In Bangladesh, climate displacement, poverty and debt are driving children into hazardous brick kilns, exposing gaps in labour enforcement and linking environmental crisis to modern forms of exploitation.
While global leaders convened in Marrakech in February to renew commitments to eliminate child labour a different reality unfolded across Bangladesh. In brickfields stretching from Satkhira and Shariatpur to Cumilla children work long hours shaping mud into bricks quietly sustaining a construction boom that largely escapes public scrutiny.
The conference supported by the International Labour Organization emphasized universal social protection access to education and decent adult work as essential tools for ending child labour. Yet in Bangladesh climate pressures poverty and weak enforcement continue to push children into hazardous work despite legal prohibitions.
Experts warn that without labour due diligence economic growth risks embedding exploitation into supply chains. Cheap bricks lower construction costs but the social cost is paid by vulnerable families and children missing school in what advocates describe as modern slavery.
Transitioning to cleaner brick technologies offers a path for a just industry transition linking environmental goals with labour protections. Cleaner kilns could reduce health risks lower emissions and create safer, more regulated workplaces all while preserving livelihoods for adult workers.
As the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government assumes responsibility addressing child labour must become a national priority. Despite progress in education and poverty reduction thousands of children remain engaged in hazardous work across agriculture manufacturing domestic service and informal urban economies. This undermines children’s rights limits human development and jeopardizes the country’s long-term economic potential.
Legal Protections, Limited Enforcement
Bangladesh’s Labour Act prohibits employment of children in hazardous sectors. Enforcement falls under the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments. Yet with over 7,800 brick kilns nationwide inspections remain sparse leaving vast gaps.
According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2025 conducted by UNICEF and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 1.2 million more children are engaged in child labour with nearly 40 percent showing elevated lead levels in their blood.
Field visits reveal many workers tied to advance payment systems resembling bonded labour returning season after season in what advocates describe as modern slavery. For children this often means missing months of schooling permanently.
Gauhar Naeem Wara a disaster expert notes, “Climate change intensifies vulnerability but weak rural investment and limited safety nets turn shocks into long-term social risks.” Economist Selim Raihan adds, “As long as low production costs remain a priority and supply chains lack transparency labour violations will continue.”
Climate Pressures Driving Migration
In coastal communities near the Sundarbans rising salinity repeated cyclones and declining crop yields push families into seasonal migration. Many leave villages in Shariatpur Satkhira and Khulna districts arriving at brick kilns where labour demand peaks. Childhood traded for survival is evident in the brick kilns of Jajira and Naria upazilas in Shariatpur where children work in punishing heat driven by poverty and debt.
At Bhuiya Bricks Field in Mollakandi 13-year-old Rahima Akter, a pseudonym, carries wet clay dries bricks and lifts heavy loads. “I wanted to study and build a future,” she says quietly, “but opportunities feel distant.” Her earnings help her family survive yet come at the cost of education. Her father a day labourer burdened by loans says returning her to school feels impossible.
Nearby 14-year-old Zakir Hossain, a pseudonym, wakes before sunrise not for school but for another day shaping mud into bricks. His mother withdrew him from madrasa due to financial pressures. “I used to be in class,” he recalls, “now the hours stretch endlessly.”
Sohanur Rahman Executive Coordinator of YouthNet Global emphasizes, “Climate adaptation must address social realities. If policies ignore migration and inequality vulnerabilities will deepen. Children should not pay the price for environmental shocks and poverty.”
Debt, Demand and Structural Drivers
Debt cycles lie at the heart of the brick kiln system. Advance payments tie families to kilns until debts are repaid creating intergenerational labour exploitation. The construction boom of housing roads and public infrastructure fuels demand for low-cost bricks incentivizing kiln owners to minimize labour costs and overlook legal restrictions.
Governance is fragmented. The Department of Environment monitors emissions and licensing while local administrations oversee compliance. Kiln owners often deny employing children framing their presence as informal family assistance obscuring systemic violations.
Public health specialist Kazi Saifuddin Bennur warns of severe health risks. “Children face chronic respiratory illness and long-term physical impairment from smoke dust and intense physical strain.”
Climate, Inequality and Just Industry Transition
Climate displacement moves families and shifts children out of schools into hazardous work. Rising salinity cyclones and declining yields leave households with few options.
Rights advocates emphasize that addressing child labour requires deep and systemic reforms rather than short-term responses.
In Bangladesh they call for expanding social protection for climate-affected households as disasters and economic shocks often push families to rely on children’s income for survival. Strengthening rural livelihoods is also critical so that parents have stable employment and communities are less vulnerable to poverty and migration.
At the same time improving labour inspections can help ensure that existing laws are properly enforced particularly in high-risk sectors where children are often employed.
Advocates further stress the importance of supply chain transparency urging businesses and authorities to monitor production networks and prevent child labour from being hidden within informal or subcontracted work.
Transitioning to cleaner brick technologies can provide a just industry transition linking environmental goals with safer production practices. Raihan stresses, “Reducing labour violations is a moral imperative but also requires transparency in procurement and accountability in supply chains.” Wara adds that supporting rural resilience and safety nets can turn environmental shocks from long-term traps into manageable risks.
The Road Ahead: Ending Child Labour
A strong response requires more than policy pledges. The government must combine strict enforcement of labour laws with expanded social protection. Access to income security education and basic services can reduce the pressures pushing children into labour.
The persistence of child labour in brick kilns reflects deep structural inequalities. Rural poverty climate shocks seasonal unemployment and limited social protection converge to compromise children’s futures. Communities contributing least to global emissions are now facing cascading impacts from environmental loss to social disruption.
Climate activists insist adaptation must integrate social realities. “If policies ignore migration and inequality vulnerabilities will deepen,” Sohanur warns. Until meaningful reforms take hold brickfields will remain places where childhood is quietly exchanged for survival and the true cost of development is measured not only in infrastructure but in lost futures.
