JAKARTA - The Investors Alliance for Human Rights called on companies based in the United States to keep highlighting allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, China, amid escalating tensions recently.
The group, which consists of more than 50 investors and is supported by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, revealed that it is in the process of contacting more than 40 companies, including H&M, VF Corp, Hugo Boss, and owner of Zara Inditex.
The goal is to request more information about their raw material supply chain. But at the same time, to ask related companies to get out of situations that could cause human rights violations.
Program Director of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, Anita Dorett, said that her party is worried that a number of companies are experiencing pressure from social media and Chinese authorities regarding the Xinjiang issue.
It is feared that a number of companies have removed criticism of forced labor on company-owned websites. Or, the company promised to buy more cotton from Xinjiang for fear of a backlash.
"As investors, we want transparency and accountability. This is their business. If they don't know what's going on, who will?", Dorett told Reuters.
The investors' alliance said companies that deleted or removed statements relating to Xinjiang did so out of fear of commercial retribution from the Chinese government.
Dorett said compliance rules are being developed in other markets, including the European Union, requiring them to fully disclose their supply chains.
As previously reported, a number of Western brands such as H&M, Burberry, Nike, Adidas, and others, were boycotted in China over the past week due to concerns over forced labor in Xinjiang.
The boycott wave coincides with sanctions imposed by Britain, Canada, the European Union, and the United States for what it says are human rights violations against the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group and other minorities that are taking place in Xinjiang.
Swedish fashion retailer H&M has stopped posting links to 2020 statements about Xinjiang on its website since Friday last week. Meanwhile, Inditex's Statement on forced labor on its website was no longer available as of last Thursday.
The original VF Corp statement in Xinjiang is no longer available, with the new statement published elsewhere on the website. A company representative on Tuesday said the company had not changed its position, policies or practices, without discussing a new location for the statement.
Last week, Hugo Boss said through his Chinese social media account that they would continue to buy Xinjiang cotton. Although the company spokesperson Carolin Westermann said Hugo Boss had not purchased any goods from Xinjiang.
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It is known that the Investors' Alliance for Human Rights has more than 160 institutional investors and other organizations as members, owning more than USD 5 trillion in assets currently under management, according to its website.
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