State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2023-24 (First Reading)
Independent Review of
RBD
Bangladesh's Development
6.1 Background
Labour rights in Bangladesh-Commitments and concerns
Labour rights violations have been a persistent concern for Bangladesh
Despite efforts from the government, the struggle to ensure decent work is reflected in different reports and studies
The labour rights issue of Bangladesh, however, has regained fresh attention lately as its major trade partners, (the US and
the EU) continue to adopt trade policies incorporating labour rights compliance as a key conditionality for trading and
associated trade preferences
➤ On 16 November 2023, the US President signed a memorandum directing his administration to adopt a comprehensive
government-wide strategy in advancing workers' rights worldwide (The White House, 2023)
In November 2023, the Council of EU Member States and the European Parliament signed an amendment to extend the
existing GSP regulation for the period 2024-2027 (European Commission, 2023)
The issue of labour rights violations has drawn significant attention domestically as well
The protest of garment workers for wage payment and increase resulted in the killing and injuries of workers, closing of RMG
factories, ceasing of new worker recruitments, filing of around 34 lawsuits against 16,000 protesters
At this time, Bangladesh was supposed to target meeting the eligibility criteria for trade preferences (such as GSP plus of
EU) for developing countries as the country is set to graduate from the LDCs in 2026
☐ Bangladesh is also getting closer to the timeline of fulfilling its national and international commitments in the area of
labour rights including the incumbent government's electoral commitment to protecting workers' rights by 2023,
implementation of the NAP on the Labour Sector by 2026, SDG 8 of ensuring decent work 2030, etc.
Against this backdrop, this chapter of the report highlights the most recent status of labour rights compliance in
Bangladesh
CPD (2023): State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2023-24 (First Reading)
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