Enhanced tech use a must to combat child marriage, child labour: Experts

Discussants stressed equalising the digital divide currently existing among the girl and boy children, causing girls' ability to access technologies and devices less than the boys

Experts have called for exploring technology as an effective yet under-utilised tool to tackle social injustices, such as child marriage and child labour, in the country as these two injustices are major threats that affect the lives of girl children in Bangladesh.

While Bangladesh has made commendable progress in advancing the rights and empowerment of girls in the past two decades, the scope for utilising communications technology to combat social injustices remains widely and largely unexplored, said experts at an advocacy dialogue.

On the occasion of International Day of the Girl Child 2021, Brac's Gender Justice and Diversity (GJD) programme organised the advocacy dialogue on "Role of Technology in Combatting Child Marriage and Child Labour" at the Brac Centre on Monday. 

In his speech as the chief guest, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the differential in attitude for a boy versus girl child needs to be changed first to eliminate child marriage and child labour from the society. Technology, projects or plans will not be fruitful if the mindset is not changed. 

"To prevent child marriage, we have designed a protocol called Bondhon.gov.bd where online marriage registration will be mandatory. No marriage will be registered without a verifiable document which will ultimately eliminate any chance for child marriage. We will launch it soon," the state minister added.

He suggested using artificial intelligence in workplaces to combat child marriage. ICT Division of the government and Brac can work jointly on the elimination of child marriage and child labour through the use of technology.

During the session, Brac Executive Director Asif Saleh discussed the importance of protecting girl children from child marriage and child labour using technology. 

He stressed equalising the digital divide currently existing among the girl and boy children, causing girls' ability to access technologies and devices less than the boys.

GJD Director Nobonita Chowdhury said even though the birth registration system in Bangladesh is being digitised, it is not yet mandatory to digitally verify birth registration when someone is being appointed for work or is registering their marriage. 

"Therefore, forged or fake documents can often bypass the entire system. As a result, we do not have any statistics that accurately reflect the real child marriage or child labour scenario. The entire process can be strengthened by fully digitising the civil registration system, including birth registration, marriage registration and employment," she added.

Mohammad Abdul Wahed, President (Dhaka District), Bangladesh Muslim Nikah (Marriage) Registrar Samity spoke about how digitalisation of the age verification process during the marriage registration process can help tackle child marriages better. 

Syeda Munira Sultana, National Specialist and Programme Coordinator at ILO Bangladesh spoke about the challenges of addressing child labour in Bangladesh and the scope of utilising technology to strengthen labour governance and inspection.  

In the panel discussion, Mohammad Tabarak Ullah, Additional Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Bangladesh Police at National Emergency Service, discussed how the helpline has been stopping child marriages during the pandemic after getting calls from witnesses and girls being married off.