Child laborers in Bangladesh: victims of poverty

Nahid Hossain Babu, a boy with 10 years old at best has been working in a tiny workshop named "Japani Metal" at Jinjira in Keraniganj, on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka for one year. He works 12 hours a day to make metal components, earing 1,600 taka (about 21 U.S. dollars) a week.

His parents are so poor that they cannot afford him to school.

"I have to work as the primary breadwinner for my family," said the boy, wearing cap, assisting senior co-workers in the hazardous workshop on Sunday afternoon as the world observed this year's International Day against Child Labor at the same day.

Bangladesh, once again, became harsh spotlight with its prevalence of child labor in the country.

Many Banglashi child laborers are found participating in work which is actively or potentially harmful to their health.

Babul, another boy using single name, is also seen to make metal components in hazardous condition in another factory in Jinjira where there are many small factories and workshops employing many child laborers.

Like Nahid Hossain Babu, Babul also left the school after completing few elementary classes as his poverty-ridden family could not afford to continue his school work.

Brishti, victim of an early marriage, also suffered the same ill fates like Babu and Babul. She has also been working in a factory in Jinjira.

"I prefer to work here as they pay weekly," said Brishti who needs to support her husband's family.

"They allow me to return home before sunset. So I think it's better to work here."

Several hundred yards away from Brishti's workshop, a child was calling people to a Tempo, a passenger van on a busy street.

In Bangladesh, the majority of all child laborers work in agriculture in rural areas and domestic services in urban areas.

Other industries with large child laborers include transport, ship breaking and recycling operations, production of soap, matches, bricks, cigarettes, footwear, furniture, glass, jute, leather, textiles, restaurants, garbage picking and trash hunting, and van pulling.

In 2006, Bangladesh passed a Labor Law setting the minimum legal age for employment as 14. Nevertheless, the enforcement of such labor laws is virtually impossible due to a large number of child laborers employed in the informal sector in the country, which are hard to regulate and monitor.

While important achievements in the fight against child labor continue to be made in Bangladesh, some 1.2 million children are still trapped in its worst forms, according to the latest National Child Labor Survey report, published in 2015, on International Labor Organization (ILO) website.

With support from various donors, ILO has been working to eliminate child labor in Bangladesh since 1994 through its International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), said the report.

Bangladeshi State Minister for Labor and Employment Mujibul Haque said poverty has so far shown as the main reason for child labor, but it should not be any more since it can be reduced by changing social perspective.

Haque termed child labor in domestic sector a "habit" of people who want to hire a child seeking cheap labor.

"We're committed to stamp out child labor in Bangladesh by 2025," he said, adding "We've already launched several programs in collaboration with development partners to stop child labor."