A human rights group filed a complaint to German prosecutors on Monday alleging that several fashion retailers profited from forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region.
The Berlin-based European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) accuses Lidl, Hugo Boss (BOSSn.DE) and other retailers of abetting and profiting directly or indirectly from forced labour in Xinjiang’s cotton industry, according to the 96-page complaint received by prosecutors in the Karlsruhe federal court.
China denies Western countries’ accusations that it mistreats minority Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, or that forced labour is carried out there. A spokesperson at the Chinese embassy in Berlin was not immediately available to comment.
