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An investigation into how forced-labor-produced cotton and cotton-based goods from the Uyghur Region wend their way into international supply chains. Based on international trade and customs data, the report concludes that at the same time as Xinjiang cotton has come to be associated with human rights abuses and to be considered high risk for international brands, China's cotton industry has benefited from an export strategy that obscures cotton's origin in the Uyghur Region.
(First published 1 March 2020) The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 82 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.
The ABC has obtained video footage showing a factory in China's Xinjiang region making clothes for one of America's biggest retailers — but the company in question claims the footage has been "spliced". A promotional video for the Chinese clothing manufacturer Golden Future showed employees at its factory in Xinjiang making stretch pants for the label Croft & Barrow. Croft & Barrow is owned by the American retail giant Kohl's, and the pants are sold at its 1,150 stores across the United States.