Written by Enrico D’Ambrogio

More than 70% of EU imports of textile and clothing come from Asia. Many Asian workers have to work in sweatshop conditions, but the issue appears in global media only when major fatal accidents occur, like that at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, in 2013.

Long working hours, low wages, lack of regular contracts, and systemically hazardous conditions are often reported. Trade unions, when allowed, are unable to protect workers.

Not all Asian countries exporting textile and clothing to the EU have ratified “Fundamental” ILO conventions and their concrete application is far from the norm. UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises fix good standards of corporate social responsibility for Western brands operating in such countries, but are not binding and do not provide for sanctions if not applied. In practice, they have failed to defend workers’ rights.

A number of measures have been suggested to change this situation, including in repeated European Parliament resolutions. Such measures would require action by Asian governments, international brands and the importing countries. They include greater union rights, more regular work, brands doing more due diligence when dealing with contractors, efficient and more cooperative audits, more stable purchasing practices, making some guidelines and principles legally binding, and putting pressure on Asian authorities to have workers’ human rights better respected.

Workers' conditions in the textile and clothing sector: just an Asian affair? Issues at stake after the Rana Plaza tragedy - European Parliament, 2014 DOWNLOAD

post

page

attachment

revision

nav_menu_item

custom_css

customize_changeset

oembed_cache

user_request

wp_block

wp_template

wp_template_part

wp_global_styles

wp_navigation

wp_font_family

wp_font_face

acf-taxonomy

acf-post-type

acf-field-group

acf-field

ai1ec_event

exactmetrics_note

Health Hazards, Child Labour and Data Protection Breaches on Palm Oil Plantations
Publications

The report identifies numerous potential liabilities for palm oil buyers and investors to consider when making investments in this sector to avoid facilitation and profit generation from labour abuses and failure to take action to address these issue...Read More

Slavery Free Recruitment Systems: A Landscape Analysis of Fee-Free Recruitment Initiatives
Publications

This brief has been prepared by Phil Marshall, Technical Consultant to the Issara Institute. This paper summarizes the current discussion around fee-free recruitment, including: (1) definitions of fee-free recruitment; (2) linkages between migra...Read More

Pathways for children to exit commercial sexual exploitation in Kathmandu
Publications

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) affects an estimated 1.8 million children globally. In Nepal, the adult entertainment sector (AES) is recognised as a high-risk environment for children where sexual exploitation is known to occur. Th...Read More

Financial Exploitation:Collecting Meaningful Data
GuidancePublications

The vast majority of modern slavery and human trafficking cases involve interaction with finance in some form. In many cases, traffickers exploit their victims financially, taking control of their bank accounts, confiscating wages, and using debt as...Read More