Child labour and its violent outcome

The horrific story of the murder of Sagar Barman, aged 10, was published in the front page of The Daily Star and other leading dailies of the country on July 25, 2016. Perpetrators seemed to have followed the same pattern of torture as seen in the murder of 15-year-old Rakib in Khulna last year. The victim allegedly died after some workers pumped air into his body through the rectum at a factory. Memories of this horrific crime at Khulna have not faded from people's memory yet. And now, we are witness of the savage murder of Sagar, a young child worker, carried out in an eerily similar manner allegedly by some management officials of the factory where he worked. 

Bangladesh is one of the earliest signatories of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and has expressed its commitment to ensure the rights of children in international forums. Like other human rights conventions, the right to life has been highlighted in Article 6 (1) of the CRC. Article 16 (2) further dictates: "States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child". The Convention defines a child as anyone below the age of 18 years and spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere should enjoy, including the right to protection from economic exploitation (Article 32) and the right to education (Article 28). It is also worth mentioning that Bangladesh ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour.

On July 8, 2015, Samiul Alam Rajon (13) was tortured to death in Sylhet. The video clipping of Samiul's torture went viral on social media, causing outrage at home and abroad. Trials of the perpetrators were thankfully quick. On November 8, 2015, the Sylhet metropolitan sessions court sentenced four of the accused to death, and seven others to imprisonment of varying terms for killing Rajon. On the very day, the Khulna Metropolitan Sessions Court sentenced two to death in the murder of Rakib. However, the recent murder of Sagar proves that punishment alone cannot be sufficient. Elimination of child labour must be a priority, and all stakeholders must be involved to develop a child protection mechanism.

A total of 38 categories of work have been identified as hazardous in Bangladesh. According to the Labour Law, it is prohibited to employ children under 18 in these sectors, which include biri-cigarette factories, butcheries, tanneries and chemical factories. A guideline for domestic workers was also formed in 2015. The Bangladesh Labour Law 2006 prohibits employment of children under 14. Though children above 14 could be employed, they cannot be employed in hazardous labour.

The grim truth is that a total of 1.7 million children are involved with child labour in Bangladesh. At the same time, despite the list, even today around 1.2 million children are employed in hazardous work.

It goes without saying that thanks to the country's leadership, we have been able to achieve almost all our MDG goals. In fact, world leaders have also appreciated and applauded Bangladesh's success in achieving these goals. Bangladesh is also confident about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and is making steady progress in achieving middle-income status. It should be mentioned here that one of the SDG targets is to eliminate all forms of child labour by 2025 as means of economic development.

The Child Rights Advocacy Coalition in Bangladesh, a civil society network including international organisations like Save the Children, has been working to promote child rights, and has for long been advocating an end to child labour and violence against children in Bangladesh. The editorial published in The Daily Star, dated July 26, 2016 aptly reiterates this point, as it state: "Child labour, especially the kind of labour that gives children no protection at all in terms of physical security and mental wellbeing, has to be abolished once and for all."

Will there be a comprehensive plan to eliminate child labour and end all forms of brutality against children? We can only hope.

The writers are Senior Manager, Communication and Media, Save the Children, and Senior Officer, Communication, Save the Children. Emails: abdul.quayyum@savethechildren.org, oli.chowdhury@savethechildren.org.