Bangladesh is home to more than five percent of world's working child population and according to the International Labour Organisation there are about 3.2 million child labourers. Working children are a visible part of everyday life in Bangladesh: young children serve tea at roadside stalls and weave between cars selling goods to motorists.
On average, the child labourer work 55.8 hours per week and earn 222 taka (USD $3.3) a week. The majority of child domestics tend to be 12 to 17 years old. However, children as young as 5 or 6 years old can also be found working and a survey of child domestic workers found that 38 percent were 11 to 13 years old and nearly 24 percent were 5 to 10 years old.
Many of the jobs that these children in Bangladesh perform are considered hazardous, and put their physical and mental development at risk. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern in 2009 that many Bangladeshi children continue to work in five of the worst forms of child labor, namely welding, waste-picking, auto workshops, road transport, battery recharging and tobacco factories.
When children are forced to work it deprives them of their childhood activities like playing and studying. Childhood is a part of a human life when children should be loved and pampered by their parents. They should not be toiling, making buildings, breaking stones at such an age. To raise awareness about child labour issues I took these photos while visiting Bangladesh in 2014.
