VZCZCXRO0745
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHLH RUEHMA RUEHNEH
RUEHPW
DE RUEHKA #0149/01 0540953
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230953Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0039
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUCNCLC/CHILD LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 DHAKA 000149 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL/ILAB FOR: LEYLA STROTKAMP, RACHEL RIGBY AND TINA MCCARTER 
DRL/ILSCR FOR: SARAH MORGAN 
G/TIP: LUIS C de BACA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID BG
SUBJECT: BANGLADESH RESPONSE TO 2008 DOL REQUEST FOR TRADE AND 
DEVELOPMENT ACT (GSP) 2008 REPORT 
 
REF: A) 08 DHAKA 618, B) 08 DHAKA 745 C) 09 DHAKA 130, D) 09 
SECSTATE 131995, 
 
SUMMARY 
------ 
¶1. (U) This cable responds to Ref D request for additional 
information 
regarding exploitative child labor in Bangladesh under the Trade and 
Development Act of 2000 (TDA).  As there is no new information on 
the use of forced labor and/or exploitative child labor in the 
production of goods, Ref A and B respond to the request for 
information under the TVPRA.  Exploitative child labor was found in 
a number of industries but largely in the informal sector.  The 
Government of Bangladesh had two separate mechanisms for dealing 
with crimes against children:  one focused on combating labor law 
violations and the other on dealing with trafficking crimes.  While 
the GOB made efforts to strengthen the capacity of both mechanisms, 
a lack of resources severely hampered progress. 
 
QUESTIONS 
--------- 
 
¶2. (U) Responses are keyed to Ref D tasking cable. 
 
A) Prevalence and sectoral distribution of exploitative child labor 
 
In what sectors (not related to the production of goods) were 
children involved in exploitative child labor? 
 
RESPONSE:  Owing to the country's economic conditions, child labor 
persists in some formal and almost all informal sectors.  The 
country is one of less than 50 nations designed by the United 
Nations as a "least developed country" (LDC). Labor experts estimate 
that the informal sector employed approximately 70 percent of 
working children in urban areas, and another 20 percent of children 
were employed as domestic workers.  According to a 2006 study by the 
Bangladesh Institute of Labor studies, attacks on children 
constituted more than 50 percent of the deaths, injuries and sexual 
assaults reported among domestic workers during the year.  In rural 
areas, most working children were employed in the agriculture 
sector.  Child labor could be found in domestic work, street 
vending, begging, prostitution, portering, ship-breaking, 
shoe-shining, shops, restaurants and farming.  According to the 
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics' National Child Labor Survey (2003), 
nearly 14 percent of all children between the ages 5-14 were engaged 
in some form of employment.  According to the United Nations 
Childrens Fund (UNICEF), there are an estimated 7.4 million children 
working in Bangladesh, 1.3 million of whom are considered to be 
working in hazardous conditions (roughly 17 percent).  In almost all 
instances, children worked out of sheer economic necessity to 
support themselves and their families. 
 
Did the Government collect or publish data on exploitative child 
labor during the period?  If so, would the government provide the 
data set to DOL for further analysis? 
 
RESPONSE:  The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) did not collect or 
publish comprehensive data on exploitative child labor in 2009.  The 
Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) did collect information on 
trafficking cases, including trafficking of children.  The 2003 NCLS 
was the last comprehensive study of child labor in the country. 
There have been no updates since then. 
 
In 2006 the International Labor Organization (ILO) released the 
Baseline Survey for Determining Hazardous Child Labor Sectors in 
Bangladesh, jointly published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 
and the ILO.  The report identified 45 sectors along with an 
estimated number of child workers in each sector.  The seven sectors 
that employed the most children were: restaurant / tea stall; 
rickshaw/van puller; fishing / fish drying; carpentry; welding 
works; automobile workshop; rice/ spices milling.  The study 
estimated that a total of 539,403 children were employed in 
Bangladesh across the 45 listed sectors.  Most observers agreed that 
such studies only provided a small snapshot of the problem. 
 
B) Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child labor. 
 
 
What new laws or regulations were enacted in regard to exploitative 
child labor over the past year?  If applicable were the changes 
improvements in the legal and regulatory framework? 
 
RESPONSE:  No new laws or regulations were enacted in regard to 
exploitative child labor over the past year.  The government has 
formulated a National Child Labor Policy that has yet to be 
 
DHAKA 00000149  002 OF 010 
 
 
approved.  Child labor concerns were also part of the government's 
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).  See section E below for 
further details On the National Child Labor Policy and the PRSP. 
(NOTE:  Ref C contains a review of existing laws covering child 
labor.  END NOTE.) 
 
Based on the standards in paras 27 and 28, was the 
country/territory's legal and regulatory framework adequate for 
addressing exploitative child labor? 
 
RESPONSE:  Labor rights groups concurred that the country's legal 
and regulatory framework was mostly adequate for addressing 
exploitative child labor.  Bangladesh has not yet ratified ILO 
Convention 138 on Minimum Age, but was in line with Recommendation 
190, on worst forms of child labor.  Most observers agreed that lack 
of awareness and poverty were key enabling factors, as the latter 
forced millions of children to work for the survival of themselves 
and their families.  Weak enforcement as a result of resource 
constraints (including manpower shortages and poor compensation for 
civil servants) and a corrupt and inefficient judicial system were 
also to blame. 
 
C) Institutions and mechanisms for enforcement. 
 
Section I: Hazardous Child Labor 
 
What agency or agencies was/were responsible for the enforcement of 
laws relating to hazardous child labor/forced child labor? 
 
RESPONSE:  The GOB addresses the issue of hazardous child 
labor/forced child labor as a part of the broader issue of labor law 
violations.  Two labor law enforcement bodies exist within the 
Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE) for this purpose.  The 
Directorate of Labor did not typically use its enforcement 
capabilities.  The Chief Inspector of the Department of Factories 
and Establishments was the primary enforcer of labor laws and 
conducted random inspections in factories, shops and other 
establishments nationwide.  The inspections teams also visited tea 
estates.  Inspections cover four broad areas: health, hygiene, 
safety and general matters - including payment of wages, overtime, 
and child labor. In practice, child labor was not the main focus of 
labor inspections, and mostly because of resource constraints the 
MOLE did not focus on sectors where child labor was more of an 
issue.  The Inspector presents violations (including the illicit use 
of child labor) to the factory owner for remedy within 21 days.  The 
Inspector checks for compliance and issues a second letter if no 
remedy has been made.  The next step is legal action in the form of 
a complaint to a labor court.  A court enforcement action takes at 
least 4 to 5 months to implement and can take 2 to 3 years or 
longer.  The Chief Inspector reported that most violations were 
remedied with a verbal warning at the time of inspection.  However, 
in rare cases the GOB will impose fines of 5,000 taka (approximately 
$75) per violation.  Overall, the Chief Inspector claimed the law 
was sufficient, but noted his department did not have adequate 
resources to monitor and enforce labor laws for the entire country. 
 
Separately, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has taken a lead role in 
the creation of ad hoc institutions to improve labor standards more 
broadly.  For example, a tripartite entity for the ready-made 
garments (RMG) sector, the Social Compliance Forum (SCF), has 
existed since June 2005.  The SCF deals chiefly with occupational 
safety and labor welfare issues and includes a monitoring cell. 
Since its inception the SCF has focused primarily on awareness 
building and information gathering.  It also serves in an advisory 
capacity for new initiatives in the areas of occupational safety and 
labor welfare. 
 
The MOLE and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have also 
looked into the possibility of creating a monitoring cell to record 
child labor violations, as part of a larger unit on child labor. 
That project is still in its incipient stages.  The aim of the Child 
Labor Unit would be to plan, manage, coordinate, monitor and oversee 
the implementation of child labor programs across the country. 
Separately, the GOB has been in the process of creating a Children's 
Directorate under the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, 
which will be responsible for coordinating all activities related to 
children, functioning in a similar capacity to the Child Labor Unit 
in the MOLE. 
 
UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Social Welfare to design and 
institute a national monitoring system on child protection. 
 
While law enforcement officials did not address child labor issues 
per se, if a child was a victim of trafficking, the case fell under 
the purview of the police and was noted by the anti-trafficking 
 
DHAKA 00000149  003 OF 010 
 
 
monitoring cell at the Police Headquarters in Dhaka, which is part 
of the Home Ministry.  Depending on the case, the Rapid Action 
Battalion (RAB), an anti-crime paramilitary unit, also became 
involved in investigation and enforcement.  Sex trafficking and 
forced labor are among the crimes covered by the monitoring cell. 
The cell's main aim is to gather information on trafficking cases 
from local police stations (found in each of the country's 64 
districts), publish data on the extent of the problem, apprehend 
those involved in trafficking crimes, and track and assist local law 
enforcement authorities with the prosecution of human trafficking 
cases.  The Home Ministry also recently started a special 
"Trafficking in Human Beings" (THB) project as part of the Police 
Reform Program supported by the United Nations Development Program 
(UNDP), Britain's Department for International Development (DFID), 
the European Commission (EC) and the Government of Bangladesh.  The 
THB project includes an investigation unit looking into all forms of 
trafficking with 12 police officers who receive training on 
investigative techniques.  The Home Ministry is also working with 
the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to develop a 
special anti-trafficking course for students at the National Police 
Academy. 
 
If multiple agencies were responsible for enforcement, were there 
mechanisms for exchanging information?  Assess their effectiveness. 
 
RESPONSE: Enforcement of labor laws was the responsibility of the 
MOLE, whereas trafficking-related cases fell under the domain of the 
police, the anti-trafficking monitoring cell and the Ministry of 
Home Affairs.  Mechanisms for exchanging information between these 
institutions at the working level were largely ad hoc and informal, 
and coordination was sometimes weak, resulting in gaps in coverage. 
On trafficking issues, the two Ministries (MOLE and MOHA) met at a 
high level, during monthly inter-ministerial meetings chaired by the 
Home Secretary. 
 
Did the country/territory maintain a mechanism for making complaints 
about hazardous and forced child labor violations?  If so, how many 
complaints were received in the reporting period? 
 
RESPONSE:  Complaints regarding child labor are directed to the 
MOLE, namely the office of the Chief Inspector of the Department of 
Factories and Establishments.  According to the Chief Inspector and 
Deputy Chief Inspector, Engineering, the Department did not receive 
any complaints about hazardous or forced child labor violations in 
the past year. 
 
What amount of funding was provided to agencies responsible for 
inspections?  Was this amount adequate?  Did inspectors have 
sufficient office facilities, transportation, fuel and other 
necessities to carry out inspections? 
 
RESPONSE:  According to the Chief Inspector, the budget for the 
Inspectorate, which has a staff of 198 employees, was roughly 300 
million taka ($4.5 million).  Of the Inspectorate's 198 employees, 
155 are inspectors.  There were 87 job vacancies in the entire 
Inspectorate.  The Chief Inspector claimed that the agency was 
severely under-resourced and unable to properly carry out its 
functions despite the rapid growth in certain sectors like the 
ready-made garments industry.  For example, there was only one 
official vehicle available nationwide to the entire Inspectorate. 
 
How many inspectors did the government employ?  Was the number of 
inspectors adequate? 
 
RESPONSE:  The Inspectorate of the Department of Factories and 
Establishments is the primary entity responsible for enforcing all 
labor laws (including child labor laws).  It has 31 offices 
throughout the country, including a head office and four divisional 
offices, as well as regional and branch offices.  There are a total 
of 155 inspectors and 43 support staff involved in the inspections 
of factories, shops, and establishments, including tea estates. 
There are currently 87 unfilled positions in the Inspectorate, a 
number of which are for the position of inspector.  Inspectors of 
different ranks conduct a specific number of factory and shop 
inspections each month.  These inspectors also respond to crisis 
conditions as they come up.  According to the Deputy Chief 
Inspector, Engineering, in a given month, a senior inspector 
inspects at least five factories, whereas "first and second class 
officers" inspect approximately 15 factories per month.  A "third 
class" officer inspects roughly 100 shops and other establishments 
(banks, other offices, tea estates) per month.  This staff is 
responsible for investigating child labor as part of its broader 
responsibilities. 
 
How many inspections involving child labor were carried out?  If 
 
DHAKA 00000149  004 OF 010 
 
 
possible please provide breakdown of compliant driven versus random, 
government initiated inspections.  Were inspections carried out in 
sectors in which children work?  Was the number of inspections 
adequate? 
 
RESPONSE:  There were no inspections specifically for child labor; 
rather child labor was one consideration during general labor 
inspections.  According to the Deputy Chief Inspector, Engineering, 
between January 2009 and December 2009, the GOB conducted a total of 
51,337 inspections relating to violations of labor law across 
Bangladesh, up from 39,123 inspections the year before.  During 
these inspections, all aspects of applicable labor laws were 
reviewed, including laws dealing with child labor. 
 
According to the Ministry of Labor, approximately 770 cases were 
filed in 2009.  Based on a conversation with the Chief Inspector, in 
the month of December 2009, 91 cases were filed in labor courts, 
none of which related to child labor.  According to the Chief 
Inspector and others, very few of the cases filed related to child 
labor law violations.  Representatives from the international wing 
of the AFL-CIO, the American Center for International Labor 
Solidarity, also noted that few, if any, of the labor cases filed 
over the past several years were related to child labor.  Moreover, 
the Chief Inspector claimed that many sectors covered by the 
inspections regime, including garments and shrimp, were largely free 
of child labor. Observers agree that child labor was usually found 
in smaller ancillary industries rather than major ones like garments 
though doubted whether the government was capable of making such 
sweeping claims. 
 
How many children were removed/assisted as a result of inspections? 
Were these children actually provided or referred for services as a 
result? 
 
RESPONSE:  According to the Chief Inspector, no children were 
removed as a result of inspection and very few instances of child 
labor were discovered. 
 
How many child labor cases or prosecutions were opened? 
 
RESPONSE:  The Chief Inspector did not have data on this but there 
were over 770 cases filed in labor courts in 2009.  Both the GOB and 
NGOs concurred, however, that very few of the cases being heard in 
labor courts over the past several years involved child labor. 
 
How many child labor cases were closed or resolved? 
 
RESPONSE:  The Chief Inspector was unable to provide a precise 
figure.  Cases in the labor courts were generally resolved in two to 
three years time. 
 
How many violations were found or convictions reached? 
 
RESPONSE:  The Chief Inspector could not provide an accurate figure 
of this amount given that very few of the cases over the past 
several years related to child labor. 
 
 
What is the average length of time it took to resolve child labor 
cases? 
 
RESPONSE:  There was no breakdown for child labor cases specifically 
but in general, cases taken to the labor court can last anywhere 
from four to five months up to two or three years. 
 
In cases in which violations were found, were penalties actually 
applied, either through fines paid or jail sentences served?  Did 
such sentences meet penalties established in the law? 
 
RESPONSE:  There were no figures on the child labor cases in labor 
courts specifically.  However, penalties for general labor law 
violations ranged from fines to administrative punishments and 
sentences did meet those established in the law.  In the case of the 
shrimp industry, general labor compliance was a key prerequisite in 
the licensing and registration of factories.  Penalties for 
individuals involved in trafficking case ranged in severity and 
included life imprisonment. 
 
Did the experience regarding the above questions reflect a 
commitment to combat exploitative child labor? 
 
RESPONSE:  The GOB was committed to combating exploitative child 
labor but was constrained by inadequate resources. The current 
enforcement mechanisms (through the labor inspectors and police) 
were neither broad enough in scope nor well coordinated enough to 
 
DHAKA 00000149  005 OF 010 
 
 
deal with the complexity of the child labor issue. Given the limited 
scope of the MOLE's inspections regime, identification of and action 
against certain types of exploitative child labor, including forced 
child labor and trafficking, often fell to law enforcement 
agencies. 
 
Did government offer any training for investigators or others 
responsible for enforcement?  If so, what (if any) impact have these 
trainings had? 
 
RESPONSE:  The Ministry of Labor (MOL) reported that labor 
inspectors received general training on labor law, which includes 
child labor provisions.  At the ministry and policy level, officials 
receive additional training from the ILO.  Field staff receive 
additional training on child labor on an ad-hoc basis, provided by 
NGOs, the ILO, and during periodic courses at government training 
institutes. 
 
The German Technical Corporation (GTZ), through its PROGRESS 
project, has worked with the MOLE to offer foundation and refresher 
training courses for labor inspectors.  In 2009, the GTZ trained 
over 50 inspectors.  The training focused on all aspects of 
Bangladesh labor law but predominantly on occupational health and 
safety issues such as workplace hazards, measuring noise levels and 
air pollution, chemical handling and fire and electrical safety. 
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) sponsored a four-day 
training program on Child Labor and Education attended by high level 
officials of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, the 
Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and the Ministry of Labor 
and Employment. 
Section II: Forced Child Labor 
 
The answers to questions in this section are the same as that for 
the section on hazardous child labor.  For responses to questions in 
the context of forced child labor see above. 
 
D) Institutional mechanisms for effective enforcement 
 
Section I: Child trafficking 
 
Did the country/territory have agencies or personnel dedicated to 
enforcement of child trafficking/CSEC/use of children in illicit 
activities?  How many investigators/social workers/dedicated police 
officers did the government employ to conduct investigations?  If 
there were no dedicated agencies or personnel, provide an estimate 
of the number of people who were responsible for such 
investigations.  Was the number of investigators adequate? 
 
RESPONSE:  There was no single agency dedicated to the enforcement 
of child trafficking/CSEC/use of children in illicit activities. 
The main agency responsible for these violations is the Bangladesh 
police.  While law enforcement officials do not address child labor 
issues per se, if a child was a victim of trafficking, it fell under 
the purview of the police, RAB and the anti-trafficking monitoring 
cell at police headquarters in Dhaka.  The Home Ministry is also in 
charge of the THB investigation unit with 12 police officers who are 
given training on investigative techniques.  The number of 
investigators to tackle such crimes was not adequate. 
 
How much funding was provided to agencies responsible for 
investigating child trafficking/CSEC/use of children in illicit 
activities?  Was this amount adequate?  Did investigators have 
sufficient office facilities, transportation, fuel and other 
necessities to carry out investigations? 
 
RESPONSE:  The THB was one component of a $13.3 million Police 
Reform Program supported by the UNDP, DfID, EC and the Government of 
Bangladesh. 
 
Did the country/territory maintain a hotline or other mechanism for 
reporting child trafficking/CSEC/use of children in illicit 
activities violations?  If so, how many complaints were received in 
the reporting period? 
 
RESPONSE: There was no such hotline in Bangladesh apart from the 
regular mechanism used to make complaints to the police and the 
country's national monitoring cell at police headquarters in Dhaka. 
 
 
How many investigations were opened in regard to child 
trafficking/CSEC/use of children in illicit activities?  Was the 
number of investigations adequate? 
 
RESPONSE:  According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 65 cases were 
filed with respect to trafficking of women and children from 
 
DHAKA 00000149  006 OF 010 
 
 
February 2009-February 2010.  Authorities conducted a total of 26 
trafficking investigations.  Independent observers concur that the 
number of cases and investigations probably represented a fraction 
of the total instances of child trafficking/CSEC/use of children in 
illicit activities.  Civil society groups estimate that roughly 
10,000-20,000 women and children are victims of trafficking every 
year in Bangladesh.  A UNICEF study however, estimated that there 
are 4,000 women and children victims of trafficking every month. 
 
How many children were rescued as a result? 
 
RESPONSE:  According to the MOHA, 68 trafficking victims were 
rescued between February 2009-February 2010, 30 of whom were 
children. 
 
How many arrests were made or other kinds of prosecutions carried 
out? 
 
RESPONSE: According to the MOHA, authorities prosecuted 68 
trafficking cases, mostly involving women and children). 
 
How many cases were closed or resolved? 
 
RESPONSE:  According to the MOHA, the GOB closed 66 cases during 
this period, 28 of which were from 2008.  In another 21 cases, the 
police submitted a final report, which indicated that charges had 
not been proven. 
 
How many convictions? 
 
RESPONSE:  There were convictions in 19 cases. 
 
Did sentences imposed meet standards established in the legal 
framework? 
 
RESPONSE:  Yes, 24 individuals received life sentences and another 
eight received other penalties. 
 
Were sentences imposed actually served? 
 
RESPONSE:  Sentences imposed were generally served, however many 
cases did not reach the prosecution stage because of lack of 
evidence or because the trafficker often settled with the families 
of victims out of court. 
 
What is the average length of time it takes to resolve cases of 
child trafficking/CSEC/use of children in illicit activities? 
 
RESPONSE:  Of the cases that actually went to trial, most typically 
took between one to three years to resolve. 
 
Did the government offer any training for investigators or others 
responsible for enforcement of child trafficking/CSEC/use of 
children in illicit activities? If so, what was the impact (if any) 
of these trainings? 
 
RESPONSE:  There were several trafficking related training programs 
for government officials.  Most were sponsored by NGOs and 
international donors.  The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and 
Overseas Employment conducted a refresher course for nearly 20 labor 
attaches (working in overseas missions) and officials from the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  This course included a one-day session 
on trafficking, led by the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM).  Separately, IOM trained 325 government officials from law 
enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Social Welfare on victim 
care and support.  Lastly, the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers 
Association (BNWLA) also conducted training for members of different 
law enforcement agencies. 
 
If the country/territory experienced armed conflict during the 
reporting period or in the recent past involving the use of child 
soldiers, what actions were taken to penalize those responsible? 
Were these actions adequate or meaningful given the situation? 
 
RESPONSE:  Not applicable. 
 
Section II: Commercial Sexual exploitation of Children (CSEC) 
 
The answers to questions in this section are the same as that for 
the section on hazardous child trafficking.  For responses to 
questions in the context of CSEC see above. 
 
Section III: Use of Children in illicit activities 
 
The answers to questions in this section are the same as that for 
 
DHAKA 00000149  007 OF 010 
 
 
the section on hazardous child trafficking.  For responses to 
questions in the context of the use of children in illicit 
activities see above. 
 
E) GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON CHILD LABOR: 
 
Did the government have a policy or plan that specifically addresses 
exploitive child labor?  Please describe. (Please note that DOL will 
not consider anti-poverty, education or other general child welfare 
policies to be addressing exploitive child labor unless they have a 
child labor component.) 
 
RESPONSE:  A modification of a national child labor policy 
originally drafted in 2008 has been submitted to the Cabinet for 
approval.  It specifically seeks to eliminate the worst forms of 
child labor in multiple phases.  It also calls for more research 
into the subject and to set up bodies to coordinate activities in 
this area. 
 
The Third National Plan of Action for Children (2005-2010) includes 
child labor within broader objectives.  Administered by Bangladesh's 
Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, the plan identifies five 
areas of action: Food and Nutrition, Health, Education, Protection, 
and Physical Environment.  Child labor is addressed within the 
Protection area of action.  The national action plan employs a 
rights-based model and seeks to develop district-level child rights 
monitoring functions.  The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs 
seeks to coordinate with all relevant ministries and district 
committees to enhance awareness and generate actions in protection 
of child rights.  To implement this plan, the Ministry of Women and 
Children's Affairs is working with UNICEF on a (2006-2010) project 
entitled Capacity Building for Monitoring Child Rights. 
 
The GOB is also in partnership with the ILO on the Urban Informal 
Economy Project sponsored by the Government of Netherlands to 
contribute to the elimination and prevention of worst forms of child 
labor in the urban informal economy of Bangladesh.  This will be 
accomplished through protection, education and preparation for 
future employment, social and economic development and capacity 
building. 
 
As part of this, at the local government level, Dhaka City 
Corporation, has (since 2008) been in an agreement with the ILO to 
implement this program with several local NGOs. 
 
Did the country/territory incorporate exploitive child labor 
specifically as an issue to be addressed in poverty reduction, 
development, educational or other social policies, such as Poverty 
Reduction Strategy Papers, etc? Please describe. 
 
RESPONSE:  The Government of Bangladesh's 2005 National Strategy for 
Accelerated Poverty Reduction specifically articulates Child Rights 
as a priority and addresses child labor.  Child-related issues are 
also detailed elsewhere.  In October 2008, the country unveiled a 
second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for three years starting in 
FY '09 (FY'2009-2011).  Section 5.1.2 mentions development of 
children as one of the overarching strategies to address poverty. 
One of the government's stated goals is to protect child laborers 
and eliminate the worst forms of child labor.  Specifically it seeks 
to build greater awareness of the problem of child labor, create a 
child friendly code of conduct for employers, draft minimum wage and 
protective standards regulations and improve learning opportunities 
for working children.  The PRSP also notes that alternatives should 
be created for those children in danger of being trafficked. 
 
Did the government provide funding to the plans described above? 
Please describe the amount and whether it was sufficient to carry 
out the planned activities. 
 
RESPONSE: The government has committed some resources to the joint 
project with UNICEF entitled "Capacity building for monitoring 
children's rights." The PRSP will cost an estimated $51 billion to 
implement, of which roughly $38 billion is expected to come from the 
government though the government had not yet dedicated the funds to 
that endeavor. 
 
Did the government provide non-monetary support to child labor 
plans?  Please describe. 
 
RESPONSE:     Apart from dedicating human resources to the drafting 
of the national plan of action, elements of the PRSP and the joint 
UNICEF project, the GOB has not provided any non-monetary support. 
Provide any additional information about the status and 
effectiveness of the government's policies or plans during the 
reporting period in regard to exploitive child labor. 
 
DHAKA 00000149  008 OF 010 
 
 
 
RESPONSE:   The government's plans to combat exploitative child 
labor under the mechanism of dealing with labor issues (as opposed 
to the law enforcement apparatus) are still in the early stages. 
The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs largely plays a 
coordinating rather than an enforcement role in this regard. 
 
Did the government participate in any commissions or task forces 
regarding exploitive child labor?  Was the commission active and/or 
effective? 
 
RESPONSE:  The GOB did not participate in any commissions or task 
forces regarding exploitative child labor 
 
Did the government sign a bilateral, regional or international 
agreement to combat trafficking? 
 
RESPONSE:  The Government indicated a willingness to modify the 
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention 
on Trafficking.  Changes proposed by civil society would broaden the 
definition to include male victims of trafficking and trafficking 
for other exploitative purposes, including forced labor. 
 
F) SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE OR PREVENT CHILD LABOR: 
 
Did the government implement any programs specifically to address 
the worst forms of child labor?  Please describe. (Please note that 
DOL will not consider anti-poverty, education or other general child 
welfare programs to be addressing exploitive child labor unless 
they 
have a child labor component.) 
 
RESPONSE:  The GOB, under the MOLE, partially funded its own 
national program entitled Eradication of Hazardous Child Labor in 
Bangladesh.  NGOs implement this program, which covers 21 sectors, 
including rickshaw pulling, printing, domestic work, welding and 
fabrication, automotive repair, brick and stone breaking, machine 
shops, hotels and restaurants, cigarettes, match factories, 
tanneries, salt factories, daily labor, battery factories, dyeing 
operations, potters assistance, blacksmith's assistants, minibus 
assistance, construction, shrimp factories, and saw mills.  In its 
second phase, this program received 298 million taka (USD 4.2 
million) for three years. Given prior delays in implementation, the 
program stretched its funds to a fourth year of operations and 
expired in June 2009. The primary focus of the program was to 
provide non-formal education and skills training.  Over 30,000 
children working in 21 designated hazardous labor categories were 
trained in the last four years.  The program attempted to transition 
children out of hazardous labor conditions through the provision of 
additional skills.  The program included a micro-credit component 
that provided the children's families with alternative income 
generating opportunities.  As many as 20,000 families received loans 
ranging from 5 to 10 thousand taka (USD 75 to 150).  The program 
also had a public information dimension, including anti-child labor 
pamphlets.  NGOs are also developing other areas of mass media 
messaging.  At least one of the implementing NGOs involved in this 
project conducts parallel non-formal education activities focusing 
on child workers.  For example, ESDO (Eco-Social Development 
Organization), a local NGO, is conducting a non-formal education 
program for 35,185 children to eradicate hazardous child labor in 
northwest Bangladesh. 
 
The GOB also permits NGOs to remove children from the worst forms of 
child labor.  UNICEF's Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban 
Children (BEHTRUC) provides 351,000 urban working children in six 
divisional cities with two years of non-formal education, 
specifically targeting urban children aged 8-14 employed in 
hazardous working conditions. 
 
Did the country/territory incorporate child labor specifically as an 
issue to be addressed in poverty reduction, development, educational 
or other social programs, such as conditional cash transfer programs 
or eligibility for school meals, etc? Please describe. 
 
RESPONSE: Yes it did in the PRSP, please see discussion above. 
 
Did the government provide funding to the programs described above? 
Please describe amount and whether it was sufficient to carry out 
the planned activities. 
 
RESPONSE: The government provided partial funding to the MOLE 
project but has not yet dedicated funds to the PRSP. 
 
Did the government provide non-monetary support to child labor 
programs?  Please describe. 
 
DHAKA 00000149  009 OF 010 
 
 
 
RESPONSE: Apart from human resources, the government did not provide 
any non-monetary support. 
 
Provide any additional information about the status and 
effectiveness of the government's activities during the reporting 
period in relation to the programs described above.  If the programs 
involved government provision of social services to children at risk 
of or involved in exploitive child labor, please describe and assess 
the effectiveness of 
these services. 
 
RESPONSE: See above. 
 
The Eradication of Hazardous Child Labor project has been successful 
in achieving outcomes.  Bangladesh incorporates the issue of child 
labor into its  Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which is described 
above but is yet to develop these strategies into something more 
actionable.) 
 
If the government signed one or more bilateral, regional or 
international agreement/s to combat trafficking, what steps did it 
take to implement such agreement/s? Did the agreement/s result in 
tangible improvements?  If so, please describe. 
 
RESPONSE:  Please note the discussion above.  The government is 
considering putting forth a modification to the SAARC Convention on 
Trafficking. 
 
G) CONTINUAL PROGRESS: 
 
Considering the information provided to the questions above, please 
provide an assessment of whether, overall, the government made 
progress in regard to combating exploitive child labor during the 
reporting period.  In making this assessment, please indicate 
whether there has 
been an increase or decrease from previous years in 
inspections/investigations, prosecutions, and convictions; funding 
for child labor elimination policies and programs; and any other 
relevant indicators of government commitment. 
 
RESPONSE:  Child labor has been significantly reduced in the seafood 
(particularly shrimp) industry, to the extent that most independent 
analysts agree that the mainstream processing plants are "nearly 
child labor free."  NGOs still contend, however, that the child 
labor and forced labor exists in shrimp farming, through the use of 
third party contractors and family farms.  Regarding the RMG 
industry, worker advocacy groups agree that within Export Processing 
Zones (where many garments are produced), child labor is essentially 
absent.  Major garment producers are also essentially child labor 
free. However, the groups question the claim that all subcontracting 
and supply operations serving the garment industry have fully 
eliminated child labor.  For example, children may be involved with 
assisting their parents in performing garment piece work or in 
ancillary support roles such as serving tea and making deliveries. 
 
Based on GOB efforts, donor funded efforts, buyer requirements, and 
NGO programs to combat the worst forms of child labor, it appears 
that progress in addressing child labor is being made in Bangladesh. 
 However, in the absence of reliable or consistent annual surveys it 
is impossible to provide quantitative analysis to assess the impact 
of GOB and NGO efforts to combat the worst forms of child labor. 
 
COMMENT 
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¶3. (SBU) The continued existence of exploitative child labor in 
Bangladesh is a direct function of the country's low level of 
economic development.  The government's weak enforcement mechanism 
is only one such contributing factor.  The country's per capita GDP 
is $600 per year and 80% of its population lives on less than $2 a 
day.  Bangladesh's heavy reliance on subsistence agriculture and the 
high incidence of poverty contribute to child labor practices.  In 
many cases, the opportunity costs of sending a child to school 
instead of work are insurmountable without monetary incentives.  The 
size and scope of the informal economy, (especially in its linkages 
to the formal economy) combined with a low capacity for effective 
legal enforcement of child labor laws are factors that constrain 
regulatory approaches to the problem of child labor. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The GOB makes a clear distinction between child labor in 
general and its worst exploitative forms.  While the GOB 
acknowledges child labor is a consequence of Bangladesh's poverty, 
it focuses its limited resources on specific policy and program 
steps to ameliorate the worst forms of child labor, in particular 
 
DHAKA 00000149  010 OF 010 
 
 
child trafficking and exploitation.  The presence of two separate 
mechanisms to combat exploitative child labor is a big handicap, 
however.  On one hand, there is a well established though narrowly 
focused mechanism to deal with violations of labor law, namely the 
MOLE's inspection team. Most civil society groups agree that the 
inspections team is under-resourced and far too weak to effectively 
deal with the problem of child labor against the litany of other 
labor issues.  Separately, the police are narrowly focused on child 
trafficking from a law enforcement angle.  In the future, a 
specialized entity dedicated to this problem and offering better 
coordination between the different actors could make significant 
progress in Bangladesh.  Increasing involvement by U.S. retailers 
who source products directly from Bangladesh will also have a 
positive impact on continuing efforts to eliminate child labor. 
 
MORIARTY