Different forms of violence and abuses of child domestic workers continue unabated in the country for what child rights stakeholders say are lack of proper monitoring and supervision, and a proper legal framework to protect them.
They also urged the government to take prompt action to eliminate such abuses and also underscored the need for including child domestic work (CDW) in the list of hazardous works for children.
They made the call at a dialogue styled Rights and Protection of Children Engaged in Domestic Work: Government's Action, organised by Action for Social Development (ASD), held at the Daily Start centre in the capital on Wednesday.
Md. Bellal Hossain Seikh, Director (Chowdhury) Administration, Accounting and General, Department of Labour, spoke at the dialogue as the chief guest while ASD executive director MA Karim chaired it.
Shawni Imam, the coordinator of the advocacy and campaign for the development of children at high-risk projects of ASD, presented a paper on the current state of child domestic workers in the country.
Speaking at the event, Md. Bellal Hossain Seikh said to eliminate child labour in the informal sector, employers, children, government and private organisations must work in a collective manner.
The government, non-government organisations (NGOs), employers and guardians of the child domestic workers all have to work through mutual coordination and collaboration to end the abuses of child domestic workers, he pointed out.
Besides, all the relevant ministries and the Directorate of Social Services need to work together, Seikh added.
While presenting the paper, Shawni said the CDW is generally understood to be children's work at the home of a third party or an employer regardless of whether it is permissible or not.
In most cases, various brutal acts go unreported and the perpetrators go unpunished, due in part to the absence of legal instruments and monitoring by authorities, she added.
During the period between 2013 and September 2018, some 25 domestic child workers were killed, 45 were mysteriously killed or committed suicide and 29 others were raped, according to the data available from Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF).
It also showed that some 82 incidents of physical abuse and torture took place during the period.
Incidents of suicide by child domestic workers were much higher in the last four years from 2015 to 2018. Perhaps children were killed and then those incidents were labelled as a suicide, the data revealed.
According to a study conducted by the BSAF in 2010, 78 per cent of child domestic workers were female in Dhaka.
Representatives from different non-government development organisations also shared their views and sought the government's action to end physical, verbal and mental abuses of the CDWs.
