The European Parliament is calling for European legislation to force suppliers of garments and textiles imported to the EU to respect their workers' rights. This, according to the Parliament, is the best way for the EU to help prevent disasters that exact a heavy toll on human life from being repeated in non-EU developing countries, as was the case with the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh in 2013.
The Parliament said this on Thursday 27 April in a non-legislative resolution adopted by a large majority (505 votes in favour, 49 against and 57 abstentions), endorsing the demand and recommendations formulated by its rapporteur, Lola Sánchez Caldentey MEP (GUE/NGL, Spain) (see EUROPE 11750).
The MEPs ask the European Commission to put forward a legislative proposal for an obligatory due diligence system, based on OECD guidelines and similar to those for so-called conflict minerals, covering the whole supply chain.
"We cannot turn a blind eye, if our clothes are made at the cost of vast human suffering. Only binding rules could guarantee that products sold on European markets do not violate the dignity and the rights of millions of workers. The EU has the means to act and we ask the Commission to do so", Sánchez Caldentey said.
"Textile sector workers, often young women or children, work hellish hours. In Bangladesh, 47.5% of workers work between 60 and 98 hours a week, and 75% over 48 hours a week", Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium) stated.
This resolution was adopted following the European Commission's presentation of its working document on a strategy that guarantees a more sustainable garment value chain (see EUROPE 11775). The Parliament could only say that a working document is "a step in the right direction in setting out a coherent European strategy, linking trade and development to align with the sustainable development goals", but further steps are still needed, as Linda McAvan (S&D, UK), who chairs the Parliament's development committee, stated. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)