SOCIETY 370 / 2016

BANGLADESCH
INTERVIEW
» Our government
is trying
its best to
increase workplace
securityand
to ensure
the welfare of
our workers.
«
Mohammed
Abu Zafar
CURRICULUM
VITAE
H.E. Ambassador Mohammed
Abu Zafar was
born on March 1, 1963. He
received a Bachelor of Science
(Hons) in Agriculture,
from Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture
University, Dhaka,
and has a Post Graduate
Diploma in International
Relations from International
Institute of Public Administration
(IIAP) in Paris,
France, and the Master of
Business Administration
from Preston University,
USA (Karachi campus).
From 1999 to 2004 he
was Counsellor and Acting
Deputy High Commissioner
at the Bangladesh
Deputy High Commission
in Karachi. From 2005 to
2006 he served as Director
(Personnel, Policy and Coordination)
at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. From
2007 to 2009 he was Consul
General for Bangladesh
in the Pacific Coast of the
USA. From 2009 to 2013
he was Consul General
for Bangladesh in Dubai,
UAE. 2013 to 2014 he was
Director General of the
East Asia and Pacific Wing
and Director General of the
South East Asia Wing, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of
Bangladesh. Since December
2014 he is Ambassador
of the People’s Republic
of Bangladesh to Austria,
Hungary and Slovenia.
➢
Bangladesh Worker Safety. The National Tripartite
Action Plan for Building and Fire Safety
was adopted by the government of Bangladesh to
ensure workplace safety in RMG industry. Accord,
Alliance and NAP completed inspection of around
3600 factories; only one percent of them were
found vulnerable and shut down immediately.
Moreover, remediation in the factories which fall
under the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) from the
safety platforms is continuing.
The government of Bangladesh and the International
Labour Organization (ILO) have launched
the ‘Better Work’ program for the readymade garment
industry in Bangladesh. The initiative focuses
on ensuring fire and structural safety in readymade
garment factories and on the protection of
the rights of workers.
There are more than 4000 garments factories in
the country and most of them have been inspected
by Accord and Alliance and submitted sets of recommendations
and suggestions. The industries’
owners are complying with those recommendations,
failing which calling for the closure of that
factory. As a result, safety of the industry buildings
and welfare of the garments workers have
improved phenomenally. I wish to underline here,
that accidents are accidents and there are many
incidents in the mining sector around the world
causing lots of deaths and injuries. Unfortunately
these accidents in the Bangladeshi garment factories
are making huge headlines over here. That is
a negative way of portraying our efforts, because it
is a sector that employs around five million workers,
around 8 percent of them are female.
Our government is trying its best to increase
workplace safety and to ensure the welfare of our
workers, seen in the light that this textile sector
is our daily bread. We are getting more than 80
percent of our export from this sector. So there
should be no doubt about the sincerity of our
efforts to improve the overall conditions of the
factories. That, however, takes time. It is a serious
challenge for the government of a country of
160 million people. Imagine, more than 4 million
women are working in the garment sector, which
is half of the Austrian population. You will see after
visiting Bangladesh, that there are lot of the
state-of-the-art facilities there. The ‘Government
Inspection Directorate’ in the garment sector is
more vigilant than ever. If they find any factory
not in compliance with their guidelines, they take
action. The buyers’ associations (Accord and Alliance)
are also putting their money to improve the
situation as they, as beneficiaries, have been sourcing
garments from them. The garment you and
me are wearing have been made in Bangladesh at
a very competitive price and as a consumer, we get
satisfaction from that purchase, meaning we all
share responsibility in supporting the garments
industries and workers of Bangladesh.
How would you describe the community network?
There is a strong Bangladeshi community
network linked with other Austrian cities where
non-resident Bangladeshi are living. Our Embassy
maintains regular contacts with them. We have a
First Secretary in the Mission who is, in addition,
working as an interface between the community
and the Mission as Community Welfare Officer.
She deals with Welfare matters of NRBs living here.
Our mission also conducts outreach programmes
on different current issues that need attention to
our NRBs. Few months back, we organised a community
event in Graz to make them aware of how
to deal with terrorism and violent extremism in
the community. Our mission also explained how
such extreme ideas are gaining ground in their
families and how they can counter these menaces
before they can take hold of their youths. •
Fotos: societty/pobaschnig
64 | SOCIETY 2_2016