The majority of the reports pertaining to Bangladesh are more generic in nature, and taking Rana Plaza as the starting point, these reports analyse how much work has been done or not done. According to Bangladesh NGO Affairs Bureau’ s latest report, at present 2,565 NGOs operate in Bangladesh’ s readymade garment sector, mostly with foreign assistance. Almost all of them are working for workers’ upliftment with varying degrees of success. Most of the reports on‘ 5 years after Rana Plaza’ share common ideas, and the brief that The Clean Clothes Campaign has given in its latest report, sums up very aptly what most of the reports are talking about and the concerns that follow …
“ In the first two years, it seemed that such promises were more than just lip service paid to reassure a shocked public. Within a year of the disaster, there had been revision of the Labour Act, and the minimum wage was increased from Taka 3,000 to Taka 5,300 BDT( which is currently about 51 Euro). Labour unions used their new-found space for organising and the number of
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The Asia Floor Wage Alliance( AFWA) has come up with three separate reports which claim that the women workers who work at the supplier units of leading fashion retail players like H & M, GAP Inc. and Walmart are at risk of assault, sexual abuse, and other harassment every day. |
registered unions hence jumped. The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety was signed by the majority of major brands sourcing from Bangladesh and – as a result – garment factories were subject to credible and meaningful inspections for the first-time ever … Yet, such action could only truly amount to fundamental change, if firstly they applied to the whole industry, and not just Bangladesh; and if secondly, they were sustained over time. Five years on, although improvements have undoubtedly been made to fire and building safety in Bangladesh, this success has not led to the development of similar initiatives elsewhere, and the initial gains in labour law, trade union rights and wages have not only stagnated but are also now being eroded.”
Questions raised on GSP facility …
One such report pertains to a complaint put forth by principal complainant International Trade Union Confederation( ITUC) with Clean Clothes Campaign( CCC) and HEC-NYU EU Public Interest Clinic as additional complainants, which
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raised serious question on European Union’ s continuance of GSP facility to Bangladesh.
In their complaint to the European Ombudsman, the organisations alleged maladministration in the European Commission’ s failure to launch an investigation into Bangladesh’ s status under the GSP Regulation. As per the complaint, the Commission’ s current process for determining whether to investigate a GSP beneficiary country is opaque and does not include any meaningful opportunity for NGOs or other third parties to participate.
“ Bangladesh has committed serious and systematic violations of workers’ fundamental rights. Conditions are unsafe for millions of workers in Bangladesh. Additionally, the labour laws of Bangladesh create significant obstacles to the exercise of the right to freedom of association, to organise and to bargain collectively. Further, the Government has not effectively enforced even these flawed laws, and workers’ complaints to authorities are routinely ignored. Without bargaining power or legal recourse, workers have been forced to live in extreme poverty,”
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