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8 A BOYCOTT OF CHILD LABOUR?
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THE HARKIN'S BILL
Early 1993, American labour and consumers organisations threatened
to sponsor a boycott of clothes manufactured in Bangladesh - an
initiative that was supported through the so-called Harkin's Bill,
the Child Labour Deterrence Act (1993). This draft law proposes
to ban imports of products to the US market from countries that
use child labour at any stage of production.
The wide publicity that this proposition received sent shock waves
throughout the garment industry in Bangladesh. This threat has been
taken very seriously by the garment exporters because the United
States were their biggest market; More than half of the Bangladeshi
garment exports used to go to the US. Employers, fearing to lose
their position on the market, began to release children from garment
factories. No one knows how many exactly, an estimated 50.000 children
under the age of 14 lost their jobs, with no provisions for their
rehabilitation. Most found new jobs often more dangerous and with
worse working conditions, notably in the informal sector.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
The concern about the children led to negotiations between ILO,
Unicef and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
(BGMEA), including participation of the government of Bangladesh
and the US embassy. After various revisions of a proposed draft
agreement, on the 4th of July 1995, a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) was signed by the BGMEA, ILO and Unicef. The official name
of the MOU is "The Placement of Child Workers in School Programmes
and the Elimination of Child Labour". The MOU stipulates that
no child can be dismissed without being placed immediately in a
school founded to that end. It also forbids all BGMEA factories
to hire new child workers who have not attained 14 years of age.
CHILD LABOUR PROJECT BANGLADESH (1)
The purpose of the MOU is the removal of underaged children from
BGMEA factories and their placement in appropriate education programmes.
The implementation of the programme started with a sector wide
survey in August 1995, carried out by inspection teams of BGMEA,
UNICEF and ILO monitors. This survey aimed to identify the location
and the exact number of child workers under 14, and to assess their
educational needs in order to devise an appropriate school curriculum.
The survey revealed a total of 10.546 child workers in over 2000
factories.
BGMEA, UNICEF and ILO will make every effort to place as many underaged
workers as possible in schools on or before 31 October 1995.
A year after the signing of the MOU, in the beginning of August
1996, the total number of former garment child workers enrolled
in the schools was a mere 2000. The majority of the children still
worked in the factories or left the factories and was engaged in
other (more dangerous) jobs. Because the number of child workers
in the garment factories was still very high, the US embassy set
a deadline to the BGMEA: On 31 October 1996 the garment factories
should prove that they are child labour free.
Child labour monitoring system
For this purpose, a monitoring system was set up to verify the non-existence
of child labour in the factories. - The monitoring system was restriced
to child labour only; It did not monitor wages nor working conditions.
- Inspection teams were made up of monitors from the BGMEA, ILO
and from the government department of labour inspection. The inspections
of the factories were unannounced. A total of 1922 inspections were
carried out. 310 Factories (16%) factories were found temporarily
closed, while 958 (50%) were found to be child free. In the remaining
654 (34%) factories 5674 child workers were identified. On 31 October
1996, the BGMEA declared that the garment industry was free of child
labour. But, the identified children were not yet enrolled in schools.
Beside, not all the factories were inspected at that time. Results
of this monitoring drive were however according to the ILO, seen
as a major step in the right direction.
After 31st October 1996, factory monitoring continued. Factories
that are suspected of using child labour are monitored more frequently.
In February 1997 the number of factories found with child labour
started to rise again. Until then, the BGMEA did not fine any of
the employers who were found employing child labour. The BGMEA was
pressurised by the ILO, UNICEF and the US Embassy to deal with the
violations. Therefore an arbitration committee to summon the employers
who were found 'quilty' was established. The committee started its
work in June 1997.
In July 1997, 2445 inspections were carried out, in which 1426
children were identified in 309 factories. The factories that were
temporarily closed amounted 159, while 1963 factories were child
labour free. Compared to the compiled data of the 1995 survey and
the 1996 monitoring drive, a decrease in child labour can be noted:
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% of factories with child labour
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1995
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1996
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1997
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43
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32
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13
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School enrolment
By July 1997, 318 schools had been set up in which a total of
8188 children were enrolled. From the 8188 children attending
classes, 1399 had not been identified during the survey in 1995,
or had been found during the inspections of 1996. Another 1600
children were attending classes but were not officially enrolled;
They went to schools bythemselves, claiming to be former child
workers from the garment industry.
The programme offers stipends of taka 300 to terminated
child workers attending school programmes on a regular basis.
The BGMEA also undertakes to offer employment to qualified family
members of underaged workers whose employment will be terminated
under this programme. The BGMEA further is committed to ensure
that children are taken back who reach the age of 14, if they
prefer to go back to the garment industry rather than continuing
education. They are allowed to stay in schools, but will not then
receive the monthly stipend.
- ILO Midterm Review, 1997
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