Rights Corner
Rights of child domestic worker and reversing the current trend
Oli Md. Abdullah Chowdhury
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Photo: vimeo.com |
A small news item got published in the 3rd page of The Daily Star on December 22, 2012. As it occupied a small space, it might escape attention of many readers. The story was about a child domestic help who became a victim of torture and rape. Many such incidents did not come in the newspaper. Only handful of incidents though appeared in newspapers, victims were provided little remedies. Child domestic workers are still most vulnerable group of informal labour sector and they are often forced to work in conditions that are oppressive, exploitative, abusive and worse than adults would accept for the same work.
Although it has been stated in Article 4 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), "States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognised in the present Convention", Bangladesh has largely failed to protect child domestic worker from abuse. Bangladesh signed and later ratified CRC, but many of the child domestic workers continue to experience beating, scalding, branding with hot irons, denying children an education and lack of proper sleeping conditions among others. Girl child laborers are particularly vulnerable in absence of a protective mechanism. Without the opportunity to receive an adequate education, child laborers are confined to domestic settings and face constraints on their potential from early childhood. Girl child domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse.
The punishment for rape, under the Prevention of Oppression against Women and Children Act, is a maximum of life imprisonment with a fine. If the victim later dies, or the rape is committed by more than one man (i.e. gang rape), then the maximum penalty imposed is capital punishment. “If in consequence of rape or any act by him after rape, the woman or the child so raped, died later, the man shall be punished with death or with transportation for life and also with fine not exceeding one lac taka”- said in Section 9 (ii) of the Act. Even though there is a provision of capital punishment, incidents of crime have not been decreased drastically.
There are laws regulating labour in Bangladesh. However, the Labour Act of 2006 does not extend labour law protections to domestic workers. There has been a landmark directive (Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association v. The Cabinet Division, Bangladesh, Supreme Court, 2011) regarding child domestic help. The court directed among others to take immediate steps to prohibit the employment of children below the age of twelve with a view to ensuring childhood education; implement provisions of the National Elimination of Child Labour Policy 2010 that would increase protections for child domestic workers; include “domestic workers” under the protections provided by the Labour Act, 2006; maintain a register with details about children entered into service with a view to combating trafficking; mandate health check-ups for domestic laborers and ensure proper medical treatment and compensation by employers for all domestic workers.
Interestingly, Child Domestic Workers Convention 2012 also called for registration of child domestic workers. Save the Children in Bangladesh organised this convention and they made a number of recommendations. Apart from registration with local government bodies, the convention also called for stronger political will and a safety net dedicated to child domestic workers.
In absence of a protective mechanism and political will, issues related to education of child domestic help have often been neglected. Right to education is a constitutional right as it is enshrined in Article 17, "The state shall adopt effective measures for (i) establishing a uniform mass-oriented and universal system of education and extending free and compulsory education to all children to such stage as may be determined by law; (b) relating education to the needs of the society and producing properly trained and motivated citizens to serve these needs; (c) removing illiteracy within such time as may be determined by law". On the one hand, it is true that Bangladesh has made a commendable progress in achieving universal primary education. Child domestic workers, on the other hand have mostly been deprived of basic rights including the right to education.
To recapitulate, likelihood of suffering from inter-generational cycle of poverty increases for those children who are engaged as child domestic workers. Child domestic workers grow up in a situation whereby they are likely to find themselves in early marriage, and, like their parents before them, may then engage their own children into domestic service as one of the few avenues of providing for them. Will there be enough effort from all the stakeholders to reverse this trend?
The writer is a human rights worker.
