusation, while claiming the company has internal methods to handle the issue.

Reporting
Lina K
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