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.

Child labour in Bangladesh is a very nebulous topic because of the very fact that the government with cooperation of NGOs has not yet put in place systematic, clear and coherent guidelines as to what laws prohibiting child labour should entail.

It is a long and extensive process, one which entails involving the parents of the children and helping them understand the dangers of such practices and giving them positive reinforcements. The families which would send their minor children to work suffer from such abject poverty  that there remains no other option for them.

However, it is there that the government must step in and implement efficient laws. One large sector which employs children is agriculture but there are no laws which cover children in this sector.

Population control and extensive education programmes in rural

 and urban areas will undoubtedly help in this process. Some other ideas are social awareness against child labour, media intervention, reforming laws, and banning child labour.

The need for raising minimum wage for children as stated by the International Labour Organization (ILO Convention 138) is thus completely futile because the necessity here is to eradicate child labour altogether and to help educate them to break the cycle of poverty.

The necessity for the government to step in and take action is absolutely fundamental in eradicating child labour. Unless pro-active measures are taken now, eradication of child labour can not occur by 2015.