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Children, who?

40 laws add confusion to age limit

Staff Correspondent
The government has so far been unable to set an exact age limit for the children as different laws follow different ages to determine someone as a child.
Over the years 40 sector-oriented laws have been formulated relating to children and defining their different age limits under different circumstances.
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"All the laws have put us in an anomalous situation in which we cannot even define who is a child. /\nd it shows the governments have been very much negligent in protecting the rights of the children," says legal expert Prof Mizanur Rahman of Dhaka University.
Laws styled the Convention on Rights of the Child, the Children Act, the Factory Act. and the Mines Act define someone as a child under the age of 18, 16, 15 and 12 respectively, whereas international laws including the UN and ILO conventions define anyone under!8aschildren.
Even 38 years after independence the government could not formulate a comprehensive law in this regard. The government even could not adopt a national policy to address the problems related to child labour.
As a result, child labour has gone unabated in the country resulting in 7.4 million working children including 3.2 million labourers, according to a survey titled "National Child Labour Survey: 2002-2003."
The existing laws have left the children exposed to hazard ous work as none of those has categorised diverse forms of work children are engaged in the country under different circumstances.
The laws even don't define hazardous forms of work children are doing in Bangladesh under these circumstances.
The international laws
categorise diverse forms of child labour including the worst forms - slavery and any work linked to slavery, forced labour, engagement of child in pornography and any work harmful to theft health, safety and ideology, and working in unhygienic atmosphere producing materials, sound and vibration harmful to them.
In fact, there is no separate law concerning child labour and only the Labour Law, 2006 incorporates a chapter styled "Appointment of Juvenile Labourer" with reference to child labour.
The chapter does not define child labour and its various forms specifically, making only some vague and generalised statements like "adolescents cannot be employed at any institution or profession.”
Though the law mentions adolescents can't be employed in any institutions in work, it states: "Whatever be in this chapter, children of 12 can be employed in light work which is not dangerous for their health and growth or will not hamper their education."
The only legislation formulated specifically focusing on children is the Children Act, 1974 which basically deals with juvenile and justice.
Although the government signed and ratified several international conventions and laws since 1994, it did not ensure full implementation of any of those including the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention. 1999.
None of the laws even attempts to fix or suggest a minimum wage standard for the children, thrusting upon them exploitation by the factory owners.
Legal experts criticise the existing laws saying those are inappropriate, sector-oriented and contradictory. They also recommend some immediate amendment to the existing laws.
"The laws are never comprehensive to address all the issues related to children." says Prof Mizanur Rahman Khan
"The punishment mentioned in the laws related to children is very low and ultimately all the law's are anti-child and pro-reach, at least in respect of child labour." Prof Khan adds.
"The laws formulated so far on child labour are related to children's involvement in formal sector work with informal sector remaining beyond their purview. As most of the children work in the informal sector, child labour cannot be stopped without taking into account the children involved in this sector. " he observes.
Around 93 percent of the working children work in the informal sector and of them, around 5.7 million work in the rural and around 1.2 million in the urban informal sector.
Tire survey reveals further neglect by the government in this regard as 33 percent of the total 75 percent children attending schools are labourers, most of who join the workforce as soon as they complete pri-maryeducation.