OPEN LETTER TO MALALA YOUSUF ZAI

MALALA! I AM ALSO ON YOUR WAY .I DREAMED SUCH A WORLD WHERE NOONE IS ILLITERATE.I HAVE STARTED WORKING  FOR THE CHILDREN OF BANGLADESHI SLUM.I HOPE YOU WILL HELP ME.THANK YOU MALALA.GO AHEAD.YOU ARE REALLY GREAT.
THANK YOU.

CHILD LABOUR IN BANGLADESH

hild labour

© UNICEF Bangladesh/2008/Naser Siddique

Rasel goes to a UNICEF school in the morning and chips bricks for four hours in the afternoons, Dhaka division.

Poverty causes families to send children to work, often in hazardous and low-wage jobs, such as brick-chipping, construction and waste-picking. Children are paid less than adults, with many working up to twelve hours a day. Full-time work frequently prevents children from attending school, contributing to drop-out rates.
RegulationAccording to the Labour Law of Bangladesh 2006, the minimum legal age for employment is 14. However, as 93 per cent of child labourers work in the informal sector – in small factories and workshops, on the street, in home-based businesses and domestic employment – the enforcement of labour laws is virtually impossible. 
Dangers and risks
Long hours, low or no wages, poor food, isolation and hazards in the working environment can severely affect children’s physical and mental health. Child labourers are also vulnerable to other abuses such as racial discrimination, mistreatment and sexual abuse. Some work, such as domestic labour, is commonly regarded as an acceptable employment option for children, even though it too poses considerable risks.
Camel jockeys and trafficking
Although trafficking is usually an issue for older children, small boys from Bangladesh have been trafficked to the Middle East to work as camel racing jockeys. These children are often deliberately starved to prevent weight gain and can be subject to sexual and physical abuse. In 2005 the United Arab Emirates banned children (under 18) from working as camel jockeys.
Read how UNICEF is helping educate working children and repatriate children trafficked to the UAE.

UNICEF BD.
 

I AM FELLING SO HAPPY TODAY

From many days I started searching such kind of school,where authority teach student for the free of coast and at last ,To day I have got an information about UCEP school in Bangladesh.I will admit my friend into this school!he is a child laboure worked in a shop.his story I have included in my blog in STORY OF CHILD LABOUR page.I INDICATED IT AS "HASAN'S STORY". I dreamed,HASAN will be an engineer!I am also going to start a slum school in our locality.I hope ,I can do it!

THANKS TO ALL     

14 year old Malala Yousafzai, one of the 2011 nominees for the International Children’s Peace Prize, was severely injured in her hometown in the Swat Valley, Pakistan.

Malala was attacked along with 2 other girls on their way back from school. She was shot in the head and the neck, but successfully operated on in the hospital. The attack has already been claimed by the Taliban.

In 2011, Malala became one of the nominees for the International Children’s Peace Prize for her brave efforts to defend the basic rights of children in Pakistan, namely the right of girls to education. Malala is one of the few who stood up against the Talibanisation. She raised her voice for girls education, something the Taliban in her country tried to get banned. This makes her extremely brave but also vulnerable.

KidsRights strongly resents this attack against Malala. The rights of children should be respected everywhere in the world and children who actively promote them, should be honoured and listened to. Malala did not win the International Children’s Peace Prize 2011, but was awarded the National Peace Award by the Pakistan government that same year.

KidsRights regrets that children who fight for their rights are attacked for raising their voices. We hope that the attack on Malala will not discourage other children to stand up for their rights.

KidsRights wishes Malala strength and health in the coming days and weeks.

information source:

nominees of international children's peace prize

Nominees 2012

The inspiring stories of the nominees
The three nominees have all made an impressive difference in their environment, at a very young age, each in their own way:

Amina from Ghana thinks education is necessary to live a peaceful life. At a young age, she risked being taken out of school to be forced into marriage. Her teachers managed to prevent this in collaboration with the local authorities. Since then, Amina has become the co-founder and representative of the “Achievers Book Club”, an organisation that defends the rights of children in general and strives for education for girls in particular. She petitions the relevant authorities asking for constitutional changes, joins forces with other NGOs and organises forums about education for girls aimed at opinion leaders from various communities. Despite her young age, Amina has already made many people in Ghana aware of girls’ right to education.Anwara is from the West Bengal region in India, an area notorious for the trafficking of girls. After her father passed away Anwara was given to a local human trafficker by her family in exchange for some money and a share of her monthly salary. She was only nine years old. She was forced into domestic labour, but her family never received any of the promised money. In 2008 Anwara was freed by a local NGO. From then on she has been fighting the trafficking of girls and early marriage. Thanks to her 200 children who had left school picked up their education where they had left off. Anwara has managed to help prevent several cases of girl trafficking in her surroundings and she has reunited many girls with their families. Moreover, she has helped prevent a number of early marriages by pressuring the local authorities.
Kesz is a boy from the Philippines who was abused by his family and forced to beg and scavenge at the dumpsite  as a two-year-old. Three years later, he even sustained burns on his arm and back, which prompted him to run away. Kesz was cared for by a social worker. On his seventh birthday Kesz didn’t wish any presents for himself; he wanted to help other street kids instead. That year, Kesz set up the organisation “Championing Community Children”. His aim is to give children hope and show them that they can take their future into their own hands. Kesz gives them “HOPE GIFTS”: packages with slippers, clothing, soap, toothbrushes and toys. He also regularly holds speeches at events, thus inspiring other street children and acting as their representative. Since the launch of the organisation “Championing Community Children” in 2005 Kesz and his team have already distributed 5,000 “HOPE GIFTS” and helped over 10,000 children through the programmes set up by Kesz.

 

information source:kids right

What is child labour?

Child labour is defined in ILO Conventions. It is work that children should not be doing because they are too young to work, or – if they are old enough to work – because it is dangerous or otherwise unsuitable for them. Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their education, is generally regarded as being something positive. Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed and the conditions under which it is performed, as set out in the ILO Conventions.
There are many forms of child labour worldwide. Children are engaged in agricultural labour, in mining, in manufacturing, in domestic service, types of construction, scavenging and begging on the streets. Others are trapped in forms of slavery in armed conflicts, forced labour and debt bondage (to pay off debts incurred by parents and grandparents) as well as in commercial sexual exploitation and illicit activities, such as drug trafficking and organized begging and in many other forms of labour. Many of these are “worst forms” of child labour as they are especially harmful, morally reprehensible, and they violate the child’s freedom and human rights. Child labour tends to be concentrated in the informal sector of the economy. For some work, children receive no payment, only food and a place to sleep. Children in informal sector work receive no payment if they are injured or become ill, and can seek no protection if they suffer violence or are maltreated by their employer.


information source : UN web

Out-of-school children: New data reveal persistent challenges

According to new data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), 67 million children were out of school globally during the school year ending in 2009 (see Figure 1) . This figure has been falling, especially since 2000, when the international community reinforced commitments to achieve universal primary education. Since then, the share of out-of-school children of primary school age has fallen from 16% to 10%. In addition, efforts to improve educational access for girls have yielded positive results. In 2009, girls accounted for 53% of children out of school compared to 57% in 2000.

Yet despite this progress, the pace of change appears to be slowing. “Between 2000 and 2005, we saw a dramatic reduction in the number of children excluded from primary education. But since then, the rate of change has slowed down considerably,” states Hendrik van der Pol, Director of the UIS. “At this rate, we will not achieve universal primary education by 2015. So it is time to raise the alarm among governments and international agencies globally.”

“It is increasingly difficult to reach those children who remain excluded from education,” states Kevin Watkins, Director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report. “Governments must commit not just to achieving national goals, but to seriously tackling disparities based on wealth, location, ethnicity, gender and other markers for disadvantage. More must also be done to protect and provide education opportunities for the millions of children deprived of education due to conflict.”

Figure 1.  Number of out-of-school children by region and sex, 1990-2009


Source: UIS database, 2011. 

In 2009, there were 17 countries with more than 500,000 out-of-school children. Nine of these countries are located in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ethiopia, about 2 million children were not in school in 2009. This represents 16% of the country’s primary school-age population, which nevertheless reflects considerable progress since 1999, when the figure reached 63%.

Many other sub-Saharan African countries have managed to significantly reduce their numbers of out-of-school children during the last decade. Between 1999 and 2009, the share of out-of-school children declined by more than 30 percentage points in Burundi, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger and the United Republic of Tanzania. Much of this progress has been attributed to the abolition of school fees. Nevertheless, the proportion of children out of school remains very high in the following countries: Equatorial Guinea (46%), Côte d'Ivoire (43%), Niger (41%), Burkina Faso (36%) and the Central African Republic (31%).  


information source :UNESCO