Experts on Tuesday stressed the need for enacting a Domestic Workers Protection Act shedding light on the actual conditions faced by child domestic workers in Dhaka.
The immediate past government framed policies, but these measures failed to adequately protect children engaged as domestic workers, they said during the launching of a research report at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital.
According to the findings, nearly 50 per cent of children, employed in domestic work in the capital, are subjected to various forms of abuse.
Of these, 18.47 per cent suffered physical injuries, 8.23 per cent were beaten, 20.74 per cent were verbally abused and 1.7 per cent experienced sexual abuse. Additionally, 31.45 per cent of child domestic workers are overworked, the report revealed.
Department of Labour director general Tariqul Alam, National Human Rights Commission deputy director and Child Rights Committee Secretary Rabiul Islam, Directorate of Inspection of Factories and Establishments assistant inspector general Dr Biswajit Roy and Ministry of Women and Children Affairs assistant secretary Salma Akhter, among others, spoke at the event with Action for Social Development executive committee president Dr Altaf Hossain in the chair.
