EUROPEAN patients sleeping on clean hospital sheets likely pay no attention to the hands that stitched them and the terrible cost paid by those hands. A new study, authored by Swedish NGO Swedwatch with Pakistani partner AwazCDS-Pakistan, shows how the EU’s public expenditure is linked to labour abuse, especially within Pakistan’s textile sector. Based on interviews with 89 workers in nine Faisalabad and Karachi factories, the report tells a shameful tale. Most workers are not hired directly but through private contractors, often without written contracts, allowing factories to dodge responsibility for wages, benefits and safety. Many........

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