ILO Deputy Director General Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo expressed his resentment Thursday over the slow progress of the compensation process for Rana Plaza victims as the fund still falls short of target even after a year passed.
"It is hard and difficult to say that the victims can't be adequately compensated and it would be shame for all of us, all the stakeholders," he said at a meeting on "One Year after Rana Plaza: Progress and the Way Forward", held in the city.
The programme was jointly organized by labour ministry and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) marking the first anniversary of the country's worst ever industrial accident that killed at least 1135 workers and injured thousands more.
Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain was chief guest at the function which was attended by labour secretary Mikail Shipar, foreign diplomats from the US, EU, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK, BGMEA president Md Atiqul Islam, BKMEA vice president Md Hatem, Chairperson of National Coordination Committee for Workers' Education and ILO country director Srinivas Reddy.
"Much has been done, now the factory inspections must be completed and the labour law implemented in full. The increased number of factory unions is a significant step towards improved workers' rights. Training for the new unions and employers is essential, so that a better future for the RMG sector can be built on social dialogue," Houngbo said.
Mr Houngbo called upon all the stakeholders including government, owners, workers and both the Accord and the Alliance to ensure coordination, harmonized approach and social dialogue to deal with the upcoming issues including the remedial actions.
"It has been a year of continuous efforts by the Government of Bangladesh towards the goal of ensuring safety for the workers and to prevent another Rana Plaza type incident in the future," the minister said explaining the steps taken by the government.
Roy Ramesh Chandra, secretary general of IndustriAll Bangladesh Council criticized that there had been much talks over the commitments and their completion.
"But the reality is that the Rana Plaza victims and the workers are suffering at the end of the day," he said adding that the Rana Plaza tragedy exposed failure of all stakeholders including trade unions.
"Brands fail twice as they fail to ensure workplace safety which is their obligation and fail to contribute compensation till date," he said drawing the attention of the foreign diplomats to make the brands to pay so that Rana Plaza victims and their families get due compensation.
He also proposed a national permanent fund for the garment workers.
"Besides, compensation to the victims has to be addressed with utmost priority," said the Netherlands Ambassador Gerben de Jong.
Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden said, "We realize that the change takes time."
British High Commissioner, Robert W Gibson said, "Let us use this anniversary to maintain momentum and push for further progress. We must ensure that the commitments made are translated into real changes".
