The Forbidden Terrain of the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A critical look at the implications of legal tools and definitions used by national surveys in Bangladesh Masud Ali The Forbidden Terrain of the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A critical look at the implications of legal tools and definitions used by national surveys in Bangladesh | Masud Ali The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNICEF. Any part of this publication may be freely reproduced if accompanied by the following citation: Ali (2021). The Forbidden Terrain of the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A critical look at the implications of legal tools and definitions used by national surveys in Bangladesh. Compendium Paper. UNICEF Innocenti, Florence, Italy. Correspondence should be addressed to: [email protected]. Cover image: UNICEF/UNI123128/Khan © 2021 The Forbidden Terrain of the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A critical look at the implications of legal tools and definitions used by national surveys in Bangladesh | Masud Ali Abstract Over the 10-year period, the number of This paper demonstrates the challenges of children engaged in hazardous labour in defining the worst forms of child labour Bangladesh decreased by just 0.01 million, (WFCL) in legal instruments in Bangladesh – from 1.29 million to 1.28 million. in particular, the consequences of The surveys examined data relating to compartmentalizing WFCL and hazardous ‘working children’, ‘child labour’ and child labour in policy, legal and institutional ‘hazardous child labour’. They made no responses. The paper presents an overview reference to the term ‘worst forms of child on the spectrum of WFCL, as reflected in the labour’ (WFCL). existing knowledge base, and identifies the barriers in relation to the formal recognition This paper takes a fresh look at the available of some sectors under the category of WFCL. data around child labour in Bangladesh and It shows how the definitional limitations and attempts to explain how existing definitions institutional boundaries work as barriers in affect our understanding of the prevalence of defining the scope of survey and research, WFCL. It also examines how the concepts are which results in some of the critical sectors reinforced in governance through policy and and manifestations of WFCL being excluded legal instruments. The paper has three broad from scrutiny. The paper further questions the objectives: appropriateness of placing the issue of WFCL • to present and analyse the existing data within the scope of labour governance rather (as presented in national surveys) on than child rights governance. It goes on to hidden child labour and WFCL; argue in favour of a policy and legal regime • to analyse the limitations of policy and that considers WFCL both as an area for legal definitions in setting the scope and knowledge building and improved parameters of planning and knowledge governance. building processes around WFCL; and • to introduce an alternative conceptual 1. Introduction framework to increase understanding of The last two National Child Labour Surveys in WFCL and enable a more consistent and Bangladesh show significant improvements robust approach to addressing it. in the child labour situation in the country – notably the decline in the absolute numbers 2. The prevalence and characteristics of WFCL of ‘working children’ and ‘child labour’. The in Bangladesh definitions of these terms are discussed This section summarizes the data presented further below. in the last National Child Labour Survey of However, it is also important to note an area Bangladesh, carried out in 2013 (BBS, 2015), that saw little progress between these two and the previous survey, from 2002/03 (BBS, surveys: the area of ‘hazardous child labour’. 2003), to provide an indication of the 1 The Forbidden Terrain of the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A critical look at the implications of legal tools and definitions used by national surveys in Bangladesh | Masud Ali prevalence of hazardous child labour in rural 6–11-year-olds engaged in hazardous and urban settings. It looks at what the data labour. show about the demographic composition of • Of all children engaged in hazardous the children engaged in hazardous labour and labour, 18.2 per cent work in agriculture. reveals the main determinants of the hidden However, these findings are determined by and WFCL. the way the survey is compiled and the data Comparison of the two consecutive surveys are categorized. reveals that the total number of children recorded as being engaged in hazardous child The survey includes 38 sectors/tasks that are labour decreased marginally. listed by the government as ‘hazardous for children’. Any child working in these Table 1: Distribution of children in hazardous work 2002–2003 and 2013 sectors/tasks is considered to be engaging in 2002–2003 2013 hazardous child labour. In addition, it uses a Male Female Total Male Female Total series of additional criteria to identify harmful Children in hazardous 1,172 120 1,291 772 508 1,280 child labour in non-hazardous sectors: work (’000) • Where any child aged 5–17 is working Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), National Child Labour Survey 2002–2003, BBS, Dhaka, more than 42 hours a week, it is 2003; BBS, National Child Labour Survey 2013, BBS, Dhaka, 2015. considered ‘hazardous child labour’. While the number of boys employed in • Where any child up to the age of 11 is hazardous work decreased by 34 per cent working, it is considered ‘child labour’. over the decade, the number of girls • Where any child aged 12–17 is working increased by over a factor of four. up to 42 hours a week in non-hazardous activities, it is considered ‘child work’, i.e. The survey does not directly reveal the permissible work. sectors in which the employment of children in hazardous activities has increased (BBS, The findings of the 2013 survey (BBS, 2015) 2015). However, it does show the settings reveal: where hazardous child labour is most • Of the 1.28 million children engaged in commonly found. hazardous child labour, only 0.26 million • About 0.5 million children were recorded work in the listed hazardous sectors. as being engaged in hazardous labour in • As many as 1.1 million children work offices, workshops, factories and shops. more than 42 hours each week. This This amounts to 42.8 per cent of the total accounts for 64.9 per cent of the total number of children engaged in number of children engaged in child hazardous labour. labour (1.7 million). • In the 12–13 age group, 70.3 per cent of • Of those engaged in hazardous child children engaged in hazardous labour labour: work in this sector, as do 46.2 per cent of 2 The Forbidden Terrain of the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A critical look at the implications of legal tools and definitions used by national surveys in Bangladesh | Masud Ali o 1.21 million are aged 14–17; 38,766 among the girls. The rates of exposure to are aged 12–13; and 32,808 are aged dust, fumes, noise and vibration across 6–11. all working children are highest in city o 88.7 per cent of those in the 14–17 age corporation areas (31.8 per cent). group work for at least 42 hours each • 7.9 per cent of male working children are week. The corresponding percentage required to use dangerous tools, is 31.7 per cent in the 12–13 age compared with 9.7 of female working group and 4.2 per cent in the 6–11 age children. Again, this is substantially group. higher across all working children in city o 77 per cent of those in city corporation areas (23.1 per cent) than corporation areas work for more than rural (6.1 per cent) and other urban areas 42 hours each week, compared with (8.7 per cent). 64.1 per cent in rural areas and 57.7 The fact that only a small proportion of those per cent in other urban areas. This involved in hazardous child labour are indicates greater vulnerability of engaged in registered hazardous sectors is a children to hazardous work in the city major limitation of current policy and child corporation areas. protection law. Effectively, over a million o The overwhelming majority are children identified in the National Child employed full time. Labour Survey are invisible to the formal Male and female working children are authorities. exposed to different hazards: This is not a problem unique to Bangladesh. • 0.63 million male working children work According to the International Labour for more than 42 hours each week, as do Organization (ILO), hazardous child labour is 0.47 million female working children. often hidden (ILO, 2018). The following table • 17.9 per cent of male working children includes common examples of child labour are exposed to dust, fumes, noise and that is often hidden behind closed doors, vibration, compared with 15.1 per cent unseen or ignored. Table 2: Visible and hidden forms of child labour Spread Visible child labour Hidden child labour Concentrated Work in street-based workshops; street Agricultural work in plantations; factory vending; tourist aides/souvenir selling; work; cleaning; scavenging (at night or from restaurant serving; construction; street-based the dump); offshore fishing (platforms and car washing/watching ships); work in tanneries; work in cemeteries; dishwashing in restaurants Dispersed Family agricultural work; livestock herding; Domestic work; artisanal mining; brick kiln lake/river fishing; water and wood gathering; work; home-based production; household work of porter/carrying grocery bags; chores in own home that are hazardous or recycling and rag-picking performed for long hours 3 The Forbidden Terrain of the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A critical look at the implications of legal tools and definitions used by national surveys in Bangladesh | Masud Ali As such, there is a clear challenge in nor sexual abuse was recorded at significant identifying, measuring and addressing levels, although the survey notes that hazardous child labour, as any studies are physical abuse takes place on different scales influenced by the extent to which these at different ages.