Blog: Why families & survivors of the Karachi factory fire could spell the end of voluntary corporate responsibility
"Forging new legal ground: Why families & survivors of the Karachi factory fire could spell the end of voluntary corporate responsibility", 16 Jun 2015
...On 11 September 2012 a fire broke out at the Ali Enterprises textile factory...in Karachi. 260 workers died and 32 were injured...[T]he Baldia Factory Fire Affectees Association seeks for accountability. Several of the families are represented in local legal proceedings against Pakistani authorities..., as well as in criminal proceedings against the factory owners. At the same time victims are calling for justice from the European companies involved, KiK and...RINA...[I]n February 2015, the families of the Baldia Factory Fire Affectees Association decided they...would...proceed with a lawsuit against KiK...The claim is forging new legal ground by attempting to enforce social and economic human rights through the national legal system...Victims of the Ali Enterprises fire have already shown that merely voluntary corporate action is a thing of the past...