The predicament of our workers may in many cases be so dire that the HCD in BNWLA v Bangladesh,10 has compared domestic works to slavery and observed: It [domestic works] is somewhat akin to the situation in the dark days of slavery when black Africans were rounded up from their homes, packed like sardines into ships and carried to far away America where they toiled in the houses of the white Americans. The slave trade has been long abolished. Sadly, we are far behind times and still engage in practices that are not far less than slavery.11 Of course, there are significant differences between slavery and domestic works by children. First and foremost is that while slavery was legal, treating domestic works inhumanly is without doubt illegal. That said, if the working and living conditions of child domestic workers, their aloofness from their families, and their overall haplessness are considered, it would be difficult to demarcate a clear line between their predicaments and those of the slaves of the past when slavery was considered a legally acceptable practice. Sometimes in order to escape the persistent abuse and torture, many child domestic workers try to escape the household of their employers. But these desperate children then instead of reaching their homes, may haplessly die due to accidents or fall victims of traffickers or other criminal gangs who use them as their tools. Sometimes in the name of employing children, they are taken away from their homes in rural areas to cities and get trafficked or forced to engage in begging, prostitution or other immoral or illegal activities.12 In fact, the deplorable situation of the child domestic workers in Bangladesh implies an abject failure of the policy instruments adopted by the Government designed for the protection of children. 10 Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA), Represented by Its Vice-President, Fahima Nasrin v The Cabinet Division, Represented by Cabinet Secretary, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka and Others (2012) 17 MLR (HCD) 121 [BNWLA v Bangladesh]. 11 12 Ibid, at para 36. UNICEF, Child Sexual Abuse, Exploitation and Trafficking in Bangladesh, <http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_Abuse_Exploitation_and_Trafficking.pdf> at 28 May 2014. 5