Canada Investigating Guess? Canada for Alleged Links to Uyghur Forced Labor
The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) recently opened an investigation on whether Guess? jeans or other products of Guess? Canada contain yarn, fabric or cotton made or grown with Uyghur forced labor.
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Guess? Canada denies the allegation, brought by human rights groups, that the company sources from Shandong Zoucheng Guosheng, Luthai Textile Co. Ltd., and Xinjiang Zhongtai Group, companies identified by Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Sheffield Hallam researchers as using Uyghur forced labor. Zhongtai is also listed on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List.
"The company claims that the CORE does not provide credible evidence and that the Chinese companies identified through the reports are not present on its supplier list," the Canadian government wrote. CORE also said that Guess? Canada complains that the agency doesn't acknowledge Guess's responses to the allegations.
"While Guess? Canada has responded to the complaint, its response does not appear to consider fully the complex nature of the garment supply chain, discounts risks at the lower tiers of its supply chain and creates a gap in the available information that warrants an investigation," CORE wrote.