Supermarkets ‘putting profits above human rights’, MP says
In an urgent question in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Champion described the UK’s product labeling as “weak and confusing”
The chair of the International Development Select Committee also called for more information to be provided to consumers about which countries product ingredients come from, and for stronger legislation to effectively ban the import of products made with forced labour.
UK supply chains are “riddled with Uyghur forced labor products” because human rights due diligence is “optional” for British companies, Champion said.
She said: “I say to the supermarkets, you are all complicit in putting profits before human rights and I hope the British public do the right thing and make their mark in their pockets and in their wallets.”
BBC Eye’s Blood on the Shelf investigation found a total of 17 products – the majority of which were own-brand sold by retailers in the UK and Germany – may contain Chinese tomatoes, according to tests commissioned by the BBC World Service.
Most Chinese tomatoes come from the Xinjiang region, whose production is linked to forced labor by Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities.
China denies forcing people to work in the tomato industry and says workers’ rights are protected by law. It said the U.N. report was based on “disinformation and lies.”
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who also commented on the BBC Eye investigation, echoed Champion’s call for an effective ban on such products, backed by criminal sanctions.
Business and Trade Secretary Douglas Alexander responded to the House of Commons debate, saying he was concerned and the government was reviewing the Modern Slavery Bill and would “engage with relevant companies to try to provide more clarity.” Determine the exact facts behind these underlying causes”. Worrying report.”
Alexander added: “We need to send a clear and unambiguous signal that no company in the UK operating within the existing legal framework should have any forced labor in its supply chain”.
On Monday, Baroness Hayman, parliamentary deputy secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Ullock, said Defra was “looking at labeling as a way of better informing consumers”, before Monday ahead of calls for new legislation.
