Nintendo denies allegations of forced labor in the supply chain

Nintendo has denied allegations of forced labor found in factories that manufacture its products.

The allegations originated in the BBC report published last year. Australian Strategic Policy Institute -It claimed that thousands of Muslims from the Uighur minority group in China worked in many factories under compulsory conditions.

At this week’s shareholders’ meeting- Discovered by VGC -Shareholders asked Nintendo’s directors about the report, drawing attention to the previous work of Japanese companies with companies in the region.

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that some of the factories listed in the report are part of Nintendo’s supply chain, but the company is unaware of continued forced labor.

“We know there were reports that Uighurs might have been forced to work in factories in our supply chain,” Furukawa said. “However, a survey of the factories pointed out in the report found no record of it being our business partner and no reports of forced labor in the supply chain.

“To prevent forced labor in the supply chain, we have established a CSR procurement policy and require our suppliers to comply with activities based on Nintendo’s CSR procurement guidelines.

“We operate under the policy of suspending business with Uighurs, as well as those with real or serious risks of forced labor.”

An ASPI survey published in March 2020 identified 82 foreign and Chinese companies that may be directly or indirectly involved in abusive labor programs, such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. I did.

“We advised a few brands to instruct vendors to end their relationships with these suppliers in 2020,” he said.