Hell for leather in Bangladesh

Photo by GMB Akash 1

Bangladesh's leather industry is worth over $ 1 billion a year and around 20,000 people

are employed in the hundreds of tanneries operating along the banks of the Buriganga

River in the southwest of Dhaka, the capital. Yet while this industry provides a livelihood

for tens of thousands of workers and their families, the working conditions and

chemicals used in the tanning process can have devastating effects on the health of the

workers and a complete lack of safety and environmental regulations has caused severe

pollution of surrounding waterways.

Add to this the widespread use of child labour in Bangladesh's tanneries and the whole

industry became yet another dangerous and dubious sector of the national economy

alongside more infamous sectors like the garment industry.

-- GMB Akash

Child labor Working conditions Health Environmental pollution2

孟加拉國的哈扎里巴約有 200 家皮革廠。約有 2.5 萬貧困的當地人靠曬製皮革維持生計，而他們每月的收入僅有 30 英鎊 ( 約合 300 元 ) 。此外，皮革廠每天都會傾倒 2.2 萬立方升的有毒廢物。當地環境遭到嚴重污染，人們的健康更是備受其害。

　　位於達卡的哈扎里巴有約 200 家皮革廠，這兒的皮革是供給歐美國家生產鞋子和其他商品用的。由於當地人貧困不堪，約 2.5 萬人在皮革廠工作，每天曬製皮革。儘管如此，每月也只有 30 英鎊的收入。每天大量的有毒廢物從廠裡排出，包括致癌物質。這些廢棄物一般進入布里加甘河，這是達卡的主要河流。人們還要靠這條河流生活。

　　當地的激進人士瑞日瓦納• 哈桑 (Rizwana Hasan) 說道，皮革廠的毒害是慢性的，但是早晚得讓孟加拉國的皮革災難新聞走向世界新聞的頭條。當地政府雖然承認皮革廠的做法違背了環境法，但是卻未強制採取行動，而西方買家和製革廠商就是看上了這兒的廉價勞動力和寬鬆的環境執行標準。哈桑已經捲入與皮革廠的長期鬥爭中，他希望皮革廠搬遷到其他地方。-- 每日郵報

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Photo by Matteo Cardin 4












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8/27/2014 王文堯 Kaohsiung Taiwan R.O.CAll photos were taken from GMB Akash ,Private photore view,internet. THE END 64

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Hell for leather in Bangladesh