The work of building the first model child labour-free district by implementing the Keraniganj project on the outskirts of the capital is already underway, stakeholders said in a meeting held at a Dhaka hotel Monday. The meeting was held on the progress of the national action plan prepared in the context of Bangladesh to eliminate child labour by 2025 to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 8 under the initiative of Unicef Bangladesh and the Ministry of Labor and Employment. It highlighted five strategic plans to free the country from child labour within the next three years. Read: "Children can and should be powerful change-makers in their families, schools and communities" Ministry of Labor and Employment Joint Secretary Hazera Khatun said Bangladesh has made significant progress in eliminating child labour in the last few decades. Despite that, 6.8 percent of the country's children aged 5-17 are still involved in vulnerable child labour." "So, these plans have been adopted to protect children from violence, deprivation of rights and torture under the national five-year plan to build a child labour-free Bangladesh by 2025," she added. Unicef Bangladesh Chief of Child Protection Natalie McCauley said if Bangladesh is to be free from child labour, the scope of social activities should be extended to the village level. She also urged the relevant ministries to work in a coordinated manner to keep records of the children who fell out of primary school. Read: Heatwaves to impact almost every child by 2050: UNICEF report Elisa Calpona, Unicef child protection manager, said: "In 2022, Unicef and the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment and the Ministry of Labor and Employment signed a memorandum of understanding to join forces in the elimination of child labour to meet the SDG Target 8.7." Md Towfiqul Arif, additional secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Employment, emphasised the formation of a national committee for the implementation of a child labour-free Bangladesh.

The World Day Against Child Labour-2022 will be observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe tomorrow (Sunday). This year, the theme of the day is ‘Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour’. The 2022 theme of the world day calls for increased investment in social protection systems and schemes to establish solid social protection floors and protect children from child labour. Various international and national private organisations including ILO and unicef have chalked out various programmes to mark the day. Also read: UNRC lauds remarkable eagerness of children to learn On the occasion of the day, State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian urged the national and international organisations to come forward to stop child recruitment at mills and factories and raise awareness among the people of all stages. “The government is committed to curbing all kinds of child labour as per the target of SDG,” she said. Television channels will air special programmes including TVC describing the importance of the day. According to the United Nations, ILO launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to bring attention to and join efforts to fight against child labour. Also read: Over 1.5mn children at risk as devastating floods hit north-eastern Bangladesh: UNICEF While significant progress has been made in reducing child labour over the last two decades, progress has slowed over time, and it has even stalled during the period 2016-2020. Today, 160 million children are still engaged in child labour – some as young as 5. In 2015 the UN general assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of which was to eliminate child labour in all forms by 2025.

The Covid-induced disruption to schools -- considered agents of change in Bangladesh -- and a sharp rise in poverty have literally deferred the dreams of millions of children in this country. Many of these school dropouts have been pushed into child labour in order to support their families, notwithstanding the fact that the practice is illegal in Bangladesh. A reality check by UNB in the Demra Staff Quarters area of Dhaka revealed the plight of these children, aged between 7 and 11 years. We spotted kids working as vehicle helpers for as low as Tk100-150 daily. Read: Child labour begins to creep back up after two decades: UN agencies

Child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide, an increase of 8.4 million in the last four years as countries are trying to turn the corner and break the cycle of poverty and child labour, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Unicef. They also warn that 9 million more children are at risk as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and this number could rise to 46 million if they do not have access to critical social protection coverage.

The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years – with millions more at risk due to the impacts of COVID-19, said the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF in a new report on Saturday.  Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director for ILO Country Office for Bangladesh said Bangladesh must keep the fight against child labour at the top of the agenda so that progress made in recent years is not lost. Read: Country will be free of child labour within 2025: Monnujan Sufian  "We will continue to work closely with all our partners and focus on compulsory education, skill development, and social protection programmes – not only to address child labourers and vulnerable children, but also to provide decent working opportunities for parents and older siblings. It is high time to maximise the demographic dividend of the country and strengthen measures to produce a skilled, healthy, and productive labour force,” said Poutiainen. Children in child labour are at risk of physical and mental harm.  Child labour compromises children’s education, restricting their rights and limiting their future opportunities, and leads to vicious inter-generational cycles of poverty and child labour. Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh said with school closures in place since March 2020 and poverty levels rising amidst the pandemic, UNICEF is concerned that growing numbers of children are being pushed into child labour.  Read: Govt determined to make Bangladesh free from child labour to achieve sdgs "Families are struggling to cope and using every available means to survive. We need to prioritize the needs of children and address the wider social issues that enable these harmful practices to continue." Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward - released ahead of World Day Against Child Labour on 12th June – warns that progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years, reversing the previous downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016. The report points to a significant rise in the number of children aged 5 to 11 years in child labour, who now account for just over half of the total global figure.  The number of children aged 5 to 17 years in hazardous work – defined as work that is likely to harm their health, safety or morals – has risen by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016. “The new estimates are a wake-up call. We cannot stand by while a new generation of children is put at risk,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.  “Inclusive social protection allows families to keep their children in school even in the face of economic hardship. Increased investment in rural development and decent work in agriculture is essential. We are at a pivotal moment and much depends on how we respond. This is a time for renewed commitment and energy, to turn the corner and break the cycle of poverty and child labour.” In sub-Saharan Africa, population growth, recurrent crises, extreme poverty, and inadequate social protection measures have led to an additional 16.6 million children in child labour over the past four years. Even in regions where there has been some headway since 2016, such as Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, COVID-19 is endangering that progress. The report warns that globally, nine million additional children are at risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of the pandemic.  A simulation model shows this number could rise to 46 million if they don’t have access to critical social protection coverage. Additional economic shocks and school closures caused by COVID-19 mean that children already in child labour may be working longer hours or under worsening conditions, while many more may be forced into the worst forms of child labour due to job and income losses among vulnerable families. “We are losing ground in the fight against child labour, and the last year has not made that fight any easier,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.  “Now, well into a second year of global lockdowns, school closures, economic disruptions, and shrinking national budgets, families are forced to make heart-breaking choices. We urge governments and international development banks to prioritize investments in programmes that can get children out of the workforce and back into school, and in social protection programmes that can help families avoid making this choice in the first place.” Other key findings in the report include:    The agriculture sector accounts for 70 per cent of children in child labour (112 million) followed by 20 per cent in services (31.4 million) and 10 per cent in industry (16.5 million). Nearly 28 per cent of children aged 5 to 11 years and 35 per cent of children aged 12 to 14 years in child labour are out of school. Child labour is more prevalent among boys than girls at every age. When household chores performed for at least 21 hours per week are taken into account, the gender gap in child labour narrows. The prevalence of child labour in rural areas (14 per cent) is close to three times higher than in urban areas (5 per cent). To reverse the upward trend in child labour, the ILO and UNICEF called for adequate social protection for all, including universal child benefits. They called for ncreased spending on quality education and getting all children back into school - including children who were out of school before COVID-19, promotion of decent work for adults, so families don’t have to resort to children helping to generate family income and an end to harmful gender norms and discrimination that influence child labour. Also investment in child protection systems, agricultural development, rural public services, infrastructure and livelihoods. As part of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, the global partnership Alliance 8.7, of which UNICEF and ILO are partners, is encouraging member States, business, trade unions, civil society, and regional and international organizations to redouble their efforts in the global fight against child labour by making concrete action pledges. During a week of action from 10 – 17 June, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder and UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore will join other high-level speakers and youth advocates at a high-level event during the International Labour Conference to discuss the release of the new global estimates and the roadmap ahead.   

Labour and Environment secretary KM Abdus Salam on Sunday said Keraniganj would be a child labour- free area by 2022 as government is determined to eliminate it from the country to achieve SDGs.

State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian on Tuesday said that the country will be free of child labour within 2025 according to the target of the sustainable development goals (SDG).

For the first time in the ILO’s history, an International Labour Convention has been ratified by all member States reflecting global commitment that the worst forms of child labour have no place in the society.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment on Wednesday warned that action will be taken under the Labour Act if child labour is used in rawhide preserving and processing during the upcoming Eid-ul Azha.

COVID-19 crisis may push millions more children into child labour putting their lives at risk which could lead to the first rise in child labour after 20 years of progress, according to a new brief from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF.