Bangladesh should expedite implementing commitments on labour rights: EU

Shawdesh Desk:

The European Union has said the authorities in Bangladesh should increase the pace of implementing its commitments on labour rights included in the National Action Plan (NAP) and ILO roadmap, and continue to report regularly on progress achieved in line with the timelines provided with respect to key concerns.

“Thanks to progress achieved in ratifying ILO Conventions in recent years, Bangladesh has ratified all the 27 GSP+ international conventions referred to in the GSP Regulation,” said the EU.

Full compliance with the GSP+ relevant international conventions should also be seen in light of the expected future graduation of Bangladesh from LDC status, which would imply moving from the ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) arrangement to standard GSP, according to an evaluation report released by the European Commission.

In this context, it is important that Bangladesh can demonstrate that it meets its obligations under the GSP regulation, in particular as mentioned above, the labour rights reforms under the National Action Plan and respecting international human rights standards.

The EU will continue to closely monitor the implementation of Bangladesh’s GSP commitments, and will foster the ongoing engagement.

Regarding the key concerns on human rights, Bangladesh should improve freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and civil society space; investigate cases of alleged torture, ill-treatment, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances; fully implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) including with respect to the abolition of the death penalty, as well as the conclusions of UN treaty monitoring bodies, according to Bangladesh section of the report on “EU Enhanced Engagement with three Everything But Arms beneficiary countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar.”

This is the second joint Staff Working Document (SWD) dedicated to enhanced engagement with three GSP beneficiary countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Enhanced engagement started in 2017 with these three beneficiary countries under the EBA arrangement in the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) and has not been extended to other EBA beneficiaries so far.

Bangladesh remains by far the most important beneficiary of the EBA arrangement in terms of exports to the EU. EBA preferences have contributed significantly to the country’s remarkable economic growth and associated social progress over the past decades.

The economic performance in terms of GDP growth continued to be positive in the period 2020 to 2022 despite the COVID-19 pandemic (contrary to many other GSP beneficiaries).

Bangladesh met the (Least Developed Country) LDC graduation criteria in 2018 and 2021 and is now scheduled to graduate from LDC status in 2026, having been granted an exceptional 5-year transition period by the UN due to challenges stemming from the pandemic.

Graduation from LDC status will also imply exit from the EBA arrangement three years later according to the current GSP Regulation.

The EU’s share of Bangladesh’s exports reached 51.8% in 2022, making the EU the most important export market by far.