Call to ban employing children as domestic workers

FE Report Child rights activists, labour experts and development workers Monday called for a halt on employing children as domestic workers to help develop the large population of the country into resourceful human capital and protect child rights. They also urged the government to amend the country's existing criminal procedure code which is based on witness testimony that often deprives the poor domestic child workers and their families of getting justice in case of any killing, torture or abuse. They made the call at the National Level Workshop on 'Child Domestic Workers (CDWs) : Voices, Challenges and Way Forward' at the city's YWCA Bhaban. Organised by Assistance for Slum Dwellers (ASD) and supported by Bread for the World (BftW)-Germany, the workshop was addressed by, among others, programme officer of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Sharfuddin Khan, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) assistant executive director Sultan Uddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum director Kafil Uddin, chief executive of Nagorik Udyog Zakir Hossain and BftW consultant Gobinda Chandra Saha. Sharfuddin Khan said, employing children as domestic help has to be stopped right away. If there is any gap then the process will never be stopped," he said. Mr Khan said various organizations working on child domestic workers issues should not talk only among themselves but they should take the issue at a greater forum and a social movement should be waged. Sultanuddin Ahmed said the present criminal procedure code is not favourable for the poor child domestic workers as the law is witness-based. "It's a big challenge for protecting child domestic workers rights as there is no system to inspect those houses which have child domestic workers," he said. Mr Ahmed said the domestic violence prevention act 2010 is exceptional in case of any abuse or violence against women and children where the employer has to prove that he is not guilty. According to the Labour Act 2006, no parents can accept the income of any child aged below 14 years. "This law should be enforced for those parents who send their children for domestic work and take away their income," he said. Kafil Uddin said domestic workers are not even recognized as workers in the country's labour law. "Employing child domestic workers should be banned without any second thought," he said. He said the government must remove child domestic workers from the draft 'Domestic Workers' Protection and Welfare Policy 2010' and include domestic work in the list of the hazardous child labour. Mr Kafil said children are the only human capital that we can develop to send abroad and earn remittance in future. In case of domestic workers adults should be employed as they remain inside the house where there is high chance of violation of their rights. Zakir Hossain said both the demand and supply side of child domestic workers are strong in the country. "Social security needs to be ensured to prevent the supply side which is hardly done by the state. Also alternative means like childcare centre for the middle class people should be developed to reduce dependence on child domestic workers which will help prevent the demand side," he added. A study by BILS showed there are more than two million child domestic workers in the country out of which 1.8 million are aged below 15 years. More than 83 per cent of these children are victims of physical torture and 17 per cent victims of sexual abuse.