Editorial
The plight of the children
Need for uniformity in laws defining a child compelling
TWELVE year-old Raju from Kamrangirchar epitomises the sad story of the nation's poor children working in hazardous circumstances and for a pittance. Raju, a school dropout, works the entire day in a factory producing aluminium goods, the dust from the particles not only powdering his face but clearly making their way into his body system in various ways. And that is the hazard he and children like him constantly face despite the laws that exist to prevent child labour in the country. As a series of reports in this newspaper noted yesterday, under-aged children not only are exposed to such hazards as inhaling chemicals in their places of work but also happen to be confined in spaces that are as unhygienic as can be imagined. At the end of the week, these children, depending on their age, go home with between Tk. 200 and Tk. 400. It is a morbid sight.
Poverty degrades. And how it does that can be seen from the fact that neither the governmental authorities nor the NGOs have evinced much interest in the security and welfare of these children and their families. At a period in life when these children should be going to school, it is precisely the reverse that one notices. Many of these children (there are 3.2 million child labourers in Bangladesh, according to the National Child Labour Survey 2002-2003) have dropped out of school in order to assist their families eke out a living. Quite some years ago, when international pressure piled up on some of our industries about taking child workers out of their premises and taking them to school, great enthusiasm was noticed in the country. That enthusiasm evidently did not translate into a change in the lives of these children we speak of today. And that is extremely disappointing, given that on every conceivable occasion, government functionaries endlessly mouth platitudes about an application of the laws against child labour. The next step, predictably, is a return to the old ways, to what has always been happening.
A peculiar, even quixotic aspect of the whole situation relates to the definition of a child in this country. There are as many as forty sector-oriented laws in Bangladesh and among these laws one will find various definitions of who or what constitutes a child. A child has variously been described as one who is under the age of 18, 16, 15 and 12 years. The United Nations and the International Labour Organisation make it clear, however, that a child is anyone under eighteen. That should resolve the issue for us in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, a clear lack of uniformity in the laws relating to age precludes any meaningful steps being taken to deal with the predicament that poor children face in their workplaces. It is a matter the authorities need to mull over. Unless they do, the embarrassment which goes for children's employment could well become a scandal.
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