MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st June, 2023) The Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) said on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint with German regulators against several of the country's automotive giants, VW, BMW and Mercedes Benz, over their use of components produced in China's Uyghur region allegedly under conditions of forced labor.
"In the manufacture of their vehicles, VW, BMW and Mercedes-Benz use raw materials and components that, according to multiple reports, are mined and produced under conditions of forced labor in the Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region (Uyghur Region). ECCHR has now filed a complaint against the three automakers with the German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA)," the organization said in a statement.
The ECCHR added that, pursuant to the new Supply Chain Act, which went into effect in Germany on January 1, 2023, all companies are now required to conduct climate and human rights due diligence of their suppliers before making commercial agreements with them, otherwise they could be fined up to 2% of their total annual global sales or suspended from government contracts for up to three years.
The organization cited a UN report on the human rights situation in the Uyghur region according to which the Chinese government subjects the Uyghur people to repression and forced labor. Therefore, the three automakers, which maintain supply relationships with factories in the region, could be liable for complicity in China's alleged Uyghur forced labor program, the statement read.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported earlier in the day that VW was considering conducting an external investigation at its plant in northwestern China.
