The Canadian Ombudsman for Corporate Responsibility (CORE) announced Monday that it was launching an investigation into Guess for possible links to the forced labor of Uyghurs in China.
Ombudsman Sheri Meyerhoffer says fashion company hasn’t done enough to prove it doesn’t have sourcing relationships with Chinese companies that obtain materials from factories that employ forced workers to work.
Guess disputes this claim, saying that Mme Meyerhoffer lacks credible evidence and that the three Chinese companies it cites are not on its list of suppliers.
Guess also argued that it did not have the authority to review the matter, since the Canadian subsidiary is not involved in the work carried out abroad, CORE said.
The watchdog launched similar investigations this year into Canadian branches of companies including Levi Strauss, Walmart, Hugo Boss and Nike.
China has strongly rejected allegations that forced labor is taking place, saying they are not based on evidence and are aimed at smearing Beijing.
The United Nations found in 2022 that China has committed serious human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province, which “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”.
Beijing disputed this information.
Confidentiality unclear
“Although Guess Canada has provided information on its due diligence policies, it has not responded to the complaint filed against it. This is why we will carry out an investigation based on independent research of the facts,” wrote Mr.me Meyerhoffer in a press release.
“Guess Canada’s response does not take into account the complexity of the clothing sector’s supply chain,” she adds.
Its report says Guess Canada requested that some of the information provided to its office be kept confidential and not disclosed to the people who filed the complaint, who are mostly Uyghur advocacy groups.
Yet Sheri Meyerhoffer says the company did not specify, when asked, which parts of certain documents provided were to remain private. His report therefore does not mention the details of Guess Canada’s response.