Authorities of Bangladesh are primarily responsible for the death of over a thousand workers in the Rana Plaza collapse, a federation of human rights organisations has said.
“The Bangladesh authorities failed in their obligation to protect workers,” International Federation for Human Rights, FIDH, said in its report marking the Rana Plaza disaster on Wednesday.
“The state of Bangladesh, which in accordance to national and international law must protect human rights within its jurisdiction, failed in ensuring workers' safety and rights.”
“Bangladesh, considered a weak governance state, is faced with structural issues like lack of genuine rule of law and overall ineffective access to justice for victims.”
The report slammed Rajdhani Unnayan Kotripokkho, Rajuk, for allowing the Rana Plaza structure “that defied safety codes and built and expanded without a permit.”
“But no action was taken by the Rajuk in this regard,” the report said. “The engineers of Savar municipal authority are also responsible for the building design.”
“The disaster is a flagrant illustration of the ineffectiveness and inadequacy of factory audits in Bangladesh,” the federation said.
Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana and his father and the owners of the factories held in the building were mentioned as one of those directly responsible for the disaster.
The multinational companies that sourced from those factories held in the Rana Plaza were also blamed because of “problems of traceabliilty in the supply chain.”
Though several steps were taken by the government after the disaster, “nevertheless, there is still a large gap between laws and practices of Bangladesh and international standards for labour rights.”
On April 24 last year, Rana Plaza collapsed burying more than 1,100 garment workers alive and injuring more than 2,500 others, what was the worst building disaster in history.
The building had developed visible fissures on the day before, but the workers were forced to continue work inside the factory.
