These are revelations that make the giant Ikea and now Goal very uncomfortable. After an investigation by Reveal research site that targeted only the Swede, is the Earthsight association, which publishes a report that verifies these accusations by also targeting Goal.
Several Belarusian suppliers of the two distributors obtain a more or less significant part of their production from forced labor in the local prisons where 1,000 opponents of the Alexander Lukashenko regime are imprisoned.
“While tracking the activity of a mill near a prison, we found an agreement with a German company called Polipol. We discovered that it supplies many European companies, including French ones.
The company is surprisingly transparent, it does not hide these links with Belarus, there is a lot on its site. However, it was more complex to trace the link between logging and prison,” explains Sam Lawson, director of Earthsight in this report cited by the parisian.
Goal confirms to be supplied by Polipol
In addition to Ikea, the But brand, owned by the Austrian XXL, would have obtained supplies from this very dubious supplier according to the NGO.
Following these revelations, the French distributor denies: “As far as we know, we do not work in any way, directly or indirectly, with Belarusian suppliers. And this for several years, long before the war in Ukraine due to the risks identified in the workers. fair in particular” specifies our colleagues Bérengère Assaiante, the director of CSR (corporate social responsibility).
Regarding Polipol, the manager indicates that it represents “a very small supplier for 0.2% of purchases” of products from Polish forests and factories.
On the Ikea side, we began to distance ourselves. Since 2021, the giant has decided to “stop any new commercial development” in the country, says a spokesman, while studying “the next step to leave the country.” It must also be said that since the European sanctions against Belarus, the chain has stopped all imports of wood and furniture from this country, which is very close to the Kremlin.
Source: BFM TV
