US drops Jordan’s garments from child labour list

The US government has removed Jordan’s garments from its list of goods produced by child labour and forced labour. The decision by the US department of labour allows wider access for Jordanian garment producers in the US. This is likely to boost exports of clothing from Jordan to the US. The US currently accounts for 21 per cent of total exports from Jordan.

The US department of labour took the decision to remove Jordan from the list based on the information that human trafficking has significantly reduced in Jordan. Jordanian government adopted several measures to monitor garment manufacturers in the country. It formulated and implemented labour regulations and collaborated with International Labour Organization (ILO) and Tamkeen NGO to carry out inspections in industries that violated the law.

A healthy working environment along with reasonable wages and working hours were ensured in the industry by the government of Jordan. It also created a merit list of the companies which followed the new labour laws. The country successfully reduced forced and child labour in the garment industry by adopting these methods, compelling the US to drop its name from its aforementioned list, Jordanian news agency Petra said.

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Jawad Anani, Jordan’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said that his country is trying its best to maintain a good reputation of its products in the US, which is one of the major importers of clothes manufactured in Jordan. He also believes that these measures will help create additional jobs for Jordanians.

Regional turmoil and border closures with some Arab countries led to a decrease in Jordan’s exports in 2015 and the first half of 2016 and it is now looking at new markets such as US and Europe to make up for the loss. A recent agreement on simplification of the rules of origin on Jordanian products by EU is also likely to help the country expand its business in European markets.