One of the most horrendous violations of child rights is sexual exploitation. While several categories of children are in the grip of physical and
social disadvantages, the children of
commercial sex workers fall easy prey to those who surround them and abuse them. They are not only marginalized but receive
scant attention of society (Anandraj, Hannah. 1999).
Child sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking remain largely taboo in
Bangladesh society. Often disabled children and girls are more vulnerable.
Human trafficking in Bangladesh is believed to be extensive both within the
country and to India, Pakistan and the Middle East. Reintegration into mainstream society is a
huge issue for trafficked children, especially for girls with the stigma and
taboo associated with it.
A major underlying issue behind child sexual abuse, exploitation and
trafficking is that there is a massive lacking of knowledge about legal rights
of children among the mass people. People even don’t know the application or
exercise of child rights. In Bangladesh there is no proper use of child right that’s why
children are often unaware of their legal rights, or they are made to feel they
cannot exercise those rights.
Child sexual abuse permeates all levels of Bangladeshi society. Most children know their abuser, who is
usually someone close to them. Isolated or impoverished regions are also more
attractive to gangs of traffickers because it is both harder for parents to
seek law enforcement but also easier to sell the idea of "lucrative
jobs" to impoverished parents.
Commercial child
sexual exploitation
Child sexual exploitation can start when children are as young as 10 in
Bangladesh's registered brothels, its hotels and its parks, streets and
stations. Children of women who work in a brothel often end up working there
too. Most often female or male children of sex-workers are at the risk of
massive exploitation. In brothels, many children have to work as bonded sex
workers. They must pay all their earnings to the brothel's madam for their
first few years in return for food, clothes and essentials. Child victims of
commercial sexual exploitation can also end up in brothels or on the streets
through trafficking, family break-downs or poverty. On the streets, many
children are beaten and robbed. Many boys are drawn into crime through their
pimps. Men having sex with men (MSM) is a growing and hidden issue but often
not acknowledged due to the stigma or shame attached to it.
UNICEF AND CSW(Children of Sex Workers)
UNICEF Bangladesh is working to create a culture of respect for
children's protection rights through development of child rights based and
gender appropriate policies, advocacy, a change of societal attitudes,
strengthened capacity in government and civil society responses to protection
issues and the establishment of protective mechanisms against abuse
exploitation and violence(source:UNICEF).
UNICEF works to enhance the life skills of children at risk. Thus they
are empowering children. It has undertaken an action research project to
address the rights violations of the slum children, especially girls, and to
empower them to fight for their rights (source:UNICEF).
Research, networking and advocacy take on an important role when viewed
through the cultural taboos associated with child sexual abuse, exploitation
and trafficking. Thus they make links among various protection tools and they
goes through reintegration process tracing the children’s families. It’s
another attention is to remove violence against children working group (source:UNICEF).
UNICEF is supporting the development and strengthening of practical
mechanisms to rescue, recover, repatriate and reintegrate (RRRR) child victims
of trafficking from Bangladesh to India. A Rapid Assessment of existing
practices and mechanisms of RRRR have been conducted in both countries which highlighted
the gaps and challenges of the whole process. The first inter- ministerial
bilateral meeting was held in 2006, with technical support from UNICEF country
offices and the regional office, to develop a common understanding between the
countries and agree upon a way forward. As a follow up a draft action plan on
RRRR in both countries is being developed (source: UNICEF).
In 2006 Kishori Abhijan (Empowerment of Adolescents, Phase II) started
with a new dimension based on the lessons learnt from Phase I of the project.
In this phase adolescent boys were included and to date 2462 boys have received
training on various social issues including gender awareness. 2860 adolescent
centers in 27 districts are operational and managed by 5000 peer leaders. 86,000
girls have increased their mobility through participation in different
activities with their families and communities. 575 community base committees
to stop child marriage and dowry formed and will soon be functional (source: UNICEF).
SAVE THE
CHILDREN AND CSW(Children of Sex Workers)
For more than a decade, Save
the Children has been protecting children from abuse, neglect, exploitation,
and violence in all regions of the world. It’s programs focus on the most
vulnerable children while aiming for the safety and well-being of all children.
Working with governments, international organizations, and local community
partners, we strive to create lasting change with improvements in policy and
services that protect children whether in a natural disaster, conflict, or
development setting (source: Save The Children).
Save The Children works to
protect children from abuse and exploitation in any kind of emergencies. Their
primary goal is to create child friendly spaces by ensuring psychological
support and finally they tried to reunify families. They also use research in
creative ways to protect children and support children through training
according to public policies. Their aim is to ensure quality care of children.
They provide quality non-formal education to mainstream children with disabilities.
They also support and save the children (source: Save The
Children).
KKS and Save The Children jointly stablished a safe
home and started with 5 children scince february 24,1997 at Daulotdia, Rajbari.
It provides shelter, food, education, medical treatment, dress, HRM training,
multi-deciplinary training, computer literacy, religious practice and various
cultural attainment etc(source:Save The Children).
The 9th Child parliament
session on ‘Health Care and Governance' was held on 18th December 2011 at BIAM
Auditorium, Dhaka. Prof. (Dr.) Syed Modasser Ali, Honorable Advisor to the
Prime Minister for Health & Family Welfare and Social Welfare Affairs, was
present as the Honorable Chief Guest.
Around 80 child
parliamentarians including representatives from socially excluded groups of
children attended the session. Representatives from NGOs/ CSOs and media were
also present in the session. The session was jointly organized by Manusher
Jonno Foundation, Plan Bangladesh and Save the Children (source:Save
The Children).
The Child Parliament members
raised different issues regarding health care including the variance of fees
charged by doctors, unhygienic health care centers, lack of access to quality
health services of marginalized children and others. They also presented some
recommendations which focused on government having proper guidelines for the
fees doctors can charge, ensuring clean and hygienic health centers and
providing quality health services for all(source:Save
The Children).
The Honorable Chief Guest gave a patient hearing to the child parliamentarians' issues and recommendations and said that he had learnt a lot by coming to the session. He said that whatever the children were saying were their ‘rights' and not ‘privileges'. He was highly impressed by the evidence-based points the children raised and invited them to the Prime Minister's Office on 19th December 2011 to discuss further with them(source:Save The Children).
The Honorable Chief Guest gave a patient hearing to the child parliamentarians' issues and recommendations and said that he had learnt a lot by coming to the session. He said that whatever the children were saying were their ‘rights' and not ‘privileges'. He was highly impressed by the evidence-based points the children raised and invited them to the Prime Minister's Office on 19th December 2011 to discuss further with them(source:Save The Children).
Aparajeyo
Bangladesh AND CSW(Children of Sex Workers)
Aparajeyo-Bangladesh (AB) is a
national child rights organization. It was founded in 1995 when terre des homes
Foundation Lausanne, Switzerland (Tdh) sought to devolve their Dhaka child
rights programs to a local organization. The organization commenced activities
in 1976, working with children living in and around the slums of Dhaka city.
Its goal was to reduce their unbearable poverty, distress and
vulnerability caused by the harshness of slum life. In 1989, another program
commenced to provide services to children who live on the city streets or
amongst its public buildings. Over the years, aparajeyo has expanded its
support to promote and protect the rights of other socially excluded children (source:Aparajeyo
Bangladesh).
Aparajeyo Bangladesh started
working with these ill-fated children of sex-workers since 2002. AB ensures
their educational support, cultural development, job opportunities to
mainstream them in the society. AB ensured all types of educational system for
these children from day care to nursery level, as well as primary, secondary
level too. Children are given to different school. Every year some of these
children pass S.S.C. and H.S.C successfully. AB also provides them cultural education and arranged cultural program in different
places of town. AB also arranged multi-purpose technical education that helps
them to get different job. Thus they are trying to
mainstream these children in our society (source: Aparajeyo
Bangladesh).
Aparajeyo is a non-government
and non-profit organization that was solely founded to provide a range of
services to socially excluded children in the urban settings in Bangladesh.
Through its programmes and projects, AB provides a range of rights-based
services to children through a holistic approach. AB’s work with
children complies with the United Nations Child Rights Convention (UNCRC). AB believes that childhood means much more than the space between
birth and the attainment of adulthood, Childhood refers to the state and
condition of a child’s life – to the quality of those years. AB recognizes that
children are the holders of their own rights. And because these rights are
invested in the child’s own person, the child is no longer a passive recipient
of charity but an empowered actor in her/his own development. The organization
emphasizes the need to respect children’s ‘evolving capacities.’ All programmes
are expected to create spaces and promote processes designed to enable and
empower children to express their views, to be consulted and to influence
decisions in all matters affecting them in accordance with their age and
development(source:Aparajeyo Bangladesh).
Since its adoption in 1989,
the Convention has become the most widely accepted human rights accord in
history. Its principles guide all that AB does in Bangladesh. We speak out for
the rights of every child in villages and border areas where communities are
illiterate. We defend child rights in towns and divisional cities. We stand up
for them in the capital where policy makers decide on laws, approve budgets and
plan for the future of children. AB champions peace, security and the
articles enshrined within the UNCRC to promote and protect the rights of
children. We work towards complimenting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). We work for equal rights for girls and women and their participation
in community development. We work for the progress promised in the Charter of
the United Nations (source:Aparajeyo Bangladesh).
PIACT AND CSW(Children of Sex Workers)
Being motivate by the concept of social resposibility
and with expectation of aiding, PIACT Bangladesh starts its journey since 1980. PIACT Bangladesh is a non-profit, non-governmental
organization committed to the welfare of the people of Bangladesh through
resolute and concerted efforts in reproductive health, nutrition services,
prevention of HIV/AIDS and STD, training, education, poverty alleviation,
development of socially disadvantaged women and children, BCC activities,
applying information technology in the relevant fields and addressing the
emerging needs of social development over time. Its vision is to establish a
society where people of all strata, particularly the disadvantaged and marginalized, have access to primary health care,
basic education, and are empowered to
enjoy basic human and social rights(source:PIACT).
Under the patronization of
Ministry of Social Welfare, PIACT Bangladesh starts its operation since 2000
with a purpose of improving the livelihood of the prostitutes and their
children residing in the brothel at Dowlatdia union of Goalondo upazila of
Rajbari district. One major point of humanitarian activities of PIACT
Bangladesh is to prevent the under aged girls from being engaged into this
profession by rescuing and rehabilitating them. PIACT Bangladesh is conducting
life skills development based educational activities inside the brothel to make
awareness among the prostitutes about rights and improve their livelihood so
that they can change the view of life in terms of rights (source:PIACT).
It implements programs for
increasing the literacy rates, particularly among the economically and socially
disadvantaged groups of the population like CSW (source:PIACT).
Another important task of
PIACT Bangladesh is to prevent under-aged girls trafficking, preventing them
from being engaged into this profession, recuing and rehabilitating them. One
prominent objective of PIACT Bangladesh is to socialize prostitutes. By
creating opportunity of mixing with civil society, PIACT Bangladesh arranges
various social programs, holds rally in presence of civil society and
prostitutes on regular basis (source:PIACT).