Forced labour: clothing brands have the chance to press China amid post-virus slowdown, rights advocate says | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3088857/forced-labour-clothing-brands-have-chance-press-china-amid
It is chilling to think that many of us have at least one item of clothing in our wardrobes made by forced Uygur labour
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As consumers, it is a difficult issue to police. Nearly a quarter of the world’s raw cotton is turned into fabric in Xinjiang, a region in China where the Uygur minority group are persecuted and – according to human rights organisations – some are made to work in apparel factories against their will.
Hundreds of global companies buy cotton and make goods in Xinjiang, including Lacoste – which was found to be manufacturing gloves in a government detention centre – Muji, Uniqlo, H&M, Esprit and Adidas.
“You can’t ever be sure that you don’t have coerced labour in your supply chain if you do cotton business in China,” says Nathan Ruser, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). “Xinjiang labour and what is almost certainly coerced labour is very deeply entrenched into the supply chain that exists in Xinjiang.”