Invest in social justice for peaceful world, says PM

GENEVA, June 14 (UNB): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the international community to invest in social justice in order to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies across the world.

"We can achieve lasting peace and sustainable development on the foundation of social justice. We must invest in social justice in our efforts to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies worldwide," she said.

The premier was addressing the plenary session of the two-day 'World of Work Summit: Social Justice for All' here in Geneva, which is a high-level forum for global voices to address the need for increased, coordinated and coherent action in support of social justice.

The ILO's summit has brought together over a dozen heads of state and government, high-level representatives from the United Nations, other international organizations, and employers' and workers' organizations.

Hasina said Bangladesh continues to play a leading role in ensuring safe, orderly and regular migration.

"We urge the international community to pay heed to climate change impacts on human mobility and overall work environment," she said in her speech delivered in Bengali.

The PM said this summit meeting, with the launch of the Global Coalition, has created an opportunity to place social justice at the heart of all international development agenda, including SDGs.

"Our government will actively consider joining the Global Coalition through further discussions with our social partners at the national level," she said.

In this context, she placed a five-point suggestion for the global coalition.

The suggestions include; "One, it would be advisable to develop this Coalition as a consultative or advocacy platform rather than as a norm-setting or negotiating forum; Two, the Coalition must guard against weaponising 'social justice' by one international quarter against the other in the current geopolitical context; and Three, the Coalition should make sure that instead of being used as a protectionist tool, social justice should be widely promoted under a rules-based multilateral trading system."

The rest two suggestions are; "Four, the Coalition needs to ensure broad-based support from ILO's own constituents with a view enlisting the International Financial Institutions for the purpose of promoting decent work and productive employment; and Five, the Coalition should give attention to making our youth champion social justice."

Turning to Bangladesh, PM Hasina said a Tripartite Consultative Council (TCC) comprising representatives of workers, employers and the government continues to monitor and advance the overall labour situation in the country. A separate TCC has been constituted for the apparel industry.

She said it was our government that increased the minimum wage for garment workers from Tk 1,600 to Tk 8,000. "We have plans to formulate a policy framework to determine minimum wages through collective bargaining in different industrial sectors," she said.

The Bangladesh leader said trade union registration has been made online. The rate of trade union registration has increased from 60 percent in 2013 to 90 percent in 2022. "The number of trade unions in the garments sector has increased nine-fold in the last nine years. Workers and employers are being regularly trained on the trade union registration process," she said.

She said two separate toll-free helplines have been launched for Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and non-EPZ areas. Besides, databases are being developed with particulars of garment factory workers to ensure transparency and discipline in administering their remuneration and other benefits, she added.

The prime minister said Bangladesh has recently signed ILO Convention 138 on determining the minimum age for child labour. "We have declared eight hazardous sectors to be free of child labour," she said.

Besides, in 2023-24 fiscal year, a programme is underway to rehabilitate 100,000 children engaged in hazardous work by providing them non-formal and technical education, she said.

"I want the country to be free from the scourge of child labour for the sake of a healthy and secure future generation," said Hasina.

She said Bangladesh today is resolutely moving towards building a just, inclusive and resilient society with the ability to deal with various natural and man-made disasters of the past.

During Covid-19 pandemic, her government allocated USD 588 million for regular salary payments to workers in export-oriented industries; around USD 300 million for distributing food free-of-cost to under-privileged families; and USD 156 million approximately for distribution among five million poor families, she said.