BBC News, 27
June 2013
Related
Stories
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| The factory collapse in Savar was Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster |
US Trade
Representative Michael Froman pointed to several recent fatal accidents in its
huge clothing sector.
These
"had served to highlight some of the serious shortcomings in worker rights
and workplace safety standards in Bangladesh", he said.
Two months
ago, a factory collapse near Dhaka killed 1,129 people.
The
collapse of the nine-storey complex, on 24 April, was Bangladesh's worst
industrial disaster, and one in a series of accidents involving the world's
second-biggest exporter of garments after China.
The high
death toll focused global attention on low safety standards in garment
factories and prompted the Bangladeshi government to launch inspections of all
plants to try to reassure Western retailers that safety conditions had
improved.
Twelve
people have so far been arrested over what happened, including the building's
owner.
But unions
and experts say hundreds of factories are still operating in shoddy buildings,
raising fears that another tragedy could occur at any time.
President Obama's order suspends Bangladesh's duty-free trade privileges under the terms
of a US trade programme called the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP),
designed to promote economic growth in developing countries.
"The
US government has worked closely with the government of Bangladesh to encourage
the reforms needed to meet basic standards," said US Trade Representative
Michael Froman.
"Despite
our... clear, repeated expressions of concern, the US government has not seen
sufficient progress towards those reforms", he added.
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