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Golda girl Helen Mirren to play Israel’s only female PM in new film P24
VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY 8 April 2021
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26 Nisan 5781
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Issue No.1205
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@JewishNewsUK
Fashion victims
Wonder of wonders!
Nazi uniform maker Hugo Boss denies Uyghur slave labour claims By Michael Daventry mike@jewishnews.co.uk @MichaelDaventry
Fashion giant Hugo Boss, which notoriously used forced labour to make uniforms in Nazi Germany, has dismissed mounting allegations that it relies on a modern-day equivalent supply chain using China’s persecuted Uyghur minority. Human rights groups this week accused the luxury brand’s suppliers of using labour transfer schemes, a method where the Chinese government is said to forcibly move members of the Uyghur minority to work in factories outside of their home province of Xinjiang. Many relocations happen against their will and some people are sent from so-called “re-education camps”, campaigners say. Amid growing international scrutiny of China’s treatment of its Uyghur population, there is renewed focus on western fashion brands that use suppliers and subsuppliers to buy and process Xinjiang cotton. The International Olympic Committee was criticised this week for selecting a Chinese textiles company with links to Xinjiang as a supplier to this year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo. When asked by Jewish News, Hugo Boss did not respond directly to allegations that its Chinese suppliers and affili-
ates use forced labour or engage in human rights abuses. “All employees working for Hugo Boss suppliers worldwide must be free to choose the ways and means of the employment they pursue,” the company said. “We scrutinise all direct suppliers worldwide and demand proof that the materials used to manufacture our goods are produced according to these values and standards. This also includes identifying sub-suppliers and the production facilities they use for our goods.” It added that it had not procured any goods from direct suppliers in Xinjiang, but did not address questions about the use of labour transfer schemes among Hugo Boss’s indirect suppliers. The firm referred Jewish News to an undated statement on its website that said: “Effective starting October 2021, our new collections have been verified in line with our global standards once again.” Luke de Pulford of the World Uyghur Congress said: “Hugo Boss has not learned from history. It should know that cooperating with authoritarian regimes doesn’t end well. It will be forced to make a choice – human rights or the concentration camps of Xinjiang.” Hugo Boss apologised a decade ago after it emerged its founder Hugo Ferdinand Boss, who died in 1948, was an active Nazi Party member who oversaw a production line that supplied uniforms for the party.
STARMER’S END OF YEAR REPORT By Lee Harpin lee@jewishnews.co.uk @lmHarpin
Jewish Labour representatives have defended Sir Keir Starmer’s record as leader of the party amid mixed assessments of his first 12 months. Michael Rubin, director of Labour Friends of Israel, told Jewish News that while there was “considerably more to do” to win back the trust of the community,
Labour under Starmer had “dramatically improved” in terms of its position on the Middle East. Mike Katz of the Jewish Labour Movement, said the difference between Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn is “as clear as night and day”. Former Jewish Labour MPs Dame Louise Ellman and Ruth Smeeth also hailed what they said was the current leader’s “sincere” and “genuine” efforts to tackle antisemitism. News head-
lines in recent weeks have cast doubt on Starmer’s ability to define what he stands for during a year dominated by the government’s response to the pandemic. Starmer became leader on 4 April last year and in his first speech he referenced what he said was the “grief” antisemitism within his party had brought to the Jewish community. One month later, after being alerted to an investigation into his conduct, Professor David Miller, the Bristol University academic now at the Continued on page 4
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