Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937 (No. 59) - Bangladesh (Ratification: 1972)

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee had previously noted the various measures and policies introduced by the Government to reduce child labour, including: the National Child Labour Elimination Policy of 2010 and a National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labour; the National Education Policy of 2010; the project on Eradication of Hazardous Child Labour in Bangladesh (Phase III); and the Basic Education for the Hard-to-Reach Urban Working Children. The Committee encouraged the Government to continue its efforts to improve the situation of child labour in the country.

Accordingly, the Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labour 2013–16, focuses on nine strategic interventions including policy implementation, legislation and enforcement, education, prevention of child labour and safety of children engaged in work. The Government also indicates that under the first and second phases of the Eradication of Hazardous Child Labour in Bangladesh project, 40,000 children were withdrawn from child labour through informal schooling, skills-development training and socio-economic empowerment of their parents. The Committee also notes the following information provided by the Government concerning the measures taken for the effective abolition of child labour:

• -The Reach Out of School Children project (Phase II), which intends to ensure completion of the primary education cycle, has been implemented in 148 upazilas (sub-districts) since 2013. Under this project, 12,857 learning centres were established, through which 3,048,200 children between 8 and 14 years, who have never been to school or who have dropped out of school were provided with basic education.
• -A Non-Formal Education Policy and a Non-Formal Education Act 2014 were adopted to facilitate basic education and skills development of working children.
• -Several multi-dimensional programmes, such as the Child Sensitive Social Protection project and Services for Children at Risk project are being implemented by the Department of Social Services; and training and rehabilitation centres, day care centres and orphanages have been established to provide basic needs for children at risk.
• -A list of 38 types of hazardous work prohibited to children under 18 years of age was adopted in March 2013. This list includes: work in automobile workshops and electrical mechanics; battery recharging; manufacturing of bidi, cigarettes and matches; brick or stone breaking; manufacturing of plastics, soap, pesticides and leather; metal works; welding works; construction works; dyeing or bleaching; weaving; chemical factories; butcheries; the truck, tempo and bus industries; and work in ports and ships.

In addition, the Committee notes the information from the Ministry of Education that the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and the Directorate of Technical Education have undertaken different initiatives for engaging children in schools and vocational institutions and these have a massive impact on reducing child labour. These initiatives include: provision of free books; financial assistance in the form of stipends or tuition fees; and awareness-building workshops. The current stipend programmes are being implemented through five different projects of which three are related to secondary education. According to the information provided by the Government, these three projects cover 23,526 schools, and a total of 3,250,563 children (2,187,225 girls and 1,063,338 boys) are beneficiaries. The Committee further notes the Government’s information that the net enrolment rate at the primary level increased significantly from 87.2 per cent in 2005 to 97.7 per cent in 2014, with girls’ enrolment rate reaching 99.14 per cent. Moreover, the primary school drop-out rate has been reduced from 50.5 per cent in 2005 to 20.9 per cent in 2014. With regard to the statistical information on child labour, the Government report refers to the Child Labour Survey of 2013, which indicates that of the 3.45 million children between 5 and 17 years who are working, 1.7 million children are involved in child labour with the manufacturing sector dominating (33.3 per cent in child labour), followed by agriculture (29.9 per cent) and trading (10.6 per cent). The Committee notes the Government’s statement that although eliminating child labour in all sectors remains a big challenge, the Government of Bangladesh is committed to withdrawing children from hazardous work and moving them into formal education. While taking note of the measures taken by the Government, and the improvement in the enrolment rate at the primary level, the Committee must express its concern at the high number of children that are still involved in child labour in Bangladesh, particularly in the manufacturing sector. The Committee therefore urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to eliminate child labour in the sectors covered by the Convention. The Committee requests that the Government continue to provide updated statistical information on the extent of child labour in these sectors, as well as on the practical application of the Convention, including reports of inspection services, number and nature of violations reported and penalties applied.