After a decade-long push towards safer garment factories in Pakistan, the International Accord was finally announced on Wednesday, cheered on by 187 brand signatories, Pakistani unions, and NGO witness signatories. The new agreement is modeled on the Bangladesh Accord, signed after the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse. However, there are mixed views on expanding International Accord in Pakistan.
Opportunities
International Accord will protect all workers throughout the brands’ supply chain and provide workers a confidential avenue to surface urgent safety and health concerns and secure swift corrective action. Documentation of the Accord’s performance will ensure transparency. More than 250 workers died on 11th September 2012 through the Ali Enterprises factory fire in Karachi, the worst fire in the global garment industry’s history. While neighboring Bangladesh got into gear after the Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013 that cost the lives of more than 1,100 garment workers, Pakistan continued with an ‘audit and ignore’ system of factory inspections.
As of 2nd December 2022, 187 brands have committed to the International Accord by signing, among them Adidas, Aldi, Asos, Benetton, Bestseller, Boohoo, C&A, Carrefour, El Corte Ingles, Esprit, Fast Retailing, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, G-Star Raw, H&M, Hugo Boss, Inditex, Kik, Lidl, Mango, Marks & Spencer, the Oberalp Group, the Otto Group, Pepe Jeans, Primark, S.Oliver, Takko, Triumph, and Zalando.
“The hallmarks of the Pakistan Accord are accountability, enforceability, and transparency. Under this new agreement, Pakistan will become one of the safest places in the world to make clothes,” said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium.
As many brands recognize the International Accord, it will bring more opportunities and business to the Pakistani market, which is currently suffering severely. This is no less than a ray of hope in the darkness!
Risks/Threats
Currently, Pakistan does not have a legal body to regulate and monitor all compliance bodies. Without this monitoring, the expansion of a for-profit organization, having a history of fraudulent and illegal factory inspections and assessments, could threaten Pakistan’s textile and garment industry. Accord’s illegal and unlawful role was highlighted in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
The evidence identified that Accord terminated factories not based on its inspections but on the information received from its counterparts to ensure a coordinated stance with them. The factories terminated by the Accord were found to be compliant with Bangladesh’s national guidelines.
Unregulated inspections by International Accord can put Pakistan’s a textile and garment industry into a zone of serious threat. It will not only blackmail the industry with fake and deceptive inspections and compliance assessments, but the illegal monetary benefits resulting from these illicit inspections will also hinder the sustainability progress of the companies.
Pakistan’s a textile and garment industry has aligned its development with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Pakistan is leading in spreading awareness regarding occupational health and safety standards. Top organizations, including GIZ and WWF, and the already existing compliance certification schemes, have paved the ground to ensure fire, building safety, and employee wellbeing in the industry.
Therefore, it is before time to tell what the International Accord will offer Pakistan: either Threat or Opportunity?
