A 12-year-old child, Nur Hashem sells betel leaves in front of Women Centre at Block E, Nayapara camp. Nur is a victim of child labour as his father, Nurul Amin (45) has to feed another 7 of his siblings. Nur studies at 5th grade and wishes to go to school but his father urged him to sell betel leaves. Nur’s oldest brother aged 26 is unemployed. Unlike Nur, there are numerous children who are forced to work as child labour, substantially the orphans who lost their parents or family in 2017 genocide. The sad story doesn’t end here – Nur’s father, Nurul Amin thinks the education system of Refugee camps are useless as there is no formal standard which provides academic certificates.
As a result, the children here often being neglected by their parents towards education and convinced if their children start to work at an early age they will have a finer chance to survive. Besides selling betel leaves, Refugee children are also engaged in selling vegetables, fish, groceries and even works at tea stalls. Children like Nur are also vulnerable to abuse like trafficking. Although, Save the Children International is working against child labour but it is hard to cope up.
The refugee camps witnessed an average of 130 live births per day across 2018.
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