WASHINGTON, D.C. – One year after the deadly collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 people, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging additional action to help oversee diplomatic efforts and advance critical worker safety reforms in Bangladesh.

“With the economic and political climate deteriorating in Bangladesh, the United States must take preventive diplomatic actions to help stabilize the country and continue the push to create safe working environments for the Bangladeshi people,” Brown said. “The appointment of a Special Envoy to Bangladesh will help advance workplace safety reforms and mediate the political unrest and violence in the country.”   

With Bangladesh receiving more than $160 million in assistance from the United States in 2014, Brown called on Kerry to appoint a Special Envoy to help advance U.S. interest in the country, including critical worker safety reforms to improve safety.  Brown’s request is particularly timely given U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Daniel Mozena plans to depart the country at year’s end. Currently no successor Ambassadorial nominee has been named.

Brown has long fought to improve the working conditions of workers both domestic and abroad. In May 2013, Brown led letters to major retailers calling on them to sign-onto the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, an independent agreement of retailers, Non-governmental Organizations (NGO), and labor unions to commit resources towards factory improvements in Bangladesh. Brown also urged President Obama to pressure Bangladesh to support safer working conditions that could have prevented the worst garment factory accident in history. Following Brown’s call, President Obama announced later that week that he would indefinitely suspend trade preferences for Bangladesh until it makes marked progress on efforts to ensure worker safety and protect labor rights.

Brown has also led the fight to ensure that that the U.S. federal government “Buy America” when it makes purchases and funds projects. In January, Brown urged the General Services Administration (GSA),which makes purchases for the federal government, to set a global example by not conducting business with contractors who violate labor rights and worker safety laws, especially as they apply to child labor. To achieve this, Brown urged the GSA to ensure that American federal agencies not only disclose the locations of the factories they contract with, but that they are aware of and take their working conditions into account when making purchasing decisions.  

The full text of Brown’s letter to Secretary of State Kerry follows:

The Honorable John F. Kerry

Secretary of State

Department of State

2201 C Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20520

 

Dear Secretary Kerry:

 

A deteriorating investment climate and a downward spiral of political unrest and unchecked violence has set in following Bangladesh’s flawed elections of January 5, 2014.  The situation underscores the need for preventive diplomacy through renewed leadership by the United States. 

Bangladesh’s most violent election in history was marred by protests, dozens of deaths, and an election boycott by opposition parties.  The bulk of Bangladesh’s sitting Parliament was elected unopposed, and international election observers were absent, leading critics to call the poll a sham “non-election.”  All parties, including the Government of Bangladesh, acknowledge that an appalling series of extrajudicial killings and disappearances continue unabated to the present day.

To sustain the high-level engagement that commenced with President Obama’s June,  2013 decision to suspend Bangladesh’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) eligibility and help restore internationally recognized worker rights, I urge that you consider designation of a Special Envoy for Bangladesh.  This position would serve primarily to press major parties toward an agreed roadmap and timetable to a democratic election overseen by international observers, using all policy tools available including our foreign assistance package.   

The urgent need for a Special Envoy becomes particularly clear in light of the United States’ ongoing investment in Bangladesh that involves significant financial and expert resources:

  • FY 2014 estimated $81.6 million in Development Assistance
  • FY 2014 estimated $79.5 million in Global Health Programs
  • FY 2014 estimated $2.5 million in Foreign Military Financing
  • FY 2014 estimated $1.0 million in International Military Education and Training
  • New Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) talks
  • New Capacity building under Generalized System Preference (GSP) Action Plan

Moreover, it is my understanding that current Ambassador Daniel Mozena will depart the country this year, and as of today, no successor Ambassadorial nominee has yet been named. 

Since 2013, United States officials and our European Union and other allies have rightly insisted upon an immediate dialogue between the Government of Bangladesh and opposition parties toward immediate free and fair elections.  Without a stable Bangladesh, our national interests and years of efforts in the greater South Central Asia region are at significant risk.  

While your personal diplomatic overtures and those of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to promote elections in 2013 were important, it is increasingly clear that achieving free, fair and democratic elections in 2014 will require sustained United State leadership.  We must spare no effort to restore Bangladesh’s democratic governance and avert the emergence of an unstable one party state, a situation that foments extremism.

I urge that you consider designation of a Special Envoy immediately to oversee and coordinate our important initiatives in Bangladesh.  Early elections should be our top priority at this time, and months of diplomatic efforts have yielded small progress toward this end.

 

###