New RTÉ Investigates documentary reveals cotton produced by forced labour camps in China may be found in clothes sold in major Irish retailers.
Could forced labour cotton be in your clothes?
Watch the trailer here.
RTÉ Investigates dives into Ireland’s clothing supply chains and finds that some of Ireland’s largest retailers are exposed to forced labour cotton. In a brand new documentary this Wednesday night, reporter Joe Galvin follows the threads back to China’s Xinjiang province, where people in a forced labour regime pick and process cotton that may be used to make many of the clothes sold in Ireland.
When horrifying reports of severe human rights violations and forced labour in China’s cotton heartland of Xinjiang first emerged, clothing retailers vowed to halt sourcing from the region. Evidence that China has built a system of state repression, targeting a minority known as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, has led many countries to boycott Xinjiang cotton and it is banned by the US. However, it is not illegal to import forced labour cotton into the EU.
Major Irish retailers say their cotton is not from the Xinjiang region, but can they be sure? RTÉ Investigates examines if shoppers can really be confident about the origin of cotton used in clothes sold in Ireland.
Through extensive research and painstaking investigation reporter Joe Galvin reveals that cotton from Xinjiang, picked and processed by a repressed minority called the Uyghurs, may still be found in Irish shops.
Watch RTÉ Investigates: Forced Fashion on Wednesday 24th September at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player
ENDS
For more information please and interview requests please contact: Sarah Neville, RTÉ communications.
