Effective partnerships needed to eradicate child labour

Lack of economic solvency of families and ensuring education of children fighting with poverty are key challenges to reducing child labour in the country, parliamentarians said at a roundtable yesterday.

They said effective partnership between government and non-government institutions is required to mitigate the challenges.

The Parliamentary Caucus on Child Rights and Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF) jointly arranged the roundtable on “Child Labour Situation in Bangladesh: Role of Parliament Members” at IPD Conference Hall inside the National Parliament compound in the capital.

Chairing the roundtable, Mir Showkat Ali Badsha, president of the parliamentary caucus, said they have made significant progress since the caucus was formed during the tenure of present parliament.

Now, the Speaker gives parliamentarians additional minutes if they want to address child issues before the House, he said, calling upon development workers to create partnership with lawmakers to eradicate child labour.

He, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the role of lawmakers, as only nine lawmakers and women MPs of reserved seats attended the roundtable.  

“The caucus was formed with many reputed persons [parliamentarians]. I cannot see many of them. They are so busy about the nation, so sincere about economic development that they have no time for children's issues,” he added.

Referring to government statistics, Prof Nazmuzzaman Bhuian of department of law at Dhaka University said the number of working children aged 5 to 17 is about 3.45 million in the country. Of them, 1.28 million are engaged in hazardous labour.

An estimated 94.85 percent children are working for informal economy, he said, adding that the number is higher in the lower age group.

If economic problems of families of working children are solved, child labour will be reduced significantly, said lawmaker Shamsul Alam Dudu of Awami League.

AL lawmaker Jebunnesa Afroz said a number of local and international NGOs are working to reduce child labour in her area.

Building knowledge about child labour-related laws among children and guardians is important to reduce the malpractice, she said.

Lawmakers Nazmul Haque Prodhan and Panchanan Biswas, women MPs of reserved seats Quazi Rosy, Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia, and Kamrun Nahar Chowdhury, and BSAF Director Abdus Shahid Mahmood, among others, spoke at the roundtable.