Beijing Winter Olympics uniforms not linked to forced labour: IOC

International Olympic Committee statement comes in response to US congressional queries about the possible use of Xinjiang cotton

IOC says due diligence found no evidence of ‘forced, bonded, indentured or child labour’

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There are concerns about forced labour camps for Muslim minorities in China’s farwestern Xinjiang region. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:28pm, 20 Jan 2022Updated: 6:41pm, 20 Jan 2022

Outfits provided to the International Olympic Committee for the Beijing Winter Games did not involve forced labour, the global sports body has said.

The IOC’s statement on Wednesday was issued in response to US lawmakers’ inquiries about the source of materials for the apparel provided to IOC staff from Chinese suppliers for the Games starting February 4.

A specific question had been asked by a US congressional commission about the apparel using cotton possibly produced in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, where there are concerns about forced labour camps for Muslim minorities.

“The IOC conducted third-party due diligence on suppliers that produced its own branded products for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022,” the Switzerland-based Olympic body said.

“This work, which started in September 2021 and is aligned with the IOC’s Supplier Code, did not find any forced, bonded, indentured or child labour.”

Uniform suppliers Anta Sports and Hengyuanxiang Group gave assurances that the products were not made by forced labour. The former said the cotton used did not originate in China, and the latter said their uniforms did not contain cotton.

Anta and HYX also provided IOC uniforms for the Tokyo Olympics last year.