Caritas official wants Bangladesh to ensure more labour rights

Bangladesh needs to do more to ensure labour rights in the country, says a Catholic Church charity official reacting to the U.S. keeping the country off its list of developing nations given special trade privileges.  “If Bangladesh can ensure labour rights, and regain the generalized system of preferences, the industry can make even more progress and the workers will benefit greatly,” says Caritas Dhaka regional director Ronjon Rozario.

The United States announced on Aug. 11 it was not reinstating Bangladesh to a list giving trade privileges to 122 developing countries. The generalized system of preferences scheme allows duty-free access for up to 5,000 products in the U.S. market.  The United States suspended this trade benefit for Bangladesh in June 2013, three months after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex that killed 1,134 workers and injured several thousand.  One of the world’s worst industrial disasters, the Rana Plaza tragedy highlighted appalling safety problems in the country's US$25-billion garment industry, the world's second-largest after China's.  U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat confirmed on Aug. 11 that Washington's decision ‎was based on workplace safety and rights concerns.‎

Caritas, the Catholic Church's social service arm, has been helping families of the dead and injured of the Rana Plaza tragedy. It has helped dozens of workers too traumatized to go back to the garment industry to start small businesses. 

Babul Akhter, president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers’ Federation, agreed with Rozario saying the US trade suspension is a result of the government’s inadequate measures to ensure labour rights.    Akhter admitted changes have come about since the Rana Plaza collapse, but is no enough. (Source: UCAN)