Dhaka: Unicef Bangladesh has expressed grave concern about the recent incident of a 10-year-old child being subjected to violence and killed in a heinous way at his workplace in Narayanganj.

Unicef appealed to the government of Bangladesh, including the Supreme Court, to take speedy legal actions against these violent incidents and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The 10-year-old Narayanganj boy, Sagor Barman, was killed allegedly by pumping air into his rectum at a textile factory in Narayanganj’s Rupganj upazila on Sunday. He, along with his father, Ratan Barman, used to work at Jubeda Textile Mills in Jatramura area.

This is a serious violation of child rights, Unicef said on Wednesday and reiterated its apprehension of children being used as easy targets of violence and is concerned that child labour is still widespread both in the formal and informal sectors.

It urged the government to revisit the concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Committee and commit actions to end violence against children, child marriage and child labour.

“Unicef also strongly urges the government of Bangladesh to set up and strengthen child protection systems and child rights monitoring mechanisms by activating Child Welfare Boards at national and local levels as stipulated in the Children Act 2013,” UNB quoted a statement from the organisation as saying.

Monitoring formal and informal industries needs to be strengthened by labour inspectors as per the labour law.

Unicef said it is confident that the government of Bangladesh will take urgent actions to strengthen child protection mechanisms.

“Unicef has zero tolerance towards all forms of violence against children and is committed to assisting the GoB to take effective measures to end these violations of child rights,” the release added.

Unicef said it feels that the rights of all children, especially those from marginalised groups, will be better protected through the collective efforts of all concerned.

On August 4 last year, Rakib, who used to work at a motorcycle garage at Tutpara Central Road in Khulna city, was tortured to death in the same way by his employers over quitting job.

On November 8, a Khulna court convicted two people and sentenced them to death for killing the 12-year-old boy.