In the light of the increasing number of refugees coming into Europe, Primark has reportedly increased the number of inspections of its supplier factories in Turkey, for fear of a potential rise in exploitation of Syrian refugees.
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According to Primark’s Ethical Trading Head Paul Lister, the number of spot-checks carried out by his ethics team will rise from 65 to 83 this year. Around 100 out of Primark’s 1,700 supplier factories worldwide are Turkish.
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After China and Bangladesh, Turkey happens to be Europe’s third largest apparel supplier, while being the world’s biggest host of refugees, including about 2.5 million Syrians. According to a report released by ethics watchdog ‘Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’ earlier this year, some Turkish factories are even hiring Syrian refugee children.