Stop odour of death body in wind
10 May 2013, 18:00 PM
UPDATED
10 May 2013, 20:50 PM
The stake holders pass law for the protection of Wildlife because they can hear the weeping of wild animal but they never hear the weeping shout of workers who have been earth grieved in Rana Plaza Tragedy. Because who have died in the tragedy are not men, they are worker, more aptly to say garments workers. The repeat flow of workers death has proved that the existing legal framework has failed to stop death of workers. There are two main lacunas in the existing legal framework. Firstly, the existing law has been made on punitive strategy and secondly, failure to effective implementation of the existing law. The framers of the law existing on safety and security of worker ignored the human rights approach in determining the preventive action as well as compensation under the legal provision. There is a great deal of failure in the implementation of the existing law. Corruption and political mercy are two diseases which have been fleshed in our blood and vitiated the effective implementation of the existing law. Corruption starts from very beginning of making factory building by passing building plan and ends with the hiding of death body of the crashed workers. Political blessing starts from more early than that of corruption. If corruption is fleshed with our blood, then political unfair mercy is rooted in our heart. Accused owners and managing persons always are escaped by the grace of their political god father. They are never brought under the limelight of punishment.
Social exclusion is another reason for non-implementation of the existing law. The owner of industry thinks that workers are slave, they are not human being. They are hungry after more profit even need to grave thousands of workers. While workers are not treated as men, how can it be imagined for their rights? Article-20 of Bangladesh constitution provides that Work as a right and duty. (1) Work is a right, a duty and a matter of honour for every citizen….. . This constitutional provision vests four obligations on government. (a). work is a right of a Bangladeshi citizen. He can claim this right to work in Bangladesh. This right does not mean to forced work in risky building. (b).Work is a matter of honour for every citizen. This right has distinguished between slavery and labour. That means government should keep in mind that who are working in factory are not slave rather human being as enshrined in the article.(c) A worker shall be paid for his work. None can deprived him for his due payment. (d) para-2 provides the final strike as says- The state shall endeavour to create a condition in which a person shall become a fuller expression of creative endeavour and of the human personality. Moreover, Article provides for right to form trade union for collective bargaining to ensure workers' rights. But now a days trade union is an important mean to implement political agenda rather interest of the workers. They are motivated to ensure the interest of their leaders who have elected him by money or support. They never have any headache as to the death of workers. This flow of workers' death will never be stopped unless and until workers' right are reshaped from human rights perspective, corruption is minimized and political blessing is swept away from garments and factory. We do not want to odour of more death body of workers in the wind of Bangladesh. May the political leader be gracious the tragedy for a single moment?
The writer is Assistant Professor, Dept. of Law, Uttara University.
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