As fast fashion brand Shein faces scrutiny for not responding to allegations of human rights abuses in their supply chain, activist Shawn Shieh discusses human rights abuses in the wider fashion industry and how consumers can help end abuse in the supply chain.
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00:00While the use of forced labor allegations against fast fashion supplier Shine have gone
00:07to parliamentarians in the UK, there are other issues in the fashion supply chain.
00:12Can you talk a little bit about how these issues arise within Taiwan's fashion supply
00:17chain?
00:18This problem with Shine has been going on for quite a while.
00:23But yeah, it does highlight the problems that also exist in Taiwan which has a pretty extensive
00:29supply chain within the apparel industry.
00:32Recently there were about 20 some odd global brands, so brands such as Gap and North Face,
00:42Patagonia, I mean, that came to Taiwan to pressure the Taiwan government to do something
00:48about forced labor within Taiwan company supply chains in the apparel industry.
00:55And this had specifically to do with the treatment of migrant workers, in particular
01:01asking migrant workers to bear the burden of paying brokerage fees for local brokers
01:08that were bringing them to Taiwan.
01:12And in general, the company said, you know, the best practice is for the companies to
01:16pay the brokerage fee and not to put the burden on workers.
01:20Can you address and explain to the audience some of these issues and abuses that we see
01:25within the supply chain?
01:27Yeah, what we see is, you know, so examples, problems with, you know, brokerage or labor
01:32agencies abusing their power.
01:35These workers, when they go to another country, they tend to work in a very confined environment.
01:44They may not speak the language.
01:46They don't have as much recourse to, for example, the local labor unions.
01:51Other kinds of problems occur with like especially with female migrant workers or female workers
01:59themselves who, you know, encounter problems of sexual harassment, sexual abuse in the
02:05workplace.
02:06And, you know, these are things that when I talk about migrant workers, I'm not just
02:11talking about those who come from other countries, but also those who come maybe from other parts
02:16of that country, from the countryside to come work in the cities.
02:20Also problems with sanitation, the kind of sanitary environment, sanitary facilities
02:26provided to, you know, workers as well is another issue, another big complaint that's
02:31made by workers in general.
02:34From a consumer and a public policy perspective, what can be done to put an end to these abuses
02:41within the fashion industry?
02:43Yeah, I think consumers can just be aware of the conditions under which, you know, these
02:47clothes, whether it's fast fashion or other types of apparel are produced, I mean, and
02:56to be informed, be informed about these kinds of problems and to, you know, maybe make also
03:04consumer choices about the kinds of companies that do a better job in terms of mitigating
03:10these kinds of problems, as opposed to other companies that have a poor reputation or poor
03:15record of that.
03:17Policy-wise, the EU act on, they have a directive on forced labor and also a directive on the
03:26mandatory human rights due diligence, requiring large companies to do that kind of due diligence
03:31in their supply chains.