child labour

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Sun 29 Jun 2008

Scalding Wake-up Call

Posted by hana under child labour , torture
[2] Comments 

Ratna Housemaid Tortured

At one point her employer poured hot oil down the front of her pyjamas. Wahida tried to stifle her screams by putting cotton in her mouth. From time to time she would hit her in different parts of her body with a rolling pin. One day Wahida scalded her on her cheek, which left a deep scar. “When he [Rafiqul Alam] asked about it, mami [Wahida Akhter] said, ‘Why do you care about the bandi of the house, do you want to marry her?’ and he never asked about me again.”

Not satisfied with her torture methods, Wahida moved on to more ’sophisticated’ techniques. A couple of months ago, Wahida took a pair of pliers, put it to Ratna’s breasts and tore off one of her nipples. She bled for days but was never taken to the hospital. With no other body part left unscathed, Wahida once put a hot cooking spoon on Ratna’s tongue when she didn’t do her work ‘properly’. [Read Full Report]

 

Fri 16 May 2008

Increasing child labour - a photo essay

Posted by pagol nari under child labour
[5] Comments 

Almost every month I go to wholesale fish market one or two times in a month that is situated Merul Badda. This wholesale fish market is 10 minutes walking distance from my residence. There are several reasons why I go to buy fish from this market. I can buy fresh fish in cheap prices than the retail kitchen market and I can not go to kitchen market everyday or every week. It also helps me to walk early in the morning. So I like to buy fish from this market.
Two years ago I saw few children used to come to this market. Some of them used to collect wasted fish or small fish that are fallen from the shop or dish. And that’s why they are called “Mas Chur” (thief of fish). Some of them used to help whole seller or retail fish businessmen and earned some money. But recently I am observing that more children are coming to work in this market and day by day their number is increasing.
One wholesale fish businessman informed that they number will be more than 100 hundred and rapidly their number is increasing.
I had also asked him why this number is increasing rapidly and he replied that you know that the living cost of Dhaka increasing rapidly day by day and recent high prices of food items make poor people more vulnerable. So every member of a poor family is trying hard to earn some money.

These children come to this market at about 5.00 am (one hour ago before sunrise) because business starts from 5.30 am to 8.00 am in the morning. During these periods they remain so busy that they have no scope to talk with me. One boy named Khokon about seven years informed that he comes before sunrise in this market. He helps wholesaler and retailer who come to buy fish. Retailer gives him 2 to 5 taka for bearing one basket fish (10 to 20 kg fish). He bears from wholesale shop to retailer spot that is out side of wholesale market near roadside and receive money. Thus he can earn 30 to 60 taka per day. He returns home at about 9.00 am in the morning. He went to school two years in a NGO school but at present he does not go to any school. He has been coming in this market for about last six months.

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