DHAKA: The government will go for amending the country’s existing labour law soon for ensuring rights of the working boys and girls, as the existing one is being deemed outdated.

“As the existing Labour Act-2006 is not fit for the time, it will be amended in next parliamentary sessions,” said Labour Minister Engineer Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain to reporters after a seminar Saturday.

Also, the government formulated the National Child Labour Elimination Policy, the minister told a function at the BIAM auditorium.

The ministry concerned, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Children`s Fund or UNICEF jointly organised the seminar on ‘National policy and Next Step for Child-Labour Elimination’ in observance of the World Day Against Child Labour.

“All children are compelled to take education till Class 8 according to the policy that will reduce child labour,” he added. Besides, it is also relevant to the section-138 of the ILO convention.

The Minster also claimed the objective of the proposed new budget is to eliminate poverty from the country and it will ultimately help curb child labour.

Director-in-Charge of ILO-Dhaka Gagan Rajbhandari urged the government to prepare a list of jobs that are risky for the children. The list will act as legal base during recruitment process, he said in his suggestion.

The seminar was told that a total of 21.50 crore children are engaged in different jobs worldwide, and more than 11.50 crore are in risky jobs.

The World Day Against Child Labour was observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe Saturday with an urge for tackling underlying poverty that breeds child labour, a problem Bangladesh finds hard to resolve.

Coinciding with the opening of the football world cup, the ILO-selected theme for this year “Go for the goal-end child labour” put the spotlight on the need for urgent national and international steps in eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) observes the day on June 12 since 2002 spearheading campaigns to ensure children’s rights.

A number of local and international organizations working in the country took up various programmes, including rally and cultural function, in observance of the day.

BDST: 03: 11 Hrs, June 12, 2010.
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