Tell Zara: Stop Profiting From Uyghur Forced Labour
Zara CEO, Óscar Pérez Marcote
Help Free Uyghurs From Forced Labour in China
People belonging to ethnic, cultural, and religious groups in northwestern China, including Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Hui, are currently the target of the largest organized detention of an ethno-religious minority the world has seen since World War II. Since 2017, over one million have been detained.
Detainees are made to work under constant surveillance, with assigned minders and no freedom to leave. Their forced labour contributes to the production of goods for numerous multinationals.
Countless Western companies are also profiting from this system of forced labour in their supply chains. Over 20 percent of the global apparel industry’s cotton supply is grown in the Uyghur Region, the source of 84 percent of China’s output.
Spanish-based retailer Zara, like almost all companies, claims to prohibit forced labour in its supply chains, yet offers no credible explanation as to how it can do this considering its links to a region where all goods are likely to be tainted by forced labour. By continuing to operate in and maintaining links to the region, fashion brands like these are complicit in what many have widely recognized as crimes against humanity.
For More Information
"Eight things you can do to help Uyghurs in a time of genocide," Uyghur Human Rights Project
End #ForcedLabourFashion Now - campaign website
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To:
Zara CEO, Óscar Pérez Marcote
From:
[Your Name]
I demand that Zara end its complicity in Uyghur forced labour.
Zara’s parent company, Inditex, claims to have a “a zero-tolerance approach towards forced labour of any kind.” But independent research shows that Inditex maintains relationships with Huafu Fashion and Luthai Textile, two major textile companies that are complicit in China’s state-sponsored system of forced labour, targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim people. Moreover, with forced labour being widespread in the Uyghur Region, which accounts for 20% of the world’s cotton, there is an enormous risk that the cotton used to sew shirts and dresses for Zara are made with Uyghur forced labour.
We are tired of hearing Zara’s empty words. Zara needs to take real action and prioritize the lives and dignity of the Uyghur people over their own profits. The only way to ensure that Zara is not complicit in Uyghur forced labour is by committing to each of the steps of the Brand Commitment to Exit the Uyghur Region.
Please write back and tell me what actions Zara will take to ensure that none of its clothes are connected to Uyghur forced labour in China.