Three years after Rana Plaza – Bangladesh’s garment sector still unsafe
Three years later, labor rights enforcement failures remain widespread, and Bangladesh is far from achieving the declared objective of a safe and sustainable garment sector...As the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights’ recent yearlong research reportrevealed, there are more than 7,000 garment factories in Bangladesh producing for the global fashion industry, 65% more than previous estimates. More than half of these factories are small and medium-sized indirect sourcing factories, meaning their workers produce for foreign brands through other, larger factories. These factories operate in the shadows. The result is that millions of workers in subcontracting factories fall outside the protection of the Accord and the Alliance, and are especially vulnerable in a country where unsafe working conditions are a chronic problem.