Md. Sazedul Islam :
Every year, the first day of month of May is observed as the May Day in the world, including Bangladesh, in memory of the sacrifice made by the workers of Chicago’s Hay Market of USA in 1886 to establish the rights of the working class around the world. The sacrifice of the workers of Hay Market, USA, forced the world leaders to help establish eight-hours working period for the workers instead of 16 hours.
The day is an international observance for the honour and rights of labourers class around the world. In most of the countries the day is celebrated as a holiday to spread maximum awareness about the day. The workers from throughout the world observe this day to raise the voice for their rights.
In Bangladesh, it is a public holiday. All industries and factories remain closed. Different organisations hold various programmes marking the day.
On this day, beyond the celebration, we need to commit ourselves to a task of eliminating child labour and to protect the rights of the workers, specially of women workers.
Working children is a visible part of everyday life in Bangladesh: young children serve at roadside tea stalls, and weave between cars selling goods to motorists. Besides, children work in jobs that are hidden from view, such as domestic work, which makes monitoring regulation difficult.
According to Labour Force Survey report (2010), Bangladesh has a total 3.90 crore female workers.
According to Domestic Workers’ Rights Network (DWRN), Bangladesh has 20 lakh domestic workers and most of them are female. Quoting ILO and BBS statistics, UNICEF said there are 7.4 million working children, aged 5-17 years, in Bangladesh. Some 1.3 million children (aged 5-17) are engaged in hazardous labour. The country has 421,000 child domestic workers.
According to ILO, as many as 93.3 per cent of all working children in the age group of 5-17 years operate in the informal sector. Agriculture engages 4.5 million (56.4 per cent children), while the services sector engages 2 million (25.9 per cent), and industry, 1.4 million (17.7 per cent). Long hours, low or no wages, poor food, isolation and hazards in the working environment can severely affect children’s physical and mental health. Child labourers are also vulnerable to other abuses such as racial discrimination, mistreatment and sexual abuse. Some work, such as domestic labour, is commonly regarded as an acceptable employment option for children, even though it too poses considerable risks.The problem of female workers is a bit higher. They work in insecure condition. They even sometimes have to face sexual harassment. It is alleged that women continue to face discrimination and they dominate the low paid jobs.
A BBS statistics said that women are engaged in more or less 58 professions, which included agriculture, domestic works, garment and sewing, poultry, dairy and nursery, production related, day labourer, textile, dyeing and weaving, whole sale and retailer (owner), teaching, salesman and hawker, bidi maker, medical, glass factory and pottery, post office, clerk, supervisor clerk, brick breaker, carpenter, fisheries, caretaker, cleaner, cook, food distributor and others.
According to ILO, the rapid growth of the Bangladesh ready-made garment industries, which employ approximately 4.2 million workers, has created considerable employment opportunities for women in Bangladesh. Some estimates put the number of women workers in the sector as high as 80 percent. ILO said, “Although women make up half of the population of Bangladesh, they still account for only about a third of the labour market, often working at the lowest level of the jobs hierarchy with little employment security. Many are also engaged in the informal economy where the application of social protection and legislation is negligent. Large numbers of women (approximately 56,000 in 2013) migrate overseas for domestic work where they can find themselves vulnerable to exploitation while the trafficking of women from Bangladesh remains an issue”.
Due to the problems faced by female and child workers, the Bangladesh government came forward taking up a number of steps for their welfare. Labour courts are in operative to protect workers’ rights and enforce laws such as compensation to be paid to workers by employers for the breach of labor laws on their part.
Bangladesh is a signatory nation associated to the International Labor Organization (ILO) and remains committed on the whole to ILO policies. The constitution of Bangladesh guarantees equal rights for men and women. Hence, legal measures have been adopted to protect the rights of the women workers.
Bangladesh enacted the Labour Act in 2006, which includes a chapter on child labour. This new law prohibits employment of children under 14 years of age, as well as prohibiting hazardous forms of child labour for persons under age 18.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has recently adopted a National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010, which provides a framework to eradicate all forms of child labour by 2015. There are labour laws to protect the rights of the workers. These included Sramik Kalyan Foundation Ain-2006, Bangladesh Sromo Ain-2006, Sramik Kalyan Foundation Bidhimala-2010, Sishusrom Niroshan Nitimala and Bangladesh Sramo Neeti-2012.
Bangladesh government took a number of steps to eradicate child labour and ensure their welfare. A National Policy on Children was adopted by Bangladesh government. The government also launched National Plan of Action on Child labour covering all types of hazardous and abusive child labour including child trafficking and child prostitution.
Bangladesh is among the first few countries to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and have already taken steps to implement its provisions.
Bangladesh enacted important laws protecting the interests of the children and women. These included Child Marriage Control Act (Draft), 2013, Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Rules, 2013, DNA Law 2014, Domestic Violence Act 2010 and The Children Act-1974.
Various steps have been taken to integrate women into the mainstream of economic development of the country.
There has been a lot of progress regarding the rights of women and child workers. However, more need to be done to fulfill the objectives of the May Day.
