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).
Highlights
Children have the right to be children: to be loved cherished, educated, nourished, clothed, pampered, and fostered as children when they are children (Hasnat, 1995, quoted from Natoli, 1992)
The legislation prescribes that children between ages 6 and 10 must attend school up to the fifth grade or up to the age of 10 years (ILO, 1998a)
According to International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics published in May 2002, there are an estimated 352 million children aged 5 to 17 years engaged in some form of economic activity around the world
Summary
Children have the right to be children: to be loved cherished, educated, nourished, clothed, pampered, and fostered as children when they are children (Hasnat, 1995, quoted from Natoli, 1992). Harmful child labour consists of the employment of children that is economically exploitative, or is likely to be hazardous to or interfere with, the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health, or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development (IFC, 1999). According to International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics published in May 2002, there are an estimated 352 million children aged 5 to 17 years engaged in some form of economic activity around the world. Of these 352 million, 246 million are either (i) below their country‘s minimum age for employment; (ii) working in occupations that jeopardize the physical, mental or moral wellbeing of a child; or (iii) working as slaves, prostitutes or bonded labourers (ILO, 2002). International organizations and NGOs pressured the industry to retain the remaining children in order to have an opportunity to establish safety nets for them (UNICEF, 2010)
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