Bridging the Policy-Practice Gap: Understanding the Implementation Crisis of Child Labor Policies in Bangladesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53808/KUS.2026.23.01.1439-ssKeywords:
Child Labor, Vulnerability, Poverty, Social Attitude, Policy and Practices, RehabilitationAbstract
Child labor constitutes one of the most pressing social issues not only in Bangladesh but across the globe, fundamentally undermining the rights and well-being of children. In Bangladesh, a confluence of socioeconomic conditions, entrenched cultural norms, and systemic exploitation compels millions of children to work in hazardous environments. Although Bangladesh has developed a substantial body of child labor policies aligned with international standards, the persistently high number of child laborers remains virtually unchanged over time. This study seeks to bridge the gap between policy formulation and practical implementation of international child labor policies in addressing the circumstances of working children in Bangladesh. A qualitative research design was employed to collect primary data from Khulna district. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews using a semi-structured interview guideline. A multistage sampling strategy, encompassing expert sampling and respondent-assisted sampling, was utilized to select diverse stakeholders (six key informants), including policymakers, child labor experts, and NGO representatives. The data were analyzed manually using thematic analysis to derive meaningful insights. The findings indicate that several interrelated factors including poverty, lack of awareness, and prevailing social and cultural attitudes serve as the primary drivers of children working in hazardous conditions in Bangladesh. Inadequate monitoring, weak penalties, and a scarcity of resources impede the effective implementation of existing legal regulations, while the absence of meaningful rehabilitation initiatives ensures that these children remain perpetually vulnerable. In light of these challenges, this study recommends the adoption of comprehensive and integrated approaches including stronger enforcement mechanisms, economic support for vulnerable families, effective rehabilitation programs, and cultural transformation to combat child labor in the Bangladeshi context.
Downloads
References
Abbott, K. (2014). Social Justice. In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (pp. 6115-6119). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2772
Abdullah, A., Huynh, I., Emery, C. R., & Jordan, L. P. (2022). Social Norms and Family Child Labor: A Systematic Literature Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(7).
Adamcheck, A., Carville, K., Cilingiroglu, S., Clements, R., Ford, S., Ingham, L., Macris, L., Peddada, Y., Pham, H., Sarmah, A., Schreur, H., Signy, K., Steval, K., Tunstall, L., Weber, I., & Wells, A. (2020). The Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Children in Seven South Asian Countries. Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond, 7(1), 37-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/2349300319894862
Admaw, T., & Ghosal, S. (2018). Socio-economic determinants of child labor exploitation: the case study of Jimma Town, Ethiopia. Eureka, 2581, 4249. http://management.eurekajournals.com/index.php/IJEFRA/article/view/198
Ahad, M. A., Parry, Y. K., Willis, E., Ullah, S., & Ankers, M. (2023a). Maltreatment of child labourers in Bangladesh: Prevalence and characteristics of perpetrators. Heliyon, 9(9), e19031. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.10 16/j.heliyon.2023.e19031
Ahad, M. A., Parry, Y. K., Willis, E., Ullah, S., & Ankers, M. (2023b). Maltreatment of child labourers in Bangladesh: Prevalence and characteristics of perpetrators. Heliyon, 9(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19031
Ahmady, K. (2020). Traces of Exploitation in Childhood: A Comprehensive Research on Forms, Causes and Consequences of Child Labour in Iran. Avaye Buf.
Akhtar, R., Nyamutata, C., & Faulkner, E. (2020). International child law. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/97804 29505485
Alam, M. T. (2024). Child Rights in Practice: Navigating Beyond Definitions of Child Labour in Bangladesh’s Legal Landscape. Statute Law Review, 45(3), hmae058. https://doi.org/10.1093/slr/hmae058
Antillano, A., & Duno-Gottberg, L. (2021). Conclusion to Carceral Communities: Struggle and Carnival in Latin America’s Carceral Worlds. In S. Darke, C. Garces, L. Duno-Gottberg, & A. Antillano (Eds.), Carceral Communities in Latin America: Troubling Prison Worlds in the 21st Century (pp. 375-402). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61499-7_18
Barner, J. R., Okech, D., & Camp, M. A. (2018). “One Size Does Not Fit All:” A Proposed Ecological Model for Human Trafficking Intervention. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 15(2), 137-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/23 761407.2017.1420514
Baten, M. A., Shafiqul, A., & and Mostofa, G. (2024). Unravelling the interlinkages: agency and vulnerability of hazardous child labour in Bangladesh. Third World Quarterly, 45(8), 1362-1381. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.20 24.2325630
Belsky, J. (1980). Child maltreatment: an ecological integration. American psychologist, 35(4), 320.
Boateng, A., & Dako-Gyeke, M. (2022). Child Labor in Ghana: Current Policy, Research, and Practice Efforts. In F. M. Ssewamala, O. Sensoy Bahar, & M. M. McKay (Eds.), Child Behavioral Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards Evidence Generation and Policy Development (pp. 265-281). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/1 0.1007/978-3-030-83707-5_13
Boudreau, L. (2020). Multinational enforcement of labor law: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh’s apparel sector. Private enterprise for development in low-income countries working paper, 7(11), 179-184.
Bradshaw, J., & Nieuwenhuis, R. (2021). Poverty and the family in Europe. In Research Handbook on the Sociology of the Family (pp. 400-416). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788975544.00038
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Braun, V., Clarke, V., Hayfield, N., & Terry, G. (2019). Thematic Analysis. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences (pp. 843-860). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_103
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American psychologist, 32(7), 513. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.32.7.513
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard university press.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological models of human development. International encyclopedia of education, 3(2), 37-43.
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2007). The Bioecological Model of Human Development. In Handbook of Child Psychology. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0114
Ceci, S. J. (2006). Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005). https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.2.173
Chudgar, A., Grover, V., Hatakeyama, S., & Bizhanova, A. (2022). Child labor as a barrier to foundational skills: Evidence from Bangladesh and Pakistan. PROSPECTS, 52(1), 137-156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-022-09614-9
Connell, R. (2020). Southern theory: The global dynamics of knowledge in social science. Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., & Báez, J. C. (2021). 30 Essential Skills for the Qualitative Researcher. SAGE Publications, Incorporated. https://books.google.com.bd/books?id=AvNRzQEACAAJ
Daniel, J. (2012). Choosing the size of the sample. Sampling essentials: Practical guidelines for making sampling choices, 2455, 236-253.
de Guzman Chorny, N., Raub, A., Earle, A., & Heymann, J. (2019). The state of child labor protections in 193 countries: Are countries living up to their international commitments? International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(7/8), 609-626.
Edmonds, E. V., & Theoharides, C. (2020). Child Labor and Economic Development. In K. F. Zimmermann (Ed.), Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics (pp. 1-29). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_74-1
Elsayed, W. (2020). Students and the Risk of Virtual Relationships in Social Media: Improving Learning Environments. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 15(21), 118-132.
Elsayed, W. (2024). Breaking the cycle of child labor in Egypt: Exploring social and economic factors associated with child labor in Egypt for a sustainable future. Sustainable Futures, 8, 100235. https://doi.org/https://doi. org/10.1016/j.sftr.2024.100235
Elsayed, W., Sokolovskiy, K., & Gavrilova, Y. (2023). Religious Practices in the Effectiveness of Social Service Workers: A Subjective Assessment. Public Organization Review, 23(4), 1385-1398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-022-00668-z
Erdem Türkelli, G. (2019). Eradicating child labor: Ending economic Exploitation of children as an objective of Sustainable Development. In Decent work and economic growth: Springer encyclopedia of the UN sustainable development goals/Leal Filho, Walter [edit.]; et al. (pp. 1-13).
Follesdal, A. (2022). John Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness. In Philosophy of Justice (pp. 311-328). Springer.
Fusch Ph D, P. I., & Ness, L. R. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative research. https://doi.org/10.467 43/2160-3715/2015.2281
Gatsinzi, A., & Hilson, G. (2022). ‘Age is just a number’: Articulating the cultural dimension of child labour in Africa's small-scale mining sector. Resources Policy, 78, 102779. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.20 22.102779
Geovani, I., Nurkhotijah, S., Kurniawan, H., Milanie, F., & Nur Ilham, R. (2021). Juridical Analysis of Victims of The Economic Exploitation of Children Under The Age to Realize Legal Protection From Human Rights Aspects: Research Study At The Office of Social and Community Empowerment In Batam City. International Journal of Educational Review, Law And Social Sciences (IJERLAS), 1(1), 45-52.
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How Many Interviews Are Enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 59-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903
Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2012). Applied Thematic Analysis. SAGE Publications. https://books. google.com.bd/books?id=VuWrexznC7sC
Habib, R. R., El Khayat, M., Ghanawi, J., Katrib, R. S., Hneiny, L., & Halwani, D. A. (2024). Child labor and associated risk factors in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 1240988.
Hennessy, R. (2023). Exploring the Role of Social Protection Interventions in Preventing Child Labour: Reinforcing the Case for a Human Rights-Based Model of Intervention. Journal of Human Rights Practice, 15(1), 262-283. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac064
Hennink, M., & Kaiser, B. N. (2022). Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: A systematic review of empirical tests. Social Science & Medicine, 292, 114523. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114523
Hoque, M. M. (2021). Reviewing child labour and its worst forms: Contemporary theoretical and policy agenda. Journal of Modern Slavery, 6(4), 32-51.
Hoque, M. M. (2022). Hazardous Child Labor in Bangladesh: A Critical Evaluation of The Legal and Policy Framework Vis A Vis Practical Challenges. Proceedings of the World Conference on Children and Youth, 3(01), 34-55. https://doi.org/10.17501/26731037.2022.3103
Hoque, M. M. (2024a). A Critical Review of Bangladesh's Child Labor Regulations and Policies. World Development Sustainability, 5, 100177. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wds.2024.100177
Hoque, M. M. (2024b). How has child labour been normalised in Bangladesh? A critical analysis of policies, factors, views, and evidence.
Hossain, M. B. (2020). Compliance of the Bangladesh Legal Policies with the ILO Convention on the Prohibition of Child Labor. Lex Publica, 7(2), 15-23. https://doi.org/10.58829/lp.7.2.2020.15-23
Ibrahim, A., Abdalla, S. M., Jafer, M., Abdelgadir, J., & de Vries, N. (2019). Child labor and health: a systematic literature review of the impacts of child labor on child’s health in low- and middle-income countries. Journal of Public Health, 41(1), 18-26. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy018
International Labour Organization. (2021). Ending Child Labor by 2025: A Review of Policies and Programs. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do?type=document&id=29875
Islam, R., & Hoque, M. M. (2022). Trade-off between schooling and labor for children: understanding the determinative factors among rural households in Bangladesh. Frontiers in Sociology, 7, 839231. https://doi.org/10.338 9/fsoc.2022.839231
Johnson Jr, E. C., Beraldi, F., Broecker, E., Brown, E., & Maslow, S. (2018). The business case for lawyers to advocate for corporate supply chains free of labor trafficking and child labor. Am. UL Rev., 68, 1555.
Josefsson, J., & and Wall, J. (2020). Empowered inclusion: theorizing global justice for children and youth. Globalizations, 17(6), 1043-1060. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1736853
Kamruzzaman, M., & Hakim, M. A. (2018). A review on child Labour criticism in Bangladesh: An Analysis. International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education, 3(1), 1-8.
Kang, Y. (2021). The rise, demise and replacement of the Bangladesh experiment in transnational labour regulation. International Labour Review, 160(3), 407-430. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12199
Kaur, N., & Byard, R. W. (2021). Prevalence and potential consequences of child labour in India and the possible impact of COVID-19 – a contemporary overview. Medicine, Science and the Law, 61(3), 208-214. https://doi.org/10.11 77/0025802421993364
Kazancoglu, I., Sagnak, M., Kumar Mangla, S., & Kazancoglu, Y. (2021). Circular economy and the policy: A framework for improving the corporate environmental management in supply chains. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(1), 590-608. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2641
Keane, M. P., Krutikova, S., & Neal, T. (2020). The impact of child work on cognitive development: results from four Low to Middle Income countries.
Kilkelly, U., & Liefaard, T. (2022). International Children's Rights Principles and Responses to Serious Offending by Children: Recent Developments, Topical Issues and Global Challenges. Responses to Serious Offending by Children, 11-26.
Kitching, G. (2010). Seeking social justice through globalization: Escaping a nationalist perspective. Penn State Press.
Lawrence, C., & Churn, N. (2012). Movements in time: Revolution, social justice, and times of change. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Legard, R., Keegan, J., & Ward, K. (2003). In-depth interviews. Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers, 6(1), 138-169.
Lincoln, Y. S. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry (Vol. 75). sage.
Loan, L. H., Thanh, V. T. L., & Maternowska, M. C. (2018). Applying the child-centred and integrated framework for violence prevention: A case study on physical violence in Viet Nam. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 13(sup1), 36-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2018.1476749
Lune, H., & Berg, B. L. (2017). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, Global Edition. Pearson Education Limited. https://books.google.com.bd/books?id=6E_gjwEACAAJ
Magdalena, F., Sukamdi, S., & Rofi, A. (2021). The Determinants of Child Labor Participation in Indonesia: A Multilevel Approach. Southeast Asian Journal Of Economics, 9(3), 75-108. https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/saje /article/view/255870
Malterud, K., Siersma, V. D., & Guassora, A. D. (2016). Sample Size in Qualitative Interview Studies: Guided by Information Power. Qualitative Health Research, 26(13), 1753-1760. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315617444
Marvasti, A. (2004). Qualitative research in sociology. Qualitative research in sociology, 1-160.
Maxwell, J. A. (2012). The Importance of Qualitative Research for Causal Explanation in Education. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(8), 655-661. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800412452856
Maya Jariego, I. (2021). Causes and Consequences of Child Labor. In I. Maya Jariego (Ed.), Community Prevention of Child Labor: Evidence-based Practices to Promote the Psychological Well-being of Minors (pp. 19-32). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70810-8_2
Meesha, I., Zafar, F., Kausar, K., & Asaad, N. (2021). Violence and abuse among working children in urban and suburban areas of lower Sindh, Pakistan. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 27(5), 501-508, Article https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/352816
Monika, B. (2021). Child Labour and Education in India: Promises and Challenges. Journal of Exclusion Studies, 11(2), 262-277.
Morse, J. M. (2000). Determining Sample Size. Qualitative Health Research, 10(1), 3-5. https://doi.org/10.1177/10 4973200129118183
National Child Labor Survey. (2022). Provisional Report: National Child Labor Survey Bangladesh (NCLS 2022). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and International Labour Organization https://bbs.portal.gov.bd/sites/default /files/files/bbs.portal.gov.bd/page/b343a8b4_956b_45ca_872f4cf9b2f1a6e0/2023-07-23-04-09-45cae43abbc0bb7f6d57cb2eb7e94857.pdf
Norris, D., Pamela, F., Erin, P., & and Ross, P. (2013). The Critical-Ecological Framework: Advancing Knowledge, Practice, and Policy on Older Adult Abuse. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 25(1), 40-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2012.712852
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic Analysis: Striving to Meet the Trustworthiness Criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1), 1609406917733847. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847
Ohab, M. A., & Shovo, T.-E. A. (2026). Homeless but not Hopeless: Unveiling the Harsh Realities of Street Children and Need-Based Interventions for Long-Term Protection. Child Indicators Research, 19(1), 493-536. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-025-10312-z
Omeje, E. E., Okpukpara, B. C., & Ihemezie, E. J. (2020). Effects of child poverty on child labour and deprivation among rural farming households in enugu state, Nigeria. Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), 23(1), 22-29. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.308388
Omorogiuwa, T. B. E. (2020). Troubling Childhood: The Physical and Health Issues Experienced by Child Labourers. Social Work in Public Health, 35(8), 679-688. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2020.1823928
Patton, M. Q. (2014). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice. Sage publications.
Quattri, M., & Watkins, K. (2019). Child labour and education – A survey of slum settlements in Dhaka (Bangladesh). World Development Perspectives, 13, 50-66. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2019.02.005
Radfar, A., Asgharzadeh, S. A. A., Quesada, F., & Filip, I. (2018). Challenges and perspectives of child labor. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 27(1). https://journals.lww.com/inpj/fulltext/2018/27010/challenges_and_perspectives _of_child_labor.4.aspx
Rawls, J. (1971). Atheory of justice. Cambridge (Mass.).
Rosa, E. M., & Tudge, J. (2013). Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of human development: Its evolution from ecology to bioecology. Journal of family theory & review, 5(4), 243-258. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12022
Saleem, N., & Amu, A. (2017). Rawls’ Theory Of Justice. IJCRT, 9, 1625-1630.
Soyer, G. F. (2019). Urie Bronfenbrenner: the ecology of human development book review. In.
Strohwald, A. (2021). The child's rights to, in and through basic education: an analysis of South Africa's international obligations Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University].
Subrahmanian, R. (2023). Eliminating child labour: what needs to be done? BMJ Paediatr Open, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1 136/bmjpo-2023-002102
Tang, C., Zhao, L., & Zhao, Z. (2020). Does free education help combat child labor? The effect of a free compulsory education reform in rural China. Journal of Population Economics, 33(2), 601-631. https://doi.org/10.1007/s001 48-019-00741-w
Thi, A. M., Zimmerman, C., & Ranganathan, M. (2023). Hazardous Child Labour, Psychosocial Functioning, and School Dropouts among Children in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). children, 10(6).
Uhalde, K. (2013). Expectations of Justice in the Age of Augustine. University of Pennsylvania Press.
United Nations Children’s Fund. (2020). Global status report on preventing violence against children 2020.
United Nations Children’s Fund. (2021). Child labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward. International Labour Organization (ILO).
Yusefri, Y., Faizin, M. a., & Jafar, W. A. (2024). Protecting Child Labor Rights: Maqasid Sharia Framework and Policy Recommendations. Samarah: Jurnal Hukum Keluarga Dan Hukum Islam, 8(2), 1188-1215. https://doi.org/10.22 373/sjhk.v8i2.24559
Zarif, A. (2020). Children affected by armed conflict: a critical perspective on discourses, representations and deriving practices. In R. Budde & U. Markowska-Manista (Eds.), Childhood and Children’s Rights between Research and Activism : Honouring the Work of Manfred Liebel (pp. 207-224). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29180-8_13
Zhou, Y., Guo, Y., & Liu, Y. (2020). Health, income and poverty: evidence from China’s rural household survey. International Journal for Equity in Health, 19(1), 36. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-1121-0
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Khulna University Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
