Bangladesh’s Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector, the biggest earner of foreign currency for the country after the agricultural sector, may face an uncertainty in its exports to the US as a result of the signing of a bill opposing import of goods produced by forced labour by US President Barack Obama. The US government lists garment products from Bangladesh among goods that are produced by child or forced labour, although there was no official remark on whether Bangladeshi goods would be affected by the restrictions. According to the new law, shipments derived from slavery will be kept out of the country that closes a legal loophole that allowed import of such goods if US demand exceeded domestic production.

Senior commerce secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon said that there was no scope to include Bangladesh in the provision of forced labour or workers’ abuse, as ‘forced labour is completely banned by the constitution and there is no such abuse of women in the country.’ He added that an official statement would be made after a US statement reaches the Bangladeshi government and discussions are held with authorities concerned following a review.

Meanwhile, BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman said that there was no slavery, child labour, forced labour or abuse of RMG women workers in Bangladesh. He claimed that such allegations of forced labour were totally absent in other industrial sectors too.