Ratify ILO Convention on home-based workers

They also called for incorporating the informal sector including child workers and domestic helps into Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).

The seminar on the 'Role of home-based women and children workers and their rights in the Bangladesh context' was organised by Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) at Dhanmondi in the city.

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The speakers said a large number of women and children are working dawn to dusk with meager amount in informal sector due to lack of proper rules and regulations in this sector, which plays an important role in national economy.

They said many children including teenage girls are coming to urban areas from their village homes to work as domestic workers and facing physical torture, exploitation and sexual harassment.

"A child department is going to be set up to ensure the rights of the children working in informal sector," said Mortuza Hossain Munshi, secretary of women and children affairs ministry, as chief guest.

The government should enact new laws on DNA test in all cases, especially rape cases, under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act to help identify the culprits, said Advocate Tawhida Khandaker.

BNWLA Advisor Advocate Fawzia Karim Firoz presented a keynote paper at the seminar where BNWLA Executive Director Salma Ali and INCIDIN Executive Director ABM Masud Ali also spoke.