3. Child labor is work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work. Such work is considered harmful to the child and should therefore be eliminated.  Ages 5-11: At least one hour of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per week.  Ages 12-14: At least 14 hours of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per week.  Ages 15-17: At least 43 hours of economic or domestic work per week. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labourwww.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour Survey, 2002-2003

4.  Social norms and economic realities mean that child labor is widely accepted and very common in Bangladesh.  Among children aged 5-14, about five million, are economically active.  According to the International Labor Organization definition, there are about 3.2 million child laborers' in Bangladesh. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labourwww.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour Survey, 2002-2003

5.  Child labor is a visible part of everyday life in Bangladesh: young children serve at roadside tea stalls, and weave between cars selling goods to motorists.  On average, children work 28 hours a week and earn 222 taka (3.3 USD) a week.  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, auto workshops, road transport, battery recharging and tobacco factories. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labourwww.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour Survey, 2002-2003

6.  Bangladesh enacted the Labor Act in 2006, which includes a chapter on child labor.  The Ministry of Labor and Employment has recently adopted a National Child Labor Elimination Policy 2010, which provides a framework to eradicate all forms of child labor by 2015.

7.  According to the new National Education Policy, education is free and compulsory up to grade eight, however it is estimated that more than one million children have never been to school.  About half of all child laborers' do not attend school at all, and among child domestic workers only 11 per cent attend school.  As a result, working children get stuck in low paying, low- skilled jobs, thereby perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labourwww.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour ILO, Baseline Survey on Child Domestic Labour in Bangladesh, 2006

8. Age group BangladeshUrbanRural Both sexesMaleFemale Both sexesMaleFemale Both sexesMaleFemale 2002-03 NCLS Total100 Can read and write a letter (Literate)52.155.948.163.366.959.548.652.544.5 Can notread and write a letter (illiterate)47.944.151.936.733.140.551.447.555.5 2001 Pop. Census42.546.438.357.361.85237.941.334.4

9.  One-quarter of all working children reported that they had been physically punished at their workplaces, according to a 2008 children's opinion pol.  These children participate in jobs that have been identified by the ILO to expose children to hazards including: physical, psychological or sexual abuse; excessive work hours; an unhealthy environment.  3,400 children work in brick/ stone breaking for the construction industry. Other child workers in hazardous jobs include 123,000 children working as rickshaw pullers, 153,000 children working in restaurants or tea stalls, and 56,000 working in carpentry. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labourwww.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour ILO and BBS, Baseline Survey for Determining Hazardous Child Labor Sectors in Bangladesh, 2005.

11.  Working children often live away from their families in situations where they are exposed to violence, abuse and economic exploitation.  A rapid assessment of commercially sexually exploited children showed that half worked in other sectors before being lured into sex work.  The majority are depressed and three-quarters of the child sex workers were ill in the three months before the rapid assessment survey, many with sexually transmitted diseases. Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labourwww.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour UNICEF Bangladesh and INCIDIN, Rapid Assessment: Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Bangladesh, 2008

13.  www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour  www.ilo.org ( International labour Organization) www.ilo.org