ACCORDING to a survey by the US Department of Labour called ‘List of Goods Produced by Child Labour or Forced Labour”, the sweat and toil of young children make up a part of Bangladesh’s informal garment sector. The agency expanded its list of products worldwide which it says were likely produced by child or forced labour. The survey also included how there was involvement of child labour in the production of goods like cotton and sugarcane from India; vanilla from Madagascar; fish from Kenya; and Yemen; alcoholic beverages, meat, textiles, and timber from Cambodia; and palm oil from Malaysia. News reports added that the head of the US Office of Child Labour, Forced Labour, and Human Trafficking, cited Bangladesh as being a case of particular concern as it had data that showed children working in the informal garment sector and possibly in unregistered production units, with small or temporary workshops rather than the big factories that are normally associated with garment production in Bangladesh.
However, English dailies have reported that the Labour Ministry and industry insiders in Bangladesh rejected the US report. Child labour in hazardous conditions was said to have been stopped from 1995 after passing labour-related legislations. According to newspapers, Bangladesh Labour Laws permit employment of children in any decent jobs having decent working hours if they are between 14 and 18, but not in any hazardous jobs in anyway.
Labour Industry officials claimed that the US department made the survey by email and did not visit the factories. If there is any truth in that, the survey does nothing but to taint an already shaken sector. Seeing how US officials themselves admitted it is hard to know which products come from children and or forced labour and which do not, it seems that their research is not sound and by pointing fingers at an already struggling production sector does not do any good in actually decreasing child labour.
Child labour in taxing jobs is highly frowned upon by the citizens and government of Bangladesh and it is true that it does exist in various forms in the country where children are unduly and sometimes cruelly exploited. But some initiatives have been taken to lessen the burden on children and employ adults so that children have a life of education and freedom. What first world countries should do in this aspect is to help the government to raise awareness about the child labour issue so that future employers and parents are aware of its harmful and exploitative nature in order to prohibit future misconduct.
