Pandemic fallout could cause rise in child labour
The number of children in the labour market may increase due to the income reduction of people in the current Covid-19 pandemic, said lawmaker Md Mujibul Haque, who is also the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee of the Ministry of Labour and Employment yesterday.
"Currently, there are 152 million child labourers worldwide and 82 million is alone in the Asia-Pacific region. We have to work in coordination with the government and the private sector so that our progress in the elimination of child labour before Covid-19 is not diminished," he added.
He made the comments as the chief guest at a virtual press conference yesterday, organised by Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF) and supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
BSAF Director Abdus Shahid Mahmood presented the keynote paper at the conference. "Since the United Nations has declared 2021 as the Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, we hope the government of Bangladesh will keep its promise of eliminating all forms of child labour within 2025, which was made at the 2017 global conference in Argentina," he said.
Mentioning that a large number of child labourers are in the informal sector, he said, "To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), we have to eliminate the millions of children working in the informal sector as well."
In addition, he urged the government to provide legal protection to a large number of children involved in domestic work, education and skill development support for them and social safety net programmes designed for the child labourers and their parents.
Shahid also stressed the lack of updated data on the child labour situation. "Even today; we are forced to use the data from the 2013 Child Labour Survey."
Mujibul mentioned that the work of child labour survey is supposed to start in 2021. "If that happens successfully, we will be able to know the actual picture of child labour in Bangladesh by the end of 2022," he said, adding, "The government has already declared six sectors free of child labour and a few more sectors will be included after examining."
Answering questions from journalists, the MP discussed the current status of the project worth Tk 264 crore undertaken by the the ministry of labour to eliminate children from hazardous work through NGOs under the supervision of the government.
Two years down the line, the government is yet to select the NGOs, which is frustrating, he commented.
Syeda Munira Sultana, National Program Coordinator, ILO also joined the programme.
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