|
The
overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi companies fail to
adhere to the principles and comply with the elements which
inform the concept of corporate responsibility as it has evolved
in recent years. About two-thirds of the companies do not
pay minimum wages stipulated by law and the majority of the
companies do not issue formal appointment letters to their
employees. About 75 per cent of companies do not carry out
any consultations with the local communities; in most of the
cases local concerns about issues such as environment are
ignored by the companies. There is a widening gap between
the perception of the civil society and the workers on the
one hand, and the corporate managers on the other, and this
appears to have undermined the prospects of cooperation among
the various stakeholders on issues of common interest. The
absence of an ongoing engagement has given rise to a general
negative attitude towards the corporate sector on the part
of the worker as well as a substantive part of the civil society.
Above are some of the findings of a recent CPD study titled
"Corporate Responsibility Practices in Bangladesh: Results
from a Benchmark Study". The study covered three major
stakeholder groups: corporate executives, emplo-yees/workers,
and the civil society representatives.
It is difficult to define what constitutes the concept of
Corporate Respon-sibility and it is still an evolving concept:
some of the guidelines and principles are being set through
ISO 14001, OECD Guidelines, AA 1000, and the UN Global Compact
which have been designed to evaluate corporate standard and
performance.
|
|
|
However,
a set of universally recognised and acceptable guidelines
are yet to be agreed upon by all the concerned sides. A credible
corporate responsibility agenda is now generally accepted
to encompass the following elements: Corporate Governance,
Sustainable Development, Business Ethics, Legal Compliance,
Trans-parency and Stakeholder Dialogues, Human Rights, Labour
Practices and Fair Employment, Health & Safety, Community
Relations and Environ-mental Responsibilities.
The study conducted in the CPD covered some of the abovementioned
dimensions of corporate responsibility surveyed and included
a selected sample survey of some of the major stakeholder
groups. The study revealed that only 40 per cent of the companies
have internal control mechanisms against corruption and bribery;
however, evidence about their appli-cation was found to be
scanty. The study found the companies regularly contributing
to the political parties. About 80 per cent of companies finance
political parties in various forms and extent. While the company
charters talk of labour standards and sustainable development
only a few of them have a focal person responsible for their
implementation (4.4 per cent and 11 per cent respec-tively).
The conflicting interest of business ethics and business practice
was clearly evident from the survey. While there are evidences
of violations of labour codes and other laws, only in 4.4
per cent of the cases the companies were prosecuted for such
violations. Accountability for violation of human rights is
almost absent (28.2 per cent).
(Cont.
Page-8)
|
|
|
Industries
Minister underscores the need for expansion of RNF activities
Participants
at the CPD dialogue on Promoting Rural Non-farm Economy: Is
Bangladesh Doing Enough? noted that the rural non-farm (RNF)
economic activities in Bangladesh are gaining importance in
the ecomomy despite the fact that the sector is still lacking
adequate policy support. The RNF is playing an important part
in terms of job creation for the growing labour force in an
already saturated agriculture sector. Whilst the RNF sector
outpaced the growth in the agriculture sector, non-availability
of credit from the formal channels and lack of marketing linkages
have handicapped the sectors advancement.
The dialogue was held on July 18, 2002 at the Ballroom of
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
Moderated by CPD Chairperson Professor Rehman Sobhan the dialogue
was attended, among others, by Mr. M.K. Anwar, MP, Minister
for Industries of the Government of Bangladesh, as the Chief
Guest and Begum Matia Chowdhury, former Agriculture Minister
to the Government of Bangladesh, as the Guest of Honour.
(Cont.
Page-2)
|
|
