Stronger birth registration law crucial to combat child labour: PROGGA

Birth registration is a key safeguard against child labour, serving as the first step in establishing a child’s legal identity and ensuring access to essential public services, the research and advocacy organisation PROGGA has said.

In a press release issued on Friday, the organisation said without registration, children are at greater risk of exploitation and early entry into the labour market due to difficulties in age verification and exclusion from protection systems.

On the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour, observed on Friday (12 June) under the theme “Red card to child labour: Fair play for children, decent work for adults,” the organisation said stronger policy actions are needed to prevent child labour and protect children engaged in hazardous or exploitative work.

It identified universal birth registration as a critical intervention in this regard.

At present, the average birth registration rate in Bangladesh is around 50%, while it stands at only 40% among children under five. As a result, a large number of children remain legally unrecognised. The lack of official documentation, the press release noted, makes age verification difficult and increases children’s vulnerability to child labour and other forms of exploitation.

Experts cited in the PROGGA statement stressed the need to amend the Birth and Death Registration Act 2004 to assign legal responsibility for registration to all healthcare facilities. Around 67% of births in Bangladesh take place in healthcare centres. According to them, empowering these institutions would ensure automatic registration at birth and significantly improve national coverage.

They further said such reforms would help Bangladesh achieve universal registration under the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Decade by 2030 and support progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 8.7, aimed at eliminating child labour and all forms of child exploitation.

On the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour 2026, ABM Zubair, Executive Director of PROGGA, said universal birth registration through legal reform could significantly reduce child labour and related exploitation and deprivation.