The Finnish clothing manufacturer Reima has said the company is ending its partnership with a Chinese subcontractor after Finnish media Yle published an investigative report on possible links to forced labor.
According to Yle’s reports, Reima has used a Chinese subcontractor named Haoyuanpeng, which also has a factory in Xinjiang. Haoyuanpeng has reportedly been involved in Chinese government programs that researchers say are linked to Uighur forced labor.
Reima said in a company statement Sunday that in the light of allegations made in the Yle article, there is a risk that not all of Reima’s requirements are met in the company’s operations.
Reima communications manager Riikamaria Paakkunainen said, “We have zero tolerance for human rights violations, and in light of the allegations that have arisen, there is a risk that not all of our requirements will be met in the operations of the Haoyuanpeng Group.”
According to Reima, the company has not ordered products from the Haoyuanpeng plant in Xinjiang, but from the company’s other plant in eastern China. “Although our products have never been manufactured in their Xinjiang factory, we have decided to stop cooperating with this group of companies,” Riikamaria Paakkunainen said.
Previously, Reima told Yle that the clothing manufacturer would not buy raw materials from or manufacture products in Xinjiang.
