Lawyers representing the SUG campaign group presented a dossier of evidence to Sheen’s legal team

Attorneys for the advocacy organization Stop Uyghur Genocide (SUG) have sent Shein’s legal team a dossier of evidence accusing the fashion behemoth of involvement in supply chain violations connected to forced labor in China’s Uyghur area.

Days before Yinan Zhu, Shein’s European legal adviser, is scheduled to testify before the UK’s Business and Trade Select Committee on January 7, the dossier was sent over. The committee’s job is to examine the Employment Rights Bill, which aims to improve safeguards against subpar labor practices, such as forced labor.

Data presented to Shein’s legal team and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last summer indicates that the company’s supply chains are “highly likely” contaminated by forced labor, especially in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), according to SUG. The area is notorious for its contentious methods of producing cotton. The advocacy organization maintains that Shein should not be allowed to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as a result of these accusations.

SUG Executive Director Rahima Mahmut called for a prompt and comprehensive examination into Shein’s labor violations. “The FCA must take a strong stance and prevent Shein’s listing on the London Stock Exchange, and the select committee must thoroughly examine labor practices,” she said. We rely on our institutions to make sure that businesses making money off of tyranny are held responsible.

The dossier raises worries that Shein’s operations would possibly breach the UK’s Modern Slavery Act if it proves that there are observable connections between cotton obtained from XUAR and forced labor. Under proceeds of crime legislation, such infractions might raise concerns about whether the company’s revenues were lawful.

These claims are in line with previous events in the US, when Shein’s listing on US markets was not recommended by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because of similar worries about forced labor in its supply chains.

SUG’s lawyer, Ricardo Gama of Leigh Day, emphasized the need of guaranteeing responsibility. “It’s crucial that companies shown to profit from criminal practices, particularly forced labour, are not allowed to raise capital in markets like London,” Gama said. “This includes the FCA, as well as MPs through parliamentary select committees.”

Shein is under pressure to respond to these grave accusations as the parliamentary inquiry, which will be headed by Liam Byrne on January 7, draws near. Citing its conviction that Shein’s supply networks are connected to contemporary slavery and may constitute proceeds of crime offenses, SUG is still pushing the FCA to prevent Shein from listing on the LSE.