<
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/aug/24/kmart-supply-chain-federal-court-australia-modern-slavery-laws>
"The letter was effusively polite, the allegations anything but.
“We have the honour to address you,” the seven United Nations special
rapporteurs began their correspondence to the head of Jiangsu Guotai Guosheng
garment factory in China’s Xinjiang province.
The 2021 letter then detailed allegations of brutal working conditions for
members of China’s Uyghur minority, reportedly forcibly transported hundreds of
kilometres and arbitrarily detained for re-education and forced labour.
“Workers are reportedly required to work in fenced-in factories … allegedly
exposed to intimidation, coercion, threats, and restriction on their freedom of
movement, and are subjected to surveillance by security personnel and through
digital tools.”
The UN experts asked for more information about their “grave concerns”.
“The alleged forced detention and labour of members of the Uyghur minority and
their living conditions may amount to torture or other degrading, cruel or
inhuman treatment,” they wrote.
There was no response.
Four years later, the letter to Guotai is now a part of a federal court case
brought by the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association (AUTWA) against
the retailer Kmart, seeking preliminary discovery of documents relating to
Kmart’s supply chains and potential links to forced labour in the Uyghur
homeland, known as Xinjiang or East Turkestan.
Guotai appears on Kmart’s 2025 factory list.
Guotai not only appears on Kmart’s factory list: the company or its parent is
present in at least four lists publicly reported in Australia, including Target
(which is owned, like Kmart, by Wesfarmers), Big W (owned by Woolworths) and
Fast Retailing, the company behind Uniqlo.
There is no prohibition on using Guotai as a supplier.
Australia’s modern slavery laws only require that companies report on their
supply chains. And if they fail to report, there is no penalty."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
