March 2, 2020
By Uyghur Human Rights Project
UHRP Press Release For immediate Release March 2, 2020 Contacts: Nicole Morgret +1 202-478-1920 (o), Louisa Greve +1 571-882-4825 (m)
Nike must stop making Shoes and Air Max shoes using Uighur forced labor. Nike should remove these shoes from the shelves if they were made at the Qingdao Taekwang facility, and cut off all ties with the company.
Nike, Adidas, Apple, Siemens, Tommy Hilfiger, L.L.Bean, and the other companies identified in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report, Uighurs For Sale, must end their business ties with forced-labor factories. In addition, they should undertake remediation, including aid to Uighur community associations around the world who are supporting the families of those detained by Chinese authorities, documenting the human rights crisis, and providing humanitarian relief for stateless Uighurs and refugee women and children.
“The potential harm to Uighur workers, if companies pull out, is completely outweighed by the importance of ending complicity,” said UHRP executive director Omer Kanat. “Companies that deal with suppliers using forced labor are giving a seal of approval to the Chinese government’s nightmarish treatment of Uighurs. It is time for human rights violators to pay an economic penalty for their abuses.”
UHRP urges U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to issue “Withhold Release Orders” (WROs) on goods from all 27 manufacturers identified by ASPI as using Uighur workers transported outside the Uighur Region, and the six companies identified as using workers transferred within the Uighur Region.
In addition, UHRP urges the government to levy the available civil penalties and pursue criminal prosecutions for past violations of U.S. law.
For the past 16 months, UHRP has called for private companies to end business as usual and urged aggressive U.S. government enforcement of the ban on forced-labor imports. With ASPI’s reporting and the Washington Post’s confirmation of surveillance-state conditions for Uighur workers in Taekwang’s factory in Qingdao, further delays are unacceptable.
The 83 foreign and Chinese companies named in the ASPI report deserve global condemnation for profiting from involuntary Uighur labor recruited via government-controlled labor-transfer programs:
Abercrombie & Fitch, Acer, Adidas, Alstom, Amazon, Apple, ASUS, BAIC Motor, BMW, Bombardier, Bosch, BYD, Calvin Klein, Candy, Carter’s, Cerruti 1881, Changan Automobile, Cisco, CRRC, Dell, Electrolux, Fila, Founder Group, GAC Group (automobiles), Gap, Geely Auto, General Electric, General Motors, Google, H&M, Haier, Hart Schaffner Marx, Hisense, Hitachi, HP, HTC, Huawei, iFlyTek, Jack & Jones, Jaguar, Japan Display Inc., L.L.Bean, Lacoste, Land Rover, Lenovo, LG, Li-Ning, Marks & Spencer, Mayor, Meizu, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Mitsumi, Nike, Nintendo, Nokia, The North Face, Oculus, Oppo, Panasonic, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Roewe, SAIC Motor, Samsung, SGMW, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, Sony, TDK, Tommy Hilfiger, Toshiba, Tsinghua Tongfang, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, Volkswagen, Xiaomi, Zara, Zegna, ZTE.
References:
It is past time to stop importing Chinese cotton and apparel produced by forced labor in the Uighur Region. Nov 1, 2019
- UHRP calls on all countries worldwide to stop sales of clothing made in forced-labor factories in the Uyghur Region.
UHRP Congressional Testimony on Forced Labor in China. October 17, 2019
- Congress should ban the importation of all cotton, textiles, and garments originating from Xinjiang, until the policies of mass internment and coerced labor recruitment are ended.
- Congress should pass legislation mandating that companies institute clearer transparency about their suppliers, the risk of forced labor in their supply chain, and whether they have taken measures to identify and address forced labor from Xinjiang.
- Companies must suspend all sourcing of cotton, textiles, and garments from Xinjiang.
UHRP BRIEFING: Time to end business as usual: The global response to the Uighur concentration camps in China. Nov 29, 2018
- UHRP calls upon all international companies to cease operations and sales in East Turkistan (also known as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region) as long as the Regional Government continues to operate concentration camps and total-control measures of collective punishment, including separating children from their parents and other relatives.