10 years after Ali Enterprises fire, brands are still blocking worker safety improvements

In a press release on the tenth anniversary of the devastating fire at Ali Enterprises in Pakistan, the international NGO Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) accused the textile industry, despite numerous accidents, some of them fatal, in Pakistan’s textile factories. At that time, more than 250 people died.

In particular, fashion retailers H&M, C&A, Bestseller and Zara have been at the center of criticism for sourcing from factories that conform to the expansion of the International Convention on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry (a successor agreement that was once signed in response to started the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh and became known as the Bangladesh Accord). “The Clean Clothes Campaign and other stakeholders are united globally to draw attention to the ongoing safety issues at factories in Pakistan and to publicly denounce brands such as H&M, C&A, Zara and Bestseller who are pushing for the extension of the agreement to protect workers’ safety would protect, intentionally delayed,” the letter said.

Although the Accord recommended launching the program in Pakistan, brand representatives on the steering committee, including H&M, C&A, Inditex and Bestseller, have refused to join and support the launch. Instead, the brand representatives repeatedly delayed further development “to a point where their attitude suggests not caution but willful obstruction,” the campaign continued.

As evidence of the grievances that still persist, the Clean Clothes Campaign has released data showing recent incidents and ongoing security risks in these brands’ supply chains that could have been avoided or remedied by extending the agreement to the country, the NGO said .

“The Clean Clothes Campaign’s report on the incident paints a frightening picture of worker safety in Pakistan,” said Ineke Zeldenrust of the Clean Clothes Campaign. “But what is even more frightening is that we do not know the true extent of safety breaches at the factories. If brands stopped impeding progress and allowed the International Accord to conduct independent factory inspections in Pakistan, we could begin to understand the factory renovations and repairs that need to be done to protect workers’ safety.”

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