(OTTAWA) Canada’s corporate accountability watchdog is investigating whether Walmart, Hugo Boss and Diesel use forced labor in their supply chains.
Sheri Meyerhoffer, the Canadian Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise, released three reports on Thursday saying none of the companies have done enough to demonstrate that the products they sell in Canada are free of forced labor.
The Canadian subsidiaries of the three companies are accused of relying on suppliers who source materials from Uyghurs, who are forced to work in China’s Xinjiang region.
Walmart, Hugo Boss and Diesel all say they follow strict anti-slavery protocols and investigate the source of their products, but Meyerhoffer said none of them provided enough information about specific claims.
The main challenge, she said, is that products from Xinjiang are often processed in other countries, which means imports from countries like Vietnam could involve Chinese forced labor if not carefully traced. .
All seven initial assessments announced by the ombudsman so far relate to allegations of forced labor involving the Uyghur people, although Beijing insists it has never authorized the practice.
