Invisible Justice: Structural and Legal Failures in Safeguarding Disabled Child Labourers across South Asia

Invisible Justice: Structural and Legal Failures in Safeguarding Disabled Child Labourers across South Asia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Invisible Justice: Structural and Legal Failures in Safeguarding Disabled Child Labourers across South Asia Marzia Jalil This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8178050/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Children who have disabilities are themselves a universe of childhoods to be renewed. Even in child labour situations, children with disabilities are among the poorest and most disadvantaged. However, they are little visible in legal and policy frameworks for the Global South. This paper focuses on Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Despite ratifying Global agreements like the ILO Minimum Age and Worst Forms of Child Labour Conventions, and the CRC and CRPD, it is insufficient for national laws to protect the unique problems experienced by people with disabilities. A systematic analysis of international instruments, national legislation, and policy reports is used to identify four major challenges. These are: legal non-existence, lack of implementation capability, institutional fragmentation, and pervasive shame. This gap between policy and implementation means that children living with disabilities are left vulnerable to dangerous and exploitative labour without effective recourse. This article presents the case for legislation that includes people with disabilities, cohesive institutional mechanisms, and stronger enforcement tools, so that the rights of children with special needs in the workplace can be safeguarded under both human rights law and legal practice. Points of Interest This article addresses how children with disabilities are hidden casualties of child labour and legal neglect in developing nations. It demonstrates how inadequate enforcement, stigma and fragmented systems not only perpetuate their exploitation but also exclude them from protection. · Analyses loopholes in child labour and disability regulations in South Asia. · Reveals lax enforcement and poor institution coordination. · Spotlights stigma and a lack of data about disabled working children. · Covers Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. · Demands for inclusive laws, strong institutions and improved systems of data collection. Child labour children with disabilities policy-practice gap legal protection and disability rights illegal labour markets shadow economy Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 1. Introduction In the developing Global South, underage employment is perhaps one of the most serious challenges to human rights, causing an impending catastrophe of millions around in various occupations that often are exploitative, hazardous, and conflicting with his/her well-being and development. By the year 2016, approximately 152 million minors were subjected to child labour, and many of them were performing high-risk work or exploitative conditions around the world (ILO, 2017). Even though child labour is strongly condemned around the world and many international legal covenants have been adopted for combating youth labor, like ILO-Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (1973) and ILO-Convention No. 182 on The Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999), still implementation of these laws have not been exercised in actual sense in all countries on similar mode due to heterogeneity at regional level. It is to be expected in emerging economies in contexts where persistent poverty, poor governance, and deep-rooted cultural and social norms feed into the drivers of child labour (Edmonds & Shrestha, 2018; Khanam, 2004). Amidst the focus on these more general issues with child labour, one specific subset of those who endure child labour has been neglected: children with disabilities. This child group is also amongst the most vulnerable and marginalised worldwide, but less is known about how well protected they are through both national policies generally, as well as individual legislative provisions. Children with disabilities face a double stigma: for being children and for having physical or cognitive impairments. This not only makes them more vulnerable to being exploited but also ensures they remain outside the legal protections and social services set up with children in mind (UNICEF, 2022). This tradition has received strong normative backing from international regulatory models, namely the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006). Respectively, the discussed conventions reiterate the freedom from economic exploitation, inclusive education, and a healthy environment for all children. In many developing countries, despite ratifying these instruments, they need to effectively implement them. International norms for universal coverage are protective of children generally, even though they frequently do not change national policy outcomes in practice, especially for working children with disabilities (Islam et al., 2022). National legal frameworks are established in countries like Bangladesh to ensure the security of disabled persons, which also includes children. The Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act 2013 is a recent legislation to provide for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and recognition of their entitlements. The step does not mention provisions coupled to the rights of children with disabilities toward labour. Secondly, enforcement mechanisms and avenues to justice for children affected by labour exploitation barely feature. Consequently, the addition of the law to the real-life lived experiences of these working children with disabilities is limited (Islam et al., 2022). Disability and child labour intersect with many socio-cultural and institutional factors. Prejudice and discrimination against children with disabilities can make them excluded from society, while in some communities, child labour is accepted as the norm, which makes it even more challenging to eliminate. Further, within child protection initiatives, disability-related issues are often consigned to the margins and, as such, interventions tend to be fragmented and therefore less effective (UNICEF, 2013; Ruwanpura & Roncolato, 2006). The consequence has been that children with disabilities have remained practically absent from national policy agendas and international development discourse on child labour. The article challenges the legal and policy lacunae that are in the wake of using children with disabilities in child labour-based activity which is going on in urban informal settlements in an LDC like Prevalence and Incidence in Bangladesh. Both prevalence and incidence are still high in Bangladesh. Subverting the rhetoric of neoliberalism and rights, this book advances a re-conception of international human rights commitment as it simultaneously follows and confronts national legal institutions and some of the so-called larger structures - social, economic, cultural that not only universalise risk but reproduce exclusion. This paper highlights the weak and discriminatory adoption of child labour laws and disability rights policies in order to raise awareness about the pressing need for legal reform to secure rights and access for one of the most marginalised groups engaged in global child labour. This paper seeks to reconceptualise working children with disability 'not merely as a social injustice, but an economic offence' which takes place in off-the-books forms of precarious employment directly supported by South Asia's shadow economy. There is obviously a research gap here, because studies rarely look at where child labour and disability meet in analysis, yet disabled child workers are virtually absent from both work-oriented policy and disability rights literature. This paper adds by offering a systematic review linking legal frameworks, institutional deficiencies and the socio-cultural factors explaining why children with disabilities remain unprotected in South Asia. The key argument is that they are not only human rights concerns, but acts of political violence and economic structural violence justified by legal invisibility and lax enforcement. 2. Background and Context 2.1 International Normative Frameworks This tradition has received strong normative backing from international regulatory models, namely the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006). Respectively, the discussed conventions reiterate the freedom from economic exploitation, inclusive education, and a healthy environment for all children. In many developing countries, despite ratifying these instruments, they need to effectively implement them. International norms for universal coverage are protective of children generally, even though they frequently do not change national policy outcomes in practice, especially for working children with disabilities (Islam et al., 2022). 2.2National Legal Landscape National legal frameworks are established in countries like Bangladesh to ensure the security of disabled persons, which also includes children. The Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act 2013 is a recent legislation to provide for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and recognition of their entitlements. The step does not mention provisions coupled to the rights of children with disabilities toward labour. Secondly, enforcement mechanisms and avenues to justice for children affected by labour exploitation barely feature. Consequently, the addition of the law to the real-life lived experiences of these working children with disabilities is limited (Islam et al., 2022). Disability and child labour intersect with many socio-cultural and institutional factors. Prejudice and discrimination against children with disabilities can make them excluded from society, while in some communities, child labour is accepted as the norm, which makes it even more challenging to eliminate. Further, within child protection initiatives, disability-related issues are often consigned to the margins and, as such, interventions tend to be fragmented and therefore less effective (UNICEF, 2013; Ruwanpura & Roncolato, 2006). The consequence has been that children with disabilities have remained practically absent from national policy agendas and international development discourse on child labour. The article challenges the legal and policy lacunae that are in the wake of using children with disabilities in child labour-based activity, which is going on in urban informal settlements in an LDC like Prevalence and Incidence in Bangladesh. Both prevalence and incidence are still high in Bangladesh. Subverting the rhetoric of neoliberalism and rights, this book advances a re-conception of international human rights commitment as it simultaneously follows and confronts national legal institutions and some of the so-called larger structures - social, economic, cultural that not only universalise risk but reproduce exclusion. This paper highlights the weak and discriminatory adoption of child labour laws and disability rights policies in order to raise awareness about the pressing need for legal reform to secure rights and access for one of the most marginalised groups engaged in global child labour. This paper seeks to reconceptualise working children with disability 'not merely as a social injustice, but an economic offence' which takes place in off-the-books forms of precarious employment directly supported by South Asia's shadow economy. 3. Methodology of the Study The analysis required a systematic review approach since it was a qualitative study aimed at determining how legal systems in the Global South respond to the frequency of child labour and disability. The purpose of the review was to summarise the evidence available in the form of academic articles, policy reports and legal acts with the aim to trace common patterns shared by those sources, gaps in legislation and, ultimately, the perspective of its implementation into practice. Study design flow chart: This flow chart illustrates the iterative process, which involves problem identification, review of the literature, development of a thematic framework, data collection and analysis, and synthesis of findings. A comprehensive examination of the legal, institutional, and social determinants of child labour among children with disabilities requires a structured approach. Review Strategy The systematic search was used on academic databases and institutional sites. A mix of keywords was used to search various academic databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and JSTOR. It is a literature review that utilises works published since 2000 to have a modern relevance and, side by side, to see the trends in long-term policy-making. Moreover, relevant reports, legal frameworks, and conventions dealing with child labour and disability were sought on the official website of international organisations, e.g., ILO, UN, and UNICEF. Looked into the national system of legislation of Bangladesh, and particularly the Rights and welfare of individuals. Review of Literature Slavery and disability are connected issues that create a complex facet of rights promotion through legislation, particularly in emerging markets. Yet these are typically among the worst accounted for when it comes to implementing policy, and that despite so many international frameworks. Child labour is one of the oldest issues, and a recent estimation by World Agency on child Labour was that there were approximately 152 million child labourers engaged in labour relationships, some of them unsafe, in 2016 (International Labour Organisation [ILO], 2017). Amongst other engaging legal devices that have sought to eliminate child labour and set fixed (minimum) limits on the status of children to work are ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182 (ILO, 1973; ILO, 1999). But such attempts have failed in a country where poverty and social disparities resonate (Edmonds & Shrestha, 2018; Khanam, 2004). The informal economies are where children work; child labour with disabilities occurs; it is part of the criminalised economy, as it were, around vulnerable groups and how they’re being exploited for a profit. These activities resemble definitions of systemic economic exploitation and patterns that express aspects of the same attitude found in criminological views of the shadow economy. Very often, there is a lack of uniformity in the enforcement as well (Shahjahan et al., 2016). -123 Safeguards There are rules and regulations in Bangladesh to protect children from labour exploitation. Enduring transgressions arise due to the fact that children are accepted in a cultural sense, and there is a price for the child, along with a lack of governance (Ruwanpura & Roncolato, 2006; Hossain et al., 2019). Moreover, child labour is gendered, with girls being disproportionately affected, as is the case with the ILO (2009). There are additional complications brought about by the interplay between child labour and disability. Disabled children are easier to exploit and less prone to protection using universal child labour laws (UNICEF, 2022). The inaccessibility of legal legislation and the poor implementation of policies worsen these weaknesses (Araten-Bergman, 2022; Islam et al., 2022). Though several international documents like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (United Nations, 2006) have been ratified, the actual implementation is quite slow in most cases. According to legal researchers, the Bangladesh Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act (2013) neglected to define the employment rights as well as access to justice of children with disabilities (Islam et al., 2022). It is worsened by stigmatisation and sidelining of the issues by society in the larger framework of child protection (UNICEF, 2013). Besides, macroeconomic analyses focus on how public policy and social labelling influence the labour practices, mainly in the export-based industries (Bhattacharya, 2001; Anker, 2000). Nevertheless, such strategies usually do not take into consideration disabled children who do not participate in formal employment markets, and they are still at risk in informal industries. Historical and policy reviews have revealed how many times the inclusive and comprehensive reforms were called, but the occurrence of child labour encompasses insufficiencies of the structure and a deficiency of political will (White, 2002; Delap, 2001; Alam, 2020). Reports of international organisations are in unison in their position that poverty and access to education should be coordinated in interventions to counter child labour (ILO, 2006; UNICEF, 2016). To sum up, although there is more than sufficient system of Universal conventions and national regulatory frame-work, the combination of child labour and disability is under-researched and under-secured. A solution to this would involve proper implementation, policy-making, and social transformation to affirm the rights of all minors and especially minors experiencing disabilities working in labour environments with Disability Act (2013), to bring a country-specific lens. Inclusion Criteria Documents were considered to keep a focused theme on the findings as follows: Referred to child labour laws or disability rights or both of them. Dressed in the language of law, policy, or governance in developing economies. Presented in English. Furnished information, a report, or an organisational study that pertained to child disability employment protection. Exclusion Criteria Articles and reports that dealt only with general disability or labour issues without specific reference to children or legal protections were excluded. Data Extraction and Analysis Once the preliminary screening was done, selected materials were studied in detail. The material was read thoroughly, and some themes were isolated according to the applicable information generated in the material. The identified themes were legal invisibility of disability, enforcement and policy gaps, institutional fragmentation, and social access to the law. These findings indicate that, beyond the legal perspective or policy-making, existing scholarship has framed child labour as a form of economic crime and criminological victimisation, albeit in relation to disability. Numerous reviews of the materials were carried out; small changes in the themes were made throughout the process in order to obtain the most important patterns. During the analysis, certain emphasis was put on the inconsistency between legal obligations and the practical course of practice, with specification in the case of minors with disabilities. Scope of the Systematic Review In light of this review was based on generally available sources in the English language and has limitations that excluded other local sources that could have been valuable, published in other languages, or internal government documents. In addition, the fact that the pragmatic approach to the results increases their credibility also devalues the significance of the review since it is qualitative, meaning that its results are not quantitative measures. The results for this review were brought together through academic databases, international regulatory frameworks and national legislations to reflect research from different disciplines and diverse institutions. We searched key academic databases, including PubMed, JSTOR and Google Scholar. We compiled these from our peer-reviewed journal articles and conference paper databases on child labour, disability rights and legal protections in developing areas. The review also encompassed reports, frameworks and guidance documents from major global agencies such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO), etc., to further supplement gaps that were left by academic literature. This funded program provided valuable normative and empirical insights into the nature of international law are, in practice. The review comprised international and academic literature and included a concern for the relevance of national legal materials, with reference to Bangladesh, since it had appeared in the material examined as an example of the large-scale extreme child labour violations and exclusion based on disability. One of the national-level legal documents identified by the review was The Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act (2013), a piece of legislation that outlines entitlements as well as measures for response to Persons with functional limitations in Bangladesh. In finding acts like this, it would establish a mandatory minimum level against which measures had to be measured, whether alignment with international humanitarian obligations and their implementation as an internal matter. A systematic search method was developed to identify literature and materials of a legal nature. Search terms were “child labour and disability” or “legal protection of children with disabilities or the disabled child rights Bangladesh” and “policy implementation developing countries”. Once again, these search terms were chosen in an attempt to avoid missing relevant literature with a view to searching both thematic and geographical areas. We aim for comprehensiveness rather than exhaustiveness by addressing updates and trends in legal protections across jurisdictions from 2000 to 2023. This investigation is also founded on a number of steps in the selection. Title scans for an initial relevance evaluation of document titles. Second, we screened abstracts to examine if they qualified for inclusion. In the last step, a full study of all full-text articles and documents included in this review was done for reading by relevance to applicability. This logical step-by-step method ensured that the review process was limited to materials concerning child labour, disability, and legal governance within developing economies. In order to ensure focus and quality in the review, explicit inclusion/ exclusion criteria were established. Any items that met the following criteria were included: They spoke to child labour laws, disability rights, or both. The study covers analysis on legal frameworks, governance mechanisms, and policy enforcement among less industrialised nations and specifically focuses on South Asia, with more relevant to Bangladesh. These papers were in English and supplied in full-text format to be used for detailed review. Conversely, document sets that did not meet these criteria were excluded. Specifically, the review excluded: • Any submission that was not based on human rights/legal or policy analysis, including but not limited to submissions on child labour and/or disability as general subjects. • Workers and persons with disability applicants not applicable (you may mention without emphasis), 6 Studies will also be considered if the population of interest is children or adolescents when not mentioned explicitly. • Non-English language sources and those that are not accessible (such as subscription journal articles or unpublished internal reports). These criteria were used for remaining focused narratively and comprehensively reviewing everything obtainable. We examined the selected material using thematic content analysis, an inductive qualitative approach that allows for the identification of patterns and commonly occurring issues among varying types of materials. The approach used for coding was inductive so that themes emerged from the data rather than being pre-imposed. This type of review was ideal for an exploratory analysis such as this one, where you seek to discover the root of problems and areas where we might be missing policy. Coding and Analysis Iterative Cycles Legal gaps, challenges in enforcing the law, and social obstacles were first identified by open coding. The codes were re-organised into larger thematic categories as coding evolved and eventually: A phrase used by EHRC in the Title: Legal invisibility means that children with disabilities are not explicitly covered by child labour laws. Gaps in the process of legal implementation: non-enforcement of existing laws, and absence of institutional capacity. Discriminatory social stigma and cultural beliefs that limit access to services and support mechanisms weaken the protection of disabled children from abuse. Policy-Practice gap: This is the way to say that there are formal laws, but they are not implemented well on the ground. In this process, every document was re-reviewed to be consistent, and category definitions were finalised. The repeatability of this process helped to increase the trustworthiness and legitimacy of the thematic interpretations. 4. Results The scrutiny of the chosen legal texts, scholarly articles, and policy statements that include several international documents serving as the thematic tool confirmed four main themes that reflect the insufficient legal protection of children living with disabilities who work in countries with developing economies, since the majority of the selected examples are from the South Asian region. Marginalisation in legislative discourse on labour laws: Although there have been international agreements to implement the rights of children with disabilities, laws in most developing nations, such as Bangladesh, at the national level do not explicitly recognise the needs of children with disabilities to deliberate on the special vulnerabilities of labour. Such an exclusion leaves out a huge gap in protection. Bangladesh is a party to international treaties that attempt to abolish child labour, notably the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). These tools establish norms regarding the minimum working age and the ban on the worst type of child labour. They, however, do not focus on the intersection between child labour and disability. As a result, the laws enacted at the national level that are motivated by the said conventions cannot take into consideration the individualised needs of children with special challenge. This invisibility allows exploiters to effectively function in the underground labour market, where the use of children with disabilities is acceptable as part of their informal economy. The absence of children with disabilities in the labour laws is a sad inkhole in Bangladesh’s national legal book. While national labour and disability legislation generally reflects international human rights standards, this law does not specifically take into account the particular risks that children with disabilities face when they work. Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2013 Although the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2013 is expansive in delineating fundamental rights to education, healthcare, and social integration, it does not consider labour protection. It fails to include specific protections regarding the economic exploitation or dangerous employment of children with disabilities. Consequently, these children are still unprotected in law, particularly in the informal and unorganised work. To fail to single out legislative responses that erase marginalised communities, and put them at risk for violence, abuse, discrimination, and exploitation, also makes clearly visible these problems under the law (and policy) as it currently stands. In Bangladesh, the Rights and Protection of Persons with disabilities act (2013) states that there are general protections and rights, which may include, among others, education, health, and social integration of persons with disabilities. But it fails to have special contexts on the rights of labour of children with disabilities, especially on the section of people with disabilities regarding the defensive exploitation of labour. Likewise, the Labour Act of Bangladesh (2006) banned the use of children below 14 years in employment, but limited hazardous employment to children below 18 years. However, it lacks the provisions that explicitly protect non-abled children against being exploited in labour. Failure to provide special laws makes children with disabilities vulnerable, particularly in the informal industries where the laws are poorly implemented. The application of the current child labour laws is also undermined by the fact that disaggregated data do not represent children with disabilities. It is hard to develop and erect policies that adhere to their needs when the proper statistics are lacking. UNICEF notes that children with disabilities tend to be hidden in the official statistics and are considered to be invisible in the process of planning and allocation of resources (UNICEF, 2013). Implementation barriers of child labour policies for children with disabilities in Bangladesh: Despite the various measures and policies that the country of Bangladesh has implemented to overcome the issue of child labour, a significant barrier still exists in the implementation of the policies, particularly in catering to the needs of children with disabilities. These problems are multidimensional, including structural, calibrating, and socio-cultural issues. The task of dealing with child labour is split between several governmental offices, such as the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ministry of Social Welfare, and the Ministry of Education. Such fragmentation usually manifests itself in overlapping mandates and the absence of direct accountability, ineffective coordination, and implementation of child labour policies. To give an example, the Ministry of Labour and Employment deals with labour regulations; therefore, disability-related affairs are in the hands of the Ministry of Social Welfare, and there is a potential problem of not catering to the unique needs of children with disabilities who are involved in labour. The programming applications of child labour policies for children with disabilities in Bangladesh reflect challenges at institutional, structural and socio-cultural levels. Although there are current legislations aiming at the elimination of child labour, they have had little success in preventing it among children with disabilities as a result of systemic failures and neglect. Structural Level: Fragmented functional responsibilities across multiple ministries (i.e., the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Education) lead to confusion over roles and reduce accountability. This lack of cooperation between ministries makes for a fragmented system that can not take coordinated action to eliminate child labour. On the lack of capacity: enforcement agencies, such as DIFE (Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments), have a perennial resource personnel shortage, lack of disability-inclusive training to enforce. Therefore, inspectors and officers are often poorly prepared to recognise or address the particular risks of exploitation which children with disabilities encounter. Monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are particularly weak in informal sectors where the bulk of child labour takes place. This is an unregulated terrain and the monitoring mechanisms do not cover many workplaces - like home-based manufacturing, small-scale industries and street-based activities - leaving children with disability at the margins. Data Gap Large data gap also exacerbates the problem. The lack of adequate, disaggregated data on children with disabilities in the labour market hinders the development of appropriate policies and budgets for them, as well as monitoring progress. This absence in national data systems has served to amplify their marginalisation in public policy agendas. Socio-cultural barriers are also important. Low local awareness, stigma, and disability myths are obstacles for local governments to make effective measurements of disability inclusive child protection. As a result, they tend to be programs for all children, to the exclusion of children with disabilities. Related to this point, the policy-practice gap highlights how there may be good laws in place (such as those mandating quotas), but they are not followed in practice. The disjunction between law in the books and law on the ground ensures that children with disabilities remain excluded from protection frameworks, and therefore are vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour. In summary, these barriers reveal how governance is fractured, capacity is weak, and monitoring is deficient,& the impact of which, with cultural prejudices, combine to prevent proper enforcement of the rights of children with disabilities in Bangladesh. The implementation agencies are usually limited in resources, training, and personnel, and thus, they do not have the capacity to monitor and respond to child labour violations satisfactorily. Labour laws are enforced by the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE), which has minimal capacity to carry out inspections, particularly in the informal sectors, where most child labour occurs. Besides, the absence of specific disability inclusion training in the enforcement officers inevitably contributes to the problem since they might not be prepared to detect and address the cases of children with disabilities (UNICEF, 2023). One more obstacle to adequate implementation of policies includes the unavailability of quality information regarding child labour, especially about disabled children. Lack of disaggregated data makes it difficult to come up with a specific intervention and track progress. The lack of accurate statistics means that the needs of children with disabilities will still not be taken into account when it comes to policy making and distribution of resources, thus the children will continue to be used in labour markets. To simplify this in a nutshell, many of the policies aimed at the protection of children with and without disabilities go astray through poor implementation in terms of uneven allocation of activities among ministries and poor inter-agency coordination. According to reports of the WHO and UNICEF, there is a lack of training and resources in the enforcement body’s ability to recognise or react to instances that involve children with disabilities (UNICEF, 2013; WHO, 2011). World Report of Disability. According to a number of studies, inconsistency in local governance structures was reported as a problematic issue in the enforcement of the child labour legislation, with few people familiar with the disability inclusion requirements. It has led to a gap in the law in that there are protections on paper, but they are hardly implemented on the ground as active interventions (Islam et al., 2022; Ruwanpura & Roncolato, 2006). This kind of loose enforcement builds impunity zones, where systemic economic violence against children with disabilities flourishes unchecked. Social stigma and exclusion from formal protections Disability attitudes in Bangladesh are a serious barrier to the inclusion and (child) protection of children with disabilities. Fabricated beliefs place great emphasis on disability being a punishment or something bad, and causing many stigmas. These beliefs have created shame and, at times, fear for families who are even known to keep their children indoors so as not to expose them to such discrimination from the community. It's not only a lack of social opportunities that are lost through the isolation, but also from many of the most basic services, including access to education and healthcare. (Moshrur-Ul-Alam et al., 2024). The exclusion of education is a matter of immediate concern. Evidence shows that there are high rates of children with disabilities who do not access formal education in Bangladesh. Many of those who do attend school are behind grade level because of the insufficient specialised attention and educational opportunities. This problem is also aggravated by the lack of inclusive educational activity and infrastructure, and therefore, these children find it hard to succeed in schools (UNICEF, 2023). The problem is aggravated by economic hardships. The children with disabilities are seen as expenses by the people in low-income families. As a result, families can place greater emphasis on short-term economic requirements than on education in the long term, and such children are driven to work. Not only does this subject them to maltreatment, but it also propagates poverty and marginalisation. In addition, disabled people do not get the community members or the service providers to attend to them as a fact because their disability rights are not known and understood by many in society. The children with disabilities will remain in the background without being able to give their full potential unless the attitude of society is challenged and altered to a new state of mind, with the necessary effort to transform society. The attitudes of society towards the disabled were established as a significant hindrance to the implementation of the law. Because of stigma and misunderstanding concerning the capacities and rights of children with disabilities, they are frequently withdrawn from the educational system as well as child protection services. This issue has been emphasised in several country reports and academic studies where economically stressed families of disabled children tend to rationalise labour as a means of survival or rehabilitation since they failed to protect themselves through the set of laws (UNICEF, 2013). The normalisation of labour among the disabled children, particularly in the informal sectors, is the common factor that causes them to be less visible in the larger legal reform initiatives. These social and cultural barriers also contribute to an exploitative economy, in which families or employers rationalise the economic value of placing a disabled child in various forms of service enslavement throughout their lives. Mismatch between international commitments and domestic practices This has not been fully implemented; full implementation in Bangladesh, especially for children with disabilities, through its adherence to the international conventions of the rights of the children, as shown through its endorsement of major conventions adopted on the issue, such as the ILO Conventions No. 138 and 182 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The process fails to connect because of the lack of legal systems, but rather because of the low inclusiveness and the poor implementation of the legal systems available. Figure 2 focuses on Social Stigma and Exclusion as Factors in the Continuation of Child Labouring among Children with Disabilities. Its dialectic based on anonymisation, discrimination and assumption of the hamlet as a target community contributes to further isolation and poor response that seems tied in a vicious loop, which renders these children invisible victims, easy prey for the labour markets. Barriers to Addressing Child Labour Involving Children with Disabilities in Bangladesh: Child labour has been recognised in the NCLEP 2010 of Bangladesh to be hazardous, and the NCLEP includes strategies for eliminating hazardous child labour and indicates special attention needed towards the physically challenged children also. However, the policy doesn’t provide operational guidance and disability-specific tools to implement it. It is underrepresented when it comes to the evaluation and reporting on the Special Action Plan for the physically challenged, which demonstrates disparities between legislation and reality (Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, 2021). Likewise, the National Action Plan (NAP) for the Labour Sector (20212026) sets out broad directions in an effort to eradicate the worst form of child labour by 2025, whereas the aspect of disability as a vulnerable group has not been sufficiently embedded. This restricts the surge of national efforts to fix the targeted threat that children with physical or cognitive disabilities encounter and remain invisible to most people, and appear in national data less frequently (Ministry of Labour and Employment, 2021). Disaggregated data regarding disability is one of the most important obstacles to inclusive enforcement. Although the National Child Labour Survey, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, has provided a study of child labour in 2022, it has been difficult to find publicly available information on the extent to which children with disabilities were surveyed and how this data is employed to deliver changes in policy in this sector (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2023). Moreover, the U.S. Department of Labour report published in 2023 cited fundamental enforcement concerns in Bangladesh, poor resource allocation, inadequate labour inspections, and the absence of a unifying disability rights and social protection efforts. This results in such a state of affairs that a legal framework introduces the possibility of its protection, but does not allude to the actual experiences of children with disabilities working in the labour market, especially in informal or family environments (U.S. Department of Labour, 2023). The truth of the matter is that national systems have a tendency to view child labour and disability as different sections of policy, and this has seen to it that there is a fragmented response, which puts disabled children at risk. To fill this gap in policy, more than simply bringing domestic law compliance with international norms, would have to include layers of inclusion, intersectional protection that takes into consideration the added risk faced by the child labourer because he or she is disabled. Tougher observation, capacity-building by enforcement agencies, and participatory information are needed to make sure that promises are substantially followed by action on the ground. But despite ratifying conventions, the failure of individual states to make and enforce laws against such abuse leaves disabled children trapped in clandestine economies of exploitation. Summary of Key Themes: Key themes findings summary. These are the main findings of the study on the marginalisation of children with disabilities from child labour shielding mechanisms in Bangladesh. They result in four interconnected themes, showing how legal, institutional and societal failures work together to maintain these children’s invisibility as well as insecurity. The first theme, "limited legal recognition", illuminates that children with disabilities are rarely explicitly referenced in national labour laws. Although Bangladesh is party to the international conventions like * ILO Conventions No. 138 & 182, there are no disability specific provisions in its national legal framework. Though the *PWD Act 2013** is notable for securing rights to education, health, and inclusion in correlation with impairments of all kinds, it says little on economic exploitation and labour protection of disabled children. The lack of explicit legislation in this regard contributes to weak formal acknowledgement of their special vulnerabilities in the world of work. The second issue, weak enforcement and coordination, points to the fractured and inadequately coordinated institutional organs which have been charged with enforcing child labour laws. Institutions involved in implementation, such as DIFE and the Ministry of Labour, or that have roles to play in creating disability friendly regulations, like the Ministry of Social Welfare, suffer from resource scarcity and lack exposure to disability-specific training. Although there have been wide-ranging policies and international obligations, their implementation is poor [UNICEF (2013) and WHO (2011)]. The third category, social obstacles and myths, includes one article that illustrates how long-standing stereotypes about the disability in general are still affecting the ways through which children with disabilities are understood and treated. Child work is commonly mistaken for care, acquired skills and contribution to the household economy in poor families. These misconceptions, along with extensive poverty and a large number of not reporting abuses and preventing response identified by UNICEF (2013). This leads to the last topic of policy-practice mismatch, which addresses Bangladesh’s frustrating disjuncture between policy declarations and actual action on the ground. The country has committed to upholding international standards on child protection; however, national strategies to combat child labour do not typically contain data specifically disaggregated by disability. As a result, the construction of planning, budgeting monitoring instruments does not pay sufficient attention to focus on children with disabilities. Studies by Islam et al. (2022) ** and ** Ruwanpura & Roncolato (2006) show that in spite of policy mechanisms existing on paper, their operationalisation is very limited. In conclusion, these themes taken together reveal a chain of legal apathy, poor governance, social discrimination, and policy inertia** that altogether maintain the continued invisibility of disabled children within Bangladesh’s child labour protection systems. 5. Discussion Analysed from an economic criminological perspective, child labour involving disabled children is not merely an international obligation being ignored but a form of systemic economic crime that persists within deregulated labour markets. Although Bangladesh has signed essential international conventions, including, firstly, ILO Conventions no. 138 and 182, and secondly, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the national legislation often does not specify aspects related to children with disabilities when they are vulnerable to labour environments. The Bangladesh Labour Act (2006) prohibits the employment of children under 14 and restricts hazardous work for children under 18, but it does not explicitly safeguard children with disabilities from labour exploitation. Similarly, the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act (2013) provides broad protections but lacks specific provisions concerning the labour rights of children with disabilities. This gap in clarity creates a significant vulnerability for children with functional limitations, who are at heightened threat in the informal sectors where labour laws are frequently poorly enforced. Duties regarding child labour have been spread across various agencies of the government, thus creating duplication of duty and a lack of certainty in accountability. This has led to poor coordination of child labour policies as well as implementation. The restricted resources, training, and personnel of implementation agencies usually hamper them from keeping track of and tackling the violations of child labour successfully. The enforcing body of labour law, which is the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE), has limited capability to do the inspection generally in the informal sectors where child labour is prevalent. Further, this problem is aggravated by the appointment of the enforcement officers without special training on disability inclusion, who may not be well prepared to handle and report cases where children have disabilities (UNICEF, 2023). The social perception of disability in Bangladesh is a significant contributor towards the under-pricing of children with disabilities. There is a lot of stigma around disability. Strong beliefs and thought patterns that are attached to it, one of them being the feeling that disability is like a curse or asinine given by God. These may produce families who are ashamed or threatened, even keeping the children inside so that they won’t be stigmatised. This kind of isolation doesn’t allow kids to be part of a social network and puts less rich children at a disadvantage, for example, in terms of schooling or health services. (Moshrur-Ul-Alam et al., 2024). The fact that economically it is tough makes the situation worse since there is a likelihood that families have a better chance when it comes to short-term economic necessities than getting long-term returns of education, and hence, such children are exposed to work. It not only subjects them to abuse but also breeds a cycle of deprivation and disenfranchisement. Bangladesh has manifested its capacity to support international initiatives to preserve the dignity and rights of children, but certain commitments have not been fully achieved in terms of implementing the same in detail, both domestically and especially for children with disabilities. The break is not in the nonexistence of legal regulations but in their narrow scope, instead of inclusiveness and poor implementation. The National Child Labour Elimination Policy (NCLEP) 2010 by Bangladesh specifies the strategy to abolish the existence of hazardous child labour and equates to the need for special attention on the children with physical challenges. Nevertheless, the policy is not clear in its operation; it does not have tools for specific disability. Assessments and reporting of the Special Action Plan to the physically challenged are limited or outdated, and it demonstrates that there is a discrepancy between the goals and the practice (Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, 2021). In the same way, the National Action Plan (NAP) for the Labour Sector (20212026) includes general objectives to eradicate the worst-case child labour practices by 2025 and fails to incorporate effectively the aspect of disability as a condition of vulnerability. This constrains whether country-level responses can respond to the vulnerabilities experienced by children with physical or cognitive disabilities who are habitually out of sight and poorly represented nationally (Ministry of Labour and Employment, 2021). Strengths along with Limitations Connected to the Study Strengths: This study exhibits several strengths that give it value as a scholarly and policy contribution. In the first place, it introduces a new intersectional lens, bringing the study of child labour into conversation with disability. This binary lens is rarely explored in legal and policy literature within the Global South and offers a novel understanding of how disability can compound child exploitation in work. By positioning these matters as human rights abuses and economic crimes, the paper introduces a unique criminological and socio-legal element to the debate. Second, the study takes a comparative regional perspective and considers Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. This wide geographical reach allows the analysis to apprehend common policy weakness -such as weak enforcement and legal invisibility- while acknowledging that differing national legislative and institutional capacity. Third, the application of systematic and transparent qualitative review enhances credibility in our findings. Clear inclusion and exclusion criteria and a clearly defined process for thematic coding, which involved working with academic, legal and policy documentation, result in a rigorous analytical framework. Fourthly, the theoretical basis is another innovation of this study. By framing the exploitation of disabled children as a systemic economic crime based upon shadow economies, this work disrupts traditional welfare discourses and places the challenge within wider debates regarding governance, justice and accountability. Limitations Although we have attempted to be methodologically rigorous in our approach to data collection and analysis, this review has a number of important limitations that may influence the breadth and generalizability of its findings. With a caveat: firstly, because this was restricted to Anglophone sources, potentially missing the local perspective or key regional publications written in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, and other local languages of the South Asian context. Therefore, it may have also missed relevant information on community-level interventions or indigenous knowledge systems and reports from grassroots advocacy. Secondly, the review was qualitative in nature, which, although suitable for depth, may intrinsically be less quantitative than other forms of enquiry. With this, we are not introducing any numerical values or statistical surmises, as one can find in quantitative reviews or meta‐analyses. Instead, it offers a measure of the richness of description and depth of interpretation of themes, better suited methods for grappling with complex legal and social phenomena, but not easily comparable to one another across regions or through time. Finally, the review was restricted by a lack of access to internal or unpublished government documents, including confidential policy drafts, implementation audits, or field reports authored by state agencies. That only limits the level of analysis of how and how well, or not, protective laws can be enforced in reality. Thus, judgments for policy compliance and legal efficacy are predominantly arrived at on the basis of secondary reporting, and thus may not actually be an accurate representation at the ground level. Policy Implications This study’s outcomes reveal the importance of immediate and inclusive policy measures to safeguard children with disabilities against abusive working conditions in least developed contexts, such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The implications for policy makers, legislators, and international stakeholders are as follows: Law Reform on Disability Issues in Labour Laws: National child labour legislation needs to be revised to specifically cover and outlaw the coercion or manipulation of children with disabilities in all employment, including informal work. The Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act (2013) must include labour-specific provisions that penalise economic exploitation, as well as ensure all who are targeted for their work can access compensation and rehabilitation. Such concerns mandate regional model statutes under the SAARC or ASEAN banner, designed to standardise disability-inclusive child labour norms in the Global South. Strengthening Institutional Coordination: The Ministry of Labour, Social Welfare and Education should set up an inter-ministerial task force with a clear system of responsibility for monitoring child labour in relation to children with disabilities. The coaching on disability inclusion ought to be made compulsory for DIFE inspectors and also for local government authorities who are responsible for enforcement. Child protection committees in the community should be empowered or capacitated to identify, report and rehabilitate disabled children involved in child labour (informal sector). Data Collection and Monitoring Systems: Governments need to develop disaggregated country-specific databases that record the disability status in child labour surveys and monitoring processes. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and similar national institutions must incorporate disability indicators into regular child labour and household surveys to inform policy interventions. Alliances between UNICEF, ILO and national statistical offices can ensure the institutionalisation of such data systems for cross-country comparisons and international accountability. Public Awareness and Social Transformation: National awareness programmes should target perceptions of stigma, myths and socio-cultural misconceptions that legitimise the use of disabled children as economic contributors. In education and media programs, they should put forward a rights-based account of disability, highlighting examples of successful disabled people as a way to change public perceptions about what it means to be part of an inclusive culture. Indeed, inclusion modules need to be developed in school curricula and community education to drive ongoing social change. Inclusive Education and Economic Alternatives: Infrastructural investment in inclusive education is crucial to keep children with disabilities in school instead of driving them into labour. Conditional cash transfers and minimum basic needs-oriented social protection schemes for low-income families with children who are disabled need to be extended to help reduce economic pressures forcing child labour. Public–private partnerships can be established to develop vocational rehabilitation and employment services for adults with disabilities who are the destination of children, thus eliminating economic incentives to use child labour. International Cooperation and Accountability: International institutions, including the ILO, UNICEF and UNDP, are encouraged to assist developing countries in conducting disability-inclusive monitoring for their work under SDG 8.7 (eliminating child labour) and SDG 10 (reducing poverty). Donor agencies and trading partners have to make aid and investment conditional on measurable progress on disability-inclusive child labour eradication. Regional peer review processes can encourage mutual accountability and transparency in reporting the fulfilment of CRC and CRPD commitments. 6. Conclusion The problems that children with disabilities experience during the method of labour in the developing economies are thoroughly systemic in terms of legal, institutional, societal, and policy aspects. These challenges need a multifactorial response involving the creation of inclusive legislation, improving the functionality of the institutions, mitigating the stigma of a given society, and aligning domestic practices with international commitments. It is only by combining these areas of effort that Guarantees of care and justice for children with disabilities will be maximised. More than merely a human rights abuse, these practices should be understood as an economic offence emanating from shadow economies and legal change, together with criminological intervention dealing with abusive markets for disabled children, is necessary. Statement on Generative AI for the Development of Scientific Writing The author apologises for the limited use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve the grammar, style, and clarity of the manuscript. There was no AI-generated content, data analysis, or interpretation. No AI was involved in generating intellectual content for the paper, having original ideas, or taking final responsibility for the paper. Declarations Ethical Approval: The author declares that the work does not involve any human participants who could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Funding: Not Applicable. Availability of Data and Materials: Not Applicable. Author Contribution Marzia Jalil solely conceptualised the research, designed the methodology, collected and analysed the data, interpreted the findings, and drafted and revised the manuscript. References Ahad, M. A., Parry, Y. K., Willis, E., & Ullah, S. (2024). Key Informant Views of the Determinants of Child Labour Maltreatment. Children , 11 (6), 708. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11060708 Alam, A. (2020). A critical legal analysis of child labour in Bangladesh with special recommendations of ILO, UNICEF and UNESCO. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 4(7), 115–119. [Report]. https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/a-critical-legal-analysis-of-child-labor-in-bangladesh Anker, R. (2000). Conceptual and research frameworks for the economics of child labour and its elimination. International Labour Review , 139 (3), 257–280. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2000.tb00227.x Araten-Bergman, T. (2022). Legislation on disability and employment: To what extent are employment rights guaranteed for persons with disabilities? Disability and Rehabilitation , 44 (14), 3371–3380. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2020.1858356 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2023). National Child Labour Survey 2022 [Report]. Bangladesh Labour, A. (2006). [Law]. Bhattacharya, D. (2001). International trade, social labelling, and developing countries: The case of Bangladesh's garment export and the use of child labour. World Economy , 24 (9), 1453–1470. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9701.00400 Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training. (2021). Special action plan for the physically challenged [Policy Document] . Government of Bangladesh. Child Rights and Business (n.d.). Strengthening child protection efforts in Bangladesh with UNICEF. [Report]. https://www.childrights-business.org/impact/strengthening-child-protection-efforts-in-bangladesh-with-unicef Chowdhury, M., Rahman, M., & Hossain, S. (2022). A Critical Review of Bangladesh's Child Labour Regulations and Policies. World Development Sustainability , 5 , 100177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wds.2024.100177 Chudgar, A., Grover, V., Hatakeyama, S., & Bizhanova, A. (2022). Child labour as a barrier to foundational skills: Evidence from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Prospects , 52 (1–2), 137–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-022-09614-9 Delap, E. (2001). Economic and cultural forces in the child labour debate: Evidence from urban Bangladesh. Journal of Development Studies , 37 (4), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220380412331321971 Dhaka Tribune (2024). Bangladesh at COSP17: Bangladesh’s pioneering efforts and gaps in realising disability rights. [News Article]. https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/longform/351712/bangladesh-at-cosp17-bangladesh%E2%80%99s-pioneering Edmonds, E. V., & Shrestha, M. (2018). Effects of public policy on child labour: Current knowledge, gaps, and implications for program design. World Development , 110 , 104–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.003 Hossain, M., Islam, M., & Rahman, M. (2019). Child labour scenario of Bangladesh: Some recommendations to ban child labour. International Journal of Economics Business and Management Studies , 6 (2), 129–135. [Report] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299083266 ILO (2022). Bangladesh ratifies the Minimum Age Convention. [Report]. https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/bangladesh-ratifies-minimum-age-convention International Labour Organisation (1919). Convention concerning the employment of children in industry (No. 5) [Law]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C005 International Labour Organisation (1973). Convention concerning minimum age for admission to employment (No. 138) [Law]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138 International Labour Organisation (1999). Convention concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour (No. 182) [Law]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182 International Labour Organisation (2000). Combating child labour: A review of policies [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742 International Labour Organisation (2002). A future without child labour [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742 International Labour Organisation (2002). Every child counts: New global estimates on child labour [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742 International Labour Organisation (2004). Investing in every child: An economic study of the costs and benefits of eliminating child labour [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=1752 International Labour Organisation (2006). The end of child labour: Within reach [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=2885 International Labour Organisation (2009). Give girls a chance: Tackling child labour, a key to the future [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=10290 International Labour Organisation (2011). Children in hazardous work: What we know, what we need to do [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=17033 International Labour Organisation (2012). Children in hazardous work: What we know, what we need to do [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=17033 International Labour Organisation (2013). Marking progress against child labour: Global estimates and trends 2000–2012 [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_221513/lang--en/index.htm International Labour Organisation (2015). World report on child labour 2015: Paving the way to decent work for young people [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_358969/lang--en/index.htm International Labour Organisation (2017). Global estimates of child labour: Results and trends, 2012–2016 [Report]. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_575499/lang--en/index.htm International Labour Organisation (2022). Bangladesh ratified the fundamental ILO Convention on child labor. [Report]. https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/bangladesh-ratifies-fundamental-ilo-convention-child-labour Islam, M. R., Akter, R., & Rahman, M. A. (2022). Disability rights and policy gaps in Bangladesh: A legal and institutional review. Journal of Disability Policy Studies , 33 (1), 45–58. [No DOI available]. Islam, M. S., Akter, S., & Khan, M. M. H. (2022). The Bangladeshi Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act of 2013: A policy analysis. Health Policy OPEN , 3 , 100073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpopen.2022.100073 Khanam, R. (2004). Child labour in Bangladesh: Determinants and effects. Labour and Management in Development Journal, 5(10), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X06071523 Ministry of Labour and Employment. (2021). National Action Plan for the Labour Sector (2021–2026) [Policy Document] . Government of Bangladesh. Moshrur-Ul-Alam, M., Rahman, M. M., & Hossain, M. A. (2024). Social Protection Framework for Persons with Disabilities in Bangladesh (Draft) [Policy Document]. Social Security Policy Support (SSPS) Programme. https://socialprotection.gov.bd/2024/11/social-protection-framework-for-persons-with-disabilities-in-bangladesh-draft/ Moshrur-Ul-Alam, Q., Kashem, M. A., Hosen, B., & Raha, R. J. (2024). Understanding societal attitudes towards children with disabilities in Bangladesh: Implications for inclusive policy and practice. Dinkum Journal of Social Innovations , 3 (1), 35–47. [No DOI available]. Quinn, G., Degener, T., & Bruce, A. (2016). Process evaluation of a disability-inclusive employment programme: examining the design and implementation of STAR+. [Report]. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/ 10.1080/13600818.2024.2371125 Rahman, T., & Akhtar, N. (2022). Hazardous child labour in Bangladesh: A critical evaluation of the legal and policy framework vis-à-vis practical challenges. Bangladesh Journal of Law , 21 (1), 45–62. [Report] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364749580 Rights (2013). and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act, [Law]. Ruwanpura, K. N., & Roncolato, L. (2006). Child labour: A review. International Labour Review , 145 (1–2), 147–171. [No DOI available]. Ruwanpura, K. N., & Roncolato, L. (2006). Child rights: An enabling or disabling right? The nexus between child labour and poverty in Bangladesh. International Journal of Comparative Sociology , 47 (5), 379–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715206070269 Science Direct (2024). Labour welfare policy, practices, and deficiencies with the ILO: evidence from the garment industry of Bangladesh. [Report]. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/ 10.1080/0023656X.2024.2373893 Shahjahan, M. B., Mamun, M. A., & Hossain, M. A. (2016). Protecting child labour in Bangladesh under domestic laws. International Journal of Legal Studies and Research , 5 (3), 41–53. [Report] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299083266 The Guardian (2016). 10 activists changing lives for disabled people around the world. [News Article]. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/22/10-activists-changing-lives-disabled-people-around-world Time (2022). Tens of Thousands of Boys in Bangladesh Were Forced into Work During the Pandemic. Now School Is Resuming Without Them. [News Article]. https://time.com/6170432/bangladesh-child-labor-pandemic/ The Times of India (2025). Embrace the potential of people with disabilities: Minister. [News Article]. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/embrace-potential-of-people-with-disabilities-minister/articleshow/121347024.cms U.S. Department of Labour (2023). Findings on the worst forms of child labour in Bangladesh [Report]. UNICEF (2013). The state of the world’s children 2013: Children with disabilities [Report]. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2013 UNICEF (2014). Hidden in plain sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children [Report]. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/reports/hidden-plain-sight UNICEF (2016). The state of the world's children 2016: A fair chance for every child [Report]. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2016 UNICEF (2017). The state of the world's children 2017: Children in a digital world [Report]. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2017 UNICEF (2022). Child labour and disability: A sector review [Report]. UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/child-labour-and-disability-sector-review UNICEF. (2023). Children with Disabilities in Bangladesh: Situation Analysis 2023 [Report] . UNICEF. UNICEF (n.d.). UNICEF is concerned that more than half of children with disabilities in Bangladesh do not go to school. [Press Release]. https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/press-releases/unicef-concerned-more-half-children-disabilities-bangladesh-do-not-go-school United Nations (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child [Treaty]. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child United Nations (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [Treaty]. https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html White, S. C. (2002). From the politics of poverty to the politics of identity? Child rights and working children in Bangladesh. Journal of International Development , 14 (6), 725–735. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.918 World Health Organisation. (2011). World report on disability [Report] . WHO. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 15 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 15 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 18 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 01 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Dec, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 10 Dec, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 28 Nov, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 28 Nov, 2025 First submitted to journal 22 Nov, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8178050","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":559957413,"identity":"79a319dc-86ae-4b38-b06f-5a1a532b3008","order_by":0,"name":"Marzia Jalil","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCAyBCgoEfRCUUkKJFsgGkxYAUywzAWonRIt94OvFzxR8LeePzqxM/PDBgkOcXO0DI8LObJc/wSBhuu/F2swTQYYYzZycQ0MJwdoNkg4QE47YbZzeAtCQY3CagRb7h7OafDQYS9ptnnN38gygtDAfObpNsSJBI3MDfu404W4B+2WbZcEAiecYN3m0WCQYShP0iD3TPzYY/dbb9/UDGjwobeX5pQg6TOABjgFVKEFAOAvwNMMYBPKpGwSgYBaNgRAMAaJ1JLmOh7gIAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Bangladesh Islami University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marzia","middleName":"","lastName":"Jalil","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-11-22 05:53:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8178050/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8178050/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":98776957,"identity":"b4d4c76a-7f8f-4742-a78d-71a93f4ed5ce","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 12:24:42","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":58027,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FinalManuscriptofChildLabour.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/c43e31b7a2a00dcb5d37cbfd.docx"},{"id":98745033,"identity":"0413b420-12bc-4837-8ac8-971bebe6b1bb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 08:37:16","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":3183,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"f65bf828ceca45209b6eee93b7569d18.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/0c9f08a41a61c1bbd2b748e2.json"},{"id":98776768,"identity":"aac3763f-1feb-4dc2-81c6-a03290b067d1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 12:23:31","extension":"xml","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":125980,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"f65bf828ceca45209b6eee93b7569d181enriched.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/9abb66bc3a6ecfeb2de3d5f2.xml"},{"id":98779555,"identity":"160a62be-0d53-486f-8f70-7365dec5187f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 12:30:27","extension":"jpeg","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":1074,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/e745e78ff246fa0725c5d8ac.jpeg"},{"id":98745036,"identity":"4acc39ad-84b2-473a-b5d3-ec99f83a5096","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 08:37:16","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":935,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/693213816eb1f1c41dc892db.png"},{"id":98745035,"identity":"0fe67bae-1d88-4bd9-b757-06b62b83ff9a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 08:37:16","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":5903,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinegroupimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/b20e26c0802daf2f255e2730.png"},{"id":98745038,"identity":"8bfe2877-bed5-4342-a0f3-f62b4bf871d8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 08:37:16","extension":"xml","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":122384,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"f65bf828ceca45209b6eee93b7569d181structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/c3b061d68163a55b2d4378a8.xml"},{"id":98745040,"identity":"06468c95-5277-4d37-8005-dfc5a701d7e2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 08:37:16","extension":"html","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":135191,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/c22d89f0280fb602a7fa3bb2.html"},{"id":98745031,"identity":"2127eee5-10a2-4178-a0f9-7e5c499d20fc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 08:37:16","extension":"jpeg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":38215,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eStudy design flow chart\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"groupimage1.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/2e3a6ac6d52edc14efa3ef95.jpeg"},{"id":98777358,"identity":"18409d1e-a006-4ff7-b42a-68496b21ea4c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 12:26:36","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":5713,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eFocuses on Social Stigma and Exclusion as Factors in the Continuation of Child Labouring among Children with Disabilities.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"placeholderimage.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/9e0dc00931bb77573fcee0b9.png"},{"id":98783256,"identity":"419b657f-963e-427a-ab1e-8f588c033205","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-22 12:41:38","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":803463,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8178050/v1/814ca875-5b95-41f4-a0c9-e767ab493df8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Invisible Justice: Structural and Legal Failures in Safeguarding Disabled Child Labourers across South Asia","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn the developing Global South, underage employment is perhaps one of the most serious challenges to human rights, causing an impending catastrophe of millions around in various occupations that often are exploitative, hazardous, and conflicting with his/her well-being and development. By the year 2016, approximately 152 million minors were subjected to child labour, and many of them were performing high-risk work or exploitative conditions around the world (ILO, 2017). Even though child labour is strongly condemned around the world and many international legal covenants have been adopted for combating youth labor, like ILO-Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (1973) and ILO-Convention No. 182 on The Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999), still implementation of these laws have not been exercised in actual sense in all countries on similar mode due to heterogeneity at regional level. It is to be expected in emerging economies in contexts where persistent poverty, poor governance, and deep-rooted cultural and social norms feed into the drivers of child labour (Edmonds \u0026amp; Shrestha, 2018; Khanam, 2004). Amidst the focus on these more general issues with child labour, one specific subset of those who endure child labour has been neglected: children with disabilities. This child group is also amongst the most vulnerable and marginalised worldwide, but less is known about how well protected they are through both national policies generally, as well as individual legislative provisions. Children with disabilities face a double stigma: for being children and for having physical or cognitive impairments. This not only makes them more vulnerable to being exploited but also ensures they remain outside the legal protections and social services set up with children in mind (UNICEF, 2022).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis tradition has received strong normative backing from international regulatory models, namely the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006). Respectively, the discussed conventions reiterate the freedom from economic exploitation, inclusive education, and a healthy environment for all children. In many developing countries, despite ratifying these instruments, they need to effectively implement them. International norms for universal coverage are protective of children generally, even though they frequently do not change national policy outcomes in practice, especially for working children with disabilities (Islam et al., 2022).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNational legal frameworks are established in countries like Bangladesh to ensure the security of disabled persons, which also includes children. The Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act 2013 is a recent legislation to provide for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and recognition of their entitlements. The step does not mention provisions coupled to the rights of children with disabilities toward labour. Secondly, enforcement mechanisms and avenues to justice for children affected by labour exploitation barely feature. Consequently, the addition of the law to the real-life lived experiences of these working children with disabilities is limited (Islam et al., 2022).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDisability and child labour intersect with many socio-cultural and institutional factors. Prejudice and discrimination against children with disabilities can make them excluded from society, while in some communities, child labour is accepted as the norm, which makes it even more challenging to eliminate. Further, within child protection initiatives, disability-related issues are often consigned to the margins and, as such, interventions tend to be fragmented and therefore less effective (UNICEF, 2013; Ruwanpura \u0026amp; Roncolato, 2006). The consequence has been that children with disabilities have remained practically absent from national policy agendas and international development discourse on child labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe article challenges the legal and policy lacunae that are in the wake of using children with disabilities in child labour-based activity which is going on in urban informal settlements in an LDC like Prevalence and Incidence in Bangladesh. Both prevalence and incidence are still high in Bangladesh. Subverting the rhetoric of neoliberalism and rights, this book advances a re-conception of international human rights commitment as it simultaneously follows and confronts national legal institutions and some of the so-called larger structures - social, economic, cultural that not only universalise risk but reproduce exclusion. This paper highlights the weak and discriminatory adoption of child labour laws and disability rights policies in order to raise awareness about the pressing need for legal reform to secure rights and access for one of the most marginalised groups engaged in global child labour. This paper seeks to reconceptualise working children with disability \u0026apos;not merely as a social injustice, but an economic offence\u0026apos; which takes place in off-the-books forms of precarious employment directly supported by South Asia\u0026apos;s shadow economy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is obviously a research gap here, because studies rarely look at where child labour and disability meet in analysis, yet disabled child workers are virtually absent from both work-oriented policy and disability rights literature. This paper adds by offering a systematic review linking legal frameworks, institutional deficiencies and the socio-cultural factors explaining why children with disabilities remain unprotected in South Asia. The key argument is that they are not only human rights concerns, but acts of political violence and economic structural violence justified by legal invisibility and lax enforcement.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Background and Context ","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.1 International Normative Frameworks\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis tradition has received strong normative backing from international regulatory models, namely the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006). Respectively, the discussed conventions reiterate the freedom from economic exploitation, inclusive education, and a healthy environment for all children. In many developing countries, despite ratifying these instruments, they need to effectively implement them. International norms for universal coverage are protective of children generally, even though they frequently do not change national policy outcomes in practice, especially for working children with disabilities (Islam et al., 2022).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.2National Legal Landscape\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNational legal frameworks are established in countries like Bangladesh to ensure the security of disabled persons, which also includes children. The Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act 2013 is a recent legislation to provide for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and recognition of their entitlements. The step does not mention provisions coupled to the rights of children with disabilities toward labour. Secondly, enforcement mechanisms and avenues to justice for children affected by labour exploitation barely feature. Consequently, the addition of the law to the real-life lived experiences of these working children with disabilities is limited (Islam et al., 2022).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDisability and child labour intersect with many socio-cultural and institutional factors. Prejudice and discrimination against children with disabilities can make them excluded from society, while in some communities, child labour is accepted as the norm, which makes it even more challenging to eliminate. Further, within child protection initiatives, disability-related issues are often consigned to the margins and, as such, interventions tend to be fragmented and therefore less effective (UNICEF, 2013; Ruwanpura \u0026amp; Roncolato, 2006). The consequence has been that children with disabilities have remained practically absent from national policy agendas and international development discourse on child labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe article challenges the legal and policy lacunae that are in the wake of using children with disabilities in child labour-based activity, which is going on in urban informal settlements in an LDC like Prevalence and Incidence in Bangladesh. Both prevalence and incidence are still high in Bangladesh. Subverting the rhetoric of neoliberalism and rights, this book advances a re-conception of international human rights commitment as it simultaneously follows and confronts national legal institutions and some of the so-called larger structures - social, economic, cultural that not only universalise risk but reproduce exclusion. This paper highlights the weak and discriminatory adoption of child labour laws and disability rights policies in order to raise awareness about the pressing need for legal reform to secure rights and access for one of the most marginalised groups engaged in global child labour. This paper seeks to reconceptualise working children with disability \u0026apos;not merely as a social injustice, but an economic offence\u0026apos; which takes place in off-the-books forms of precarious employment directly supported by South Asia\u0026apos;s shadow economy.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"3. Methodology of the Study ","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe analysis required a systematic review approach since it was a qualitative study aimed at determining how legal systems in the Global South respond to the frequency of child labour and disability. The purpose of the review was to summarise the evidence available in the form of academic articles, policy reports and legal acts with the aim to trace common patterns shared by those sources, gaps in legislation and, ultimately, the perspective of its implementation into practice.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStudy design flow chart:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis flow chart illustrates the iterative process, which involves problem identification, review of the literature, development of a thematic framework, data collection and analysis, and synthesis of findings. A comprehensive examination of the legal, institutional, and social determinants of child labour among children with disabilities requires a structured approach.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;Review Strategy\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe systematic search was used on academic databases and institutional sites. A mix of keywords was used to search various academic databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and JSTOR. It is a literature review that utilises works published since 2000 to have a modern relevance and, side by side, to see the trends in long-term policy-making. Moreover, relevant reports, legal frameworks, and conventions dealing with child labour and disability were sought on the official website of international organisations, e.g., ILO, UN, and UNICEF. Looked into the national system of legislation of Bangladesh, and particularly the\u0026nbsp;Rights and welfare of individuals.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;Review of Literature\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSlavery and disability are connected issues that create a complex facet of rights promotion through legislation, particularly in emerging markets. Yet these are typically among the worst accounted for when it comes to implementing policy, and that despite so many international frameworks. Child labour is one of the oldest issues, and a recent estimation by World Agency on child Labour was that there were approximately 152 million child labourers engaged in labour relationships, some of them unsafe, in 2016 (International Labour Organisation [ILO], 2017). Amongst other engaging legal devices that have sought to eliminate child labour and set fixed (minimum) limits on the status of children to work are ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182 (ILO, 1973; ILO, 1999). But such attempts have failed in a country where poverty and social disparities resonate (Edmonds \u0026amp; Shrestha, 2018; Khanam, 2004). The informal economies are where children work; child labour with disabilities occurs; it is part of the criminalised economy, as it were, around vulnerable groups and how they\u0026rsquo;re being exploited for a profit. These activities resemble definitions of systemic economic exploitation and patterns that express aspects of the same attitude found in criminological views of the shadow economy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVery often, there is a lack of uniformity in the enforcement as well (Shahjahan et al., 2016). -123 Safeguards There are rules and regulations in Bangladesh to protect children from labour exploitation. Enduring transgressions arise due to the fact that children are accepted in a cultural sense, and there is a price for the child, along with a lack of governance (Ruwanpura \u0026amp; Roncolato, 2006; Hossain et al., 2019). Moreover, child labour is gendered, with girls being disproportionately affected, as is the case with the ILO (2009). There are additional complications brought about by the interplay between child labour and disability. Disabled children are easier to exploit and less prone to protection using universal child labour laws (UNICEF, 2022). The inaccessibility of legal legislation and the poor implementation of policies worsen these weaknesses (Araten-Bergman, 2022; Islam et al., 2022). Though several international documents like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (United Nations, 2006) have been ratified, the actual implementation is quite slow in most cases.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to legal researchers, the Bangladesh Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act (2013) neglected to define the employment rights as well as access to justice of children with disabilities (Islam et al., 2022). It is worsened by stigmatisation and sidelining of the issues by society in the larger framework of child protection (UNICEF, 2013). Besides, macroeconomic analyses focus on how public policy and social labelling influence the labour practices, mainly in the export-based industries (Bhattacharya, 2001; Anker, 2000). Nevertheless, such strategies usually do not take into consideration disabled children who do not participate in formal employment markets, and they are still at risk in informal industries.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical and policy reviews have revealed how many times the inclusive and comprehensive reforms were called, but the occurrence of child labour encompasses insufficiencies of the structure and a deficiency of political will (White, 2002; Delap, 2001; Alam, 2020). Reports of international organisations are in unison in their position that poverty and access to education should be coordinated in interventions to counter child labour (ILO, 2006; UNICEF, 2016).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo sum up, although there is more than sufficient system of Universal conventions and national regulatory frame-work, the combination of child labour and disability is under-researched and under-secured. A solution to this would involve proper implementation, policy-making, and social transformation to affirm the rights of all minors and especially minors experiencing disabilities working in labour environments with Disability Act (2013), to bring a country-specific lens.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;Inclusion Criteria\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDocuments were considered to keep a focused theme on the findings as follows:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eReferred to child labour laws or disability rights or both of them.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eDressed in the language of law, policy, or governance in developing economies.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003ePresented in English.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eFurnished information, a report, or an organisational study that pertained to child disability employment protection.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExclusion Criteria\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArticles and reports that dealt only with general disability or labour issues without specific reference to children or legal protections were excluded.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eData Extraction and Analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce the preliminary screening was done, selected materials were studied in detail. The material was read thoroughly, and some themes were isolated according to the applicable information generated in the material. The identified themes were legal invisibility of disability, enforcement and policy gaps, institutional fragmentation, and social access to the law. These findings indicate that, beyond the legal perspective or policy-making, existing scholarship has framed child labour as a form of economic crime and criminological victimisation, albeit in relation to disability.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNumerous reviews of the materials were carried out; small changes in the themes were made throughout the process in order to obtain the most important patterns. During the analysis, certain emphasis was put on the inconsistency between legal obligations and the practical course of practice, with specification in the case of minors with disabilities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eScope of the Systematic Review\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn light of this review was based on generally available sources in the English language and has limitations that excluded other local sources that could have been valuable, published in other languages, or internal government documents. In addition, the fact that the pragmatic approach to the results increases their credibility also devalues the significance of the review since it is qualitative, meaning that its results are not quantitative measures.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe results for this review were brought together through academic databases, international regulatory frameworks and national legislations to reflect research from different disciplines and diverse institutions. We searched key academic databases, including PubMed, JSTOR and Google Scholar. We compiled these from our peer-reviewed journal articles and conference paper databases on child labour, disability rights and legal protections in developing areas. The review also encompassed reports, frameworks and guidance documents from major global agencies such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Children\u0026apos;s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO), etc., to further supplement gaps that were left by academic literature. This funded program provided valuable normative and empirical insights into the nature of international law are, in practice.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe review comprised international and academic literature and included a concern for the relevance of national legal materials, with reference to Bangladesh, since it had appeared in the material examined as an example of the large-scale extreme child labour violations and exclusion based on disability. One of the national-level legal documents identified by the review was The Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act (2013), a piece of legislation that outlines entitlements as well as measures for response to Persons with functional limitations in Bangladesh. In finding acts like this, it would establish a mandatory minimum level against which measures had to be measured, whether alignment with international humanitarian obligations and their implementation as an internal matter.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA systematic search method was developed to identify literature and materials of a legal nature. Search terms were \u0026ldquo;child labour and disability\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;legal protection of children with disabilities or the disabled child rights Bangladesh\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;policy implementation developing countries\u0026rdquo;. Once again, these search terms were chosen in an attempt to avoid missing relevant literature with a view to searching both thematic and geographical areas. We aim for comprehensiveness rather than exhaustiveness by addressing updates and trends in legal protections across jurisdictions from 2000 to 2023.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis investigation is also founded on a number of steps in the selection. Title scans for an initial relevance evaluation of document titles. Second, we screened abstracts to examine if they qualified for inclusion. In the last step, a full study of all full-text articles and documents included in this review was done for reading by relevance to applicability. This logical step-by-step method ensured that the review process was limited to materials concerning child labour, disability, and legal governance within developing economies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn order to ensure focus and quality in the review, explicit inclusion/ exclusion criteria were established. Any items that met the following criteria were included:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eThey spoke to child labour laws, disability rights, or both.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eThe study covers analysis on legal frameworks, governance mechanisms, and policy enforcement among less industrialised nations and specifically focuses on South Asia, with more relevant to Bangladesh.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eThese papers were in English and supplied in full-text format to be used for detailed review.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConversely, document sets that did not meet these criteria were excluded. Specifically, the review excluded:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026bull; Any submission that was not based on human rights/legal or policy analysis, including but not limited to submissions on child labour and/or disability as general subjects.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026bull; Workers and persons with disability applicants not applicable (you may mention without emphasis), 6 Studies will also be considered if the population of interest is children or adolescents when not mentioned explicitly.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026bull; Non-English language sources and those that are not accessible (such as subscription journal articles or unpublished internal reports).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese criteria were used for remaining focused narratively and comprehensively reviewing everything obtainable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe examined the selected material using thematic content analysis, an inductive qualitative approach that allows for the identification of patterns and commonly occurring issues among varying types of materials. The approach used for coding was inductive so that themes emerged from the data rather than being pre-imposed. This type of review was ideal for an exploratory analysis such as this one, where you seek to discover the root of problems and areas where we might be missing policy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoding and Analysis Iterative Cycles Legal gaps, challenges in enforcing the law, and social obstacles were first identified by open coding. The codes were re-organised into larger thematic categories as coding evolved and eventually:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eA phrase used by EHRC in the Title: Legal invisibility means that children with disabilities are not explicitly covered by child labour laws.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eGaps in the process of legal implementation: non-enforcement of existing laws, and absence of institutional capacity.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eDiscriminatory social stigma and cultural beliefs that limit access to services and support mechanisms weaken the protection of disabled children from abuse.\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003ePolicy-Practice gap: This is the way to say that there are formal laws, but they are not implemented well on the ground.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this process, every document was re-reviewed to be consistent, and category definitions were finalised. The repeatability of this process helped to increase the trustworthiness and legitimacy of the thematic interpretations.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"4. Results","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe scrutiny of the chosen legal texts, scholarly articles, and policy statements that include several international documents serving as the thematic tool confirmed four main themes that reflect the insufficient legal protection of children living with disabilities who work in countries with developing economies, since the majority of the selected examples are from the South Asian region.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMarginalisation in legislative discourse\u0026nbsp;on labour laws:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough there have been international agreements to implement the rights of children with disabilities, laws in most developing nations, such as Bangladesh, at the national level do not explicitly recognise the needs of children with disabilities to deliberate on the special vulnerabilities of labour. Such an exclusion leaves out a huge gap in protection. Bangladesh is a party to international treaties that attempt to abolish child labour, notably the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). These tools establish norms regarding the minimum working age and the ban on the worst type of child labour. They, however, do not focus on the intersection between child labour and disability. As a result, the laws enacted at the national level that are motivated by the said conventions cannot take into consideration the individualised needs of children with special challenge. This invisibility allows exploiters to effectively function in the underground labour market, where the use of children with disabilities is acceptable as part of their informal economy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe absence of children with disabilities in the labour laws is a sad inkhole in Bangladesh\u0026rsquo;s national legal book. While national labour and disability legislation generally reflects international human rights standards, this law does not specifically take into account the particular risks that children with disabilities face when they work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act,\u0026ensp;2013 Although the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2013 is expansive in delineating fundamental rights to education, healthcare, and social integration, it does not consider labour protection. It fails to include specific protections regarding the economic exploitation or dangerous employment of children with disabilities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConsequently, \u0026ensp;these children are still unprotected in law, particularly in the informal and unorganised work. To fail to single out legislative responses that erase marginalised communities, and put them at risk for violence, abuse, discrimination, and exploitation, also makes clearly visible these problems under the law (and policy) as it currently stands.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Bangladesh, the Rights and Protection of Persons with disabilities act (2013) states that there are general protections and rights, which may include, among others, education, health, and social integration of persons with disabilities. But it fails to have special contexts on the rights of labour of children with disabilities, especially on the section of people with disabilities regarding the defensive exploitation of labour. Likewise, the Labour Act of Bangladesh (2006) banned the use of children below 14 years in employment, but limited hazardous employment to children below 18 years. However, it lacks the provisions that explicitly protect non-abled children against being exploited in labour. Failure to provide special laws makes children with disabilities vulnerable, particularly in the informal industries where the laws are poorly implemented.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe application of the current child labour laws is also undermined by the fact that disaggregated data do not represent children with disabilities. It is hard to develop and erect policies that adhere to their needs when the proper statistics are lacking. UNICEF notes that children with disabilities tend to be hidden in the official statistics and are considered to be invisible in the process of planning and allocation of resources (UNICEF, 2013).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eImplementation barriers of child labour policies for children with disabilities in Bangladesh:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite the various measures and policies that the country of Bangladesh has implemented to overcome the issue of child labour, a significant barrier still exists in the implementation of the policies, particularly in catering to the needs of children with disabilities. These problems are multidimensional, including structural, calibrating, and socio-cultural issues.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe task of dealing with child labour is split between several governmental offices, such as the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ministry of Social Welfare, and the Ministry of Education. Such fragmentation usually manifests itself in overlapping mandates and the absence of direct accountability, ineffective coordination, and implementation of child labour policies. To give an example, the Ministry of Labour and Employment deals with labour regulations; therefore, disability-related affairs are in the hands of the Ministry of Social Welfare, and there is a potential problem of not catering to the unique needs of children with disabilities who are involved in labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe programming applications of child labour policies for children with disabilities in Bangladesh reflect challenges at institutional, structural and socio-cultural levels. Although there are current legislations aiming at the elimination of child labour, they have had little success in preventing it among children with disabilities as a result of systemic failures and neglect.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStructural Level: Fragmented functional responsibilities across multiple ministries (i.e., the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Education) lead to confusion over roles and reduce accountability. This lack of cooperation between ministries makes for a fragmented system that can not take coordinated action to eliminate child labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the lack of capacity: enforcement agencies, such as DIFE (Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments), have a perennial resource personnel shortage, lack of disability-inclusive training to enforce. Therefore, inspectors and officers are often poorly prepared to recognise or address the particular risks of exploitation which children with disabilities encounter.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMonitoring and enforcement mechanisms are particularly weak in informal sectors where the bulk of child labour takes place. This is an unregulated terrain and the monitoring mechanisms do not cover many workplaces - like home-based manufacturing, small-scale industries and street-based activities - leaving children with disability at the margins.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eData Gap Large data gap also exacerbates the problem. The lack of adequate, disaggregated data on children with disabilities in the labour market hinders the development of appropriate policies and budgets for them, as well as monitoring progress. This absence in national data systems has served to amplify their marginalisation in public policy agendas.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSocio-cultural barriers are also important. Low local awareness, stigma, and disability myths are obstacles for local governments to make effective measurements of disability inclusive child protection. As a result, they tend to be programs for all children, to the exclusion of children with disabilities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRelated to this point, the policy-practice gap highlights how there may be good laws in place (such as those mandating quotas), but they are not followed in practice. The disjunction between law in the books and law on the ground ensures that children with disabilities remain excluded from protection frameworks, and therefore are vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn summary, these barriers reveal how governance is fractured, capacity is weak, and monitoring is deficient,\u0026amp; the impact of which, with cultural prejudices, combine to prevent proper enforcement of the rights of children with disabilities in Bangladesh.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe implementation agencies are usually limited in resources, training, and personnel, and thus, they do not have the capacity to monitor and respond to child labour violations satisfactorily. Labour laws are enforced by the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE), which has minimal capacity to carry out inspections, particularly in the informal sectors, where most child labour occurs. Besides, the absence of specific disability inclusion training in the enforcement officers inevitably contributes to the problem since they might not be prepared to detect and address the cases of children with disabilities (UNICEF, 2023).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne more obstacle to adequate implementation of policies includes the unavailability of quality information regarding child labour, especially about disabled children. Lack of disaggregated data makes it difficult to come up with a specific intervention and track progress. The lack of accurate statistics means that the needs of children with disabilities will still not be taken into account when it comes to policy making and distribution of resources, thus the children will continue to be used in labour markets.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo simplify this in a nutshell, many of the policies aimed at the protection of children with and without disabilities go astray through poor implementation in terms of uneven allocation of activities among ministries and poor inter-agency coordination. According to reports of the WHO and UNICEF, there is a lack of training and resources in the enforcement body\u0026rsquo;s ability to recognise or react to instances that involve children with disabilities (UNICEF, 2013; WHO, 2011). World Report of Disability. According to a number of studies, inconsistency in local governance structures was reported as a problematic issue in the enforcement of the child labour legislation, with few people familiar with the disability inclusion requirements. It has led to a gap in the law in that there are protections on paper, but they are hardly implemented on the ground as active interventions (Islam et al., 2022; Ruwanpura \u0026amp; Roncolato, 2006). This kind of loose enforcement builds impunity zones, where systemic economic violence against children with disabilities flourishes unchecked.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSocial stigma and exclusion from formal protections\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDisability attitudes in Bangladesh are a serious barrier to the inclusion and (child) protection of children with disabilities. Fabricated beliefs place great emphasis on disability being a punishment or something bad, and causing many stigmas. These beliefs have created shame and, at times, fear for families who are even known to keep their children indoors so as not to expose them to such discrimination from the community. It\u0026apos;s not only a lack of social opportunities that are lost through the isolation, but also from many of the most basic services, including access to education and healthcare. (Moshrur-Ul-Alam et al., 2024).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe exclusion of education is a matter of immediate concern. Evidence shows that there are high rates of children with disabilities who do not access formal education in Bangladesh. Many of those who do attend school are behind grade level because of the insufficient specialised attention and educational opportunities. This problem is also aggravated by the lack of inclusive educational activity and infrastructure, and therefore, these children find it hard to succeed in schools (UNICEF, 2023).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe problem is aggravated by economic hardships. The children with disabilities are seen as expenses by the people in low-income families. As a result, families can place greater emphasis on short-term economic requirements than on education in the long term, and such children are driven to work. Not only does this subject them to maltreatment, but it also propagates poverty and marginalisation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition, disabled people do not get the community members or the service providers to attend to them as a fact because their disability rights are not known and understood by many in society. The children with disabilities will remain in the background without being able to give their full potential unless the attitude of society is challenged and altered to a new state of mind, with the necessary effort to transform society.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe attitudes of society towards the disabled were established as a significant hindrance to the implementation of the law. Because of stigma and misunderstanding concerning the capacities and rights of children with disabilities, they are frequently withdrawn from the educational system as well as child protection services. This issue has been emphasised in several country reports and academic studies where economically stressed families of disabled children tend to rationalise labour as a means of survival or rehabilitation since they failed to protect themselves through the set of laws (UNICEF, 2013). The normalisation of labour among the disabled children, particularly in the informal sectors, is the common factor that causes them to be less visible in the larger legal reform initiatives. These social and cultural barriers also contribute to an exploitative economy, in which families or employers rationalise the economic value of placing a disabled child in various forms of service enslavement throughout their lives.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMismatch between international commitments and domestic practices\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis has not been fully implemented; full implementation in Bangladesh, especially for children with disabilities, through its adherence to the international conventions of the rights of the children, as shown through its endorsement of major conventions adopted on the issue, such as the ILO Conventions No. 138 and 182 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The process fails to connect because of the lack of legal systems, but rather because of the low inclusiveness and the poor implementation of the legal systems available.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFigure 2 focuses on Social Stigma and Exclusion as Factors in the Continuation of Child Labouring among Children with Disabilities. Its dialectic based on anonymisation, discrimination and assumption of the hamlet as a target community contributes to further isolation and poor response that seems tied in a vicious loop, which renders these children invisible victims, easy prey for the labour markets.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBarriers to Addressing Child Labour Involving Children with Disabilities in Bangladesh:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChild labour has been recognised in the NCLEP 2010 of Bangladesh to be hazardous, and the NCLEP includes strategies for eliminating hazardous child labour and indicates special attention needed towards the physically challenged children also. However, the policy doesn\u0026rsquo;t provide operational guidance and disability-specific tools to implement it. It is underrepresented when it comes to the evaluation and reporting on the Special Action Plan for the physically challenged, which demonstrates disparities between legislation and reality (Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, 2021).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLikewise, the National Action Plan (NAP) for the Labour Sector (20212026) sets out broad directions in an effort to eradicate the worst form of child labour by 2025, whereas the aspect of disability as a vulnerable group has not been sufficiently embedded. This restricts the surge of national efforts to fix the targeted threat that children with physical or cognitive disabilities encounter and remain invisible to most people, and appear in national data less frequently (Ministry of Labour and Employment, 2021). Disaggregated data regarding disability is one of the most important obstacles to inclusive enforcement. Although the National Child Labour Survey, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, has provided a study of child labour in 2022, it has been difficult to find publicly available information on the extent to which children with disabilities were surveyed and how this data is employed to deliver changes in policy in this sector (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2023).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoreover, the U.S. Department of Labour report published in 2023 cited fundamental enforcement concerns in Bangladesh, poor resource allocation, inadequate labour inspections, and the absence of a unifying disability rights and social protection efforts. This results in such a state of affairs that a legal framework introduces the possibility of its protection, but does not allude to the actual experiences of children with disabilities working in the labour market, especially in informal or family environments (U.S. Department of Labour, 2023).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe truth of the matter is that national systems have a tendency to view child labour and disability as different sections of policy, and this has seen to it that there is a fragmented response, which puts disabled children at risk. To fill this gap in policy, more than simply bringing domestic law compliance with international norms, would have to include layers of inclusion, intersectional protection that takes into consideration the added risk faced by the child labourer because he or she is disabled. Tougher observation, capacity-building by enforcement agencies, and participatory information are needed to make sure that promises are substantially followed by action on the ground. But despite ratifying conventions, the failure of individual states to make and enforce laws against such abuse leaves disabled children trapped in clandestine economies of exploitation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Key Themes:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKey themes findings summary. These are the main findings of the study on\u0026nbsp;the marginalisation of children with disabilities from\u0026nbsp;child labour shielding mechanisms in Bangladesh. They result in four interconnected themes, showing how legal, institutional and societal failures work together to maintain these children\u0026rsquo;s invisibility as well as insecurity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first theme, \u0026quot;limited legal recognition\u0026quot;, illuminates that children with disabilities are rarely explicitly referenced in national labour laws. Although Bangladesh is party to the international conventions like * ILO Conventions No. 138 \u0026amp; 182, there are no disability specific provisions in its national legal framework. Though the *PWD Act 2013** is notable for securing rights to education, health, and inclusion in correlation with impairments of all kinds, it says little on economic exploitation and labour protection of disabled children. The lack of explicit legislation in this regard contributes to weak formal acknowledgement of their special vulnerabilities in the world of work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second issue, weak enforcement and coordination, points to the fractured and inadequately coordinated institutional organs which have been charged with enforcing child labour laws. Institutions involved in implementation, such as DIFE and the Ministry of Labour, or that have roles to play in creating disability friendly regulations, like the Ministry of Social Welfare, suffer from resource scarcity and lack exposure to disability-specific training. Although there have been wide-ranging policies and international obligations, their implementation is poor [UNICEF (2013) and WHO (2011)].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe third category, social obstacles and myths, includes one article that illustrates how long-standing stereotypes about the disability in general are still affecting the ways through which children with disabilities are understood and treated. Child work is commonly mistaken for care, \u0026ensp;acquired skills and contribution to the household economy in poor families. These misconceptions, along with extensive poverty and a large number of not reporting abuses and preventing response identified by UNICEF (2013).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis leads to the last topic of policy-practice mismatch, which addresses Bangladesh\u0026rsquo;s frustrating disjuncture between policy declarations and actual action on the ground. The country has committed to upholding international standards on child protection; however, national strategies to combat child labour do not typically contain data specifically disaggregated by disability. As a result, the construction of planning, budgeting monitoring instruments does not pay sufficient attention to focus on children with disabilities. Studies by Islam et al. (2022) ** and ** Ruwanpura \u0026amp; Roncolato (2006) show that in spite of policy mechanisms existing on paper, their operationalisation is very limited.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn conclusion, these themes taken together reveal a chain of legal apathy, poor governance, social discrimination, and policy inertia** that altogether maintain the continued invisibility of disabled children within Bangladesh\u0026rsquo;s child labour protection systems.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"5. Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eAnalysed from an economic criminological perspective, child labour involving disabled children is not merely an international obligation being ignored but a form of systemic economic crime that persists within deregulated labour markets. Although Bangladesh has signed essential international conventions, including, firstly, ILO Conventions no. 138 and 182, and secondly, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the national legislation often does not specify aspects related to children with disabilities when they are\u0026nbsp;vulnerable to labour environments. The Bangladesh Labour Act (2006) prohibits the employment of children under 14 and restricts hazardous work for children under 18, but it does not explicitly safeguard children with disabilities from labour exploitation. Similarly, the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act (2013) provides broad protections but lacks specific provisions concerning the labour rights of children with disabilities. This gap in clarity creates a significant vulnerability for children with functional limitations, who are at heightened threat in the informal sectors where labour laws are frequently poorly enforced.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuties regarding child labour have been spread across various agencies of the government, thus creating duplication of duty and a lack of certainty in accountability. This has led to poor coordination of child labour policies as well as implementation. The restricted resources, training, and personnel of implementation agencies usually hamper them from keeping track of and tackling the violations of child labour successfully. The enforcing body of labour law, which is the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE), has limited capability to do the inspection generally in the informal sectors where child labour is prevalent. Further, this problem is aggravated by the appointment of the enforcement officers without special training on disability inclusion, who may not be well prepared to handle and report cases where children have disabilities (UNICEF, 2023).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe social perception of disability in Bangladesh is a significant contributor towards the under-pricing of children with disabilities. There is a lot of stigma around disability. Strong beliefs and thought patterns that are attached to it, one of them being the feeling that disability is like a curse or asinine given by God. These may produce families who are ashamed or threatened, even keeping the children inside so that they won\u0026rsquo;t be stigmatised. This kind of isolation doesn\u0026rsquo;t allow kids to be part of a social network and puts less rich children at a disadvantage, for example, in terms of schooling or health services. (Moshrur-Ul-Alam et al., 2024). The fact that economically it is tough makes the situation worse since there is a likelihood that families have a better chance when it comes to short-term economic necessities than getting long-term returns of education, and hence, such children are exposed to work. It not only subjects them to abuse but also breeds a cycle of deprivation and disenfranchisement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBangladesh has manifested its capacity to support international initiatives to preserve the dignity and rights of children, but certain commitments have not been fully achieved in terms of implementing the same in detail, both domestically and especially for children with disabilities. The break is not in the nonexistence of legal regulations but in their narrow scope, instead of inclusiveness and poor implementation. The National Child Labour Elimination Policy (NCLEP) 2010 by Bangladesh specifies the strategy to abolish the existence of hazardous child labour and equates to the need for special attention on the children with physical challenges. Nevertheless, the policy is not clear in its operation; it does not have tools for specific disability. Assessments and reporting of the Special Action Plan to the physically challenged are limited or outdated, and it demonstrates that there is a discrepancy between the goals and the practice (Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, 2021). In the same way, the National Action Plan (NAP) for the Labour Sector (20212026) includes general objectives to eradicate the\u0026nbsp;worst-case child labour practices\u0026nbsp;by 2025 and fails to incorporate effectively the aspect of disability as a condition of vulnerability. This constrains whether country-level responses can respond to the vulnerabilities experienced by children with physical or cognitive disabilities who are habitually out of sight and poorly represented nationally (Ministry of Labour and Employment, 2021).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStrengths along with Limitations\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConnected to\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;the Study\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStrengths:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eThis study exhibits several strengths that give it value as a scholarly and policy contribution.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the first place, it introduces a new intersectional lens, bringing the study of child labour into conversation with disability. This binary lens is rarely explored in legal and policy literature within the Global South and offers a novel understanding of how disability can compound child exploitation in work. By positioning these matters as human rights abuses and economic crimes, the paper introduces a unique criminological and socio-legal element to the debate.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecond, \u0026ensp;the study takes a comparative regional perspective and considers Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. This wide geographical reach allows the analysis to apprehend common policy weakness -such as weak enforcement and legal invisibility- while acknowledging that differing national legislative and institutional capacity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThird, the application of systematic and transparent qualitative review enhances credibility in our findings. Clear inclusion and exclusion criteria and a clearly defined process for thematic coding, which involved working with academic, legal and policy documentation, \u0026ensp;result in a rigorous analytical framework.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFourthly, the theoretical basis is another innovation of this study. By framing the exploitation of disabled children as a systemic economic crime based upon shadow economies, this work disrupts traditional welfare discourses and places the challenge within wider debates regarding governance, justice and accountability.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eLimitations\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough we have attempted to be methodologically rigorous in our approach to data collection and analysis, this review has a number of important limitations that may influence the breadth and generalizability of its findings. With a caveat: firstly, because this was restricted to Anglophone sources, potentially missing the local perspective or key regional publications written in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, and other local languages of the South Asian context. Therefore, it may have also missed relevant information on community-level interventions or indigenous knowledge systems and reports from grassroots advocacy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecondly, the review was qualitative in nature, which, although suitable for depth, may intrinsically be less quantitative than other forms of enquiry. With this, we are not introducing any numerical values or statistical surmises, as one can find in quantitative reviews or meta‐analyses. Instead, it offers a measure of the richness of description and depth of interpretation of themes, better suited methods for grappling with complex legal and social phenomena, but not easily comparable to one another across regions or through time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, the review was restricted by a lack of access to internal or unpublished government documents, including confidential policy drafts, implementation audits, or field reports authored by state agencies. That only limits the level of analysis of how and how well, or not, protective laws can be enforced in reality. Thus, judgments for policy compliance and legal efficacy are predominantly arrived at on the basis of secondary reporting, and thus may not actually be an accurate representation at the ground level.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePolicy Implications\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study\u0026rsquo;s outcomes reveal the importance of immediate and inclusive policy measures to safeguard children with disabilities against abusive working conditions in least developed contexts, such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The implications for policy\u0026ensp;makers, legislators, and international stakeholders are as follows:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eLaw Reform on Disability Issues in Labour Laws:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNational child labour legislation needs to be revised to specifically cover and outlaw\u0026nbsp;the coercion or manipulation of children with disabilities\u0026nbsp;in all employment, including informal work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act (2013) must include labour-specific provisions that penalise economic exploitation, as well as ensure all who are targeted for their work can access compensation and rehabilitation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuch concerns mandate regional model statutes under the SAARC or ASEAN banner, designed to standardise disability-inclusive child labour norms in the Global South.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eStrengthening Institutional Coordination:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ministry of Labour, Social Welfare and Education should set up an inter-ministerial task force with a clear system of responsibility for monitoring child labour in relation to children with disabilities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe coaching\u0026nbsp;on disability inclusion\u0026nbsp;ought to be made compulsory for DIFE inspectors and also for local government authorities who are responsible for enforcement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChild protection committees in the community should be empowered or capacitated to identify, report and rehabilitate disabled children involved in child labour (informal sector).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eData Collection and Monitoring Systems:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGovernments need to develop disaggregated country-specific databases that record the disability status in child labour surveys and monitoring processes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and similar national institutions must incorporate disability indicators into regular child labour and household surveys to inform policy interventions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlliances between UNICEF, ILO and national statistical offices can ensure the institutionalisation of such data systems for cross-country comparisons and international accountability.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003ePublic Awareness and Social Transformation:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNational awareness programmes should target perceptions of stigma, myths and socio-cultural misconceptions that legitimise the use of disabled children as economic contributors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn education and media programs, \u0026ensp;they should put forward a rights-based account of disability, highlighting examples of successful disabled people as a way to change public perceptions about what it means to be part of an inclusive culture.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIndeed, inclusion modules need to be developed in school curricula and community education to drive ongoing social change.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eInclusive Education and Economic Alternatives:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInfrastructural investment in inclusive education is crucial to keep children with disabilities in school instead of driving them into labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConditional cash transfers and minimum basic needs-oriented social protection schemes for low-income families with children who are disabled need to be extended to help reduce economic pressures forcing child labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublic\u0026ndash;private partnerships can be established to develop vocational rehabilitation and employment services for adults with disabilities who are the destination of children, thus eliminating economic incentives to use child labour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eInternational Cooperation and Accountability:\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInternational institutions, including the ILO, UNICEF and UNDP, are encouraged to assist developing countries in conducting disability-inclusive monitoring for their work under SDG\u0026ensp;8.7 (eliminating child labour) and SDG 10 (reducing poverty).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDonor agencies and trading partners have to make aid and investment conditional on measurable progress on disability-inclusive child labour eradication.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRegional peer review processes can encourage mutual accountability and transparency in reporting the fulfilment of CRC and CRPD commitments.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"6. Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe problems that children with disabilities experience during the method of labour in the developing economies are thoroughly systemic in terms of legal, institutional, societal, and policy aspects. These challenges need a multifactorial response involving the creation of inclusive legislation, improving the functionality of the institutions, mitigating the stigma of a given society, and aligning domestic practices with international commitments. It is only by combining these areas of effort that Guarantees of care and justice for children with disabilities will be maximised. More than merely a human rights abuse, these practices should be understood as an economic offence emanating from shadow economies and legal change, together with criminological intervention dealing with abusive markets for disabled children, is necessary.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStatement on Generative AI for the Development of Scientific Writing\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe author apologises for the limited use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve the grammar, style, and clarity of the manuscript. There was no AI-generated content, data analysis, or interpretation. No AI was involved in generating intellectual content for the paper, having original ideas, or taking final responsibility for the paper.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003eEthical Approval:\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;The author declares that the work does not involve any human participants who could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.\u0026nbsp;\u003cbr\u003e\u0026nbsp;Funding: Not Applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAvailability of Data and Materials: Not Applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarzia Jalil solely conceptualised the research, designed the methodology, collected and analysed the data, interpreted the findings, and drafted and revised the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAhad, M. A., Parry, Y. K., Willis, E., \u0026amp; Ullah, S. (2024). Key Informant Views of the Determinants of Child Labour Maltreatment. \u003cem\u003eChildren\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e11\u003c/em\u003e(6), 708. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.3390/children11060708\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.3390/children11060708\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlam, A. (2020). A critical legal analysis of child labour in Bangladesh with special recommendations of ILO, UNICEF and UNESCO. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 4(7), 115\u0026ndash;119. [Report]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/a-critical-legal-analysis-of-child-labor-in-bangladesh\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/a-critical-legal-analysis-of-child-labor-in-bangladesh\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnker, R. (2000). Conceptual and research frameworks for the economics of child labour and its elimination. \u003cem\u003eInternational Labour Review\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e139\u003c/em\u003e(3), 257\u0026ndash;280. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2000.tb00227.x\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1111/j.1564-913X.2000.tb00227.x\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAraten-Bergman, T. (2022). Legislation on disability and employment: To what extent are employment rights guaranteed for persons with disabilities? \u003cem\u003eDisability and Rehabilitation\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e44\u003c/em\u003e(14), 3371\u0026ndash;3380. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2020.1858356\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1080/09638288.2020.1858356\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2023). National Child Labour Survey 2022 [Report].\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBangladesh Labour, A. (2006). [Law].\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBhattacharya, D. (2001). International trade, social labelling, and developing countries: The case of Bangladesh's garment export and the use of child labour. \u003cem\u003eWorld Economy\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e24\u003c/em\u003e(9), 1453\u0026ndash;1470. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9701.00400\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1111/1467-9701.00400\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBureau of Manpower, Employment and Training. (2021). \u003cem\u003eSpecial action plan for the physically challenged [Policy Document]\u003c/em\u003e. Government of Bangladesh.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChild Rights and Business (n.d.). Strengthening child protection efforts in Bangladesh with UNICEF. [Report]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.childrights-business.org/impact/strengthening-child-protection-efforts-in-bangladesh-with-unicef\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.childrights-business.org/impact/strengthening-child-protection-efforts-in-bangladesh-with-unicef\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChowdhury, M., Rahman, M., \u0026amp; Hossain, S. (2022). A Critical Review of Bangladesh's Child Labour Regulations and Policies. \u003cem\u003eWorld Development Sustainability\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e5\u003c/em\u003e, 100177. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.wds.2024.100177\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1016/j.wds.2024.100177\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChudgar, A., Grover, V., Hatakeyama, S., \u0026amp; Bizhanova, A. (2022). Child labour as a barrier to foundational skills: Evidence from Bangladesh and Pakistan. \u003cem\u003eProspects\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e52\u003c/em\u003e(1\u0026ndash;2), 137\u0026ndash;156. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-022-09614-9\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1007/s11125-022-09614-9\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDelap, E. (2001). Economic and cultural forces in the child labour debate: Evidence from urban Bangladesh. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Development Studies\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e37\u003c/em\u003e(4), 1\u0026ndash;22. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1080/00220380412331321971\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1080/00220380412331321971\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDhaka Tribune (2024). Bangladesh at COSP17: Bangladesh\u0026rsquo;s pioneering efforts and gaps in realising disability rights. [News Article]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/longform/351712/bangladesh-at-cosp17-bangladesh%E2%80%99s-pioneering\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/longform/351712/bangladesh-at-cosp17-bangladesh%E2%80%99s-pioneering\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdmonds, E. V., \u0026amp; Shrestha, M. (2018). Effects of public policy on child labour: Current knowledge, gaps, and implications for program design. \u003cem\u003eWorld Development\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e110\u003c/em\u003e, 104\u0026ndash;123. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.003\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.003\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHossain, M., Islam, M., \u0026amp; Rahman, M. (2019). Child labour scenario of Bangladesh: Some recommendations to ban child labour. \u003cem\u003eInternational Journal of Economics Business and Management Studies\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e6\u003c/em\u003e(2), 129\u0026ndash;135. [Report]\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/299083266\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299083266\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eILO (2022). Bangladesh ratifies the Minimum Age Convention. [Report]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/resource/news/bangladesh-ratifies-minimum-age-convention\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/bangladesh-ratifies-minimum-age-convention\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (1919). Convention concerning the employment of children in industry (No. 5) [Law]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C005\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C005\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (1973). Convention concerning minimum age for admission to employment (No. 138) [Law]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (1999). Convention concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour (No. 182) [Law]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2000). Combating child labour: A review of policies [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2002). A future without child labour [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2002). Every child counts: New global estimates on child labour [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2004). Investing in every child: An economic study of the costs and benefits of eliminating child labour [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=1752\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=1752\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2006). The end of child labour: Within reach [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=2885\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=2885\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2009). Give girls a chance: Tackling child labour, a key to the future [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=10290\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=10290\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2011). Children in hazardous work: What we know, what we need to do [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=17033\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=17033\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2012). Children in hazardous work: What we know, what we need to do [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=17033\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=17033\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2013). Marking progress against child labour: Global estimates and trends 2000\u0026ndash;2012 [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_221513/lang--en/index.htm\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_221513/lang--en/index.htm\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2015). World report on child labour 2015: Paving the way to decent work for young people [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_358969/lang--en/index.htm\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_358969/lang--en/index.htm\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2017). Global estimates of child labour: Results and trends, 2012\u0026ndash;2016 [Report]. ILO. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_575499/lang--en/index.htm\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_575499/lang--en/index.htm\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInternational Labour Organisation (2022). Bangladesh ratified the fundamental ILO Convention on child labor. [Report]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ilo.org/resource/news/bangladesh-ratifies-fundamental-ilo-convention-child-labour\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/bangladesh-ratifies-fundamental-ilo-convention-child-labour\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIslam, M. R., Akter, R., \u0026amp; Rahman, M. A. (2022). Disability rights and policy gaps in Bangladesh: A legal and institutional review. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Disability Policy Studies\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e33\u003c/em\u003e(1), 45\u0026ndash;58. [No DOI available].\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIslam, M. S., Akter, S., \u0026amp; Khan, M. M. H. (2022). The Bangladeshi Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act of 2013: A policy analysis. \u003cem\u003eHealth Policy OPEN\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e3\u003c/em\u003e, 100073. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpopen.2022.100073\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1016/j.hpopen.2022.100073\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eKhanam, R. (2004). Child labour in Bangladesh: Determinants and effects. Labour and Management in Development Journal, 5(10), 1\u0026ndash;15. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X06071523\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1177/0169796X06071523\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMinistry of Labour and Employment. (2021). \u003cem\u003eNational Action Plan for the Labour Sector (2021\u0026ndash;2026) [Policy Document]\u003c/em\u003e. Government of Bangladesh.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMoshrur-Ul-Alam, M., Rahman, M. M., \u0026amp; Hossain, M. A. (2024). Social Protection Framework for Persons with Disabilities in Bangladesh (Draft) [Policy Document]. Social Security Policy Support (SSPS) Programme. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://socialprotection.gov.bd/2024/11/social-protection-framework-for-persons-with-disabilities-in-bangladesh-draft/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://socialprotection.gov.bd/2024/11/social-protection-framework-for-persons-with-disabilities-in-bangladesh-draft/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMoshrur-Ul-Alam, Q., Kashem, M. A., Hosen, B., \u0026amp; Raha, R. J. (2024). Understanding societal attitudes towards children with disabilities in Bangladesh: Implications for inclusive policy and practice. \u003cem\u003eDinkum Journal of Social Innovations\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e3\u003c/em\u003e(1), 35\u0026ndash;47. [No DOI available].\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eQuinn, G., Degener, T., \u0026amp; Bruce, A. (2016). Process evaluation of a disability-inclusive employment programme: examining the design and implementation of STAR+. [Report]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003e10.1080/13600818.2024.2371125\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1080/13600818.2024.2371125\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRahman, T., \u0026amp; Akhtar, N. (2022). Hazardous child labour in Bangladesh: A critical evaluation of the legal and policy framework vis-\u0026agrave;-vis practical challenges. \u003cem\u003eBangladesh Journal of Law\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e21\u003c/em\u003e(1), 45\u0026ndash;62. [Report]\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/364749580\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364749580\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRights (2013). and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act, [Law].\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRuwanpura, K. N., \u0026amp; Roncolato, L. (2006). Child labour: A review. \u003cem\u003eInternational Labour Review\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e145\u003c/em\u003e(1\u0026ndash;2), 147\u0026ndash;171. [No DOI available].\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRuwanpura, K. N., \u0026amp; Roncolato, L. (2006). Child rights: An enabling or disabling right? The nexus between child labour and poverty in Bangladesh. \u003cem\u003eInternational Journal of Comparative Sociology\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e47\u003c/em\u003e(5), 379\u0026ndash;403. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1177/0020715206070269\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1177/0020715206070269\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eScience Direct (2024). Labour welfare policy, practices, and deficiencies with the ILO: evidence from the garment industry of Bangladesh. [Report]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003e10.1080/0023656X.2024.2373893\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1080/0023656X.2024.2373893\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShahjahan, M. B., Mamun, M. A., \u0026amp; Hossain, M. A. (2016). Protecting child labour in Bangladesh under domestic laws. \u003cem\u003eInternational Journal of Legal Studies and Research\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e5\u003c/em\u003e(3), 41\u0026ndash;53. [Report]\u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/299083266\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299083266\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Guardian (2016). 10 activists changing lives for disabled people around the world. [News Article]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/22/10-activists-changing-lives-disabled-people-around-world\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/22/10-activists-changing-lives-disabled-people-around-world\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTime (2022). Tens of Thousands of Boys in Bangladesh Were Forced into Work During the Pandemic. Now School Is Resuming Without Them. [News Article]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://time.com/6170432/bangladesh-child-labor-pandemic/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://time.com/6170432/bangladesh-child-labor-pandemic/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Times of India (2025). Embrace the potential of people with disabilities: Minister. [News Article]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/embrace-potential-of-people-with-disabilities-minister/articleshow/121347024.cms\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/embrace-potential-of-people-with-disabilities-minister/articleshow/121347024.cms\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eU.S. Department of Labour (2023). Findings on the worst forms of child labour in Bangladesh [Report].\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNICEF (2013). The state of the world\u0026rsquo;s children 2013: Children with disabilities [Report]. UNICEF. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2013\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2013\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNICEF (2014). Hidden in plain sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children [Report]. UNICEF. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.unicef.org/reports/hidden-plain-sight\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.unicef.org/reports/hidden-plain-sight\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNICEF (2016). The state of the world's children 2016: A fair chance for every child [Report]. UNICEF. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2016\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2016\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNICEF (2017). The state of the world's children 2017: Children in a digital world [Report]. UNICEF. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2017\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2017\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNICEF (2022). Child labour and disability: A sector review [Report]. UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/child-labour-and-disability-sector-review\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/child-labour-and-disability-sector-review\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNICEF. (2023). \u003cem\u003eChildren with Disabilities in Bangladesh: Situation Analysis 2023 [Report]\u003c/em\u003e. UNICEF.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUNICEF (n.d.). UNICEF is concerned that more than half of children with disabilities in Bangladesh do not go to school. [Press Release]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/press-releases/unicef-concerned-more-half-children-disabilities-bangladesh-do-not-go-school\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/press-releases/unicef-concerned-more-half-children-disabilities-bangladesh-do-not-go-school\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUnited Nations (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child [Treaty]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUnited Nations (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [Treaty]. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhite, S. C. (2002). From the politics of poverty to the politics of identity? Child rights and working children in Bangladesh. \u003cem\u003eJournal of International Development\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e14\u003c/em\u003e(6), 725\u0026ndash;735. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1002/jid.918\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1002/jid.918\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWorld Health Organisation. (2011). \u003cem\u003eWorld report on disability [Report]\u003c/em\u003e. WHO.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-human-rights-and-social-work","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jhrw","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Human Rights and Social Work](http://link.springer.com/journal/41134)","snPcode":"41134","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41134/3","title":"Journal of Human Rights and Social Work","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Child labour, children with disabilities, policy-practice gap, legal protection and disability rights, illegal labour markets, shadow economy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8178050/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8178050/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eChildren who have disabilities are themselves a universe of childhoods to be renewed. Even in child labour situations, children with disabilities are among the poorest and most disadvantaged. However, they are little visible in legal and policy frameworks for the Global South. This paper focuses on Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Despite ratifying Global agreements like the ILO Minimum Age and Worst Forms of Child Labour Conventions, and the CRC and CRPD, it is insufficient for national laws to protect the unique problems experienced by people with disabilities. A systematic analysis of international instruments, national legislation, and policy reports is used to identify four major challenges. These are: legal non-existence, lack of implementation capability, institutional fragmentation, and pervasive shame. This gap between policy and implementation means that children living with disabilities are left vulnerable to dangerous and exploitative labour without effective recourse. This article presents the case for legislation that includes people with disabilities, cohesive institutional mechanisms, and stronger enforcement tools, so that the rights of children with special needs in the workplace can be safeguarded under both human rights law and legal practice.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePoints of Interest\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis article addresses how children with disabilities are hidden casualties of child labour and legal neglect in developing nations. It demonstrates how inadequate enforcement, stigma and fragmented systems not only perpetuate their exploitation but also exclude them from protection.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e· Analyses loopholes in child labour and disability regulations in South Asia.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e· Reveals lax enforcement and poor institution coordination.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e· Spotlights stigma and a lack of data about disabled working children.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e· Covers Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e· Demands for inclusive laws, strong institutions and improved systems of data collection.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Invisible Justice: Structural and Legal Failures in Safeguarding Disabled Child Labourers across South Asia","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-22 08:37:12","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8178050/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-03-15T12:58:03+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-15T07:55:21+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"131200458213423075890887941421535206112","date":"2026-02-23T06:37:45+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-01-18T05:04:22+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-01-01T14:53:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"123071128256101571488169977932943735588","date":"2025-12-29T12:54:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"30295394197101837612997149347902807097","date":"2025-12-14T04:28:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-12-11T03:10:57+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-11-28T05:36:04+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-11-28T05:35:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Journal of Human Rights and Social Work","date":"2025-11-22T05:51:29+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-human-rights-and-social-work","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jhrw","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Human Rights and Social Work](http://link.springer.com/journal/41134)","snPcode":"41134","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41134/3","title":"Journal of Human Rights and Social Work","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"311580cb-7180-4e6f-a8fe-7097c4039d73","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 22nd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-12T03:54:06+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-22 08:37:12","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8178050","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8178050","identity":"rs-8178050","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}