International Legal Regime on Regulation of Domestic Works by Children and
Bangladesh
As a member of the international community and a subject of the international
legal regime, Bangladesh has signed a number of international legal instruments relating
to the protection of children. Some of these instruments contain provision/s which either
directly or indirectly deals with the rights of child domestic workers. Bangladesh is a
signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 198913 since 26th January 1990
which it ratified on 3rd August 1990.14 Article 27 is of particular importance as it states
that ‘States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for
the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development’ as well as Article 28
that connotes the right of a child to education. Article 32 also addresses the fact that
‘States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation
and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the
child's education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual,
moral or social development.’ Article 37(a) is integral to the plight of Bangladeshi child
domestic workers since it states that ‘No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’.
The Government of Bangladesh also signed and ratified the International Labour
Organization (ILO) Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in 2001.15
Bangladesh has ratified some of ILO’s fundamental Conventions including the Forced
Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957
(No. 105), the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937 (No. 59) and the
13
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 opened for signature 20th November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3
(entered into force 2nd September 1990).
14
United Nations Treaty Collection, Convention on the Rights of the Child: Status as at 22-05-2014
<http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en#EndDec>, at 22nd
May 2014.
15
International Labour Organization, Bangladesh Decent Work Country Programme, Asian Decent Work
Decade,
2006-2015
<http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-
dhaka/documents/publication/wcms_106634.pdf> at 22nd May 2014, at 4 [Decent Work Country
Programme].
6