Speakers at a dialogue have called for increased budget allocation and stronger government action to eliminate hazardous child labour in Bangladesh, saying the issue is deeply linked with child rights, education, health, poverty reduction and social justice.
The dialogue titled “Increasing Budget Allocation for the Elimination of Hazardous Child Labour” was jointly organised by Young Women for Development, Rights and Climate (YWDRC) and Nari Unnayan Shakti (NUS), with support from Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF), Textile Garments Workers Federation (TGWF), Domestic Worker Employers Association Bangladesh (DWEAB) and the Forum for Culture and Human Development (FCHD).
Speakers said that according to the National Child Labour Survey 2022 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), about 35.4 lakh children are engaged in labour across the country, including 10.7 lakh in hazardous work. They noted that many children are employed in construction, workshops, transport, agriculture, domestic work and waste collection, exposing them to serious physical and psychological risks while depriving them of education.
Presenting the keynote paper, Ms Nusrat Sultana Afroj, Executive Chairperson of YWDRC, identified poverty, unemployment, limited access to education, climate change impacts and social inequality as key drivers of child labour. She stressed that ending hazardous child labour requires investment in family income support, education, skills development and social protection programmes.
Chairing the session, Dr Afroja Parvin, Executive Director of Nari Unnayan Shakti (NUS), said child labour is not only a labour issue but also a broader concern involving child rights, education, health and justice. She called for adequate funding for identifying, rescuing, rehabilitating, educating and providing skills training to affected children.
Abdul Hossain, Freedom Fighter, labour leader and President of TGWF, said hazardous child labour cannot be eliminated without improving the livelihoods of working-class families and strengthening social protection measures.
Other speakers, including representatives from BSAF, DWEAB and FCHD, also stressed coordinated national efforts to address the issue.
Participants urged the government to establish a dedicated fund for eliminating child labour, expand social safety nets, strengthen school reintegration programmes, provide vocational training, enforce labour laws and improve monitoring in informal sectors.
They said achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would remain difficult without eliminating hazardous child labour, and called for urgent and sustained investment in prevention and rehabilitation efforts.
