The French investigation opened in June 2021 targeting clothing giants such as Uniqlo and Inditex, accused by associations of having profited from the forced labor of Uyghurs in China, was dismissed on April 12, AFP learned. Thursday from a source familiar with the matter.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat), which deals with crimes against humanity in France, confirmed to AFP that it had closed this complaint because it considers itself legally incompetent.
The complainants want to "
quickly
" seize an investigating judge to resume the investigation, said their lawyer, Me William Bourdon, asked by AFP.
The investigation had been opened by the crimes against humanity unit of the Pnat after a complaint filed in April 2021 by the anti-corruption association Sherpa, the collective Ethics on the label, the Uyghur Institute of Europe (IODE) and a Uyghur having been interned in the province of Xinjiang (north-west of China).
The complaint was based on a report published in March 2020 by the Australian NGO ASPI (Australian Strategic Policy Institute).
The plaintiffs accused Uniqlo France (owned by the Japanese group Fast Retailing), Inditex (which owns the brands Zara, Bershka, Massimo Duti), SMCP (Sandro, Maje, de Fursac, etc.) and the shoemaker Skechers of marketing products manufactured wholly or partly in factories where Uyghurs are subjected to forced labor, according to these associations.
All four groups had contested any use of forced labour.
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"The incompetence of the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office"
On April 12, the Pnat informed the complainants in a letter of which AFP learned that the investigation was closed "
for reasons of absence of offense, due to the incompetence of the Pnat to prosecute the facts referred to in the complaint
”.
“
The head-to-tail of the Pnat is incomprehensible insofar as an investigation had been opened on the basis of concealment of crimes against humanity.
Two years later, it is now considered an irrelevant qualification
, “said Me Bourdon on Thursday.
Other large textile groups (Nike, Adidas, Shein, etc.) are accused of profiting from the exploitation of members of the Uyghur Muslim minority in cotton fields and workshops in the Xinjiang region.
More generally, the Chinese authorities are accused by Western countries of having massively locked up Uyghurs and other members of predominantly Muslim minorities, including Kazakhs, in re-education camps, after bloody attacks in the Xinjiang region.
Their number is sometimes estimated at more than a million.
Washington and several countries evoke a "
genocide
" and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of crimes against humanity.
These accusations are rejected by Beijing, which defends vocational training centers intended to combat religious extremism and ensure social stability.