State’s Obligation to Ratify ILO Conventions C155, C161 and C187: A Review of Bangladesh’s RMG Sector

Abstract

Bangladesh has ratified several ILO conventions as a developing country, including some fundamental ones. However, in the dearth of adequate enforcement of Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (amended in 2013) and ILO conventions, Bangladesh’s Ready-made Garment (RMG) industry has faced appalling working conditions, leading to serious factory accidents like the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013. Nevertheless, the study’s findings show that Bangladesh needs more political will to ratify the essential ILO Conventions C155, C161 and C187. These essential Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Conventions mandate states and organisations to follow international standards at the workplace. Therefore, this research study aims to explain why the ILO has significantly failed to persuade the Government of Bangladesh to ratify these three ILO OHS conventions and how this can be achieved through discussing this study and the recommendations derived from the data analysis.