Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), Canada’s corporate watchdog on Tuesday (August 15) against Canadian unit of Ralph Lauren, the high-end fashion brand over allegations that it made use of forced labour from China’s Uyghur minority. The watchdog has already launched several similar probes against Nike Canada and Dynasty Gold, a mining firm.
Ralph Lauren’s US parent company, she said, has disputed Canadian jurisdiction over this matter. It has argued that its subsidiary in Canada “is not responsible for decision-making” and that all of its operations are overseen from US headquarters.
Rights groups have been saying that more than one million Uyghurs and individuals from other Muslim minorities have been sent by China in re-education camps. Uyghur Muslims population is mostly situated in China’s western Xinjiang region. Rights groups have been alleging that minorities have been facing slew of abused including forced labour.
China, though it denies these allegations, has faced a lot of flak from Western nations, including Canada. The Western countries have called the crackdown in Xinjiang a genocide. In addition to this, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has deemed treatment of Uyghurs a crime against humanity.
