When a fashion industry sustainability group called out China over its treatment of Uighur Muslims, the idea was to nudge Beijing toward human rights reforms while cleaning up a troubled corner of the US$60 billion global cotton business. Western brands have learned the hard way that things do not work that way in China.
In the 12 months since the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), whose members range from Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing Co to Nike Inc to Walmart Inc, published a statement on allegations of forced labor in the cotton-growing Xinjiang region, several brands have suffered major setbacks in China, one
The suit accuses Spain-based Inditex (whose brands include Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear and Stradivarius), France-based SMCP (comprised of Parisian brands, Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and De Fursac), U.S.-based footwear company Skechers, and the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo, of being accomplices in serious crimes, including concealment of the crime of forced labor, the crime of organized human trafficking, the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity.
The plaintiffs are asking the French judiciary to rule on the possible criminal liability of the companies. The stated aim is to end impunity for the brands, which are accused of offloading on their subcontractors their responsibility for human rights.
Companies are being pressured to scrub from their websites language about corporate policies on human rights, reverse decisions to stop buying cotton produced in Xinjian, and remove maps that depict Taiwan as an independent country.
In October 2020, the Geneva-based Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), an influential non-profit group that promotes sustainable cotton production, suspended licensing of Xinjiang cotton, citing allegations and increasing risks of forced labor. The statement has since been scrubbed from the BCI website, and, disturbingly, also is not accessible on the Internet Archive.
In March 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in a report, Uyghurs for Sale, revealed that Uyghurs were working in factories under conditions of forced labor that are in the supply chains of more than 80 well-known global brands in the clothing, automotive and technology sectors.