Child labour: Much more needed to ensure safety

Bangladesh envisions eradicating child labour by the year 2015. However, implementation of such a plan seems difficult as neither the government nor NGOs have a definite knowledge of child labour conditions and status in the country.

Statistically, at least 6.5 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are employed, and 40% of them are employed in hazardous jobs. The term "hazardous" has not been clearly defined.

Children in hazardous work

Despite the existence of laws against Child labour, which prohibit employment of children under 14 in any workplace, under age employment of children in various forms is rampant in the country. A report was published on 17th September,2010 in Bangladesh newspaper named 'Daily Star' that highlights a vivid picture of how children are working under the most hazardous conditions to earn for their families.

The report shows children working 14 hours a day at the workshops to make bathroom fittings from brass at extremely high temperatures. And it is not the temperature, which is around 900 degrees Celsius that is damaging to the worker children's health, the toxic vapour that the molten metal emits and is inhaled by them do also cripple the respiratory system of the worker exposed to it. And one need not be an expert to understand what such exposures to the extreme heat and toxic fume can do to the children if they have to work for years in these factories.

Gang rape incident in india: A lesson for Bangladesh

The December 16, 2012 gang rape of a medical student in New Delhi triggered violent public protests over attitude towards women in the country and raised a unanimous demand that actions be taken to strengthen laws against sexual violence.

Incidents like rape and gang rape are frequent in our country too, Except for some individuals and women rights activists, no one protests such crimes and discrimination against women in Bangladesh, Even the Islamic Parties or Islamic leaders!

Child labour:Enforce the rules of safety at any cost

The more we hear of a malady or scourge, our sensibilities about it tend to dull. There comes a point when we might feel resigned to its recurrence. That may be the case with newspaper readers, radio listeners and TV watchers. But when the authorities whose responsibility it is to contain or eliminate the malaise should themselves show an attitude of resignation that can hardly be condoned.

This is what seems to have happened with the revelatory reports of the recurring child labour abuses. Where it gets particularly abhorrent is when underage children are engaged in physically and mentally hazardous avocations with routine regularity. That too, without registering their names so as to evade any accountability if that will be enforced at all. On paper, children below 14 years of age are 

High Court of Bangladesh orders probe into ‘child labour’

The High Court of Bangladesh on April 15,2013 ordered the government to investigate the allegation against Akij Biri Factory Limited of employing over 1,000 child workers at the tobacco factory in Rangpur.

In response to a writ petition, the court asked the government also to investigate the allegation of evading millions of tax money by using tax labels which were fake or have been used before on its biri packets.

It directed the authorities concerned of the government to submit the investigation report to it within 15 days.

Fight against child labour

The implementation of social protection measures can play a key role in rescuing minors from occupational bondage, it's said in a report by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO). According to the World Report on Child Labour, varying types of social protection measures such as cash transfer schemes, social health protection and providing income security in old age, can help reduce the number of children around the world who are forced to work. The ILO estimates that the phenomenon has trapped 215 million children worldwide.