"When ‘business as usual’ costs lives: workers in Pakistan call for a binding safety agreement", 11 November 2019

In Karachi, Pakistan, 11 September 201...a fire in the Ali Enterprises garment factory...spread rapidly...Many workers stood no chance of escaping from a building that was manifestly unsafe, even though it had been certified in the weeks prior to the tragedy.

This...was enabled by inadequate or absent national inspections, as well as a social auditing system that frequently fails to uncover safety violations and often falls short on addressing those that it cannot ignore...

...The outrage after [Rana Plaza] led to...trade unions and apparel companies...[signing] a legally binding and enforceable agreement that set up a credible and transparent programme to inspect factories, oversee remediation, train workers on safety, and provide a reliable and independent complaint mechanism...

...In Pakistan, no such system emerged...A...coalition of Pakistani unions and labour organisations is calling upon all companies sourcing apparel or textiles from Pakistan to...work towards a legally-binding agreement with...unions and labour rights groups. This would be based upon the Bangladesh Accord and would complement... continued capacity building of labour inspectorates...