Forced labor of Uyghurs: filing of a complaint in France against multinationals for concealment of forced labor and crimes against humanity
Sherpa, the Collectif Ethique sur l'étiquette, the Uyghur Institute of Europe and an Uyghur victim, represented by the law firm Bourdon & Associés, are filing a complaint with the Paris Prosecutor Office against several multinationals in the garment industry that may be involved, through their suppliers, in the forced labor imposed on the Uyghur population.
The complaint targets a large number of brands and distributors in the fashion sector and exposes the impunity of transnational corporations that profit from these crimes through their modus operandi and business model...
...[A]ccording to public information available to date, the companies Inditex (including the brands Zara, Bershka, Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti etc.), Uniqlo, SMCP (including Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot, De Fursac) and Sketchers, as well as many other transnational companies, continue to subcontract part of their production or to market goods using cotton produced in the region, thus knowingly taking advantage in their value chain of the workforce in a region where crime against humanity are being perpetrated...
This complaint is the first of a series of filings organized by ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights) that will be filed in the coming months in other European countries...