UNB, Narayanganj :
In a vivid instance of flagrant violation of the existing law, underage children from poor families are employed in the industrial units of Narayanganj when these tender faces were supposed to lead a decent life, along with proper schooling.
Although the section 34 of the Bangladesh Labour Act (BLA) prohibits child labour, several thousand such children are engaged in various hazardous jobs, very much detrimental to their physical and mental heath, in the mills and factories of Narayanganj, one of the country’s largest industrial belts.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment has recently directed its Narayanganj office to find out the exact number of child labourers presently employed formally and informally in the district’s mills and factories.
The recent incident of killing 10-year-old Sagor Barman, a spinning mill worker in Rupganj upazila of the district, at his workplace by pumping air into his body through rectum caused quite a stir among the authorities to take the decision.
A study, conducted by Nielsen Company (Bangladesh) Ltd on behalf of the Family Planning Association of Bangladesh (FPAB), revealed that 57 percent child workers in Bangladesh are subjected to torture at their workplaces while 46 percent become victims of abuses in several ways.
On the other hand, 66 percent of the total children working as domestic help face mental torture in the hands of their masters and seven percent of them are harassed sexually, the report says.
According to the existing labour law and International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention, mills and factories cannot employ any child below the age of 14, said Advocate Mahbubur Rahman Ismail, executive president of the central committee of Bangladesh Textile Garment Workers’ Association.
However, the industrial units can employ children above 14, though in light jobs, along with keeping enough scope for them for study and sports, he added.
Terming appointing children in risky and hazardous jobs a punishable offence, Ismail said the offender will have to serve a minimum six months’ jail term.
Data shows more than 50,000 children are employed in some 1,000 mills and factories in the areas extending form Kanchpur of Narayanganj up to Narisngdi district.
In most of the factories, these little workers are meagerly paid.
The industry owners engage children in risky jobs defying the relevant law as child labour is very cheap and easily available, said Jahangir Alam Golak, general secretary of the district unit of Garment Workers Front. A child is given highest Tk2,800-3,000 per month even for doing hard work, he added.
Golak said a lot of garment factories, including ‘SP Fashion’, ‘Friends Apparels’ and ‘Dolphin Garments’, throughout the district employ underage children violating the law. He alleged that the administration mostly remains indifferent to the child labour scenario in the factories.
Contacted, Asaduzzaman, inspector of Narayanganj office of Inspection for Factories and Establishments Department, claimed that there is not a single child worker employed in any of the district’s garment factories.
However, some spinning and textile mills might have a few child workforces, he added.
“We’ve already filed more than a dozen cases with the Labour Court
over unauthorised child labour,” Asaduzzman said while talking to
UNB.
He alleged, “We can’t take any prompt action soon after detecting a child labour case in any factory as we don’t have any magistracy power.”
As a result, the factory owners can dodge the trial due to the bureaucratic complexity, he added.
