Recent media reports in Bangladeshi suggest factory owners and authorities are insisting the Accord should transition its tasks to a national inspection body by a fixed date and not accept any conditions on the readiness of that body to carry out those tasks. If the government of Bangladesh and factory owners manage to expel Accord, it will reverse significant advances made to factory safety over the past five years and create irreversible reputational harm to the garment industry itself.
As witness signatories to the Accord, Clean Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network, and Worker Rights Consortium support the eventual transition of Accord inspection tasks to Bangladesh’s national regulatory bodies, including the Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC). Yet, such a process must be made conditional on clear and concrete readiness criteria, as formulated and overseen by the International Labour Organization.
