The Curse Known as ‘Child Labour’

Child labour is an inhumane scourge that hinders a child’s normal development and education. Poverty, a lack of social awareness, and a flawed education system are its root causes.

Alongside law enforcement, ensuring social security for impoverished families and creating opportunities for quality education for children is the only way to break free from this curse.

As we observed World Day Against Child Labour 2026 on Monday, we were reminded yet again of just how far behind we are in terms of eradicating child labour in the country. No measure of economic growth can ever justify or conceal the fact that child labour in the country is rampant.

An alarming picture was pointed out at a seminar held on the occasion in Dhaka that around 17.80 lakh children in Bangladesh continue to work in dangerous conditions with minimal government oversight, exposing the nation’s future to abuse, torture, and severe physical harms. Facing severe dangers at their workplaces, children have now come to dominate national crime statistics, many of them ending up on the list of dead or rape victims.

It is to be noted that Bangladesh has substantially reduced child labour in export-oriented industries like garments, leather, ceramics, and shipbreaking due to global oversight.

Many children have simply shifted into less regulated, invisible, and unmonitored informal sectors.

However, Bangladesh missed its targets of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2021 and all forms of child labour by 2025.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recognises hazardous domestic work as one of the worst forms of child labour under Convention No. 182 and Recommendation No. 190. A 2024 study by the Association for Social Development, conducted among 352 child domestic workers in Dhaka, found that almost half of them had experienced abuse.

The survey showed that 31.45 percent were subjected to excessive workloads, 18.47 per cent suffered physical injuries, 8.23 per cent were beaten, 20.74 per cent faced verbal abuse, while 1.7 per cent experienced sexual abuse.

An overall nonchalant attitude towards child labour and the lack of implementation of existing laws and policies make it extremely difficult to reduce – let alone eradicate – child labour in Bangladesh. Without proper enforcement of the law and a zero-tolerance policy towards child labour, the government will fail to live up to its commitment to protect one of the most vulnerable segments of the population.