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’Child labour is the main form of violation of child rights'
Tariq-ul-lslam, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs talks to She ■Batla ^tar
ALTHOUGH the government has been conducting massive campaign against child labour, it is yet to take any effective initiative to pursue the corporate business bodies to integrate business principles respecting and supporting children rights in their policy.
"Till now we have not taken such initiatives. As and when the issue comes up for discussion, we will seriously think of it," said Tariq-ul-lslam, secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
But the business bodies, themselves, are now very much aware about child rights and running their businesses complying with the national laws to protect child rights, he claimed.
Tariq-ul-lslam made the observation while talking to The Daily Star on the issue of Children’s Rights and Business Principles.
Asked about the overall scenario of child rights in Bangladesh, he said, "I think the practice of protecting child rights has gained momentum over the years. Now people are much more aware than before."
The main concern of the government is to end child labour in the country. That is why the existing laws in Bangladesh mainly focus on elimination of child labour, he said.
"As child labour is the main form of violation of child rights, our existing laws strictly prohibit child labour both in formal and informal sectors," he said.
Apart from enforcement of laws, the government, in collaboration with the non-government organisations, is conducting different advocacy campaigns to discourage child labour and to protect child rights, he said.
He also opined for strengthening such advocacy programmes
across the country in large scale to make people aware about child rights.
Replying to a question, Tariq-ul-lslam said the government has taken many initiatives to protect child rights especially the rights of marginalized and underprivileged children because they are the most vulnerable to exploitation.
"Children are often engaged in different hazardous jobs. We lay top most priority to resist appointment of children in hazardous jobs," he said.
"Aiming to facilitate due care
” The government, in collaboration with the nongovernment organisations, is conducting different advocacy campaigns to discourage child labour and to protect child rights.^ for new born babies, we have introduced maternity allowance so that the mother does not face hardship to take care of her baby properly," he said.
With the aim to check school dropout rate of children the government has taken different initiatives including midday meal, stipend and others.
"We will introduce education centres for children in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna. These centres will be introduced in Dhaka, one each in Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna," he said.
The centres will surely benefit the marginalised and underprivileged children, viewed Tariq-ul-lslam.