BATB deriving favors in return of donation to Labor Welfare Foundation- Govt. not complying FCTC Article 5.3

Bangladesh Labor Welfare Foundation (BLWF), under the Ministry of Labor and Employment, has received donations on different occasions, amounting to BDT 23,07,61,480 (230.7 million), till 2 October 2017 from the multinational tobacco company British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB). Acceptance of such donation from a tobacco company is a clear breach of Guideline 4.10, under Article 5.3, of the WHO treaty Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It clearly says that the parties should not allow any official or employee of government or of any semi-quasi-governmental body to accept payments, gifts or services, monetary or in-kind, from the tobacco industry. The Article 5.3 Guidelines were adopted during the 2008 FCTC Conference of Parties’ third session. Bangladesh, as one of the parties, has legal obligation to implement the Guidelines. BATB has, so far, been widely circulating the news of its donations to BLWF in the mass media of the country every year with such an enthusiasm which makes it look like that the sole purpose of the company is to provide incessant flow of donations to BLWF, not to do tobacco trade. The Ministry of Labor and Employment, sadly, is also spreading the news and pictures of its acceptance of BATB donations using its official Facebook page. Apart from showering BATB with media attention, these donation receiving ceremonies also create unnecessary interaction between BATB and the top policymakers of the Ministry, i.e. the Minister of Labor and Employment, the Secretary, The Director-General of BLWF, which is also violation of FCTC Article 5.3 Guideline 2. Not only this, the official website of BLWF acknowledges BATB as its partner organization which is an indirect but clear promotion of the tobacco company and shows an astounding disregard towards public health issues and the PM’s directives to make Bangladesh tobacco-free by 2040.

In return of its donations to BLWF, BATB has been deriving anti-Labor interest favors from the Ministry of Labor and Employment for years. From 2014 to 2017, five circulars from the Ministry exempted BATB (table 1) from obeying Section 06, 09, 100, 102, 104, 105 and 114 (1) of the Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006 under certain conditions, under the disguise of an incomprehensible and mysterious ‘Public Interest’. And exploiting the flexibility, BATB has made daily working hours to 10 hours in a day instead of eight (08) hours and has set weekly holiday to one day instead of one and a half day. These facilities provided to a tobacco company violates FCTC Article 5.3 Guideline 7.1 as it prevents the govt. from giving privileges or benefits to the tobacco industry for running their business.

Table 1: BATB being exempted from certain obligations of Bangladesh Labor Act 2006, using circulars issued by the Ministry of Labor and Employment
Circular No.	Circular Gazette Date	Duration of Exemption
40.00.0000.016.34.009.12-241	9 October 2017	25 September 2017 to 24 March 2018 (6 months)
40.00.0000.016.34.009.12-108	21 September 2016	25 September 2016 to 24 March 2017 (6 months)
40.00.0000.016.34.009.12-56	28 April 2016	25 March 2016 to 24 September 2016 (6 months)
40.00.0000.016.34.009.12-99	21 October 2015	25 September 2015 to 24 March 2016 (6 months)
40.00.0000.016.34.009.12-40	22 April 2014	26 March 2014 to 25 September 2014 (6 months)

 

It should be noted that globally BAT has been found guilty of bribing, financing and donating different organizations, govt. and international bodies and power holders to improve company image, exert influence and exploit illegal benefits. Even information has been revealed that BAT had financed International Labor Organization (ILO). It has been found that BAT has been sponsoring over a decade in a project run by Eliminating Child Labor in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) Foundation and supervised by ILO in some parts of Eastern Africa including Malawi. It also mentions in BAT's Sustainability Report 2016. Due to protest and mounting pressure from the anti-tobacco organizations, ILO Governing Body decided not to take any money from tobacco companies. Prior to that, a 2015 BBC report exposed that BAT had bribed the politicians and government employees of the Eastern African countries to get illegal benefits. Moreover, a recent investigative report on the Guardian in 2017 has alleged that BAT has threatened, forced and even lodged cases against the governments of eight countries of the region to stop them taking life-saving decisions so that it could occupy the African market. The states are – Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, Togo, Congo, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso.

Giving tobacco companies preferential treatment or benefits by violating FCTC Article 5.3 while at the same time committing to building a tobacco-free country by 2040 indicates a ‘double-dealing’ on the govt.’s part. It is time to adopt and implement policies in light of FCTC Article 5.3. Only this can protect public health from the aggression of tobacco company.

Source: Tobacco Industry Watch BD Team@PROGGA