Workers, aged under 18 across the country, continue to be abused physically, sexually and financially, as law remains unimplemented.
The victims go without any compensation due to government’s highest level of negligence in providing safeguards to the child labourers, observed the child and labour rights activists.
They said except a few short-term projects run with the fund of international NGOs (non-governmental organisation), the government remains inactive in prioritising this issue of grave concern.
A statistics of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies conducted from 2010 to 2012 shows, a total of 798 workers who worked as house-helps were injured or sexually harassed or murdered by their employers, a total of 398 domestic workers died because of being tortured, and 299 and 100 domestic workers were reported to be tortured and sexually harassed respectively.
According to a baseline survey jointly done by International Labour Organisation and UNICEF in 2007, there were 420,000 child domestic workers in the country back then.
At present there are 7.5m children working as labourers in the country, says a survey of the present government.
The last National Child Labour Survey conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in 2003, found 1.3m children aged between 5-17, were engaged in hazardous forms of child labour.
On the other hand, a recent survey by Dushtho Sasthya Kendra (DSK) Bangladesh, a development NGO, demonstrates that a total of 147 children are engaged in hazardous work that puts them in risk of injury, illness or death, in the wards of 24- 28 in Old Dhaka.
It is surprising that no government or private body has done any survey so far, on how many children were working in the readymade garments factories.
However, the recent incident of Rana Plaza collapse in Savar, which is considered to be the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history, revealed that a significant number of children were working in the factory, violating both the international labour law and the country’s existing law.
On May 23, during a visit to the control room of Upazila Nirabahi Office, Savar, a list prepared by BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) was found which contained names of 12 missing children who were working in the garment factories housed inside the Rana Plaza.
More than 200 children’s name aged between 15 and 17 were found in the sections of of dead and injured, in the lists prepared separately by BGMEA and Social Welfare Club of Jahangirnagar University (JU).
None of them has received any compensation for death, amputation, or injuries from their employers, as the cases are still pending in court.
Child rights specialist Sharfuddin Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “Employers want to appoint children since they can be easily exploited by giving low salary and almost no other facility. The guardians are compromising their children with such poor condition mainly because of poverty. Unless this vicious circle is broken by implementation of law, child labour would go unabated.”
In a meeting yesterday Omar Faruk, joint secretary of the Social Welfare ministry admitted that corrupt and greedy people continue to run their businesses by exploiting a large section of children in the country.
“We [government] want children not to be used as workers. However, the businessmen want them as workforce as they are the cheapest labours and easy to exploit. Until these two groups come to a consensus, elimination of child labour is a hard ambition to realise,”.
Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation project manager Omar Faruq told the Dhaka Tribune: “Although the National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010 has a framework to eradicate all forms of child labour by 2015, little initiative has been taken in reality. The framework contains a list marking 38 categories of work as ‘hazardous’ for children and mentions about an office to run under the labour ministry for checking child labour. But, all these laws and policies lie only in papers.”
However, Secretary of Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Tariq-ul-Islam said the ministry was working relentlessly to eliminate the child labour from the country.
The campaign to eliminate child labour needs to be enhanced by other ministries including labour, local government and social welfare as well, said Tariq.
“Children should be brought up in a cheerful and healthy environment. It is very frustrating to see them getting engaged in work due to poverty,” added Tariq.