From the politics of poverty to the politics of identity? Child rights and working children in Bangladesh

Drawing on primary research in development organizations and with working children themselves, this paper questions the logic of child rights, and its validity for the cultural context of Bangladesh. A strong stress on child rights at the programme level may not be sustainable and can have contradictory outcomes for poor children. Working children place a premium on the quality of relationships and show a strong sense of (in)justice and entitlement. This suggests ‘child rights’ work should re‐examine the cultural constitution of entitlements and responsibilities and how these intermesh with the material, social and political factors that make and keep children poor.