Bangladesh: "After Fire, Companies Evade Compensation", Human Rights Watch
Global clothing brands tied to a Bangladesh factory that caught fire two years ago should immediately support full and fair compensation for workers and families of the dead. Survivors of the fire at Tazreen Fashions are still suffering from their injuries and loss of income. Only two out of 16 firms linked to the factory are believed to have paid any meaningful amount of compensation to the victims. Five companies have paid nothing, claiming the factory was making or storing their products without their knowledge or authorization. Other companies have offered undisclosed charitable donations...Companies should not claim that just because they did not know their products were in Tazreen they have no responsibility to the victims...The UN Guiding Principles clearly state that all firms have a responsibility to conduct due diligence throughout their supply chain, and provide a remedy to anyone affected by human rights violations. [Companies named Dickies (USA),Sears (USA), Disney (USA), Teddy Smith (France), and Walmart (USA), Delta Apparels, Sears, Teddy Smith, C&A (Belgium), Edinburgh Woollen Mill (UK), El Corte Ingles (Spain), Sean Combs/Enyce (US), Karl Rieker (Germany), KiK (Germany), Li & Fung (Hong Kong), and Piazza Italia (Italy)].