Third and Fourth Periodic Report on CRC - Unicef

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<strong>Third</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Fourth</strong> <strong>Periodic</strong> <strong>Report</strong> Hazardous Work: In Integrated Baseline Survey, 2005 by BBS/ILO-IPEC in 13,180 sample establishments under 45 selected (hazardous) sectors/activities the key findings are: about 20 percent of the total establishments were employing child workers. No child worker was found in four sectors, namely, ship breaking, cigarettes (not bidi), pesticides <strong>and</strong> other chemical products, <strong>and</strong> fire works during the time of the survey undertaking. Again, of the total employed persons in the sectors, 34 percent were child workers, <strong>and</strong> of the total child workers, 98.5 percent were estimated as child labour. Child Domestic Workers (CDW): Domestic child labour is the largest hazardous child labour sector in the country. There is no official record of actual number of child domestics because of the ‘hidden’ nature of work. According to one survey (ILO–IPEC, 2005/06), the total number of CDW is estimated at 405,508, of them 31 percent are in Dhaka city <strong>and</strong> remainder in other parts of the country. Of the total domestic help in Dhaka, 92 percent are full time CDW <strong>and</strong> the remaining are part time. Some CBOs/NGOs have started advocacy programme so that they are protected by law. Given the ofteninformal nature, regulation is difficult. However, recently the Government has been bringing criminal charges against employers who abuse domestic helps. Under the existing law, every child must attend school up to Grade V or until the age of 10 years. However, there is no effective mechanism for enforcing the law in favour of child domestics particular. B. The Government’s response to child labour The State Party has acknowledged the problem of child labour. She has ratified the ILO Convention-182 in 2001 concerning the Prohibition <strong>and</strong> Immediate Action on Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour, <strong>and</strong> also committed to the Rawalpindi Declaration of SAARC calling for the eradication of child labour by 2010. The Government has prepared a Child Labour Policy, which is awaiting approval. The Government has also signed a Memor<strong>and</strong>um of Underst<strong>and</strong>ing with ILO-IPEC for elimination of child labour. Under the Mines (Amendment) Act, 2004 the age of children who can be engaged in mines has been revised from 15 years to 18 years to conform to the CRC. Bangladesh Labour Law, 2006 deals, inter alia, with some prohibitions related to child labour. Hazardous work by a person below 18 is prohibited by this law. The Government has been publishing the list of such hazardous works on a regular interval. For any other (nonhazardous) economic activity, the lower limit of admission into employment is 14 years but with the certification of a registered medical doctor about fitness <strong>and</strong> age of the child. The employer must preserve the certificate <strong>and</strong> allow her/him to continue on-going education adjusting working hours. Up to December 2004, under ILO-IPEC initiative about 20,000 children have been removed from hazardous work, <strong>and</strong> almost similar number of children is attending schools. The BGMEA-ILO-UNICEF project identified 10,546 child workers, in garment factories. The intervention under the project proved to be very successful in removing child labour as by the end of 2003 only 23 (0.2 percent) of the factories were employing 58 child labour. It is believed that with more compliance to labour st<strong>and</strong>ards by the employers, coupled with internal lobbying <strong>and</strong> advocacy, in the recent years, the proportion of child labour in garments factories at least remained very low. With a view to prevention <strong>and</strong> eliminate child labour through viable alternatives, among other measures, the MoLE has launched a comprehensive initiative in the form of Time Bound Programme, TBF (2004-15) to protect, remove, rehabilitate <strong>and</strong> prevent the worst form of child labour in the country with the support of ILO, UNICEF <strong>and</strong> ADB. The Ministry has also been implementing another USAID assisted project named Eradication of Hazardous Child Labour (2nd Phase) Project aiming at removing 30,000 children from hazardous works, <strong>and</strong> making those children skilled. 88
Convention on the Rights of the Child BEHTRUC project <strong>and</strong> its successor project for the urban working children under MoPME, is being implemented in the six Divisional cities (346,500 children benefited from the project <strong>and</strong> the on-going one has a target of 200,000 working children); 44 Shishu Kalyan (child welfare) Trust schools have been providing primary education to the street children. This project mainly focuses on rehabilitation of street children. Protection of Children at Risk (PCAR) project MoSW/DSS, funded by UNICEF, through 13 different activities, covering groups of children without parental care, provides basic education, skills training <strong>and</strong> basic healthcare. NGOs work both in partnership with the Government’s child labour projects <strong>and</strong> are also involved on their own in non-formal education, formal primary education, skills training, child labour <strong>and</strong> WFCL <strong>and</strong> brothel children. The Department of Labour (DoL) with the participation of 42 NGOs/CBOs <strong>and</strong> local government institutions has established the Child Labour Elimination Action Network (CLEAN), to monitor situation concerning hazardous child labour in 8 north- west districts of Bangladesh. 8.4.2 Drug abuse Bangladesh is a party to the following international conventions on this subject: Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961(as amended by Protocol of 1972) Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs <strong>and</strong> Psychotropic Substances The relevant domestic legislation is the Narcotics Control Act 1990, which punishes drug abuse <strong>and</strong> illicit drug trafficking with a minimum imprisonment sentence of 6 months <strong>and</strong> a fine. The Children Act, 1974 makes it a punishable offence to: Give intoxicating liquor or dangerous drugs to a child in a public place; <strong>and</strong> Take a child to, or permit a child to enter a place where intoxicating liquor or dangerous drugs are sold. Accurate rates of drug abuse among children are not available. However, children are involved as drug carriers, sellers <strong>and</strong> users. The Department of Narcotics Control has overall responsibility for controlling the trafficking <strong>and</strong> abuse of drugs in Bangladesh. The United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) is supporting Government’s anti-drug efforts in three areas: law enforcement, preventive education <strong>and</strong> information <strong>and</strong> treatment/rehabilitation. 8.4.3 Sexual exploitation <strong>and</strong> sexual abuse The Government is concerned about the problem of child sexual abuse <strong>and</strong> sexual exploitation. It was expressed in formulation of the National Plan of Action against Sexual Abuse <strong>and</strong> Exploitation of Children, including Trafficking (NPA-SAECT). The Government as well as people in leading positions are convinced of the benefits of ensuring children’s participation for effective policy development <strong>and</strong> implementation. The NPA- SAECT was developed through a participatory process in consultation with different stakeholders including children <strong>and</strong> young people. A regional strategy to combat child sexual abuse <strong>and</strong> sexual exploitation of children was adopted by all seven South Asian Countries in Dhaka. The Strategy was presented by the Government of Bangladesh during the Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Japan. The Government has enacted The Suppression of Violence against Women <strong>and</strong> Children Act, 2000 to protect the children from sexual exploitation <strong>and</strong> abuse. 89
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