National child labour policy soon: Anwarul Iqbal

FE Team | Published: July 16, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The government is formulating a sustainable 'national child labour policy' soon by giving priority to welfare of the children, reports BSS.
"The country has nearly 74 lakh working children from 5 to 14 years of age and most of their working places are non-traditional and risky," Adviser for LGRD and Cooperatives and Labour and Employment M Anwarul Iqbal said this Sunday at a seminar at a city hotel as the chief guest.
The Labour and Emplo-yment Ministry and the Save the Children, a non-government organisation of Sweden-Denmark, jointly organised the seminar on 'Finalisation of the draft national child labour policy.'
Referring to a recent survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the adviser said poverty, river erosion, inadequate laws, high rate of population growth and splitting families were the root causes of involvement of the children in the risky work for their survival.
Describing the work places, Anwarul Iqbal said 90 per cent children are working in non-traditional and risky places. Of them, 77 per cent children are working at agricultural sectors and the rest 16 per cent at various non-traditional sectors in the urban areas.
Labour and Employment Secretary Ashfaq Hamid presided over the function. Consultant of the final working committee Mohammad Moinul Karim placed the draft national child labour policy at the seminar.
Terming the 'child labour' is a main barrier to develop the children's human quality, the adviser mentioned his government's different steps to protect children rights.
Despite reducing the child labour in the industrial sector due to maintaining condition to get access to the global market, he said the child labour in non-traditional sectors remains the same as in the past.
The Bangladesh government ratified the ILO convention and signed the UN children rights agreement in 2001 for the child labour eradication, Anwarul Iqbal said adding that the government is working hard for following those.
Describing various steps undertaken by the government and the BGMEA to free the RMG industries from child labour, he sought cooperation from all concerned to give their suggestion to finalise a sustainable national child labour policy.