A high powered delegation of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is arriving in Dhaka today (Saturday) to inspect the working conditions and the workers’ safety in Bangladesh.The four-member ILO delegation called the Direct Contacts Mission (DCM), will submit a report on the basis of this visit. The report, which will be discussed at the ILO conference next year, will also give an assessment as to how Bangladesh is performing in enforcing the labour law in line with the ILO convention.Officials at the labour and the foreign ministries told the Prothom Alo on Wednesday that the ILO conference held in June last year had decided to dispatch the DCM team to Bangladesh to see how Bangladesh is implementing the work-standard related convention 81. Accordingly, the ILO headquarters in Geneva had made the request to dispatch the DCM team to Bangladesh in the second half of last year. The decision of sending the DCM team to Dhaka was taken mainly after the working conditions and the workers’ safety in the readymade garment factories were called into question following the Rana Plaza disaster. Bangladesh on a number of occasions this year too communicated with the ILO to know the DCM terms of reference. The labour and employment ministry sent several letters to ILO until last September in this connection.Officials in the Bangladesh’s permanent mission in Geneva said a representative of the ILO director general lead the DCM team formed to enquire about the problems of a country in implementing the ILO convention and particularly whether the country is abiding by the convention after its ratification. The DCM delegation submits its report to a specialist committee. A senior foreign ministry official told Prothom Alo on Wednesday that Bangladesh gave its assent to the DCM team to visit Bangladesh only after knowing the terms of reference of the delegation last September. It was learnt from the labour ministry that the four-member delegation would be led by noted lawyer Karon Monaghan, one of the key members of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. A diplomatic source in Geneva told Prothom Alo on Thursday that apart from visiting different factories, the DCM delegation would hold meetings with representatives of concerned ministries, divisions, factory owners and workers from 18 October to 20 October.
