German Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil visits Adidas (December 5)

On the occasion of his upcoming visit to Adidas AG, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls on German Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil to use his visit to demand the sports equipment company to address the issue of possible Uyghur forced labor in its supply chains. Adidas is a sponsor of the European Football Championship 2024 in Germany: “Companies such as Adidas – which benefit from major events like this one and whose products are worn by athletes and fans – have the responsibility to comply with the provisions of the supply chain law,” stated Hanno Schedler, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, on Friday. “Bjørn Gulden, the new Adidas boss, describes himself as a ‘China fan’ and is trying to gain market share there. This, however, this must not be at the expense of the victims of state-imposed forced labor.” 

In the region of Xinjiang / East Turkestan, members of Turkic peoples – especially the Uyghurs and the Kazakhs – are often submitted to forced labor, in various sectors of the economy. Chinese propaganda labels this as “measures to fight poverty”. “In reality, the aim is to monitor and suppress the Turkic people in the region. In recent years, certification companies such as TÜV Süd have withdrawn from the region because the authorities are actively obstructing independent verification of the working conditions there,” Schedler stated. The “Better Cotton Initiative” (BCI) had already withdrawn from Xinjiang in 2020. Adidas is one of the founding members of the BCI. The according statement was later deleted from the BCI website – probably due to pressure from China.

80 to 90 percent of Chinese cotton is produced in Xinjiang / East Turkestan, and Uyghur forced labor is an integral part of the Chinese cotton sector. Following several reports on Uyghur forced labor in 2019 and 2020, Adidas had announced plans to stop collaborating with the Chinese company Huafu in Xinjiang and to stop using cotton from the region. In May 2022, however, the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) had reported on the results of an isotope analysis by the Agroisolab in Jülich, according to which Adidas products contained cotton from Xinjiang. “Adidas has a responsibility to re-examine its supply chains and to publicly explain possible measures to ensure that no forced labor is used in its products,” Schedler added.