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Child labor in Bangladesh. Global Development and Social Justice Information Resources for Development Professionals Professor: Dr. Kevin S. Rioux Joanna Biswas July 17,2011.
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Child labor in Bangladesh Global Development and Social Justice Information Resources for Development Professionals Professor: Dr. Kevin S. Rioux Joanna Biswas July 17,2011
"Why do we have to pay the price of poverty. We didn't create poverty, adults did."Sultana, a twelve-year garment factory worker from Bangladesh, Thailand, 14 February,1998
What is Child Labor? Child labor is work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work. Such work is considered harmful to the child and should therefore be eliminated. • Ages 5-11: At least one hour of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per week. • Ages 12-14: At least 14 hours of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per week. • Ages 15-17: At least 43 hours of economic or domestic work per week. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour Survey, 2002-2003
Background • Social norms and economic realities mean that child labor is widely accepted and very common in Bangladesh. • Among children aged 5-14, about five million, are economically active. • According to the International Labor Organization definition, there are about 3.2 million child laborers' in Bangladesh. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour Survey, 2002-2003
Continued….. • Child labor is a visible part of everyday life in Bangladesh: young children serve at roadside tea stalls, and weave between cars selling goods to motorists. • On average, children work 28 hours a week and earn 222 taka (3.3 USD) a week. • The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern in 2009 that many Bangladeshi children continue to work in five of the worst forms of child labor, namely welding, auto workshops, road transport, battery recharging and tobacco factories. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour Survey, 2002-2003
Legal Protection • Bangladesh enacted the Labor Act in 2006, which includes a chapter on child labor. • The Ministry of Labor and Employment has recently adopted a National Child Labor Elimination Policy 2010, which provides a framework to eradicate all forms of child labor by 2015.
Child Labor and education • According to the new National Education Policy, education is free and compulsory up to grade eight, however it is estimated that more than one million children have never been to school. • About half of all child laborers' do not attend school at all, and among child domestic workers only 11 per cent attend school . • As a result, working children get stuck in low paying, low-skilled jobs, thereby perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour ILO, Baseline Survey on Child Domestic Labour in Bangladesh, 2006
Population 5 years and older by gender and literacy(National Child Labor Survey 2002-2003, BBS)
Abuse, Exploitation, and Violence • One-quarter of all working children reported that they had been physically punished at their workplaces, according to a 2008 children's opinion pol. • These children participate in jobs that have been identified by the ILO to expose children to hazards including: physical, psychological or sexual abuse; excessive work hours; an unhealthy environment. • 3,400 children work in brick/ stone breaking for the construction industry . Other child workers in hazardous jobs include 123,000 children working as rickshaw pullers, 153,000 children working in restaurants or tea stalls, and 56,000 working in carpentry. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour ILO and BBS, Baseline Survey for Determining Hazardous Child Labor Sectors in Bangladesh, 2005.
A survey of these child workers found that almost all had some sort of respiratory problem and were not provided with any safety gear or protection from brick dust .
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation • Working children often live away from their families in situations where they are exposed to violence, abuse and economic exploitation . • A rapid assessment of commercially sexually exploited children showed that half worked in other sectors before being lured into sex work . • The majority are depressed and three-quarters of the child sex workers were ill in the three months before the rapid assessment survey, many with sexually transmitted diseases. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour UNICEF Bangladesh and INCIDIN, Rapid Assessment: Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Bangladesh, 2008
The life of a child sex worker is one of violence, exploitation and physical and psychological health problems .
Work Cited • www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour • www.ilo.org ( International labour Organization)