The French National Antiterrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) has opened an investigation against four companies in the textile sector for concealing crimes against humanity, a procedure linked to the suspicions of forced labor suffered by members of the Muslim Uyghur community in China’s Xinjiang province, according to the international press.

From a judicial source, the companies targeted by the investigation are Uniqlo France, owned by the Japanese Fast Retailing, Inditex, which notably owns Zara, SMCP and Skechers.

The anti-terrorism prosecution opened the investigation following a complaint. In April, NGOs lodged a complaint against these companies for “concealment of the crime of reduction in aggravated servitude”, “concealment of the crime of trafficking in human beings in an organized gang” or “concealment of the crime of genocide and crime against humanity ”. Which companies reject these accusations.

This investigation opened for concealment of crimes against humanity, an extremely rare initiative of the French prosecution, we note.

On the Muslim Uyghur community, the United States accused China of genocide and crimes against humanity in the Xinjiang region, citing the detention of more than one million people, mostly from Muslim minorities, in forced labor camps. Beijing denies these charges.

In March, several countries and the European Union imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de presse