Union Leader’s Murder ‘Huge Test’ for Bangladesh as ‘World Watches’
Both the European Union and the United States must factor in the recent murder of a labor activist in ongoing trade discussions with Bangladesh, a prominent human rights organization said.
Human Rights Watch, which is headquartered in New York, warned Thursday that the death of Shahidul Islam, a Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation leader who was attacked and killed last month after pay negotiations at a factory in Gazipur reached an impasse, will have a “chilling effect” on the world’s second-largest clothing exporter’s already curtailed labor movement.
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Islam, according to a report filed with local authorities, had been meeting with the management of Prince Jacquard Sweater over outstanding wages and Eid-ul-Azha bonuses when talks stalled. Shortly after he threatened to involve the local Directorate of Inspection of Factories, the report said, he and two other campaigners were set upon by a group of “hired goons” who kicked and punched the men while rebuking them for getting involved. For Islam, the blows to his head proved to be fatal. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital later that night.
A representative from Prince Jacquard Sweater has denied any culpability in the incident, suggesting that strife within the movement’s ranks could be the cause. But Claudio Francavilla, senior EU advocate at Human Rights Watch, said that any labor leader’s murder poses a “disturbing setback” for workers’ freedoms to organize and the involvement of union leaders in labor disputes.
The EU, for instance, needs to frame any requests to extend Bangladesh’s tariff-free perks under its Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) in light of Islam’s death, Human Rights Watch said. The South Asian nation, a beneficiary of the bloc’s Everything But Arms program, is expected to graduate from the Least Developed Country status by the close of 2026. Already, it has expressed a desire to apply for the GSP-Plus system, which has stricter labor rights requirements, after its alleviation, even though it’s currently under so-called “enhanced engagement” by the EU Commission “due to concerns with the country’s overall adherence to human and labor rights.”
“Islam’s murder is the latest, outrageous development in a pattern of growing repression in Bangladesh and should not be tolerated,” Francavilla said. “The EU should use its major trade leverage to demand justice, lay out consequences if Bangladesh authorities fail to reverse their abusive trend.”
He said that the EU Commission should embark on a monitoring mission to Bangladesh as part of its enhanced engagement, as well as “urgently and vocally” require the government to report on how it’s ensuring a quick and transparent investigation into Islam’s death and allowing workers to freely exercise their rights of assembly and association.
The United States throttled Bangladesh’s access to trade privileges over labor rights and worker safety concerns before. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama suspended the country’s duty-free benefits following the collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed 1,134 garment workers and injured thousands more. The office of the U.S. trade representative has continued to uphold the decision, citing in its most recent review continued red flags in the areas of freedom of association, collective bargaining, child labor and forced labor, as well as the need for greater alignment between Bangladesh’s domestic laws and practices and international labor standards.
At a visit to Bangladesh in January, however, Donald Lu, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs was quoted by local media as saying that he was “very confident” about the progress of labor rights in the country.
“We have to wait for our congress to authorize GSP to any country,” he said. “But we are working very closely with the government. So, when it gets authorized, the first country on the list would be Bangladesh.”
Even so, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), in its latest Global Rights Index, published last week, continues to rate Bangladesh among the 10 worst countries for working people with a worst-possible rating of 5, meaning no guarantee of rights. It pointed to the garment sector’s growing overall anti-union climate, violent attacks on protesting workers and a minimum wage that hasn’t budged since 2018.
Other countries on the list are Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Guatemala, Myanmar, Tunisia, the Philippines and Turkey. Overall, key measures of violations of workers’ rights across nearly 150 countries, even in progressive nations such as Canada, France and the Netherlands, reached “record highs” over the past year, with workers’ demands to have their rights upheld met with employer hostility, government indifference and state-sponsored violence, the world’s largest trade union federation said.
“This is the 10th edition of the Index and the 2023 results demonstrate how necessary it is,” said Luc Triangle, its acting general secretary. “Across both high-income and low-income countries, as working people have faced a historic cost-of-living crisis and spiraling inflation driven by corporate greed, governments have cracked down on the right to collectively negotiate wage rises and take strike action.
In the aftermath of Islam’s murder, the ITUC called for all global brands sourcing from Bangladesh to carry out human rights due diligence in their supply chains.
“The brands must use their leverage to ensure respect for human rights and international labor standards in law and practice,” Triangle said at the time. “There is no excuse for doing business with anyone who doesn’t respect basic rights, such as the right to freedom of association. They must hold to account their suppliers for their respect of workers’ rights.”
Faruque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the influential trade group representing factory owners, has urged punishment for those responsible for Islam’s death, adding that the activist will be remembered “forever” for his work.
While the organization did not respond to requests for comment about Human Rights Watch and the ITUC’s statements, it has taken issue with the characterization of labor rights in its sector, which it frequently touts as one of the safest and most sustainable in the world. It maintains that contrary to the narrative that labor rights are deteriorating in Bangladesh, there has been a “paradigm shift“ in promoting worker well-being, especially post-Rana Plaza.
“The industry is learning and improving every day. More efforts are on the way to ensure a better ecosystem within the industry as we aim for sustained growth,” a spokesperson said in response to ITUC’s report about Bangladesh’s “persistent and serious” violations last year. “While we condemn the misrepresentation of the fact and falsehood, our objective is clear. We would like ITUC to constructively criticize, not make unrealistic accusations. We are ready to collaborate and cooperate with utmost sincerity.”
But Human Rights Watch said that the attack that killed Islam follows a pattern of “targeted attacks” against labor organizers in Bangladesh. In the case of the torture and killing of Aminul Islam, another Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation more than a decade ago, authorities have failed to make any meaningful headway in their investigations.
“Ensuring justice and compensation for Shahidul Islam’s death will be a huge test for Bangladesh as the world watches,” Francavilla said.
