Femnet e.V.

#GoTransparent: nothing to hide? More transparency!

The label says “Made in Bangladesh”. But in which of the thousands of factories was it actually made? And what are the working conditions like there? Only when companies disclose their supply chains and reports on inspections in the factories grievances can be detected and remedied.

Disasters despite audits

In 2013, the Rana Plaza factory building in Bangladesh collapsed. 1,134 people died and more than 2,000 were injured. Only a few months before, the TÜV Rheinland had checked the construction quality of the building - security risks and human rights violations remained undetected.

In 2012 fires at the Ali Enterprises in Pakistan and Tazreen Fashions factories in Bangladesh killed over 350 people. Ali Enterprises was certified to the highest standard of SA8000, although there were no emergency exits.

In order to find out which brands had produced there after factory disasters, people searched for labels in the rubble. Often it is not even possible to trace which companies commissioned which factories. Reliable information on security deficiencies and human rights violations is hardly publicly available.

Companies are committed to social and ecological standards through self-imposed rules of conduct, so-called codes of conduct. But who controls whether these fine promises are kept?

Ineffective factory controls

On-site controls are carried out by private audit firms such as TÜV Rheinland. However, they are paid by the fashion companies. This leads to conflicts of interest, so these social audits often protect the image of the brands rather than the rights of workers.

Our goals

We want companies to make and keep a promise of transparency. However, there is little change through voluntary self-commitment alone, which is why we ask politicians to create binding rules for this.

We want to achieve:

1. Companies make the names of their supplier factories and data on human rights issues (wages, discrimination, freedom of trade unions, etc.) publicly accessible.
2. Social audits also question the purchasing practices of purchasing companies so that responsibility is not shifted to the producers alone.
3. Laws regulate transparency obligations and create mechanisms for their enforcement.

The following video from Human Right Watch explains the goals of the #GoTransparent campaign in English: