Untitled - Terre des Hommes

• development of an adequate legal framework for the protection of child labour; and
• protection of children from exploitation.
The long-term goals focus on the elimination of all types of child labour (Mondal, 2009).
Trafficking
The government prohibits the trafficking of women and children for the purpose of commercial
sexual exploitation or involuntary servitude under the Repression of Women and Children Act of
2000 (amended in 2003)
Forced labour
Article 374 of Bangladesh’s penal code prohibits forced labour, but the prescribed penalties of
imprisonment for up to one year or a fine are not sufficiently stringent to deter the offense.
Child prostitution
The Bangladeshi penal code prohibits the selling and buying of a minor, under the age 18 for
prostitution in Articles 372 and 373. Prescribed penalties for sex trafficking commensurate with those
for other grave crimes such as rape; conviction means either life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Hazardous sectors
In 1995, the Ministry of Labour and Manpower, together with UNICEF, did a study to identify the
hazardous activities involving children, as described below. This study did not culminate in a list of
hazardous work in which children under 18 are not allowed to work (IREWOC, 2009).
Code of conduct for informal sector
A code of conduct for employment in the informal sector has been developed and submitted to the
Ministry of Labour and Employment; approval is pending.
3. Forms
a. All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking
of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including
forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict
Bonded-child labour exists in Bangladesh, but is not visible or generally acknowledged. The
government has a tendency to avoid the use of the term bonded, although this type of exploitation
occurs in shipyards, the dried-fish industry, tea gardens and agricultural and domestic work.
Bonded-child labourers work in isolation under miserable conditions and often without pay. 8
Domestic labour
According to studies supported by ILO and UNICEF in 2005 and 2006, there are more than 420,000
child domestic workers in Bangladesh; 148,000 in Dhaka alone. More than 75% of child domestic
workers are estimated to be girls (National Policy on Children (draft) and final report on National
Seminar on HCL in an Urban Informal Economy, ILO/ MoLE/ UNICEF (2007)). Child domestic
workers are thus extremely common in Bangladesh. It is part of the tradition and culture to have
domestic help. This type of work is not illegal, nor is it widely seen as inherently exploitative or
negative for a child. In fact, employers of child domestic workers often feel that they are helping a
poor family by taking in one of their children. Despite this, much of the domestic work done by
8
Ms. Wahida Banu (Aparajeyo Bangladesh), Ms. Gita (Ain O Salish Kendra)
19