Suspected forced labor in China - Swedish companies buy cotton from the region

The recent days' revelations called #ChinaCables show that the so-called retraining camps in Xinjiang Province, China, are internment camps where people are locked up and subject to abuse. This applies primarily to the Uighur ethnic group, but also to other Muslim minorities, according to secretly stamped documents and testimonies published by the international journalism network ICIJ.

According to information in the BBC and in the Wall Street Journal, extensive forced labor occurs in the camps and in factories where Uighurs are exploited and work for low wages. According to the authorities, this is part of a plan to reduce poverty among the Uighurs.

China produces a quarter of the world's cotton and just over 80 percent of cotton comes from Xinjiang. Many of the large clothing companies like Muji and Uniqlo buy their cotton from the province.

The Chinese company Huafu Fashion manufactures yarns purchased by several international fashion companies such as Esprit and Adidas. H&M also claims to have "an indirect business relationship with a yarn supplier who in turn has a subcontractor in the region," according to a written response from Cecilia Tiblad Berntsson, who is the sustainability manager for social issues at the H&M group.

Ikea also claims to have a subcontractor of yarn in the region. During an audit this summer, no signs of forced labor were found, claims Ikea's press department in a comment to SVT News.

Both companies refrain from forced labor and say they are monitoring the situation. H&M describes “a complex supply chain” and publishes the supplier lists on its website.

A dissertation from Stockholm School of Economics in 2017 showed that there was "a widespread and systematic cheating" in order to pass H&M's checks on the codes of conduct.

Investigative GP journalist Tobias Andersson Åkerblom has examined a large number of Swedish companies' clothing production in Asia.

- It is difficult for outsiders to review operations in a closed area such as Xinjiang. It is important with transparency and that companies openly report the supporting documents for their checks so that one can evaluate the information and judge whether it is credible, says Tobias Andersson Åkerblom.