PARIS: An aid group for Uighurs and other parties have filed a complaint with a Paris court against four fashion giants including Japan’s Uniqlo Co. over alleged forced labor of Uighurs in China.

The four are a French unit of clothing retailer Uniqlo, Spain’s Inditex, which runs the Zara fashion chain, footwear brand Skechers USA Inc. and French apparel giant SMCP, according to reports by media organizations including the Les Echo newspaper.

In the complaint, announced Friday, the aid group and its partners accuse the four of profiting from forced labor of Uighurs, a Chinese ethnic minority, and concealing crimes against humanity.

The four will continue selling products that use cotton made in China’s Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region, the complaint said.

On Thursday, Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing Co., the parent of Uniqlo, declined to comment on the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uighur region.

“We want to be politically neutral,” Yanai told a news conference to announce Fast Retailing’s earnings. He also declined to say whether his group uses cotton made in the region.

JIJI Press