Child labour and Bangladesh: To what extent can Bangladesh remove child labour particularly in the Bangladesh Ready-made Garment (RMG) sector?

Abstract

Child labour is a sensitive issue in global business. It is a common problem in workplace in Bangladesh particularly in Ready-made garment (RMG) sector. This paper focuses on child labour and how it affects the Bangladesh RMG sector. In fact the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international communities consider child labour as abusive and exploitative. To eliminate child labour, the ILO and other stakeholder promote decent work programme with technical and financial support. These are also discussed in this paper. An extensive literature survey has been undertaken in order to review the working conditions in the Ready-made garment industry. Based on this literature review, working conditions in the RMG sector are below standard according to the ILO as well as this lack of social compliance. As a result, the international communities and buyers declined to purchase RMG product. Compliance of RMG factories is a key requirement for most of the reputable global garments buyers that compliance ensures all labour rights and facilities according to the buyer’s Code of Conducts. Hence Bangladeshi manufacturers must provide themselves with compliance tools in order to maintain the reputation of their industry. Therefore this review identifies the need to improve capacity of the institutions concerned with social compliance.   Key words: Ready-made garment (RMG), compliance, code of conducts, monitoring and verification system, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).