Canadian watchdog probes Nike, Gold Mining company over allegations of Uighur forced labour

livemint.com:

The Canadian human rights watchdog is conducting a probe into the subsidiary of a prominent global sportswear company, Nike, as well as a gold mining company. As per media reports, the investigation stems from claims that either their supply chains or operations in China are involved in utilizing or profiting from the forced labour of Uighur individuals.

In a release issued on Tuesday, Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) announced the “launch of two separate investigations into allegations of Uighur forced labour in the supply chains and operations of two Canadian companies". Following the completion of initial assessment reports on Nike Canada Corp and Dynasty Gold Corporation, the Canadian human rights watchdog has initiated an investigation into these companies.

The decision to proceed with the investigation was made based on two out of the 13 admissible complaints received by the watchdog regarding the overseas activities of Canadian companies. These complaints were submitted in June 2022 by a coalition comprising 28 civil society organizations.

The report related to Nike Canada details the allegation that it has supply relationships with Chinese companies “identified as using or benefitting from the use of Uighur forced labour". The company, the CORE release said, “maintains that they no longer have ties with these companies and provided information on their due diligence practices".

The second report states that the Canadian mining company “benefited from the use of Uighur forced labour at a mine in China in which Dynasty Gold holds a majority interest. Dynasty Gold’s response to the complaint is that it does not have operational control over the mine and that these allegations arose after it