Law Letter
In our country, most of the poor children have to work for their and their families survival. But this child labour is considered as illegal and inhumane in the eye of law as the children have the right to lead a betterprotected life.
The international Labour Organisation (ILO) is one of the agencies affiliated to the United Nations was established in 1919. From the beginning ILO has been working for combating child labour with priority focus on its worst forms. International World Day Against Child Labour has been observed in Bangladesh and ILO took remarkable efforts in addressing the challenges of child labour by attaching due importance.
The ILO estimates that, around the world some 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 works for a living. Almost half, some 120 million, work full times everyday, all year round. As many as 70 percent toil in dangerous environments of the 250 million children concerned, some 50-60 million are between five and eleven years old and work in hazardous conditions vis-a-vis their age and vulnerability.
The elimination of child labour is a longstanding major objective of the ILO. In 1919, the ILO adopted its comprehensive minimum age Convention (No. 138) that requires states to design and apply national politics to ensure the effective abolition of all forms of child labour and to set the minimum ages for employment. In 1992, the ILO launched the International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) to continue the struggle against child labour through practical projects in the field. In 1998, All ILO Member states pledged to uphold and promote the principles as freedom of association, abolition of forced labour and elimination of child labour. In 1999, ILO adopted the Worst Form of Child Labour Convention (No. 182) to eradicate those forms of child labour that are hazardous and damaging to children's physical, mental or moral well being. In 2002, the ILO establishe 12 June as World Day Against Child Labour. And finally in 2004, the first global economic study on the costs and benefits of eliminating child labour say the benefits will be an estimated US$ 5.1 trillion.
What are the worst forms of Child Labour?
The worst forms of child labour comprise:
- All forms of slavery or practices similar of slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
- The use, procurement or offering of a child for prostitution, production of pornography or pornographic performances.
- The use procurement or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs.
- Work, which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
Which types of work are harmful?
Each country, after consulting with employers and workers organizations and other interested parties, must decide which type of work are harmful and need to be targeted as a matter of urgency.
This means paying special attentions to:
- Work, which exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse.
- Work underground, underwater, at dangerous heights or in confined space.
- Work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which involves the manual handling or transports of heavy loads.
- Work in an unhealthy environment, which may, for example, expose children to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or vibrations damaging to their health.
- Work under particularly difficult conditions, such as work for long hours or during the night or work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the employer.
Recommendations
In ILO practice, Recommendations provide guidelines for the eradication of the worst forms of child labour. The ILO convention proposes:
- Specific ways in which the general provision of the Convention can be translated into national law and practice.
- Action programmes that should take into consideration the views of the children directly concerned, of their families and of NGO's committed to the elimination of child labour. Society as a whole should be mobilised through public information campaigns.
- The certain worst forms of child labour should be made criminal offences punishable under national laws.
- A comprehensive list of measures, which can help all concerned to abolish the worst, forms of child labour, for instance, training, policy development and monitoring.
What are the roles of employers' and workers' organisation?
One of the advantages of the ILO's tripartite structure is that it reaches beyond governments to key actors in the economic process. Government should consult them in order to:
- Determine and identify the types of work considered to be harmful to a child's health, safety and morals.
- Update these lists of harmful work.
- Establish monitoring mechanisms.
- Design and carry out action programmes.
Child labour situation in Bangladesh
The key findings of the National Child Labour Survey (NCLS) 2003 conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) are described below:
- The total population of 5-17 years is found to be 42.4 million, which is 32 percent of the total population of Bangladesh. Of this 54 percent are boys and 46 percent are girls. The proportion is the same in both urban and rural areas.
- Around 75 percent of the children are attending school full time. Part time attendance is as low as 3 percent for both sexes. By gender, 25 percent of boys do not attend school, compared to 17 percent of girls.
- The number of economically active children (working children) aged 5-17 years is found to be 7.4 million. The majority of them are boys (74%) and most of them (59%) are engaged in agriculture. The majority (59%) of working children are from the age group of 10-14 years.
- Contribution to family income has been identified as the most important reason for children to work, which is true for both rural and urban areas. 69 percent of children fall in this category.
- Of the 7.42 million working children, 3.18 million comprising of 77 percent boys and 23% girls are categorised as child labourers.
- Only about 33 percent of the working children are found to be in school.
- 1.3 million children are estimated to be working long hours, as high as 43 hours or more per week, which is hazardous work.
Bangladesh started implementation of the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in 1995. Again the government ratified ILO convention, 1995 (No 182) on Worst Form of Child Labour in 2001, which calls for immediate and priority action against the worst forms of child labour. The ongoing projects of ILO cover more than 60,000 children in hazardous condition in Bangladesh.
Finally, individuals, communities and religious bodies can create awareness and be advocates. They can:
- Distribute and discuss the brochure.
- Form coalitions to promote the Conventions.
- Make their voices be heard through the media.
- Lobby parliamentarians.
- Support a family.
Khandaker Farzana Rahman (Akhi)
2nd Year (Old) student, Dept. of Law, University of Dhaka.
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Shariah Law in Canada
Canada as many of us know is a secular state. As a secular state Canada is a state with no state religion and in which the state is neutral in matters of religion, neither supporting nor opposing any particular religious beliefs or practices. Canada has certain civil requirements that have to be met for marriage, or divorce to be approved.
In 1991, there was a huge backlog in the court system, to ease that problem Ontario changed its Arbitration Act to allow "faith-based arbitration". In such a system Muslims, Jews, Catholics and members of other faiths could use their own guiding principles of their religions to settle family disputes such as divorce, custody and inheritances outside the court system. But it has to be voluntary. Both parties have to agree to such arbitration. And the decision that is rendered by the tribunal is binding.
Every year new immigrants are coming to Canada. Amongst them there are many Muslims. A large percentage of women immigrants do not speak or understand English. They have very little understanding about the law and also about the various programs that are offered from the government. There is a huge fear that the implementation of Shariah law in the legal system will lead them to comply with the rulings handed out by the religious council deciding their case, no matter how much they suffer for it.
The Islamic Institute of Civil Justice earlier this year declared that they would like to set up its own faith-based arbitration panels under the Arbitration Act, based on Shariah law. The members of the panels would be scholars, lawyers and imams. Such declaration was not accepted by the women organizations in Ontario and also around the world.
The National Association of Women and the Law, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, and the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada believe that under Shariah law, men and women are not treated equally. A woman under Shariah Law can only inherits half as much as a man can.
Today in the 21st Century women should be especially aware of their rights and freedoms. It has always been women who have been suppressed and also oppressed under the shade of religion. Many people have fled their own country of origin and migrated to Canada because they have been oppressed and suppressed by religion, faith, color, sex, and belief. Now if Canada also allows religion to play an important role in the legal system where will these people go?
Farzana Chowdhury Bindu
from Toronto, Canada.
