The Telegraph. 17 March 2021

Below is an article published by The Telegraph. Photo:AFP.

Disney has come under attack from MPs after it refused to answer questions about concerns that the production of a film in China may have risked the use of forced Uighur labour. 

The business select committee said it was “deeply disappointed” the Hollywood studio had declined the invitation to give oral evidence to its inquiry and had not “engaged meaningfully” in writing. 

The live-action epic Mulan, released last year, was partly filmed in Xinjiang, home to the Uighurs, which the Government alleges is being systematically targeted in human rights abuses including mass imprisonment in “reeducation” camps and forced sterilisations. 

The United States has officially labelled China’s treatment of its Muslim minority as genocide. 

Nevertheless, in the credits of Mulan, Disney thanked Xinjiang security and media authorities. 

A report by the business select committee found that the studio has “still has many questions to answer” about how it ran the production. 

MPs added that Disney “has a responsibility to demonstrate that none of their actions supported oppression or undermined human rights during the production of Mulan”. 

They said they continued to correspond with the studio “in relation to concerns about whether it completed adequate risk assessments and put in place sufficient safeguarding measures during the production of Mulan in Xinjiang, and why it refused to answer questions before our Committee.”

Happy never after: Controversies that have dogged Disney 

The Hollywood studio has recently had to update 

content warnings for racism in classic films such as 

Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan and The 

Jungle Book. 

Animal welfare 

It has also been criticised by animal welfare groups 

in the past for its care of, and procedures for, wild 

animals at its Animal Kingdom theme park, as well as 

for using pure-bred dogs in live-action movies such as 101 Dalmatians. 

Body depictions 

Disney films including (clockwise from top left) Dumbo, Peter Pan, Inner Workings and Lady and the Tramp have been caught up in controversy 

The company came in for more criticism for unrealistic body depictions in a short animated film broadcast in 2016. The Inner Workings controversy blew up on social media in January. 

Workers’ rights 

Disney has previously been accused of human rights violations regarding the working conditions in factories producing toys and other merchandise in China and elsewhere.

The criticisms came as part of an investigation of the business links between Britain and Xinjiang. It raised concerns that the viral video app TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, could be subject to draconian national security laws that could allow Beijing to access British users’ data. 

TikTok should provide an independent audit confirming that data does not flow and that its British business is legally separate, the MPs said. 

More than a dozen big brands that source products in China, including Amazon, Gap, Ikea, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Victoria’s Secret and Stella McCartney, were asked to give written and oral evidence to the inquiry. 

Boohoo, the online fashion retailer, was singled out for having “clearly unacceptable” minimal data about its supply chain, although MPs welcomed recent measures it introduced following an investigation into the use of sweatshops in Leicester. 

Xinjiang is a hub of Chinese cotton production with much of it used to make clothing bought by western consumers. 

Nusrat Ghani, the Tory MP for Wealden who has led the inquiry, demanded action from the Government. 

She said: “It is deeply disappointing that the Government appears to lack the urgency and commitment to take the tough action which is both necessary and overdue. 

“Amid compelling evidence of abuses, there has been a sorry absence of significant new Government measures to prohibit UK businesses from profiting from the forced labour of Uighurs in Xinjiang and other parts of China.” 

The committee called for tougher anti-modern slavery requirements for businesses. Its report also said minister should create a “whitelist” and a “blacklist” of firms that do or do not uphold their promises. 

Firms have argued they cannot guarantee they are not profiting from the misery of the Uighurs despite their best efforts. Audits are often not a credible or reliable measure to identify the risks of forced labour.

Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a ‘vocational skills education centre’ in Dabancheng, where many of the region’s Uighur population have been detained CREDIT: Reuters 

The select committee was “appalled” that companies still cannot demonstrate that their supply chains are free from human rights abuses. 

Dominc Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said in January that there will be new export controls designed to stop British firms from using products or materials sourced from slave labour camps. 

But the select committee insisted the measures do not go far enough, and more punitive laws should be introduced to exclude products from being sold by UK firms. 

Many businesses have sought to distance themselves from the region including Marks & Spencer, which uses around 40,000 tonnes of lint cotton each year from various sources. It signed onto a call to action on human rights abuses in Xinjiang this year, saying “we can only achieve real change at scale by working with others”. 

A TikTok spokesperson said: “As we made clear to the committee in both our written response and appearance, the TikTok app is not available in China, TikTok user data is held on secure servers in the US and Singapore and we have strict access controls in order to protect user data.

“We have also invested heavily in our Dublin-based European data protection and privacy teams to ensure we are meeting our data protection obligations.” 

Disney did not respond to requests for comment.