Caged Birds
Recent global estimates based on data of UNICEF, the ILO and the World Bank indicate that 168 million children aged 5 to 17 are engaged in child labour. The highest numbers of child laborers are in the Asia Pacific region, where Bangladesh has the one of the largest percentage of child labour in Asia. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there are around 7.4 million working children aged five-17. Children from the different portions of the country came from indigenous groups or lower castes are more likely to drop out of school to work. Child labour in Bangladesh is the combined product of many factors as poverty, social norms condoning, lack of decent work opportunities for adults and adolescents, migration, and emergencies. They are vulnerable to abuse of their labour rights as lack overtime pay, health insurance, paid lower wages. They have to work in an unkind, uncomfortable, and often physically hazardous environment for long hours as they do not know their human rights. Poor and unsafe working conditions adversely affect these children and they may suffer from poor physical, mental, and social development. At current rates, more than 100 million children will still be trapped in child labour by 2021.Despite a steady decline in child labour, progress is far too slow.
