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UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has expressed his full support for the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord along with the European Parliament and the European Commissioner for Trade.

MEPs passed a resolution recognising the importance of the Bangladesh Safety deal between IndustriALL and UNI Global Union, NGOs and some 40 multinational textile retailers. They called on all other relevant textile brands to support this effort and singled out GAP and Walmart.

In a separate statement to the European Parliament, European Commissioner for Trade, Karel de Gucht welcomed the Accord and said the EU would work to make sure it was applied.

Commissioner de Gucht said, “We have to work with the government of Bangladesh. . . But work also needs to have a goal and the goal should be that the working conditions get better . . . and I will be very strict in this. If things do not go better I will ask to launch an investigation.”

The MEPs called for the Commission to promote responsible business conduct among EU companies operating abroad and ensure strict compliance with all legal obligations in the areas of human rights, labour and the environment.



Bangladesh benefits from duty and quota-free access to the EU market and that these preferences can be withdrawn in the event of serious and systematic violations of the principles set out in different human rights conventions. The MEPs called on the Commission to investigate Bangladesh's compliance with these conventions and they expect an investigation to be considered if Bangladesh is found to be in serious and systematic violation of the principles laid down in these conventions.



The MEPs insisted that those responsible for the collapse of the Rana Plaza, the Tazreen factory fire or any other fire should be brought to justice, that the victims should have full access to the justice system, and that a financial compensation plan should be established.

· Adopted text will be available here (click on 23.05.2013)

· Video recording of debate (click on 23.05.2013)