The government will take legal action against the tannery owners in case of employing children as labourers at the tannery industries after the Eid-ul-Azha.
“The Ministry of Labour and Employment will closely monitor to check child labour employment in the tannery and leather industries after the Eid as rawhide transportation, preservation and processing are hazardous for the children”, said an official statement in Dhaka on Wednesday.
In this regard, the ministry for the first time has issued a letter to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) for taking necessary action ahead of the Eid.
“Instructions have been given to the DIFE in line with the directives of its State Minister Begum Monnujan Sufian for taking necessary action in this regard,” said Labour and Employment Secretary KM Abdus Salam.
In 2013, the government has identified a total of 38 categories of works including rawhide processing in the tannery and leather industries as “hazardous works” for children.
As per the labour law, no children before 18 years old could be employed in hazardous work.
“The tannery and leather industries have been declared 100% child labour free and regular monitoring is going on there to maintain it continuously”, said DIFE’s Inspector General Shib Nath Roy.
“It is a common phenomenon to employ child labour in the works of raw animal skin transporting, preservation and processing after the Eid-ul-Azha”, said the letter.
As various chemical agents including acids are being used in the animal skin processing, the atmosphere of the tannery industry is unhealthy for physical and mental growth of the children, it warned.