- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY –

Thank you, Chairperson.

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The Candidate Countries the Republic of North Macedonia*, Montenegro* and Albania* the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area align themselves with this statement.

The EU and its Member States are committed to the promotion, protection and respect of human rights and labour rights, including freedom of association, collective bargaining and we point out to the importance of a well-functioning labour inspectorate for the implementation of these rights. We support the indispensable role played by the ILO in developing, promoting and supervising the application of international labour standards and of fundamental Conventions in particular.

We thank the ILO for its constant engagement in promoting labour rights in Bangladesh.

We note the 2018 amendment of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (BLA) and the adoption of the 2019 Export Processing Zones Labour Act (ELA), however most of the issues of concern remain and need to be addressed without delay, including persisting serious labour rights matters related to severe gaps in alignment with ILO conventions being part of this Art. 26 complaint. We also note with concern that the already very low number of labour inspectors has constantly decreased in recent years from 345 in 2017 to 320 in 2018 and 308 in 2019.

The EU and its Member States and Bangladesh have established a close relationship fostering cooperation on labour standards since many years, reinforced by the Cooperation Agreement in force since 2001, as well as through collaboration within the framework of the Sustainability Compact and in the context of the enhanced engagement process under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences’ arrangement for Least Developed Countries ("Everything But Arms"), which has recently regained momentum.  

The EU and its Member States underline the importance of the respect of labour rights as support for a sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, and recall the efforts of Team Europe to help COVID-affected Bangladesh workers in export-oriented industries with 113 mio € of cash assistance.

We would like to reaffirm our strong commitment to cooperate with the Government of Bangladesh, in joint partnership with ILO, including to further assist the Government through our cooperation programmes in achieving full compliance with international labour standards.

We welcome the commitment of the Government of Bangladesh of October 2019 on developing jointly with the EU a Labour Rights Roadmap with clear timelines. We call on the Government to deliver on its commitment to present this comprehensive Roadmap without delay and to effectively implement it with support of the ILO. Strong deliverables are necessary for Bangladesh to continue to benefit from tariff free exports to the EU.

With reference to the current complaint under Art. 26 we would like to restate our concerns and urge the Government to, among others:

Amend the Labour Act, the Labour Rules and the EPZ labour law in consultation with social partners and in full compliance with requests of ILO supervisory mechanism on freedom of association and collective bargaining

Effectively combat violence against workers, including harassment, unfair labour practices and anti-union discrimination

Increase the success rate of application for trade union registration to a minimum of 90% and avoid discretionary refusal of trade union registrations

Address gaps in implementing occupational safety and health and fundamental labour rights in practice through reinforcing the labour inspection’s capacity, including by recruiting more than 1,700 qualified labour inspectors and ensuring full functionality of the labour inspectorate

We call on the government of Bangladesh to take all the necessary steps in law and practise, in cooperation with both workers and employers organisations as well as other relevant stakeholders, to promote the development of a sound and sustainable industrial relations system covering all sectors and areas of the country, including in export processing zones (EPZs). 

We would also like to point out to the need for urgent action to ensure elimination of child labour and of forced labour.

Chair, in light of the considerations and concerns raised above we can support the decision point.

Thank you, Chair.

*The Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.