Child labour in Bangladesh
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Child labour in Bangladesh is common, with 4.7 million children aged 5 to 14 in the work force. Out of the child labourers engaged in the work force, 83% are employed in rural areas and 17% are employed in urban areas.
Child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
can be found in agriculture, poultry breeding, fish processing, the garment sector and the leather industry, as well as in shoe production. Children are involved in jute processing, the production of candles, soap and furniture. They work in the salt industry, the production of asbestos, bitumen, tiles and
ship breaking Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...
. In 2006,
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
passed a Labor Law setting the minimum legal age for employment as 14. Nevertheless, the enforcement of such labour laws is virtually impossible in Bangladesh because 93% of child labourers are employed in the informal sector such as small factories and workshops, on the street, in home-based businesses and domestic employment. Despite the prevalence of child labour in Bangladesh, there has been an increase in legislation against child labour. Bangladesh has ratified, the ILO
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention The Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, known in short as the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1 ...
(C182). In addition, the country also ratified the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...
.


Definitions

The definition of
child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
varies depending on region, culture, organization, and government. The Western perspective portrays childhood as a carefree stage of life in which a person does not possess the capacity to be an adult. Various organizations have their own definition of child labour and its parameters. The
International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
's (ILO) Minimum Age Convention 138 states that at age 12 a child is allowed to light work in non-hazardous situations and at age 15 a child is allowed to enter the work force. The ILO defines child labour as "work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work". The ILO also has three categories pertaining to children in work: economically active children, child labour, and hazardous work. Children can be categorised as economically active if they are involved in work outside of school or the home at least one hour once every seven days. Children can be categorised as performing child labour if they are under the age of 12 or performing hazardous work. Children are categorised as performing hazardous work if they are involved in activities that may harm their physical, mental, or developmental health or safety. The
United Nations Children's Emergency Fund UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...
(UNICEF) defines child labour as any activity that affects a child's health and education. Its definition also states that child labour is work that leads to deprivation of childhood activities, exploitation and abuse. The
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) is a programme that the International Labour Organization has run since 1992. IPEC's aim is to work towards the progressive elimination of child labour by strengthening national c ...
(IPEC) defines employment and economically active children as "paid and unpaid work in the formal and nonformal sectors of rural and urban areas". This definition excludes children working in their own households. The
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is the centralized official bureau in Bangladesh for collecting statistics on demographics, the economy, and other facts about the country and disseminating the information. History Although independen ...
considers children aged 5–14 who work for one or more hours (per week) in both paid and unpaid settings to be child workers. For children older than 10, any economic activity is considered a form a child labour. This includes work both inside and outside of the household setting.


Causes and impact


Poverty

Poverty is widely recognised and acknowledged as the primary cause of child labour. The link between poverty and child labour is supported by efforts of international organizations, such as the ILO and the United Nations, to reduce child labour through poverty reduction policies. There is a strong negative correlation between the income level of a country and the incidence rate of child labour. An increase of $0–$500 per capita income to $500–$1000 per capita income can lead to a decrease in child labour incidence rate from 30%–60% to 10%–30%. Although the annual per capita income of Bangladesh has been increasing, around 9–13% of the total labour force in Bangladesh still consists of children aged 5–14. In a 2013 statistical report, UNICEF estimates that around 43.3% of the population in Bangladesh is currently living below the international poverty line. Factors such as urbanization and population growth perpetuate poverty. In a 2013 statistical report, UNICEF estimated an annual population growth rate in Bangladesh to be 1.7% from 1990 to 2012. Populations move from rural to urban areas because there is an increase in available economic opportunities. A combination of poor living standards in urban settings and an influx of cheap labour from children perpetuate both poverty and the use of child labour. The prevalence of child labour can be attributed to the socioeconomic statuses of families living at or below the poverty line. Oftentimes, families rely on the extra income produced by their children in order to sustain their livelihood. Many children are forced to work to help support the family. In other cases, children are forced to work for a living for themselves because their families abandoned or could not take care of them. Studies have shown that children from poorer families are more likely to be in the work force due to their contribution to overall family income.


Demographics

The demographics of the population in Bangladesh can also be a predictor of child labour incidence rates. Children in rural areas are more likely to work than children in urban areas. This may be due to the agricultural history of Bangladesh and the tradition of children working alongside adults in the fields. However, in both rural and urban settings, boys are more likely to work than girls, with the majority of child workers falling in the age range of 12–14. Family dynamics also contributed to child labour incidence rates. Children in households with a large proportion of adults in the family are less likely to work. Children in households where all adults are working are more likely to work. Children in households where there is a larger portion of paid adult workers are even more likely to work. These findings by Salmon (2005) indicate that children act as a source of income generation because households that maximise all human capital tend to be households that have incidences of child labour.


Lack of education

Lack of education remains one of the top impacts of child labour. Child labour is a deterrent to schooling. Many policies aimed at eradicating child labour have focused on increasing accessibility to education. Organizations such as the ILO, the United Nations, and UNICEF recognise the importance of education in helping to eradicate poverty and in preventing child labour growth rates. According to UNICEF, the new National Education Policy requires that children must complete school until grade eight and that school must be free. Many definitions of child labour state education as a right of childhood and consider barriers to education as a defining characteristic of child labour. There is a strong relationship between child labour and school attendance. In a 2010 statistical report, UNICEF measured that around 50% of all working children in Bangladesh do not attend school. Another 6.8% of children between age 7 and 14 whom, while going to school, also work. Of those that do attend school, school performance is negatively affected when children are in the work force. Although school is free, many children are forced to drop out because they do not have the time or resources to attend. For many families, the income produced by their children is considered more valuable than an education that requires their child to stop working. A study conducted by Rahman (1997) found that around 58% of working children listed economic hardship as the reason they were not attending school. Of those that did choose to go to school, conditions of schools and the quality of education proved to be serious barriers to significant learning. A 2002 and 2003 survey conducted by the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
showed that on average teachers in Bangladesh miss one out of five days of work a week. It has also been found that illiteracy rates are a predictor of child labour prevalence. In 2013, UNICEF estimates that total adult literacy is around 57.7%. Literacy rates also tend to be lower for females than males. In Bangladesh, less than 75% of girls finish their primary education.


Prevalence

According to the recent 2014 TVPRA ''
List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor The ''List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor'' is an annual publication issued by the United States Government’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. It has been published within the December 2014 D ...
'' published by the
U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
's
Bureau of International Labor Affairs The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) is an operating unit of the United States Department of Labor which manages the department's international responsibilities. According to its mission statement: ''“The Bureau of International La ...
, Bangladesh figures among the 74 countries where significant incidence of child labour and
forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
is still observed. 15 products are produced in such working conditions in Bangladesh.


Informal sector

Most child labourers in Bangladesh are employed in the
informal sector An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countrie ...
. These forms of labour are hard to regulate and monitor. The most common forms of work is agriculture, in rural areas, and domestic service, in urban areas. The majority of all child labourers in Bangladesh work in agriculture. Agricultural activities include poultry farming, drying fish, salt mining, shrimp farming and produce logistics. Children in agriculture use dangerous tools, carry heavy loads, and apply harmful pesticides. Many of these children are employed by their families as extra hands in the fields or sent out to work for their own food. They often work long hours with little to no pay and endure dangerous conditions that result in many health issues. Children, mostly girls, work as domestic servants in private households in Bangladesh. Domestic child labourers work long hours and subject to harassment, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The majority of children working as
domestic worker A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
s are employed seven days a week and live in the home they serve. Separation from family and working in private homes often results in the abuse and exploitation of these children. They endure harsh working conditions that cause psychological stress, physical strain, and health issues with little pay or compensation in the form of food, clothing, and shelter. Because domestic service occurs in the home, it is often not considered economic work. Therefore, there are minimal regulations for fair working conditions and wages. Other informal industries with large child labour activity (age below 18) include ship breaking and recycling operations, production of soap, matches, bricks, cigarettes, footwear, furniture, glass, jute, leather, textiles, restaurants, garbage picking and trash hunting, vending, begging, portering, and van pulling. Many working children earn less than 10 US dollars per month.


Formal sector

The garment industry is the largest employer of child labour in the formal sector. The industry expanded rapidly from 1983 to 1999, becoming the country's largest source of export earnings. Bangladesh is in the top ten largest garment exporters in the world. The garment industry not only increased economic earning but also increased available jobs in urban settings, especially for women. As a result, the incidence of child labourers in urban areas increased. The majority of labourers in the garment industry hired are girls and women. Bangladesh garment factories have been accused of forcing girls as young as 13 to work up to 11 hours a day to produce garments for western retailers. Children in this industry work around 10 hours a day for about 12 U.S. dollars a month. Children are also exposed to various health and safety hazards. Garment shops are at great risk of fires due to blocked fire exits, poor crowd control, and lack of fire safety precautions. Working in garment shops also exposes children to dangerous chemicals and heavy machinery. These exposures to safety hazards can lead to various health issues ranging from cuts and bruises to musculoskeletal disorders.


Child labour laws influencing practices in Bangladesh


Legislation in Bangladesh

;The Employment of Children Act 1938 This act allowed for children aged 15 or up to work in the railway industry and in transporting goods in port jobs. It also allowed for children aged 15–17 to work night shifts that may last until the morning under certain stipulations such as resting for 13 consecutive hours, working under someone that is 18 years or older, or serving an apprenticeship. It prohibited children under 12 from working in hazardous industries but did not mention protection for children between the ages 12–18. ;The Factories Act 1965 This act prohibited children under 14 to work in or be present in factories. Factories was defined as any place with more than 10 people employed. It also listed various protections for children from hazardous machines and operations. It prohibited any work duration of longer than 5 hours between 7pm to 7am. It also states the weight lifting limits for types of workers (male, female, child). ;Shops and Establishment Act 1965 This act defined a shop or establishment as a place that employs 5 or more people. This act prohibited children under the age of 12 from working in any establishment. It allowed children aged 12–18 to work in establishments but limited the number of work hours to a maximum of 7 hours a day. ;The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh The
Constitution of Bangladesh The Constitution of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের সংবিধান — ), officially the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশের ...
while guaranteeing the fundamental rights for the people prohibits all forms of forced labor under Article 34. Article 34 lays down that 'all forms of forced labor are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offense punishable in accordance with law'. ;The Children Act 2013 The Children Act 2013 repealed the previous Children Act 1974 which was inconsistent with international standards particularly with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. Section 4 of this Act provides that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force every person shall be deemed to be a child who is below the age of 18 years. Though there is no specific provision prohibiting child labor it proscribes and punishes some serious offenses against children including exploitation of children (section 80).


Applicable laws from other legal jurisdictions

;The Child Labor Deterrence Act 1993 (Harkin's Bill) Originating from U.S. Senator
Tom Harkin Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as a United States senator from Iowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representative for Iowa' ...
, this bill banned imports of items that were associated with child labour at various stages of production, whether it was direct involvement in the product or indirect involvement such as packaging. This law affected the labour situation in Bangladesh because garment industries, fearing a loss of business, fired many child labourers. ;Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act 2012 According to the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT) United States Department of Labor:
In 2011, Bangladesh made a moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. Bangladesh passed the Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act 2012 which makes
human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
(including labor trafficking) a
capital offense Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, developed and fully funded a Child Labor Monitoring Information System to manage child labor related data and began implementation of a $9 million child labor project. However, legal protections regarding child labor are limited and the capacity to enforce child labor laws remains weak. Bangladesh maintains a low
compulsory education Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all people and is imposed by the government. This education may take place at a registered school or at other places. Compulsory school attendance or compulsory schooling ...
age. Children in Bangladesh are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, primarily in dangerous activities in agriculture and domestic service.
The legislation tried to enroll more children and adults into school and away from work. This was not the outcome. Some children enrolled in school, but many sought other work. Due to the law, many kids took more dangerous jobs in the informal economy, including;
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
, street hawkers, stone welding, and as maids. Schooling is compulsory only to age 10. The minimum age for most child labor is 14, 18 for
hazardous work Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...
.


Initiatives against child labour

;The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 1995 Signed by the
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association or BGMEA ( bn, বাংলাদেশ তৈরি পোশাক প্রস্তুত ও রপ্তানিকারক সমিতি) is a nationwide trade organization of ...
(BGMEA), ILO, and UNICEF this initiative allowed children displaced and fired from the garment industry to receive education, vocational training, and skills training. It also provided families with income to make up for their child's lack of work. This program is also called "The Placement of Children Workers in School Programs and the Elimination of Child Labor." The MOU has made an impact in reducing child labour in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Because of this program, more than 8,200 children received non-formal education after losing their jobs. Additionally, 680 children received vocational training. ;The Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) The Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee is a non-profit organization founded in the mid-1970s in Bangladesh. BRAC, along with
Grameen Bank Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requi ...
, are the two largest lenders of microcredit in Bangladesh. Together they cover 59% of borrowers in the country. Microcredit has been shown to alleviate poverty but in small amounts. The effects of microcredit are not large enough to change the lives of an entire population. However, it has been shown to allow families in poverty to find a way out. BRAC has also been responsible for running schools for non-formal education that were put in place to teach children fired from jobs. These non-formal schools also gave children another option besides schooling. Along with the schooling program, families also received health care services and monthly cash stipends to make up for the wages their children were not bringing in by participating in the schooling program. ;Other strategies In addition to the work of the government, BRAC, and ILO, there have been a number of contributions from international organizations and donors to help start strategies against child labour. These strategies include: taking children out of hazardous work environments and placing them in schooling or training programs, giving families stipends to compensate for loss in wages from a decrease in child labour, and raising awareness of the harmful effects of child labour.


See also

*
Children's rights movement The Children's Rights Movement is a historical and modern movement committed to the acknowledgment, expansion, and/or regression of the rights of children around the world. (Not to be confused with Youth rights). It began in the early part of the ...
*
Guaranteed minimum income Guaranteed minimum income (GMI), also called minimum income (or mincome for short), is a social-welfare system that guarantees all citizens or families an income sufficient to live on, provided that certain eligibility conditions are met, typical ...
*
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) is a programme that the International Labour Organization has run since 1992. IPEC's aim is to work towards the progressive elimination of child labour by strengthening national c ...
, IPEC * IREWOC - Institute for Research on Working Children *
Legal working age The legal working age is the minimum age required by law for a person to work, in each country or jurisdiction, if they have not reached the age of majority. Activities that are dangerous, harmful to the health or that may affect the morals of ...
*
Multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
*
Street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policym ...
*
Wage Slavery Wage slavery or slave wages refers to a person's dependence on wages (or a salary) for their livelihood, especially when wages are low, treatment and conditions are poor, and there are few chances of upward mobility. The term is often used ...
*
Youth activism Youth activism is the participation in community organizing for social change by persons between the ages of 15–24. Youth activism has led to a shift in political participation and activism. A notable shift within youth activism is the rise of ...
* Bangladesh textile industry * Steel industry in Bangladesh *
Fishing in Bangladesh Bangladesh being a first line littoral state of the Indian Ocean has a very good source of marine resources in the Bay of Bengal. The country has an exclusive economic zone of , which is 73% of the country's land area. On the other hand, Bangla ...
*
Jute trade The jute trade is centered mainly around India, India's West Bengal and Assam, and Bangladesh. The major producing country of jute is India and biggest exporter being Bangladesh, due to their natural fertile soil. Production of jute by India and ...
International conventions and other instruments: *
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 The Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, known in short as the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1 ...


Notes


Further reading

* - a quarter of the book is a personal account of the author's visit to Bangladesh {{Asia topic, Child labour in
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Human rights in Bangladesh Labour in Bangladesh Poverty in Bangladesh