Ikea regrets benefiting from forced prison labor in 1980s

Ikea regrets benefiting from forced prison labor in 1980sSwedish furniture giant, Ikea has expressed regret over benefitting from the use of forced prison labor by some of its suppliers from East Germany more than twenty years ago.

The company released an independent report that said East German prisoners were involved in eth manufacturing of the products that were supplied to the company at that time. Ikea is famous for cheap furniture and the use of forced labor might have helped the company keep its prices low at that time.

The report also said that the company managers were aware that the forced labor might have been used by the suppliers and even took some measures to prevent it. However, the steps taken by the managers proved insufficient.

Jeanette Skjelmose, an Ikea manager said, "We deeply regret that this could happen. The use of political prisoners for manufacturing was at no point accepted by IKEA."

She also said that the company did not have efficient control systems at that time and it did not take necessary steps to prevent the use of forced labor in its supply chain. The company had appointed Ernst & Young to look into allegations aired by a Swedish television documentary in June this year.