The international fund set up to compensate victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, in which 1,137 people died, has now met its target of $30m (£19.63m) after a significant anonymous donation.
For the last two years, campaigners have been demanding that brands and retailers provide compensation to the injured workers and the families of those who died. More than a million consumers around the world have publicised the high street companies whose products were made in one of the five factories housed in the structurally unsafe building.
Bennetton was the last major western fashion retailer to donate, contributing $1.1m (£740,000) in April this year.
Owen Espley, Sweatshops campaigner at the anti-poverty charity War on Want, said: “Finally, two years on since the Rana Plaza disaster, the victims and their families will receive the compensation to which they are entitled. This is great news and shows what can be achieved when people from across the world come together to fight injustice.
"However, this is not the end. We will not rest until the exploitative global garment industry is held accountable and the people who make our clothes are paid a living wage, enjoy safe conditions and are free to join a trade union.”
The Clean Clothes Campaign, which has been campaigning since the disaster in April 2013, is calling for changes which will ensure those affected by future disasters receive more timely support. It has welcomed a new initiative by the Internaional Labour Organisation in Bangladesh to develop a national workplace injury scheme for the country’s 4 million garment workers and has urged European politicians to develop better regulation of supply chains.
* War on Want http://www.waronwant.org/
*The Clean Clothes Campaign http://www.cleanclothes.org/
[Ekk/4]
Diaspora*
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Technorati
StumbleUpon