Child Labour in Bangladesh Industry

INTRODUCTION:

Bangladesh is a south Asian country. It is also known as a part of the third world country. Bangladesh has a unstable economy, and in the 21st century we are still dependent on our agricultural economic structure. We are trying quite hard to put an impact in the world economic system. For this we are pursuing the trend of the modernization of the western world. Still we are facing the economic instability. Changing the aspect of our industrialization and economic perspective we are trying our best to fit in the world economic system. To the economic system we are the agriculture based third world country, trying to reach the top.

To be an active member of the world economic system we needed an industrial revolution, as once European countries had. And now these days we are trying to become a manufacturing industrialized country.

We are quite long way from the capitalist mode of production and we are showing all the negative factors of the industrialization. Among those the child labour problem is the worst of its kind. Though In Bangladesh the unemployment rate is about 6.2 corer but in the labour force the child labour is very alarming.

8 % of children (5-14 years) in child labour (1999-2003)

10% of male children (5-14 years) in child labour (1999-2003)

5% of female children (5-14 years) in child labour (1999-2003)

These are the situation according to UNICEF about the child labor position in Bangladesh. Later we shall discuss the other aspect of this phenomenon.

What is child labour?:

"Child labour" defines an extremely complex set of phenomena. In many countries, part-time work is a fact of life for many children and is neither exploitative nor detrimental to the child's development. In combating child labour, it is necessary, therefore, to consider carefully its various forms, making a distinction between work and exploitation, and analyzing the developmental and cultural contexts. Canada, for example, has not signed the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Minimum Age Convention.

It is widely agreed that exploitative child labour is strongly associated with poverty. The countries with the highest illiteracy rates, lowest school enrolment ratios and serious nutritive deficiencies are in general those that have the highest proportions of children working.

The phenomenon of child exploitation is equally complex. It is not necessarily linked to poverty alone and may be associated with low levels of development, lack of educational opportunities and certain cultural traditions. Solutions such as the imposition of a minimum wage or compulsory education, which ignore economic, social and cultural factors underlying child labour, run the risk of worsening the situation of children. Unless some alternative is provided for the children and their families, many children dismissed from work will be left to fend for themselves in the streets or will take up more hazardous employment. Child work can be expected to decrease gradually with higher levels of development. However, the eradication of specific forms of child exploitation and a massive reduction in child labour can only be achieved through political commitment, specific policies and development programmes

CHILDREN of the age of 5-14 years, employed to work for pay or profit, or without pay, in a FAMILY enterprise or organisations. Economic hardships of many families force most of their children to get involved in income generating activities. About one-tenth of global children population under 15 years of age work in various occupations, some of which are hazardous. Most of these children grow and live in absolute POVERTY and deprivation. They do not get opportunities to acquire education and skills to ensure a better life for them-selves.

Child labour was first recognized as a social problem with the introduction of factories in the late 18th century in Great Britain. In the eastern and mid-western United States, child labour was acknowledged as a problem after the Civil War, and in the South, after 1910. In earlier days, children worked as apprentices in factories or as servants in families, but in factories their employment soon turned into virtual SLAVERY. This was mitigated in Britain by acts of parliament enacted in 1802 and later years, in other places of industrialized Europe. Although most European nations had child labour laws by 1940, the urgency of production during World War II brought many children back into the labour market. In the United States, the Supreme Court declared Congressional child labour laws unconstitutional in 1918 and 1922. A constitutional amendment was passed in Congress in1924 but it was not approved by many states. The First Labour Standards Act of 1938 set a minimum age limit of 18 for occupations designated hazardous and 16 for employment in general.

The International Labor Organization, or the ILO, defines child labor as "some types of work" done by children under the age of 18. The ILO also says that child labor includes full-time work done by children under 15 years of age that prevents them from going to school (getting an education), or that is dangerous to their health.

Child labour and World industry sector:

Around the world, approximately 250 million children are child laborers .According to the new estimates, there are some 250 million children 5-14 years old who are toiling in economic activity in developing countries. For close to one-half of them (or 120 million), this work is carried out on a full time basis, while for the remaining one-half it is combined with schooling or other non-economic activities. Among school going children, up to one-third of the boys (33%) and more than two-fifths (42%) of the girls are also engaged in economic activities on a part-time basis.

The overall estimates of 250 million working children are exclusive of children who are engaged in regular non-economic activities, including those who provide services of domestic nature on a full-time basis in their own parents' or guardians' households. The number of such children is relatively large (about 15%-20% of the total child population of the same age-cohort).

For obvious reasons, child labour is most prevalent in the developing regions of the globe. In absolute terms, it is Asia (excluding Japan), as the most densely populated region of the world, that has the most child workers (approximately 61% of the world's total as compared with 32 % in Africa, 7%