AI urges Bangladesh to halt labour rights violations

Staff Reporter  :
Amnesty International (AI) has called for an end to labour rights violations in Bangladesh and emphasised the need for upholding corporate accountability, as the rights of workers in the country face significant threats.

In a public statement issued on December 12, the AI said that workers in Bangladesh face multiple barriers to their ability to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association and collective bargaining.

“These workers have some of the lowest wages in the regional and extremely high instances of occupational injury and death,” it said.

Amnesty International calls on the Government of Bangladesh to take immediate and concrete steps to ensure workers have their rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression respected and that legislative changes are made so workers and their dependents can obtain adequate and timely compensation for occupational injuries and deaths.

The global community is once again expressing concern for workers’ rights in Bangladesh, particularly regarding issues such as minimum wages.

In its statement, Amnesty mentioned that garment factory workers in the capital, Dhaka, and the industrial district of Gazipur, took to the streets at the end of October and in early November to protest the offer by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to increase the monthly minimum wage from $75 (8,000Tk) a month to $90 a month (10,400) and the Minimum Wage Board’s final figure of $113 (12,500Tk).