Several rights groups and campaigners have warned Bangladesh’s garment sector of serious consequences if any international safety monitoring is brought to an end.
After the Rana Plaza tragedy in 2013, which had killed 1,138 garment workers, Alliance and Accord were set up to monitor and review the safety of all the garment factories that were producing apparels of many global brands.
While Alliance has already wrapped up after reviewing around 1,000 factories, Accord’s future is to be decided by the Supreme Court. Recently, a lower court had asked Accord to leave the country.
Expressing concern, Laura Gutierrez of US-based Worker Rights Consortium, warned that if any international monitoring is overlooked or ended, it could have detrimental consequences on the US $ 31 billion garment industry of Bangladesh.
Concurring with the thoughts of Laura, Christie Miedema of Clean Clothes Campaign said that any effort to stop international monitoring may take the country back to the days before 2013. Notably, big fashion brands like H&M, Zara and Next – among others – have endorsed the concerns raised by the labour groups.
Accord has, meanwhile, asked for more time to ensure and enforce safety in the 1,700 factories it reviewed.
Though the Government has said the factory deaths and accidents have declined significantly since 2013, the two recent major fire mishaps in Dhaka have yet again put question mark on the safety measures. Nearly 100 workers had died in both the recent fire disasters.
The campaigners also added that many textile and garment units fear that these international monitor agencies, if given extension, may start looking at wage issues as well. They said that according to a report, none of the 745 factories under the government inspection programme has yet eliminated “high risk safety hazards” that were identified in last five years.