Bangladesh has asked the International Labour Organisation (ILO) not to use the country’s weakness in the labour sector as a tool for political gain.
While addressing a national conference titled ‘Bangladesh-ILO: 50 years of partnership in decent work’, Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen gave the advice, saying “Don’t use labour weakness, if there be any, as a tool to achieve political gains”.
The minister at the same time urged the ILO and other international agencies to provide generous support and financing to remove such weaknesses.
He also asked the ILO to align its work with the country's national development strategy and not to be guided by donor-driven agendas.
The minister pointed out that Bangladesh, like many other developing countries, had also experienced some tragic incidents in the labour sector but the ILO and other agencies should not ‘drag the country to unfortunate past’.
Mentioning immigrant workers are the development partners of the host country, he suggested that the ILO should concentrate more on their development, security and well-being.
The minister also advised ILO to inform the labour and employment ministry before undertaking any projects.
During his speech to the conference, Mohammad Ehsan E Elahi, labour and employment ministry secretary, said that Bangladesh had amended its labour rules per the recommendations of the ILO and the European Union.
He, however, also said that it is not possible to realise all the recommendations of the donors.
Moinul Kabir, secretary of law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry said the informal sector should also be taken into account while reforming the labour sector.
Labours in the informal sector also need benefit as the informal sector accounts for 63.6% of the GDP he added
He also said that more than 70 per cent of the total labour force of the country is employed in the informal sector.
Ms Chihoka Asada, Regional Director for the Asia Pacific region of the ILO said they also continue to support various policies to ensure that women and men from Bangladesh have inclusive and equitable access to decent and productive migration.
She said it is crucial to ensure decent work for all, including vulnerable groups of people including 15 million indigenous people living in the hill tracts and in plain land.
“Additionally, there are 100,000 Tea-garden workers of whom 50 per cent are women and ethnic tribal groups who migrated from India. Bangladesh recognises indigenous tribal people in its constitution and has ratified the indigenous in trouble population combination number 107 is it the recommendation of universal periodical review report to consider ratifying, up-to-date, indigenous and tribal peoples conventions number 169”.
“ We greatly encouraged this government is delivering improvement on minimum wages and housing facilities for tea garden workers. ILO, together with other UN agencies, is ready to expedite this process by supporting the modernisation of the tea industry and improving the working environment and social protection of tea workers. This will support efforts to ensure decent work for the most behind a group of workers” she added.
He said as Bangladesh also has an underemployment problem, workers tend to take jobs forgetting their rights in the workplace.
Mr Tuomo Poutianen, ILO Country Director, said that he had seen many improvements in the labour sector in recent times.
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