Amazon silenced criticism of Xi to do business in China: Report
Amazon’s efforts to curry favor with the Chinese government included quieting criticism of President Xi Jinping’s book on its Chinese outlet, according to a Reuters report.
Laundering Cotton: How Xinjiang Cotton is Obscured in International Supply Chains
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.
Big Brands Face a $110 billion dilemma with the Beijing Olympics
In response to questions from Bloomberg about involvement in the 2022 Olympics, Omega said: “As a global brand, we are certainly aware of international tensions and monitor them carefully.… We sincerely believe that the Olympic Games is a perfect opportunity to meet on common ground in the spirit of unity.” Airbnb told Bloomberg that, “We believe China is an important part of our mission to connect people from around the world and from different backgrounds, now more than ever.”
Olympics Sponsors in Spotlight as Games Loom
The International Olympic Committee’s major corporate sponsors should explain publicly how they are using their leverage to address human rights abuses in China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, Human Rights Watch said today. Sponsors should also press the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to adopt a human rights policy to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for any adverse human rights impacts across all Olympic operations and events, including for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Winter Olympics top sponsors ‘silent’ over China’s human rights record
Corporate sponsors of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics have been accused of “squandering the opportunity” to pressure China to address its “appalling human rights record”. The Games’ top level sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Procter & Gamble, Intel and Visa, were on Friday accused of ignoring China’s alleged “crimes against humanity against Uyghurs” and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang as well the repression of free speech in Hong Kong.
Swedish Ericsson connected to forced labor factory in China
New evidence shows that the Swedish networking and telecommunications company Ericsson has been doing business with a Chinese factory accused of using the Uighur Muslims minority for forced labor. Swedish media GT has uncovered hidden documents that show that Ericsson has been a customer at the criticized factory.
Xinjiang forced labour: Retailers face legal action in Germany
In September, a human rights group filed a complaint to German prosecutors alleging that five retailers, including C&A, Lidl, and HUGO BOSS, profited from forced labour in Xinjiang. Following an investigation, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) submitted a case that also targeted two supermarket chains, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. Miriam Saage-Maass of the ECCHR said there was plenty of evidence to suggest forced labour was taking place.
Muslim-American coalition calls for Hilton boycott over planned hotel on Uyghur mosque
Over 40 Muslim-American civil rights NGOs announced their campaign calling for the boycott of Hilton Worldwide over plans to build a hotel on the site of a mosque destroyed by Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In July, a bipartisan US congressional commission called on Hilton Worldwide not to allow its name to be associated with the hotel project.
Retail chains remove Chinese surveillance technology from shelves
Three major retail chains announced that they would no longer sell video surveillance hardware from companies linked to human rights abuses. Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy announced that they had removed all surveillance technology made by Chinese companies Lorex and Ezviz due to their connections.
Uyghurs for Sale: ‘Re-education’, forced labour and surveillance beyond Xinjiang
(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.
US electronics firm struck deal to transport and hire Uyghur workers
U.S. remote-control maker Universal Electronics Inc (UEIC.O) told Reuters it struck a deal with authorities in Xinjiang to transport hundreds of Uyghur workers to its plant in the southern Chinese city of Qinzhou, the first confirmed instance of an American company participating in a transfer program described by some rights groups as forced labor.
‘There’s cameras everywhere’: testimonies detail far-reaching surveillance of Uyghurs in China
Expert testimony at the Uyghur Tribunal detailed how companies like Huawei, the multinational hardware firm, and Hikvision, the largest global camera manufacturer, developed and tested technology that could play a role in the tracking and eventual detention of Uyghur and other ethnic and religious minorities.
Hitachi Rail's statement on modern slavery
“Following the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute that implicated several Chinese companies as having allegedly directly or indirectly benefitted from the use of Uyghur workers forcibly moved outside the Xinjiang region through an abusive labour transfer program, one of these Chinese companies was a business that we have a non-supplier affiliation with. We have since conducted an independent onsite third party audit based on SA8000 and await the report findings.”
German companies accused of profiting from forced Uighur Muslim labour in China
Several German companies have been accused of "profiting" from the forced labour of Uyghur Muslims in China. The allegation was made by the Berlin-based NGO, The European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). High-profile brands including clothing chains Hugo Boss and C&A, and the discount chains Lidl, Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud were named in the complaint.
Shein: China fashion giant investigates 'false' anti-Uyghur job ads
Chinese fast fashion firm Shein has launched an investigation into "false" discriminatory job adverts posted on recruitment sites under its name. Adverts seen by the BBC for factory and warehouse workers said those from certain ethnic minority backgrounds, including Uyghurs, must not apply. Shein said it did not fund or approve the ads, and it was committed to "upholding high labour standards".
Levi's Vacates Better Cotton Initiative Board Seat. Is Xinjiang to blame?
Levi Strauss’s sustainability czar has exited the board of the Better Cotton Initiative, cutting short a four-year term that was scheduled to end next year, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people close to the matter. BCI, which declined to “provide input on this topic,” updated its website early Friday to strike Levi’s from its so-called BCI Council. BCI’s leadership, members of the Geneva-based not-for-profit told the Wall Street Journal, remains deeply divided over its response to suspected human-rights abuses, including forced labor, in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
US Tech Products Enable Chinese Surveillance in Xinjiang, Researchers Find
U.S. technology companies are still supplying China’s surveillance state with equipment and software for monitoring populations and censoring information, including in the Xinjiang region, despite damning revelations that have led to genocide accusations against Beijing, according to researchers.
In the midst of the Uyghur scandal, the managing director of Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot resigns
The SMCP group, which owns the Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot brands, has just announced the departure of its managing director Daniel Lalonde. If the textile giant says that his resignation has “nothing to do” with the scandal of the Uyghurs, the group is nevertheless facing a crisis. In early July, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation targeting him for “concealing a crime against humanity”.
Reports of forced labor are driving brands to abandon Chinese cotton
Early last year, amid mounting reports of forced labor and human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), U.S. outdoor apparel maker Patagonia resolved to stop sourcing cotton from China. From April 2020 on, the brand’s global suppliers had to vet and eliminate any links to the world’s largest cotton producer. The decision wasn’t easy. China accounts for roughly 20% of global cotton supply, and Xinjiang produces some of the highest-grade cotton in the world.