Govt to ban 36 types of child labour

(From left) Mahfuzar Rahman, acting secretary of labour and employment ministry, Andre Bogui, country office director of International Labour Organisation (ILO), and Nayomi Kannangara, director of child protection of Save the Children, Bangladesh, at a press conference jointly organised by the ministry, ILO, Unicef, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, Manusher Jonno Foundation and Save the Children in the capital's Jatiya Press Club yesterday marking “World Day against Child Labour”, to be observed today.Photo: STAR

The government is going to impose a ban on engaging children in 36 types of jobs, which were recently detected as hazardous for children.
“We have already detected the risky jobs for children and sent a proposal to the cabinet to impose a ban on employing children in such jobs,” said Mahfuzar Rahman, acting secretary of labour and employment ministry, at a press conference in the capital's Jatiya Press Club yesterday.
The risky jobs include the work of crashing bricks or stones and handling sharp tools and electricity, he added.
Labour and employment ministry, International Labour Organisation, Unicef, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, Manusher Jonno Foundation, and Save the Children, Bangladesh jointly organised the conference on the eve of "World Day against Child Labour" today.
The day is being observed this year with the theme “Human rights and social justice - lets end child labour.”
Mahfuzar said the government currently has no updated statistics of the children engaged in workforce.
The last National Child Labour Survey, conducted in 2002-2003, showed that the country had 32 lakh labourers aged between 5-17 years and, of them, 13 lakh were engaged in hazardous works, he said.
Another round of National Child Labour Survey will be conducted soon, he added.
He also said work is underway for establishing a permanent Child Labour Unit in the ministry and preparing the final draft of the National Plan of Action with an aim to eradicate child labour by 2016.