[child-rights] NUS's Workshop on Child Labour

      PRESS RELEASE

                       NUS's Workshop on Child Labour

Nari Unnayan Shakti(Women's Power for Development) organised a
Participatory Workshop with the participation of Child Labours at
NUS's training hall Badda area of Dhaka City. The program was
facilitated by Afroja Parvin, Executive Director, Nari Unnayan
Shakti.

At the workshop titled "Child Labour in Bangladesh", the Child
Commercial Sex Workers and the Child Labour in Garments Sector raised
their different problems. They said, "due to poverty our parents sent
us to earn money. Now a days employment of adolescent in the garment
sector is narrowing, consequently, we are loosing our job. We are
facing problems during stay at home in the slum. Lack of social
security, disturbance by the abusers and increase cause with in the
family members' make our lives bitter.

They appealed government to introduce special education scholarship
for adolescent girls in the slum settings of urban areas. More over
as the jobless they need support of food shelter and social security.

Child Commercial Sex Workers raised that, at present the government
is giving attention to traffic victims those are trafficked to other
countries though the program is taken in a narrow shape. They are not
paying attention to the internal trafficked victims. Suffering from
internal and external trafficking is the same.  Moreover, the number
of the internal trafficking took place several times high than
external trafficking. They passed their comment that, external
trafficking could be stopped if the government pay attention to
reduce internal trafficking.

In the discussion the facilitator mention, at present around 8
Million children (Rahman 1996 B) are engaged in 425 types of work.
Among them 67 activities are Hazardous Jobs for them.

The hope of the light is the Ministry of Labour and Employment has
taken initiative to reduce child labour problem in the country for
10,000 Child Labours at the first step.



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