The Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) has long had to contend with Bangladeshi government repression and surveillance as security forces tap their phone lines, monitor their emails, and sometimes search their offices. However, the current crackdown is the harshest yet, threatening BCWS’s existence and putting staff and organizational leaders in serious physical danger.

The immediate cause of the cancellation of BCWS’s legal status appears to be related to BCWS supporting workers in their effort to form an independent trade union at one particular garment factory, Nassa Global Wear. After harassment of union leaders, workers contacted BCWS in April, 2010, to receive support and help to resolve the conflict at the factory.

The Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) was founded in 2001 by two former child garment workers in Bangladesh. Their aim is to promote worker rights and “establish a congenial atmosphere in the working place to increase productivity and contribute to the national economy.” A non-political non-governmental organization, BCWS is widely known for its credible research on labour rights compliance in the ready-made-garment factories and is committed to lawful means of redressing labour rights violations.