Failure will prolong ending child labour

Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on labour and employment ministry Mujibul Haque expressed his frustration over the concerned ministry’s failure in eradicating hazardous child labour from Bangladesh.

Addressing a virtual discussion on 13 April as the chief guest, Mujibul Haque, former state minister of labour and employment, said a Tk284 crore (Tk2.84 billion) was approved by the government in 2018 to pull at least 100,000 children out of hazardous jobs.

“Unfortunately, the labour and employment ministry has yet to select non-government organisations as parties under the project, leaving the initiative postponed for two years,” Mujibul said.

Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF), in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), hosted the virtual discussion to mark 2021 as the international year for the elimination of child labour.

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, around 12 lakh (1.2 million) children were involved in hazardous jobs till 2013.

In 2018, prime minister Sheikh Hasina instructed the labour ministry to initiate pulling children out from hazardous jobs so that Bangladesh could eradicate all kind of child labour by 2025.

“How can we eradicate child labour totally by 2025 when our concerned ministry shows indifference in proceeding with the mission?” Mujibul Haque questioned. He urged for effective coordination among the ministries of labour, social welfare, women and children affairs and primary education.

Speaking as special guest, Syeda Munira Sultana, the national programme coordinator for ILO, said an updated census on child labour in Bangladesh would be published by 2022.

She requested stakeholders to work in strong collaboration so that success in elimination of child labour would not undermined by the ongoing pandemic.

BSAF director Abdus Shahid Mahmood placed some recommendations including inclusion of all kind of informal job sectors while addressing child labour, legal protection for the children and ratification of ILO Convention 138 and the Labour Protocol 29 by Bangladesh.

He said that children of poor families should get formal and vocational education. “Moreover, the government should motivate poor parents against child labour by bringing them under social safety net,” he said.

Journalists from different media also participated in the discussion.