Amid growing worries about child abuse in Bangladesh, official data from the government-run child support service 1098 showed 101 abuse-related calls received from January to June 10. Additionally, the emergency helpline 999 documented 33 complaints of workplace child abuse until May, as per local media reports on Monday.
A survey titled ‘Situation of Child Domestic Workers in Dhaka City’ by Dhaka-based Action for Social Development (ASD) highlighted that nearly half of children engaged in domestic work in the capital experience various forms of abuse. The report also revealed that 31.45% of these children face excessive workloads.
According to Laila Khandaker, the convener of child rights organization ‘Shishurai Sab,’ children working in hotels, restaurants, transportation, brick kilns, and informal sectors endure long daily working hours, physical abuse, humiliation, unhygienic conditions, low wages, and sometimes non-payment of wages.
Khandaker emphasized that the demand for child labor remains high due to the perception that children are vulnerable, easily controlled, and unlikely to resist abuse. She noted the lack of monitoring in institutional settings and highlighted that children in the informal sector are particularly vulnerable to workplace abuse with limited recourse for justice.
Zakia Sultana, president of the Domestic Workers National Forum Bangladesh, shared her personal experience of starting work as a domestic worker at the age of eight and enduring various forms of abuse. She lamented that despite media coverage and discussions on abuse incidents, child domestic workers, including those as young as eight, continue to face mistreatment in households.
Recent reports indicated a significant increase in child labor across Bangladesh in the past six years, with an additional 1.2 million children joining the workforce since 2019. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025 revealed that 9.2% of children aged 5 to 17 are currently engaged in child labor, marking an increase from 6.8% in 2019.
Despite Bangladesh’s efforts to eradicate child labor, economic challenges are pushing more children out of schools and into the workforce. This rise in child labor coincided with the World Day Against Child Labor observed on June 12, underscoring the persistent issue of children being compelled to work due to financial constraints.
