Rana Plaza to Regulation: Rethinking Voluntary CSR in Global Supply Chains

A critical watershed in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and business accountability debates was marked on 24 April 2013 when the Rana Plaza building collapsed, killing over 1,100 garment workers. This is a profound example of a power imbalance driving the prioritisation of profit over human rights. When the weak governance frameworks relying on self-regulation are considered, the disaster should be perceived as foreseeable. The structural limitations of voluntary CSR mechanisms used to prevent systemic labour and safety violations in global supply chains, which persisted within these frameworks, were exposed. Using the Rana Plaza case study, this article places the conduct of Bangladeshi state authorities within the framework of international human rights law and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) by examining the distribution of responsibility between factory owners and multinational brands. The analysis demonstrates how state regulatory failure, corporate practices, and the suppression of collective labour rights combined to create the conditions in which employers coerced workers into life-threatening environments. It further analyses post-Rana Plaza regulatory developments, including the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) regimes emerging in Europe. Whilst the progress these initiatives represent is acknowledged, for workers’ rights to be adequately protected in global supply chains, there must be a decisive shift from voluntary CSR to binding, enforceable legal accountability.