The complaint names Japanese retailer Uniqlo, US shoemaker Skechers, French company SMCP and Spanish retailer Inditex, owner of Zara. The rights groups say the companies are benefiting from a Chinese system of repression against Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
China has come under criticism and sanctions for detaining more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities for political re-education in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, and for imprisoning or intimidating into silence those it sees as potential opponents from Tibet to Hong Kong.
Uniqlo said in a statement to The AP on Friday that it hadn’t been formally notified of the investigation, but would cooperate fully with French authorities “to reaffirm there is no forced labour in our supply chains.”
The company said none of its production partners are located in Xinjiang. “There has been no evidence of forced labour or any other human rights violation at any of our suppliers. If there is evidence, we will cease to do business with that supplier,” it said.
Skechers said earlier this year that regular audits of its facilities in China have found no sign of forced labour.
Inditex says on its website that it takes “a zero-tolerance approach towards forced labour in any of its manifestations and we implement policies and procedures to ensure that this practice does not take place anywhere in our supply chain.”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said Friday: “We have repeatedly stressed that the so-called ‘forced labour’ in Xinjiang is a lie concocted by a small number of anti-China elements from the US and a few other countries, with the aim of disrupting Xinjiang and containing China.”
“We firmly oppose any external forces interfering in China’s internal affairs through Xinjiang-related issues,” he continued.
The human rights groups celebrated the French investigation and expressed hopes it will help shine a light on what is happening in Xinjiang.
