British Grocery Chain Tesco Stops Work With Chinese Factory Over Forced Prison Labor Allegations

Topline: Tesco, a British grocery retailer, suspended work with a Chinese factory on Sunday after a six-year-old girl found a note inside one of the supermarket’s holiday cards claiming to be from foreign prisoners in China forced to work against their will. 

• Florence Widdicombe, a six-year-old in south London, found the message reading: “We are foreign prisoners in Shanghai Qingpu prison China. Forced to work against our will. Please help us and notify human rights organisation.”
• The note went on to request that the receiver contact former journalist Peter Humphrey, who was imprisoned in China and has previously reported on prison labor in the country. 
• Ben Widdicombe, the girl’s father, contacted Humphrey, who then wrote about the prison for the Sunday Times.
• In response to the report, Tesco said it would halt work with the factory, withdraw the holiday cards in question from sale and conduct an investigation.
• The company added that as recently as last month the Shanghai Qingpu prison was audited and no evidence was found that the prison used forced labor. “We abhor the use of prison labour and would never allow it in our supply chain. We were shocked by these allegations,” the statement reads.

Crucial quote: The Widdicombes first thought the message was a prank, but changed their minds after some research. “After some reflection we thought that if someone was genuinely desperate enough to write that card we should take it seriously. When I tracked Peter down on the internet, I came across this story, and it became very serious and quite chilling in a way,” Ben Widdicombe told Sky News.

Key background: China operates a network of prison labor facilities, human rights groups say, and this isn’t the first time multinational companies have been linked to the practice. Several messages from prisoners in China have made their way into products sold by major retailers in the past few years, including Walmart and Saks Fifth Avenue. After Humprey was released in 2016, he wrote in the Financial Times that he and other foreign prisoners were paid meager wages to manufacture clothes for major fashion brands H&M and C&A. Other Chinese prisoners, he said, were also forced to work, and it is unclear if they were paid or not.