Hazardous child labour to be eliminated by 2021: Chunnu

State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu today said the government has set targets of stopping hazardous child labour by 2021 and all sorts of child labour by 2025.

"We are conducting a survey to identify the exact number of child workers involved in hazardous jobs. After completing the survey, we will take prompt actions to eliminate hazardous child labour by 2021," he told a discussion on "Ratification of ILO Convocation 138" in the city.

Bssinfotainment.net in cooperation with Australian Aid, CSID and World Vision organized the discussion in the conference room of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Managing Director and Chief Editor Abul Kalam Azad presided over the meeting while Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) President Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, BSS Managing Editor Shahriar Shahid, Joint Secretary of Labour and Employment Ministry Khondaker Mostak Hossain, Executive Director of CSID Khandaker Jahurul Alam and BSS Chief Reporter Md Ashequn Nabi Chowdhury took part in the discussion, among others.

Prof Shahnaz Huda of Department of Law of Dhaka University presented a keynote paper at the discussion.

Representatives of Different international and local organizations, journalists, right activists, among others, took part in the open discussion.

Chunnu said, "We have to change our mindset to stop all forms of child labour as well as eliminate repression of domestic workers. Domestic workers are being repressed by people of different strata in society."

"It is urgent to change our mindset towards domestic workers to establish their rights," he added.

The government has formulated the Domestic Workers Protection and Welfare Policy-2015, Chunnu said, adding, "Domestic workers are not included in the existing labour law. We have formulated the policy to include them in the labour law to establish their rights and stop violence on them."

Referring to different laws related to labour rights, he said "We are taking bold steps to implement those laws to establish rights of workers. Alongside implementation of those laws, we are working to provide financial facilities through creating provident funds."

Abul Kalam Azad said, besides disseminating news, both print and electronic media have responsibilities to work on different issues to establish rights of the people.

"I hope this discussion on Ratification of ILO Convocation 138 will contribute to the efforts of establishing rights of workers," he added.

In her presentation, Shahnaz Huda said Bangladesh has already ratified 35 of ILO conventions and it made different laws in line with ILO convention for establishing right of workers.

"Bangladesh can ratify ILO Convocation 138 as there is no legal binding in this regard," she added.

Other speakers said a significant number of children in the country are involved in child labour and many of them are working with hazardous works to meet their family needs.

Collective efforts are needed to stop child labour, they said adding the state has to play a proactive role to curb all sorts of child labour.

Source: BSS