World Day against Child labour

Poverty forces children to earn for families

For  Ajimon Begum, child labour is a fact of life.
“My husband left me and our three children for another woman. If I don’t send my eight-year-old child to work in a balloon factory, I'll not be able to feed my two younger children otherwise,” she told The Independent.
Ajimon said several NGOs have come to her slum to try and persuade her to send her children to school rather than to work in a factory. “But talk won’t stave off our hunger. Besides, I can’t afford the cost of education for my children,” she added.
Even though education up to primary level is free, nearly 50 per cent of primary school students drop out even before completing Grade Five because many   parents like Ajimon cannot afford to pay the associated costs for transport, school uniforms and stationery.
 Moreover, their families rely on them to earn money and thus cannot let them “waste time” in school.
 Ajimon’s child is just one of the nearly three million working children in Bangladesh. The figure is larger than
the entire population of countries
like Norway or New Zealand.
See Page 2 Col 5

from page 1 col 1

The truth is these children are a source of cheap labour for their employers. They can be forced to work extra hours or in hazardous environments without standing up for themselves, said experts fighting against the menace.
Ironically, Bangladesh was among the first 22 signatories of the UN Child Right Convention. Besides, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the labour and employment ministry and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1994 to implement International Program on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) activities
There are 35 laws in Bangladesh to protect the rights of children, according to “Child Protection and Child Rights: Current Status and Challenges”, a report by the Save the Children, UK. Although these laws are designed to protect children against negligence, exploitation, cruelty and abuse, and other concerns, the report says: “Bangladesh is yet to implement national policies and reform institutional structures and mechanisms to promote, protect and fulfil children’s rights.”
Meanwhile, a study by the social welfare ministry has found that children in rural Bangladesh start contributing to their family’s income at the early age of five years. Boys become the net producers of the family by the age of 12 years, and their cumulative production exceeds their cumulative consumption after they are 15-year-old, the study said.
Earlier, the participation rate of boys in child labour was relatively higher than that of girls. But the advent of the garments industry and rapid urbanization during the late 1980s have changed the whole child labour scenario. The garments industry started to engage a huge number of girls as child labour. Besides, rapid urbanization has witnessed the phenomenon of children being employed for household chores.
Abdul Mannan, programme unit manager of Plan International Bangladesh, told The Independent that rescuing children working as domestic helps and reintegrating them into society is really difficult. “There are several reasons other than poverty that leads to children being engaged for domestic work. We have to address those issues also,” he said.
“Our project has found that 185 out of 400 child domestic workers are below the age of 12 years, which is pathetic”, he added.
According to Bangladesh’s national standard, a person below 18 years is considered a child. “But at the same time, we say that 14-year-olds and above can be employed as domestic helps. I think this is contradictory. The age limit can be considered only in special cases where the child will get proper facilities for mental and physical development,” he said.
Mannan believed that an important integration step could be giving skill training to child domestic workers. “In our project, we have tried to provide some vocational training to them. Most of them do it as a part time work.

They get three to six months training. They are doing really well,” he said.
He, however, added that it was difficult to accommodate the large number of child domestic workers in these types of reintegration programs. “That is why we need government support,” he said.
At present, the labour and employment, social welfare, and education ministries have implemented several plans to eliminate the menace of child labour. Moreover, the government has undertaken the task of formulating a child labour policy by removing some anomalies in the legislation and fixing a uniform minimum age for admission to work.
The labour and employment ministry has implemented the Eradication of Hazardous Child Labour (2nd phase) Project in Bangladesh, which aims at removing 30,000 children from hazardous child labour and making them skilled workers.
“Elimination of hazardous child labour is a difficult but not insoluble problem. Political commitment, legal protection, social mobilization and the combined efforts of GOs-NGOs can remove child labour,” said Advocate Sultana Kamal.
“We hope to see our workplaces free from child labour in the near future,” she added.

World Day against Child labour

Poverty forces children to earn for families

For Ajimon Begum, child labour is a fact of life. My husband left me and our three children for another woman. If I dont send my eight-year-old child to work in a balloon factory, Ill not be able to feed my two younger children otherwise, she told The Independent. Ajimon said several NGOs have come to her slum to try and persuade her to send her children to school rather than to work in a factory. But talk wont stave off our hunger. Besides, I cant afford the cost of education for my children, she added. Even though education up to primary level is free, nearly 50 per cent of primary school students drop out even before completing Grade Five because many parents like Ajimon cannot afford to pay the associated costs for transport, school uniforms and stationery. Moreover, their families rely on them to earn money and thus cannot let them waste time in school. Ajimons child is just one of the nearly three million working children in Bangladesh. The figure is larger than the entire population of countries like Norway or New Zealand. See Page 2 Col 5 from page 1 col 1 The truth is these children are a source of cheap labour for their employers. They can be forced to work extra hours or in hazardous environments without standing up for themselves, said experts fighting against the menace. Ironically, Bangladesh was among the first 22 signatories of the UN Child Right Convention. Besides, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the labour and employment ministry and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1994 to implement International Program on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) activities There are 35 laws in Bangladesh to protect the rights of children, according to Child Protection and Child Rights: Current Status and Challenges, a report by the Save the Children, UK. Although these laws are designed to protect children against negligence, exploitation, cruelty and abuse, and other concerns, the report says: Bangladesh is yet to implement national policies and reform institutional structures and mechanisms to promote, protect and fulfil childrens rights. Meanwhile, a study by the social welfare ministry has found that children in rural Bangladesh start contributing to their familys income at the early age of five years. Boys become the net producers of the family by the age of 12 years, and their cumulative production exceeds their cumulative consumption after they are 15-year-old, the study said. Earlier, the participation rate of boys in child labour was relatively higher than that of girls. But the advent of the garments industry and rapid urbanization during the late 1980s have changed the whole child labour scenario. The garments industry started to engage a huge number of girls as child labour. Besides, rapid urbanization has witnessed the phenomenon of children being employed for household chores. Abdul Mannan, programme unit manager of Plan International Bangladesh, told The Independent that rescuing children working as domestic helps and reintegrating them into society is really difficult. There are several reasons other than poverty that leads to children being engaged for domestic work. We have to address those issues also, he said. Our project has found that 185 out of 400 child domestic workers are below the age of 12 years, which is pathetic, he added. According to Bangladeshs national standard, a person below 18 years is considered a child. But at the same time, we say that 14-year-olds and above can be employed as domestic helps. I think this is contradictory. The age limit can be considered only in special cases where the child will get proper facilities for mental and physical development, he said. Mannan believed that an important integration step could be giving skill training to child domestic workers. In our project, we have tried to provide some vocational training to them. Most of them do it as a part time work. They get three to six months training. They are doing really well, he said. He, however, added that it was difficult to accommodate the large number of child domestic workers in these types of reintegration programs. That is why we need government support, he said. At present, the labour and employment, social welfare, and education ministries have implemented several plans to eliminate the menace of child labour. Moreover, the government has undertaken the task of formulating a child labour policy by removing some anomalies in the legislation and fixing a uniform minimum age for admission to work. The labour and employment ministry has implemented the Eradication of Hazardous Child Labour (2nd phase) Project in Bangladesh, which aims at removing 30,000 children from hazardous child labour and making them skilled workers. Elimination of hazardous child labour is a difficult but not insoluble problem. Political commitment, legal protection, social mobilization and the combined efforts of GOs-NGOs can remove child labour, said Advocate Sultana Kamal. We hope to see our workplaces free from child labour in the near future, she added.