Tempo Boy

Annexe
The Bengal Births and Deaths Registration Acts 1873 makes the registration of children at birth mandatory. It is not carried out.

The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act of 1933 was enacted to stop children being sold into slavery or bondage by regulating parental contracts binding the children to work.

Laws in Bangladesh establish 18 as the marriageable age for girls, but the Child Marriage Restraint Act is never enforced, and hundreds of thousands of girls are married off as young as 11 and 12 in the rural areas, and most by 17.

There is a complete lack of uniformity in legislation covering the minimum working age for children.

The Factories Act 1934 restricts factory employment for children under12. Between 12 and 15, children have to have a certificate of fitness from a surgeon and cannot work more than four hours a day between the hours of 6 am and 7 pm.

The Employment of Children Act 1938, and its Rules (1955) prohibit children under the age of 15 being employed in occupations connected with:

- transport of goods or passengers by railway,

- handling goods or mail in ports,

- no child below the age of 12 shall be employed in cigarette making, carpet weaving, cement manufacture, cloth printing, dying and weaving, manufacture of matches, explosives and fireworks, making soup, shellac, tanning and wool cleaning. The fine on the employer is from 500 to 1,000 taka.

 

There is no legislation to prevent the employment of children in the informal sector.

The Plantation Labour Ordinance (1962) forbids children under 12 to work in the tea plantations.

The East Pakistan Shop and Establishments Act 1965 prohibits the employment of any child under the age of 12 in shops or “establishments”. Children from 12 to 18 can only work between 7 am and 8 pm.

Under the Road Transport Workers Ordinance 1961 the minimum age for a driver is 21 years old and for other transport workers 18 years. Like so much of the legislation to protect children this is ignored in practice.

Under the Conditional Prohibition Act no child or adolescent shall work on dangerous machinery without training and permanent adult supervision.

Every non-adult worker in Bangladesh must carry a token giving reference to a certificate of fitness.

The Manager of any factory must keep a record of all child workers: their work, their fitness certificate etc. This does not happen.