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US
welcomes Child Labor elimination in Bangladesh |
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News |
June 19, 2000
Dhaka
(UNB) – The United States has welcomed June 16 signing of an agreement
in Geneva to continue the program to eliminate child labor from
Bangladesh’s export garment industry. Highly
appreciating the 1995 MOU initialed by the BGMEA, ILO and UNICEF, a
special release of the USIS here today hoped the one-year extension signed
in Geneva would maintain the progress. It
will continue the education and rehabilitation assistance given to
retrenched child workers and facilitate the development of a new framework
to ensure that garment factories remain free of child labor, the release
said. The
USIS release said the 1995 Memorandum of Understanding between the
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the
International Labor Organization and the United Nations International
Children’s Emergency Fund has brought about a dramatic and sustained
reduction in child labor in BGMEA factories. “The
success of the 1995 MOU, the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the
world, has been due to the hard work and commitment of the three MOU
parties and specially the BGMEA and its members.” The
release said Bangladesh’s export garment manufacturers have demonstrated
that an industry can eliminate child labor voluntarily and in a socially
responsible way and that, by reducing the concern of buyers and consumers,
this effort can contribute to booming production and exports. It
said Bangladesh’s government, which has facilitated the agreement and
contributed labor inspectors to monitoring teams, also has played a
positive role. The
release said the US has been pleased to assist in the success of the 1995
MOU through contributions totaling 1.7 million US dollars from the US
Department of Labor, almost all of which went to support the ILO-managed
factory monitoring program. “The US looks forward to continuing this participation under the new agreement during the next year.” |