Govt-NGOs coordination stressed for elimination of child labour 

Coordination between government and non-government organisations is essential to achieve the sustainable development goal of eliminating child labour.

According to the Unicef, almost one in ten of all children worldwide are engaged in child labuor. The target 8.7 of the sustainable development goals urges to end child labour in all its forms by 2025, said speakers at a virtual discussion.

The discussion, titled "Eradicating Child Labor: Acting on the Lessons Learned", was jointly organised by EMK Centre and Rajshahi University Model UN Association on Thursday, says a press release.

The discussion, moderated by EMK Centre Acting Director Asif Uddin Ahmed, was attended by, among others, Labour and Employment Ministry's Deputy Secretary Mahbuba Bilkis and child protection specialist Laila Khondkar.

"We can identify two types of child labour generally, bonded labour which is more like modern day slavery and hazardous labour, when children work at places that are severely harmful for their health and put them at higher risk," said Laila Khondkar. 

She claimed it is often difficult to get the real picture of child labour in Bangladesh as most of the victims of child labour are involved in the informal sector. "While designing initiative to eliminate child labour we should keep the best interest of children in mind," she added. 

"Bangladesh is a signatory of ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 and the relevant ministries are doing ground works to be a part of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973," said Mahbuba Bilkis, deputy secretary to the labour ministry.

"As a signatory of ILO convention 182 which covers worst forms of child labour, Bangladesh has been campaigning at local levels to keep our children safe from hazardous work condition," she added.

Asif Uddin Ahmed, the Acting Director of EMK Centre concluded the session urging the youth and activists to come up with innovative ideas to eliminate child labour and reiterated the commitment of EMK Centre to support innovative and sustainable solution to the problem.