EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

 Speaker is right to be upset

Must we forget our manners?

We can only commiserate with the Speaker of the Jatiyo Sangshad for his frustration at the way some members of the parliament have conducted themselves in the House, and has vented his displeasure, rightly. It is for the second time in as many weeks that we have commented on the issue. To say the least, the standard of debate in the Sangsad that we have been unfortunately exposed to recently has left us dumbfounded.

And for many of those that had taken to watching the proceedings of the parliament on the TV have chosen of late not to do so fearing the adverse impact it might have on their children.

We all feel embarrassed, and we are sure the honourable members of the parliament do too, at the use of indecent words about fellow parliamentarians. Listening to the tone and tenor of the speeches of some of the members of the parliament it appears that there is perhaps an effort to outdo one another in invectives, vituperation and broadsides that have crossed not only the limit of parliamentary decorum but also civilised norms.

And the Whips must take seriously the words of the Speakers that they are allowing time to those members of their respective parties who make it a point to use unprintable epithets about their opponents. And even worse, such remarks are cheered by the party MPs.

We understand that expunging the remarks of the lawmakers is not a palatable job, and it is not an end in itself, which must ensure that such attitude is abjured by the parliamentarians. We fear that if things continue in such a vein there may be very little left of the proceedings after deleting the unparliamentry remarks of the members. We emphasise that the parliament members are elected leaders of the people and many look up to them to set examples of uprightness, honesty, and sobriety. We must say that the goings-on in the house have disappointed us in this regard. 

Torture of domestic workers

Formalise sector to prevent abuse

We express deep concern over the repeated stories of torture against domestic workers, the latest reported case that of nine-year-old Baby in Khulna, who was not only underfed but also allegedly beaten by her employers with sticks and electric wires. As is often the case, the child's parents were unable to file a case and Baby saved herself the only way she could, by running away. Not all domestic workers are as lucky, however. Numerous cases have been reported where they have borne inhuman torture, some of them allegedly murdered and others forced to commit suicide.

All this is despite the High Court ruling last month declaring all forms of violence, torture and repression on domestic help as well as employing children under the age of 12, illegal. The court also provided a number of other directives to ensure rights of domestic workers.

A Baseline Survey on Child Domestic Labour (CDL) in Bangladesh conducted by the International Labour Organization in 2006 revealed that there were approximately two million domestic workers in Bangladesh, 12.7 percent of them children and the majority of them women and girls. The unorganised and informal nature of the sector makes it difficult to monitor it, however, and for every horror story reported in the media, there may well be many untold ones.

Human rights organisations have constantly demanded that domestic work be included in the country's labour laws to ensure basic rights of workers such as working hours, minimum wages, holidays, etc. The government is said to have already formulated a policy for elimination of child labour and drafted a policy for protection of domestic workers. We urge the quick and effective implementation of these measures, sensitisation programmes for both employers and workers and a strong monitoring mechanism to be put in place to protect the basic human rights of domestic workers.