A Pakistani worker and the families of some of the victims lost in a manufacturing factory fire in Pakistan in 2012 have been assisted by several union and human rights organizations in a compensation case filed on March 13 at the Duisburg regional court against the German discount clothing retailer KiK for ‘non-respect of human rights along the supply chain’. According to the German Human Rights Institute, this represents the first civil case of this type and if the judge deems it admissible could become a legal precedent.
“We are looking for justice not hand-outs”. This is a first for Germany. Never before have victims of a catastrophe that has occurred in a foreign (Pakistan) producer’s location at one end of the supply chain come to Germany and filed a complaint against the local (German) distribution company that is effectively at the opposite end of the supply chain. On Friday March 13, this is what happened.
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