Recherchetool für Materialien

Making people hungry cheap – human rights must be respected in cotton and textile production - Focal point 1/2015

The fashion carousel is turning faster and faster, we buy clothes and sample them. Valuable raw materials are wasted and – in a global value chain geared towards maximising profits – human rights are repeatedly violated.

While textile companies collect most of the profits on the way from the cotton field to the finished T-shirt, farmers, dyers, spinners or seamstresses often live and work in precarious and unworthy conditions. Little has improved since the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in Bangladesh on 24 April 2013 with over 1,110 textile workers dead.

This is why a U-turn through decisive action is urgently needed: on the part of politicians, businesses and consumers. Instead of voluntary recommendations, we need binding minimum ecological and social standards for cultivation, further processing, trade and marketing. In addition, consumers can support this process through responsible consumption and public pressure.

Scope: 4 pages
Reference: free of charge for download at the Welthungerhilfe (PDF).