Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Bangladesh (Ratification: 2001)

Articles 3(a), 5 and 7(1) of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour, monitoring mechanisms and penalties. Sale and trafficking of children. The Committee previously noted the establishment of an Anti-Human Trafficking Offence Tribunal at the district level wherein the offences under the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act No. 3 of 2012 (Trafficking Act) shall be tried. While observing that the Government did not provide statistics related to the number of penalties imposed on persons found guilty of child trafficking specifically, the Committee noted from the 2016 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, that 232 child victims of trafficking were identified by the police between May 2014 and April 2015. It also noted from the list of issues of 14 February 2017 under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), that the Human Rights Committee pointed out that there seemed to be numerous acquittals in human trafficking cases for the number of prosecutions.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the Police has set up two tiers of monitoring cells, namely the Human Trafficking Monitoring Cell at the Police Headquarters in each district and a Monitoring Cell headed by the Additional Superintendent of Police which has been monitoring, guiding and liaising with the district level monitoring cells. A Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) Cell has also been set up in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Bangladesh Police to monitor the investigation of human trafficking cases and to provide necessary instructions and guidance to the field level officers. Moreover, an ‘Integrated Crime Data Management System’ (CDMS) has been set up at the Monitoring Cell in Police Headquarters where relevant statistics on human trafficking cases are regularly preserved and analysed. According to the statistical information provided by the Government concerning cases of trafficking in persons, from 2018 to 2020, a total of 715 cases of trafficking were reported, which included cases involving the trafficking of 182 children. It further states that, as of June 2021, 554 cases are under investigation while 4,945 cases are pending trial before the tribunal. The Committee once again observes that the Government has not provided any specific information concerning the investigations, prosecutions and penalties applied for trafficking of children. The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that, in practice, thorough investigations and prosecutions are carried out for persons who engage in the trafficking of children, and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed. In this regard, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions applied by the Anti-Human Trafficking Offence Tribunal for the offence of trafficking in persons under 18 years of age, in accordance with the provisions of the Trafficking Act.

Articles 3(d) and 5. Hazardous work and labour inspection. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the information on the measures taken to strengthen the capacity of the labour inspectors of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE). It also noted that the DIFE regularly inspects the shrimp and dried fish industries, the construction sector, brick factories and tanneries and the ready-made garment sector and that as of 2016, a total of 95 cases were filed by the DIFE against employers for employing children below the minimum age. However, it noted from the National Child Labour Survey (NCLS) findings published in 2015, that 1.28 million children aged 5 to 17 were found to be engaged in hazardous work in manufacturing (39 per cent); agriculture, forestry and fishing (21.6 per cent); wholesale and retail (10.8 per cent); construction (9.1 per cent); and transportation and storage (6.5 per cent). The Committee requested the Government to continue taking measures to strengthen the capacity and improve the ability of labour inspectors of the DIFE to detect all children under the age of 18 engaged in hazardous work, and to provide information on the progress achieved in this regard.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that from 2020 to 2021, more than 47000 inspections were carried out and 98 cases were filed by the DIFE against employers for employing children in violation of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 (as amended up to 2018), of which 14 cases were settled. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that the DIFE withdrew 5,088 children from hazardous work during 2020–21. The Committee notes, however, the Government’s statement in its report under the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937 (No. 59) that the inspectors are mandated for inspection of child labour in the formal sector. However, child labour is mostly concentrated in the informal sector where regular inspection is not possible.

In this regard, the Committee notes from the draft National Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour 2021–25 that according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2018, child labour continues to affect 6.8 per cent of children aged 5–17 years with a massive majority of 95 per cent working in the informal sector which includes: food shop and tea stalls, motor and steel workshops, grocery and furniture shops, clothing and tailoring and waste collection. The Committee further notes from the UNICEF research document of 2021 entitled “Evidence on Educational Strategies to Address Child Labour in India and Bangladesh” (UNICEF document 2021) that although the findings from the two NCLS of 2003 and 2015 indicates a significant drop in child labour levels in Bangladesh, the number of children engaged in hazardous work decreased by just 0.01 million, from 1.29 to 1.28 million. This report also points to the fact, based on the findings of the NCLS of 2015, that over 1 million children identified as hazardous child labourers are invisible to the formal authorities. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its concluding observations of April 2018, expressed concern about the large number of children still engaged in child labour, their dire conditions of work, particularly in domestic settings, and the lack of sufficient labour inspections focusing on child labour (E/C.12/BGD/CO/1, paragraph 54). While noting the measures taken by the Government, the Committee must once again express its concern at the significant number of children who are engaged in hazardous work, particularly in the informal economy. The Committee strongly urges the Government to take the necessary measures, in law and practice, to strengthen and adapt the capacities and expand the reach of the labour inspectors to ensure that children under the age of 18 years are not engaged in hazardous work, particularly in the informal economy and that they benefit from the protection afforded by the Convention. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to promote collaboration between the labour inspectorate and other relevant stakeholders and to provide adequate training to the labour inspectors to detect cases of children engaged in hazardous work and remove them from this worst form of child labour. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

Articles 3(d) and 7(2)(d). Hazardous work and effective and time-bound measures. Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Child domestic workers. The Committee previously noted that the Domestic Workers’ Protection and Welfare Policy of 2015 (DWPWP) provides the legal framework for the protection of domestic workers, including child domestic workers. By virtue of this policy, any kind of indecent behaviour, physical or mental torture, towards domestic workers, is strictly prohibited and existing laws, including the Penal Code and the Women and Child Repression Prevention Act, are applicable. While this Policy sets the minimum age for light domestic work at 14 years, and hazardous domestic work at 18 years, the Committee observed that children of 12 years of age could possibly be employed with the consent of the legal guardian of the child. The Committee therefore requested the Government to provide information on the measures it envisages in the framework of this Policy, to ensure that all children under 18 years of age are protected from performing hazardous work in the domestic work sector.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the DWPWP provides guidelines for the working conditions and safety of domestic workers, a decent working environment, decent wages and welfare enabling workers to live with dignity, good employer–employee relations, and redress of grievances. Appropriate actions in line with the existing laws will be taken in case of any physical or mental torture or engaging child domestic workers in hazardous work. The Government also indicates that a “Central Monitoring Cell on Domestic Workers” has been created to monitor implementation of this Policy and two divisional level workshops were organized in 2019 as part of the awareness raising campaign of this Policy. However, the Committee notes from the draft document on the National Action Plan for the Elimination of child labour 2020-25 (NPA document) that a study on the DWPWP revealed that only 7 per cent of the employers were aware of this policy and identified poor media coverage and illiteracy as the prime reasons behind poor policy awareness. The NPA document also states that the Policy establishes a very loose grievance settlement process in which a domestic worker has to report to the Central Monitoring Cell, human rights organisations or child help line for any support. This Policy, without any supportive legal instrument and mass awareness, is largely unimplemented. This document also refers to the findings of the NCLS of 2015 which indicates that 115,658 children aged between 5 and 17 years are domestic workers in Bangladesh, of which 91 per cent are girls. The Committee once again recalls that child domestic workers constitute a high-risk group who are outside the normal reach of labour controls and are scattered and isolated in the households in which they work. This isolation, together with the children’s dependency on their employers, lays the ground for potential abuse and exploitation. In many cases, the long hours, low or no wages, poor food, overwork and hazards implicit in the working conditions, affect the children’s physical health (General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 553).  The Committee therefore urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance to remove children engaged in domestic work from hazardous working conditions and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged by the Central Monitoring Cell on Domestic Workers in ensuring that children under 18 years of age are not engaged in hazardous domestic work. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the imposition, in practice, of sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties on persons who subject children under 18 years of age to hazardous work.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.