Living A Hazardous Life
With battery recharging shops opening up everywhere, the number of children engaging themselves in the battery recycling sector is ever-increasing. Around 500 children aged 5-17 years, without being provided with protective gears, work in this immensely hazardous sector.
Most of them belonging to poor families, they risk their lives in this job to earn the little amount of money they do, to support themselves and their families. Starting from skin rashes and breathing problems, all the way to corroding flesh and blindness, the acid used in these factories can be injurious and sometimes fatal. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has expressed concern over children in Bangladesh working in the five sectors considered 'highly risky', with battery recharging being one of them.
Photos: Palash Khan
Text: Naziba Basher
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