Brussels, 06/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht wants the clients of Bangladeshi factories to be subjected to strict safety standards. The Savar tragedy left more than 600 dead.
The building which collapsed on 24 April in Savar, near Dacca, Bangladesh, cost 610 people their lives, according to the death toll established this weekend, after more bodies were found under the rubble. Nearly 3,000 workers were inside the Rana Plaza building when it collapsed, causing the worst-ever industrial disaster in Bangladesh, the world's second largest exporter of textiles after China. According to its architect, a highly respected professional and university professor, the building was designed in 2004 to house a commercial centre and offices, but not textiles factories. The Rana Plaza complex, which housed five production workshops linked, amongst others, to the Spanish brand Mango and Primark of the UK, had been illegally extended by three storeys, and no longer complied with the safety standards.
De Gucht slams modern slavery. In interviews last weekend with the Belgian media RTBF and Le Soir, De Gucht announced his intention to work with European and American clients of textiles factories in Bangladesh to develop a code of conduct obliging them to observe strict standards for the health and safety of workers. “These people (…) are underpaid, effectkively unpaid, and above all, they have to work in health and security conditions that are totally unacceptable. It's a kind of modern slavery”, the trade commissioner lamented, adding that, in the next few weeks, he will meet representatives of European and American companies and brands which are clients of factories in Bangladesh, in order to develop a code of conduct on their links with the suppliers. “They can't say that they are blind to what is happening”, he stressed.
De Gucht also repeated his desire to propose the suspension of the trade preferences granted to Bangladesh, if the country's authorities do not take measures swiftly to improve work standards. “They must deal with this and do so in a very clear and immediate timetable. If not, I'm ready to launch an enquiry, which could lead to the suspension of the 'Everything but Arms' mechanism as we've done in the past with Myanmar and Sri Lanka”, he warned. Bangladesh, which anually exports textiles worth in excess of €14.4 billion to its main outlet, the EU, enjoys access to the European market free of duty and quotas, under the 'Everything but Arms' mechanism, which grants favourable treatment to the least-developed countries under the system of generalised preferences. (EH/transl.fl)