No stakeholder including government, garments factory owners and international organisations, particularly working on preventing child labour, can deny their roles behind the existence of child labour in the readymade garments sector, observe labour leaders and child rights activists.
They made the remark following a report published in the Guardian titled “Bangladesh garment factories still exploiting child labour for UK products” on Wednesday.
Labour leader Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmad said it would be wrong if someone blatantly labelled the garments owners as the exploiters.
“As far I know, the ILO, the Unicef and several other international organisations have been working on the child labour issue, for a long time. Now it is time to question them about the result of their activities as well.”
In 1995, an agreement was signed between the BGMEA, the Unicef and the ILO when the stakeholders had agreed to stop hiring under-aged workers and start working together to eliminate child labour.
However, a number of children’s names including Anna, Rabeya Akhter and Hamida Akhter were found in the list of workers who had been killed, injured or missing in the collapse of eight-storey Rana Plaza where several garments factories operated. The list was prepared by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Anna used to work on the sixth floor while Rabeya and Hamida worked at a factory on the seventh floor of the building.
“I am not justifying the existence of child labour in the garments industry. Rather I am pointing out that child labour prevails in much more hazardous works than the RMG sector.
“My question is if child labour still prevails in a comparatively safe workplace like garments even after all those efforts by the international organisations, governments and garments owners, then what is the benefit of spending millions of money on child labour by the donor agencies and the government?” said Sultan, also the assistant executive director of Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (Bils).
Child labour, though termed a crime by law, is persistent in the country’s different business and industrial sectors as well as households, often in hazardous conditions. Subsequent governments have failed to change the situation even though they undertook tough measures and effective enforcement of the laws.
“No one can deny their failures,” Sultan added.
Child rights activist Sharfuddin Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “The garment owners need to develop a scrutiny system when appointing employees. Because of poverty, one may claim that his/her child is adult. But why will the owner solely rely on my submission of the document?”
He observes that in most cases the poor workers choose the RMG job considering it as a better one than the so-called odd jobs including working as a domestic help or rickshaw-puller, or at tanneries, plastic or heavy metal factories.
According to the country’s labour law, employing children under the age of 18 in particularly hazardous areas, such as garments, electrical and tanneries, is prohibited. The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 defines an adolescent as an individual aged between 14 and 18, and says an adolescent can work in a factory if a certificate of fitness is granted to him or her, and if he or she carries a token while at work which gives reference to the certificate.
BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune: “We often conduct sudden inspection at the garments factories. If we find any child working there, we penalize the owner $200 for every child and impose ban on their export-import facilities.”
The BGMEA initiated a ban on child labour since the US, one of the biggest importers of Bangladeshi garments, in 1992 introduced legislation banning import of goods made by factories which employ child labourers.