The economic crisis, caused by Covid-19 pandemic, will create a spike in the incidence of child labour cases in Bangladesh, a child rights organisation, Educo, warned on Friday.
Education and Development Foundation -Educo made its observation marking the World Day against Child Labour, according to a press release.
Educo expressed concern that the Covid-19 crisis could hamper the country’s plan to elimínate various forms of child labour within 2025, particularly child labour involving hazardous work, as part of Bangladesh’s commitment to attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"With the economic cost of this crisis, we fear that thousands of children will not be able to go back to school even when the situation returns to normal and schools are open again, because families will need this extra income to survive," said Abdul Hamid, country director of Educo for Bangladesh.
He said many families have suffered a significant financial loss due to pandemic.
With the easing of the lockdown, many vulnerable children have been desperate to return to work to bring food to the table despite the threat of contracting coronavirus.
Many have also started working in service industries, domestic work, and in small manufacturing.
“We are also extremely concerned with children who had not worked before but are now forced to earn for their families,” Mr Hamid said.
The organisation also said that children are very exposed to infection. In most cases, they are unable to comply with security measures like social distancing.
The organisation suggested bringing all children engaged in child labour and their family under social safety net programme.
It also stressed on the need for revising National Plan of Action on child labour and implements that accordingly.
According to the International Labour Organization, more than 150 million children are involved as child labour. Of the total, 73 million are engaged in dangerous jobs.
About 3.5 million children are engaged in child labour in Bangladesh, with about 2.8 million are involved in hazardous works.
arafat_ara@hotmail.com
