Labour rights situation in Bangladesh has been on the spotlight since the tragic Rana Plaza collapse five years ago but, with gradual improvement Dhaka has been able to satisfy the international community that it is on the right track.
Geneva-based International Labour Organistion, the world monitoring body which oversight global labour situation, Tuesday has removed Bangladesh from a list of countries from whom they ask for more information due to non-satisfaction submission.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Geneva M Shameem Ahsan said that the global body was satisfied with Bangladesh response and its gradual development about the labour situation.
The Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS), an independent expert body, has placed the list before the on going International Labour Conference meeting in Geneva and the ILC has taken the decision after reviewing the labour rights situation in Bangladesh.
In the CAS list, countries like Japan, Malaysia, Brazil, Myanmar and Cambodia are included but Bangladesh was not referred in the list.
Another official seeking anonymity said, “This has happened due to the openness, sincerity and seriousness of the government and other stakeholders. All of us are consistently engaged with all the players in the international arena to improve the labour conditions in the country.”
He said after the Rana Plaza collapse, every year the CAS included Bangladesh’s name in the list, but this time they are satisfied.
He said that Bangladesh was included in the list in 2013, and in 2016, a ‘special paragraph’ was attached against Bangladesh to improve labour condition.
“We improved our labour condition and the special paragraph was omitted the next year and now we are not included the CAS list,” he added.
The official said that reducing the labour union formation threshold from 30 per cent to 20 per cent and reforms of the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) laws are the two major reasons behind this decision.
The Bangladesh government has recently taken a major labour rights decision, under which trade unions can be formed if 20 per cent of the workers back it. Earlier, it was 30 per cent.
EPZ laws have been also revised and now labour inspectors have the authority to inspect any factories inside the zones which they could not do earlier.
The official said, “Visibly the labour rights situation has improved a lot there was no such big labour violence occurred in the country in the last one year.”
Bangladesh has made significant progress regarding workers’ safety and rights and it is on the right track, added the official.
He, however, said it is a continuous process and progress in Bangladesh will be reviewed again in November.
“Today’s outcome is something of joy but not for big celebration as we have to continue to improve our labour situation in the coming days.”