Many garment workers are toiling away in the fashion supply chain without their governments giving much thought to safety.
Following the expiration of the Bangladesh Accord, the legally binding International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry was formed by joint stakeholders in December 2021. Amid continued campaigning, another binding agreement — The Pakistan Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry — was formed last December to extend protections to Pakistan.
On Monday, brands such as Bestseller, C&A, H&M, Inditex, Otto Group, and PVH Corp formally revealed their commitment to the Pakistan Accord in a joint statement. All of the aforementioned brands are signatories on the Board of the International Accord.
The latest moves would extend protections to Pakistan, where brands currently source upwards of $2.6 billion worth of garments. In brief, the International Accord requires companies to disclose all factories producing garments in Bangladesh (or in this case, Pakistan), ensure all listed factories are compliant with inspection and safety training programs as well as support factories amid remediation, while shouldering related costs.
In absence of effective labor law implementation, workers in Pakistan, for one, are currently exposed to a number of risks, be it injury, harassment, wage theft and so on. The agreement looks to ensure basic human-rights due diligence is adhered to in fashion supply chains.
As previously reported, Khalid Mahmood, director of the Labour Education Foundation, said a legally binding accord, such as this one, “can be an effective tool for securing basic rights of workers but it can only be effective with meaningful participation from an organized labor force.”
Last summer Pakistan experienced devastating flooding from the monsoon season that inundated one-third of the country, impacting 33 million people directly. It’s with this context that brands ultimately underscored their support.
Per the joint statement, the Accord Steering Committee Member Brands underscored that, “The International Accord aims to protect the health and safety of millions of workers while helping the industry achieve sustainable growth in exports. With the signing of the Pakistan Accord and our brands’ commitment to this new safety program, we are renewing our commitment to a long-term sourcing relationship with Pakistan.
“The Pakistan Accord provides an opportunity both to increase the visibility of the efforts already made by many manufacturers to invest in fire and building safety measures in recent years and deepen and expand them throughout Pakistan’s garment and textile sector, making it an increasingly attractive option for buyers across the globe.
“We encourage all brands around the world to sign the Pakistan Accord agreement and join us in our collective commitment to raise the safety standards at supplier factories in Pakistan.”