COX'S BAZAR, Aug 5: About 14,000 child labourers at Nazirartek dry fish village on the outskirt of the district town have become loan defaulters due to corona situation and flood.
Officially, a total of 38 sectors have been identified risky for child labourers. But the Nazirartek dry fish village is not included in this list. So, the child labourers in this world's largest dry fish village are suffering much.
A visit to the village on July 18 last found more than 1,000 yards, small and big. A total of 13,524 children were working in these yards before the corona outbreak
These children are deprived of formal education. At low daily wages, they were working amid severe health risks. Their parents take loan from the owners of these yards and send their children to work.
Over the last three and a half months, not only the financial institutions have been badly impacted, but also the dry fish village has been affected seriously. Moreover, during this rainy season, the fishing in the sea has also become impossible.
Despite a little ease of the lockdown, the activities in the dry fish village are yet to get momentum. So, the children are still workless.
The child labour in different sectors of the country, including that in the Nazirartek dry fish village, is subject to concern, said sources at Winrock International, which is working with US-based International Labour Affairs Bureau.
According to this organisation, in the absence of non-compliance of child labour laws, the children get engaged in different works. The reported 14,000 children working in the dry fish village are deprived of education and are in serious health risks. They are being compelled to work. Now they are jobless on the one hand, and on the other hand, they have become loan defaulters.
