Committee on the Rights of the Child

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44 of the Convention

Fifth periodic reports of States parties due in 2012

Bangladesh *

[Date received: 23 October 2012]

Contents

Paragraph Page

Abbreviations and acronyms3

Foreword1–77

I.Background8–228

II.General measures of implementation23–8610

III.Definition of the child87-8821

IV.General principles89–12022

V.Civil rights and freedoms 121–16026

VI.Family environment and alternative care161–20231

VII.Disability, basic health and welfare203–25237

VIII.Education, leisure and cultural activities253–27646

IX.Special protection measures277–32650

Tables59

References72

Abbreviations and acronyms

ADBAnnual Development Plan

AIDSAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

BBSBangladesh Bureau of Statistics

BCCBehavior Change Communication

BEHTRUWCBasic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children

BRISBirth Registration Information System

BSABangladesh Shishu Academy

BSCICBangladesh Small and Cottage Industries

BSSBasic Social Service

BSSTBasic Social Service Training

BTEBBangladesh Technical Education Board

BTRCBangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission

BTVBangladesh Television

CBCPCCommunity Based Child protection Committee

CBMCRPCapacity Building and Monitoring Child Rights Project

CBRCommunity Based Rehabilitation

CDCChild development Center

CEDAWConvention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

CFSChild Friendly Space

CFWCash for Work

CIDDControl of Iodine Deficiency Disorder

CLMISChild Labour Information Management System

CLUChild Labour Unit

CPChild Parliament

CRCConvention on the Rights of the Child

CRPDConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

CSPBChild Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh

DCRMCDistrict Child Rights Monitoring Committee

DFPDepartment of Films and Publication

DMCDepartment of Mass Communication

DNCDepartment of Narcotics Control

DPEDirectorate of Primary Education

DSSDepartment of Social Services

DTEDirectorate of Technical Education

DWADirectorate of Women Affairs

EAGPEmpowerment of Adolescent Girls Project

ECDEarly Childhood Development

ECCDEarly Childhood Care and Development

EERCEnabling Environment for Child Rights

ELCDEarly Learning and Childhood Development

ELDSEarly Learning and Development Standards

EPIExpanded Programme on Immunization

ESPEssential Service Package

EUEuropean Union

FFWFood for Work

FSSSPFemale Secondary School Stipend Programme

GDPGross Domestic Product

GoBGovernment of Bangladesh

HIVHuman Immunodeficiency Virus

HPNHealth, Population and Nutrition

HSCHigher Secondary Certificate

IECInformation, Education and Communication

IGPInspector General of Police

ILOInternational Labour Organization

IMEDImplementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division

INGOInternational non-government Organization

IPHNInstitute of Public Health and Nutrition

IPTInteractive Popular Theatre

JATIJudicial Administration Training Institute

JPUFJatiyo Protibondhi Unnayan Foundation

MDGsMillennium Development Goals

MICSMultiple Indicator Cluster Survey

MoEMinistry of Education

MoEWOEMinistry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment

MoICTMinistry of information Communication Technology

MoHAMinistry of Home Affairs

MoH&FWMinistry of Health and Family Welfare

MoCHTAMinistry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs

MoIMinistry of Information

MoLEMinistry of Labour and Employment

MoLGRD&CMinistry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperative

MoLJPAMinistry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs

MoPMEMinistry of Primary and Mass Education

MoRAMinistry of Religious Affairs

MoSWMinistry of Social Welfare

MoUMemorandum of Understanding

MoWCAMinistry of Women and Children Affairs

MoYSMinistry of Youth and Sports

MSPVAWMulti-sectoral Programme on Violence Against Women

NATSPANational Anti Trafficking Strategic Plan of Action

NCLEPNational Child Labour Elimination Policy

NCTFNational Children Taskforce

NCWCDNational Council on Women and Children Development

NGONon-governmental organization

NHRCNational Human Rights Commission

NIPORTNational Institute of Population, Research and Training

NMTsNational Master Trainers

NNPNational Nutrition Programme

NPANational Plan of Action

NPANNational Plan of Action for Nutrition

NSDCNational Skill Development Council

NTCCNational Trauma Counseling Center

OCCOne-stop Crisis Center

OMSOpen Market Sales

PCARProtection of Children at Risk

PICProject Implementation Committee

PRSPPoverty Reduction Strategy Paper

PSCProject Steering Committee

PSSTProfessional Social Service Training

PTIPrimary Teachers Training Institute

PWDPerson with Disability

SAECTSexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children including Trafficking

SBASkilled Birth Attendant

SCARServices for Children at Risk

SFYPSixth Five Year Plan

SSNSocial Safety Net

STISexually Transmitted Infection

SWASector Wide Approach

ToTTraining of Trainers

UNDAFUnited Nations Development Assistance Framework

UNESCOUnited Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNHCRUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNICEFUnited Nations Children’s Fund

UNOUpazila Nirbahi Officer

VACViolence Against Children

VGDVulnerable Group Development

VGFVulnerable Group Feeding

VTEVocational and Technical Education

Foreword

The Government of Bangladesh believes that children are the main constituent for nation building. Bangladesh is committed to protect and uphold the rights of children. Bangladesh has been responding to its commitment to children through its development programmes, policies and legal provisions.

Bangladesh has been trying relentlessly to uphold the cause and rights of children in all spheres of life including family and educational institutes. Article 28(4) of the Constitution of Bangladesh states the commitment of making special provision in favour of children. The fundament principle part of the constitution states that free and compulsory primary education equality of opportunity, work as a right and duty; public health and morality shall be the responsibility of the State. Government is promoting the right of freedom of expression, thought and conscience through specific efforts which is upheld in article 39 of the Constitution. The Children Act 1974 is the principal instrument for establishing child rights in Bangladesh. The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs developed and updated the National Children Policy 2011 to protect child rights.

Bangladesh is one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990. Bangladesh has also ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol adopted in 2006 which ensures the rights of disabled children to equal opportunity.

At the regional level Bangladesh has endorsed the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution in 2002 and the SAARC Convention on Regional Arrangements for the Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia. Bangladesh is an active member of SAIEVAC (South Asian Initiative to End Violence Against Children), this is a regional forum to combat violence against children. The ratification/accession/signature of all these international and regional Convention, Covenants and Declaration demonstrates the Government’s commitment in promoting and protecting the rights of the child in all spheres of life.

The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs is implementing various programmes and projects for ensuring physical and mental well-being of children. Children’s issue being cross cutting in nature, other ministries also undertake and implement programmes for materializing child welfare. The Government, UNICEF, other development partners, NGOs, the private sector and civil society continue to support initiatives for the development of children by adopting and conducting various programmes. The country, as a result, has made significant improvements in this arena as evident from a number of social indicators, including reduction of under five mortality rates and infant mortality rates, improvement in school enrolment, reducing dropout of students of primary and secondary level school, minimizing the number of underage marriages especially of girls, immunization coverage, vitamin A supplementation coverage and safe drinking water supply, and elimination of disparities between boys and girls to a great extent.

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Bangladesh has submitted the fifth periodic report stating the measures taken by the Government to realize its commitments on the children rights. The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, as the lead agency in collaboration with other line ministries, UNICEF, NGOs and other partners, has prepared the fifth periodic report. The report has been prepared in accordance with the general guidelines adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The concluding observations and recommendations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh have been taken into consideration while preparing the present report. The report preparation process included discussion with the stakeholders at all levels and children representatives. National and regional consultations were arranged to gather the opinion from the grass roots level. After drafting the report, it was widely circulated and consulted before finalization.

The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs acknowledges the contribution and thanks all the stakeholders, line ministries, United Nations agencies, development partners, NGO partners and UNICEF for their constant support in preparing the fifth State party report. Bangladesh again confirms its commitment to safeguard the child rights in every sphere of life as per the guidelines of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

I.Background

In accordance with the article 44 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) this fifth State party periodic report is being submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The preparation of this report offers the State party an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of the measures it has taken to harmonize national laws and policies with the provisions of the CRC; monitor progress made in promoting child rights; identify problems and shortcomings in its approach and challenges to the implementation of the CRC; and to plan and develop appropriate policies and programmes to achieve these goals.

The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) is the lead Ministry of the GoB to coordinate the monitoring of the implementation of the CRC and the preparation of the present report. Bangladesh submitted its initial report in November 1995 and a supplementary report in December 1996, the second periodic report in December 2000 and the combined third and fourth periodic reports in October 2007.

Country overview

Location and geography

Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation on 16 December 1971 followed by a nine-month long Liberation War under the leadership of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It is located in Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Myanmar and India with an area of 145,570 square kilometers.

The country consists of low, flat and fertile land, except the hilly regions in the Northeast and the Southeast and some areas of highland in the North and North Western part. Bangladesh is a country of rivers. The major rivers Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Teesta, Brahmaputra, Surma and Karnaphuli, cover the country and flow down to the Bay of Bengal. The heavy silts deposited by the rivers during the rainy season continuously enrich the alluvial soil.

Demography

The total population of Bangladesh stood at 150.2 million at the time of the population census in 2011 with a population density of 1,015 per square kilometer. The total child population in 2012 stood at around 59,589 million of which 31,322 million are boys and 28,267 million are girls. There are approximately 33.03 million households in the country and average household size is 4.4. Of the total population, 74.98 millions are male and 74.79 millions are female, which yields a sex ratio of 100.3 indicating almost equal numbers of men and women in the country. The average annual population growth rate is 1.37%.Approximately 83 per cent of the population is Muslim, 16 per cent is Hindu and 1 per cent is Buddhist, Christian or other (BBS Population Census, 2011).

Economy

Bangladesh has made significant economic progress over the last ten years. Annual economic growth has averaged 5-6 per cent since 2000 and incomes have doubled in less than thirty years. Real per capita income has increased by more than 130 per cent, poverty rate has declined by more than half and the country is well set to achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). 10 per cent poverty rate has declined during the reporting period.

Bangladesh’s development experience is particularly remarkable in a sense that it stands out as a positive example of a resilient young nation that has fought many natural disasters as well as internal political conflicts and yet stayed firm on the development path. Per capita income has been raised continuously and steady progress has been made in reducing poverty. Despite the progress in economic growth, poverty is the single most important socio-economic policy challenge for Bangladesh.

The agriculture sector is a major component of the Bangladesh economy. The sector contributes to 20 per cent of GDP and employs around half of the working population. Remittances play a major role in reducing poverty and increasing economic growth by driving consumer spending. Remittance inflows have more than doubled in the last five years under the dynamic leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The present Government adopted the Vision 2021. The Vision 2021 and the associated Long Term Perspective Plan 2010–2021 have set solid development targets for Bangladesh by the end of 2021. By achieving those targets the socio-economic environment of Bangladesh will be transformed from a low income economy to the first stage of a middle income economy. Along with higher per capita income, Vision 2021 lays down a development scenario where citizens will have a higher standard of living, better education, better social justice, more equitable socio-economic environment and the sustainability of development will be ensured. A separate chapter on children’s advancement with specific objectives and activities has been included in this plan.

Legal and Administrative Framework

Bangladesh has a parliamentary system of government. The National Parliament has 300 seats elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies. In addition 50 seats are reserved for women. Elected members serve for a period of five years.

The President appoints as Prime Minister a Member of Parliament who appears to him to command the support of the majority of the members of parliament. The President is the Head of State and the Prime Minister is the Head of Government. The Cabinet Ministers are selected by the Prime Minister. The President acts in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister. The executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister.

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh is the highest Court in the country and comprises the Appellate Division and the High Court Division. The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice and the Judges of the Appellate Division and the High Court Division.

The country is divided into seven administrative divisions. There are 64 districts and 492 upazillas (Sub-district) under the seven Divisions.

Social and cultural structure

Bangladesh is a democratic, secular and socialist State. The identity of Bangladesh is rooted in a Bengali culture that transcends international borders.

Bangladesh has a rich history and culture. The land, the rivers, and the lives of the Bengali people form a rich heritage. It has evolved over the centuries and encompasses the cultural diversity of several social groups of Bangladesh. The Bengali Renaissance of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries noted Bengali writers, authors, scientists, researchers, thinkers, music composers, painters and film makers have played a significant role in the development of Bengali culture.

II.General measures of implementation

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is fully committed to realize the rights of all children of the country. In order to address the concluding observations Committee on the Rights of the Child on the combinedthird and fourth periodic reports, the GoB has taken a number of initiatives during this reporting period that include legislative reform including policy, enacting new laws and policies, strengthening coordination among various ministries, departments and institutions, strengthening capacity of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), implementation of the National Plan of Action (NPA), increasing allocation of resources, disseminating of the Convention, concluding observations and periodic report, imparting training to all relevant stakeholders working with children and strengthening cooperation with the civil society, including NGOs.

2.Legislative measures

The GoB has reviewed the observation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child thoroughly with regard to the withdrawal of the reservations to articles 14 and article 21 of the CRC. However, there is not yet a final decision of the Government about the withdrawal of the reservations. The GoB considers that articles 39 (1) and 41 (1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh have recognized the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion to every citizen of the country.

With regard to the reservation to article 21, the GoB is of the view that the Guardian and Wards Act 1890, already addresses the purpose through exhaustive legal process in Bangladesh. According to the section 7 of the Guardian and Wards Act 1890, where the Court is satisfied that it is for the welfare of a minor, an order should be made to appoint a guardian of his/her personal protection or property or both or declaring a person to be such guardian, the Court may give an order accordingly. Section 24 of the Act states that “A guardian of a Ward is charged with the custody of the Ward and must look into his/her support, health and education and other such matters as the law to which the Ward is subject requires”. Therefore, the State party believes that even without withdrawing its reservation to article 21 the purpose can be served under the existing domestic laws.

In connection with harmonizing the national legislation with the principles and provisions of the CRC, child rights related laws have been reviewed and several laws have been revised over the years. The new draft of the Children Act has been approved by the Cabinet in 2010 in order to ensure the rights of the children in alignment with the CRC. The new law now awaits enactment by the Parliament after vetting by the Legislative and Parliamentary Division of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA). Some of the special features of the new Children Act include diversion of children in conflict with the law, ensuring alternative care, setting up minimum standards of care, establishing child friendly desks at police stations, formation of Children’s Board at national, district and Upazilla level, identifying duties and responsibilities of the Probation Officers, expediting case management processes etc.

In addition, several new policies and laws have been enacted to protect and promote the rights of children. Key features of those new laws are given below:

National Children Policy, 2011

The National Children Policy, 2011 has also been adopted with a spirit to accommodate the changed scenario in different sectors of the country, as well as accommodating the principles and provisions of the CRC. The main principles of the National Children Policy have been defined as non-discrimination, best interest of children, respecting children’s opinions and ensuring children’s participation and ensuring transparency and accountability of all individuals and institutions responsible for realizing child rights. The Policy has given special emphasis to children’s right to health, education, cultural activities and leisure, birth registration and identity, protection, special rights of the children with disabilities, rights of the minority and ethnic minority children and rights of the adolescents and their development.

National Child Labour Elimination Policy, 2010

Under the coordination of the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), the National Child Labour Elimination Policy (NCLEP) 2010 has been adopted to prevent and eliminate child labour, especially hazardous forms of child labour. The NCLEP aims at withdrawing working children from different forms of occupations, including the hazardous work and the worst forms of child labour, involving parents of working children in income generating activities with a view to getting children out of the vicious cycle of poverty, offering stipends and grants in order to bring the working children back to school, extending special attention for the children affected by various natural disasters, providing special emphasis to ethnic minorities and children with disabilities to bring them back to a congenial environment, enacting pragmatic laws and strengthening institutional capacity for the enforcement of the laws and planning and implementing short, medium and long-term strategies and programmes to eliminate various forms of child labour by 2015.

A National Plan of Action (NPA) has been formulated to implement the National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010. The NPA has focused on nine strategic areas of interventions highlighted in the NCLEP. It has suggested specific interventions corresponding to the outputs under the strategic areas with specific roles and responsibilities of various government and non-government stakeholders at local and national levels. The NPA also incorporated an indicative budget for its effective implementation.

National Education Policy, 2010

Under the leadership of the Ministry of Education (MoE), the National Education Policy 2010 has been formulated for the first time in Bangladesh in order to ensure quality education for all children. The new education policy puts emphasis on hundred per cent enrolment and retention of students at primary and secondary levels. The most important feature of the new education policy is to extend compulsory primary education up to grade eight with scope for vocational education at primary level and inclusion of pre-school in all government primary schools. The MoE also approved the National Technical and Vocational Education Policy 2011 acknowledging the importance of vocational training for human resource development. At present, the MoE is collaborating with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to review and reform the entire technical education system of the country.

The Early Childhood and Care Development Policy has been finalised and is expected to be placed before the Cabinet soon. Besides, a draft on Early Learning and Development Standards has been formulated and is being shared with relevant stakeholders. Apart from these, reforms of a number of initiatives are underway such as, the Children’s Code, the National HIV/AIDS Policy, the Draft National Anti-Trafficking Strategic Plan of Action (NATSPA) and the National Child Protection Policy.

The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, 2010

This Act was enacted in alignment with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 1979, the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, and article 28of the Bangladesh Constitution regarding ensuring equal rights for women and children. The main objective of the Act is to prevent domestic violence and protect women and children from all forms of domestic violence. Domestic violence is defined as “If any woman and child member of a family is physically, mentally, sexually or financially tortured or abused or exploited by a person having family relationship”.

According to the Act, the State is responsible to appoint an adequate number of enforcement officers at upazila, district and metropolitan areas through gazette notification in order to achieve the objective of the Act. The role and responsibilities of the enforcement officers would include helping the court to execute the Act, submitting a report to the court regarding the incidence of domestic violence, informing the Officer-in Charge of the respective police station, submitting an application to the court for the protection of the victim upon request of the victim, taking necessary measures to ensure legal aid support for the victim, sending the victim to a shelter home in accordance with the desire of the victim, arranging medical test for the victim when appropriate and ensuring compensation for the victim as per the court order.

Under this Act, the court is expected to resolve the case within 60 days from the date of issuing the notice. If the contending person is found guilty by the court s/he will be given maximum six months imprisonment or ten thousand taka fine or both. In case of repeating the violent activity the person will be given punishment for two years imprisonment or one hundred thousand taka fine or both.

The Vagrancy Act, 2011

The Vagrancy Act, 2011 is the amended and revised version of the Vagrancy Act 1943. The overall objective of the Act is to ensure shelter and rehabilitation of the homeless people, including street children. The vagrant is defined as “A person who does not have a specific place to reside or who without any specific purpose roam around in the street and irritate people or who himself or being influenced by other people get involved in begging”. “A person will not be defined as vagrant if he/she collects money, food or other types of donation for charitable, religious or humanitarian purposes”.

Under this Act, the Government, through gazette notifications may establish reception center and shelter homes in Dhaka or any other district in order to provide shelter for a specific period to the vagrants and rehabilitation and socialization of the vagrants. Moreover, the Government may allow individuals or institutions or organizations to set up non-government shelter homes for the vagrants.

To achieve the objectives of the Vagrancy Act 2011, the Government will form a “Vagrants Advisory Board” represented by the Secretary, the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), who will also act as the Chairperson of the board, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) or his/her nominated person, the Director General of the NGO Affairs Bureau, the Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, a Joint Secretary level officer from the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division of the MoLJPA, a Joint Secretary level officer from the MoWCA and the Director General of the Department of Social Services, who will also act as the Member Secretary of the Advisory Board.

The Advisory Board will be responsible for providing advice to the Government from time to time, determining the number of vagrants, collecting data regarding the life style of the vagrants and providing advice to initiate various projects/programmes for the rehabilitation of the vagrants, visiting, monitoring and supervising the activities of the vagrants’ homes and providing advice to the relevant officials to formulate policies and implementation of such policies to run reception centers and shelter homes.

The Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act, 2012

This Act was enacted to prevent and suppress human trafficking, including children, and ensuring protection and rights of the victims of human trafficking and ensuring safe migration. The spirit of the Act is to prevent and suppress human trafficking related inter-country organized crimes in conformity with the international standards. A National Plan of Action (NPA) has also been formulated in 2012 to implement the Act.

Human trafficking has been defined as “If a person is sold or bought, transferred or exiled, consigned or arrested or harbored by force or intimidation, cheating or using socio-economic, environmental or any other forms of vulnerability for sexual exploitation or abuse or economic exploitation or any other form of exploitation inside or outside the country”.

According to the Act, maximum punishment for any person committing a crime of human trafficking will be life-term imprisonment and minimum punishment will be five years rigorous imprisonment and fifty thousand taka fine.

In case of human trafficking by an organized group for their common interest, each member of the group will be given life-term imprisonment or minimum seven years rigorous imprisonment with five hundred thousand taka fine.

If any person kidnaps, hides or detains someone for sexual abuse and exploitation he/she will be declared guilty under this Act and will be given maximum ten years and minimum five years rigorous imprisonment and twenty thousand taka fine. In case of trafficking someone inside the country or bringing from other country by cheating or allurement for the purpose of sex work or other forms of sexual exploitation, the person will be punished for maximum seven years and minimum five years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of taka fifty thousand.

In order to ensure speedy trial of the offences under this Act, the Government will establish human trafficking repression tribunal at district level through gazette notification. Until the human trafficking tribunal is formed, the existing women and children repression prevention tribunal will be assigned at the district level. The judgment is expected to be completed within 180 days from the day of formation of charge.

The Act has also the provision for in camera trial to ensure justice and protecting the rights of the women and child victims.

The Pornography Control Act, 2012

The Pornography Control Act, 2012 has been enacted to prevent depreciation of the social and moral values with special focus on the women and children. The definition of pornography includes production and dissemination of video documentary, audio-visual materials, graphics, books, periodicals, sculpture, cartoon, leaflet and imaginary statue using uncivil dialogue and picture, body movement, naked dance, etc. which may create sexual appeal. The Act strongly prohibits production, preservation, marketing, supply, buying and selling and dissemination of all forms of pornographic items.

If any person gets involved in producing pornography or force men, women and children to participate in pornography production or record naked still and video picture with or without the consent of the participants he/she will be considered as guilty and will be given punishment for seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of taka two hundred thousand.

The Act has the provision to give punishment to the persons using the Internet, a website or any other electronic device to disseminate pornography. The punishment in this case will be five years rigorous imprisonment and two hundred thousand taka fine. Besides, the Act has also the provision for giving exemplary punishment to the persons using children for the production and dissemination of pornographic materials. The punishment for such offence will be ten years rigorous imprisonment and up to five hundred thousand taka fine.

In conclusion, it can be said that the GoB has taken vigorous efforts to make the national legislation fully compatible with the observations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. It is hoped that implementation of this legislation would lead to a better future for the children of Bangladesh.

3.National development strategy and corresponding plans of action for children

All national level development plans and policies of Bangladesh are fully sensitive and accommodative to the rights of the children. The Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP) 2011 -15 appropriately underscored the importance of children’s advancement and rights and thereby included a separate chapter with specific vision and actions. The SFYP clearly spelled out the situation of children saying that Bangladesh has made significant progress in the area of child rights promotion; however, the general situation of children needs to improve further since the survival and development of many Bangladeshi children are still threatened by malnutrition, disease, poverty, illiteracy, abuse, exploitation and natural disasters.

The vision regarding children’s advancement and rights is to create “A World Fit for Children”. The goals that have been set to achieve are:

(a)Ensuring children’s rights and advancement through the implementation of government policies and legislation;

(b)Providing health services to children;

(c)Ensuring access to the right for food and nutrition children need;

(d)Providing access for girls to education, training and development opportunities;

(e)Ensuring access for urban poor children to early childhood development, education, sports and cultural activities;

(f)Protecting children from all forms of abuse, exploitation and violence;

(g)Ensuring participation of children in identifying their needs, developing child rights related programmes, implementing interventions and evaluating success of those interventions;

(h)Ensuring safe water and sanitation and a healthy environment;

(i)Ensuring support of duty bearers, parents and other care givers; and

(j)Ensuring widespread public support for survival and development of children.

The proposed actions for achieving the strategic objectives include issues like child health, food and nutrition, child education, access to water and sanitation, child empowerment, child protection, birth registration, child labour and child abuse. Specific programme areas and activities have been identified under each issue.

The National Plan of Action (NPA) for Children (2005 – 2010) was implemented to ensure GoB’s commitment for the survival, development, protection and participation of children in Bangladesh within the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).

Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) is the central apex body of the GoB for monitoring and evaluation of the public sector development projects under Annual Development Programme (ADP). The child rights related development projects are also monitored and evaluated by the IMED and the Project Steering Committee (PSC) headed by the concerned Secretary and the Project Implementation Committee (PIC) headed by the concerned organization Head. Besides, the National Council on Women and Child Development (NCWCD) and a good number of NGOs and civil society members have been involved to review and monitor implementation of the NPA at local and national level. However, inadequate financial and skilled human resources and proper storage of data remained a big concern for effective monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the NPA.

The National Children’s Taskforce (NCTF) was formed in collaboration with NGO partners at the district and national level as a mechanism for eliciting children’s views and promoting their roles as stakeholders in implementing the National Plan of Action (NPA). The Bangladesh Shishu (Children) Academy (BSA) has provided all out support to the NCTF. The NCTF representatives have been taking an active role in the consultative process of the GoB (such as formulation of the NPA, NCLEP and the National Children Policy) through their participation at regional and national level consultation meetings.

A review of progress of the implementation of the third NPA was conducted by the MoWCA with technical assistance from UNICEF during April – May 2010.

In addition, based on the guidelines of country level action points, a National Strategy Paper for Bangladesh on Prevention of All Forms of Violence against Children (VAC), 2011 has been prepared by MoWCA. The process of preparation of the final draft of the national strategy on prevention of VAC has primarily being built upon the findings of the child and adult consultations held at 64 districts of Bangladesh. This has not only contributed to effective participation of children in this policy drafting process, but has also promoted adult and community ownership on the outcomes of the consultative processes. The draft has been firmly based upon an extensive review of literature – which has helped to gain knowledge on existing measures of protection against VAC as well as to learn from the global experiences. The consultative process continued through the GO-NGO-INGO, national working group, which has worked to map out requirements as well as to lay out propositions for the way forward. The strategy has been also grounded in a critical review of the laws, policies and institutions – which has helped to identify legal, policy and institutional reform agenda. The national plan of actions has also provided outlines of goals and strategies, already in motion, in different sub-sectors of violence against children.

4.Administrative measures, including coordination of implementation

The MoWCA is the lead agency in the GoB responsible for all matters related to women and children affairs. The role of the Ministry includes formulation of national policies on women and children, implementation of certain strategic programmes for women’s advancement, monitoring women’s legal and social rights, coordination with international organizations on matters related to women and children. The MoWCA coordinates, monitors, and reports on the implementation of the CRC.

Although a separate directorate or wing has not yet been established, an initiative has been taken to enhance the human and financial capacity of MoWCA. A separate branch regarding children’s affairs has been established headed by a Deputy Secretary under the jurisdiction of a Joint Secretary.

Based on the concluding observations and provisions of the CRC, the National Council for Women and Children Development (NCWCD) was formed as a high level policy and oversight body in February 2009 by merging the national Women Development Council and National Children Council headed by the Honourable Prime Minister in order to enhance coordination and increase the effective use of limited resources. The terms of reference of the new Committee include (i) coordinating the policy making and development activities among various ministries, departments and organizations; (ii)formulating a policy regarding legal rights, development and violence against women and children; and (iii) making appropriate decisions for implementing the initiatives that deal with the rights of women and children.

The MoWCA has also formed the CRC Focal Person Committee under the Chairmanship of the Honourable State Minister, for Women and Children Affairs and is represented by the relevant ministries and national and international NGOs involved in child rights related activities. The members of this committee regularly contribute to the planning and undertaking of research, policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation. Besides, District Child Rights Monitoring Committee (DCRMC) has been formed in all districts to monitor and report on child rights situation at the local level. A monitoring framework with specific indicators and guidelines has been developed in 2011 with the support from UNICEF. The NCTF is closely working with DCRMC at district level.

5.Budgetary analysis

Children’s issues have drawn the attention of the policy makers in terms of both policy formulation and budgetary allocation. With regard to budgetary allocations, the GoB recognises the value of nurturing the children of today to become an effective human capital tomorrow, which has been reflected through allocations for education, health, nutrition and protection. This has contributed to considerable improvements in the areas of child mortality, enrolment in primary and secondary schools, access to safe drinking water and sanitation. However, given the high proportion of poverty stricken children and the resource constraints of the Government, a large number of poor children still remain outside the welfare enhancement programmes targeted for their development.

A “pro-child budgeting” framework in formulating the national budget is yet to be in place due to lack of disaggregated data. However, quite a good number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been highlighted in the Ministry Budget Framework (MBF). For instance, coverage of protection against violence and trafficking of children, coverage of training of children, percentage of orphans and endangered children under protection, infant mortality rate, child malnutrition and so on. A variety of programmes and projects operating under several ministries are involved in delivering services earmarked for children in the national budget. These include the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME), the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MoLGRD&C), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), the Ministry of Cultural Affairs (MoCA), the Ministry of Information (MoI), the Ministry of Information Communication Technology (MoICT), the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS). The majority of the programmes addressing children’s issues are financed under the development budget of the concerned ministries.

The GoB prepares the budget under Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) and its main characteristic is the “allocation of resources based on performance” or “budgeting by results”.

Most programmes fall under four major sectors (out of 17 sectors) while child related programmes are scattered throughout the ADP. These include:

(a)Education and religion;

(b)Health, population and family welfare;

(c)Social welfare, women and youth development; and

(d)Labour and employment. In the ADP of 2010-11, these four sectors received a total allocation of TK. 906 millions, which is 25 per cent of the total ADP. This share of the four sectors has remained almost the same over the last several years.

In 2012-13 the GoB has allocated 2.5 per cent of the GDP and 15 per cent of the total budget for the Social Protection Programmes (SPP). Social protection programmes in the ADP include programmes for children with disabilities, programmes related to hazardous child labour practices and child empowerment programmes, among others. Within the 2010-11 ADP, the allocation for social protection or welfare related programmes for children accounts for 26.4 per cent of the total ADP allocation for the sector.

The national budget preparation does not follow the system of expenditure indicators and disaggregated data for impact assessment on how to improve investments to serve the best interest of children. However, a model Recurrent Capital Gender and Poverty (RCGP) has been developed in the Finance Division through which poverty and gender allocation is being analysed.

The allocation for child education in the ADP has increased over the years. In 2010‑11, the total child education budget amounted to TK. 407 million, which is 80.4 per cent of the total ADP allocation for the Education and Religion sector and 3.2 per cent of the total national budget for the year.

In the ADP of 2010-11, TK. 92 million was allocated for child health related programmes. In 2010-11 the total child health related budget is estimated at 23.4 per cent of the Government’s health sector budget.

Combining education, health and social protection, the child related allocations constitute 11.5 per cent of the total ADP allocation in 2005-6, 14.2 per cent in 2008-9 and 13.2 per cent in 2010-11. As a percentage of the total budget, child related ADP programmes amounted to 4.4 per cent in 2005-6, 3.6 per cent in 2008-9 and 4.0 per cent in 2010-11. A significant part of the child related investments are channelled through the ADP from foreign aid.

The total budgetary allocation for children includes safety net programmes that are carried out from the revenue budget as well as ADP programmes. If these are added up, the total child budget amounts to 4.1 per cent of the national budget for 2010-11, 3.8 per cent for 2008-9 and 4.6 per cent for 2005-6.In recent years the importance for Social Safety Net (SSN) programmes for children has moved up in the policy agenda of the GoB. The number of these programmes specifically targeting children has been increased from 4 in 2005-06 to 14 in 2008-09 and 17 in 2010-11. In recent years there has been an effort towards maintaining a balance between the revenue and development budgets in the budgetary allocation for children.

6.International assistance and development aid

International assistance is received as a grant during the reporting period related to the implementation of the CRC provided by UNICEF. The total grant received from UNICEF was US $ 314.01 million between the period from 2008–2012.

At present there are a number of projects under implementation by different ministries related to right to life, survival and development and improving the living standard of children. The projects are titled:

(a)Early Learning for Child Development by under MoWCA;

(b)Advocacy and Communication for Children and Women under the MoI;

(c)Policy, Advocacy and Legislative Reform under the MoLJPA;

(d)Basic Education for Hard-to-Reach Urban Working Children under MoPME;

(e)Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders through Universal Salt Iodization;

(f)Fortification of Edible Oils in Bangladesh under the Ministry of Industries;

(g)Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh under MoSW;

(h)Sanitation, Hygiene and Water Supply under MoLGRD; and

(i)Empowerment and Protection of Children under MoWCA. Some new projects are in the pipeline that would also have a positive impact on children’s living standards.

7.Establishment of an independent national human rights institution

Bangladesh has already established the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) under the National Human Rights Act 2009 with an adequate mandate and human and financial resources for promoting and monitoring human rights, including child rights and redressing complaints of rights violation. On the other hand, Section 10.3 of the newly adopted National Children Policy 2011 has created the legal provision to appoint an Ombudsman for children to contribute to the welfare and rights of children.

Being a fully independent body, the NHRC has got involved in monitoring the overall child rights situation in the country and taking necessary actions in case of child rights violation. In order to discharge its duty effectively and efficiently, the NHRC has formed a seven member Child Rights Committee represented by national and international NGOs, United Nations bodies and eminent human rights and child rights personalities of the country. The Committee is responsible for undertaking activities that include:

(a)Organizing bi-monthly meetings/dialogues in which its members and other relevant stakeholders participate, where they discuss child rights related current issues and make specific suggestions and recommendations for government and non-government institutions to implement;

(b)Recommending provisions in favour of children to incorporate in different national laws and policies; and

(c)Monitoring implementation of the National Children Development Policy; in addition, the Child Rights Committee of the NHRC remains vigilant in detecting violations of child rights throughout the country.

8.Dissemination of the Convention, training and integration into school curricula

Numerous efforts have been made by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), the Ministry of Information (MoI), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), the Ministry of Hill Tract Affairs (MoHTA), the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME), and public and private universities and colleges, Television and Radio channels, newspapers and national and international NGOs and United Nations bodies, including UNICEF to make the principles and provisions of the Convention and its Optional Protocols widely known to adults and children. These are as follows:

The Convention has been translated into Bangla, including a child friendly version, and widely disseminated among all stakeholders (school teachers, people’s representatives, religious leaders, lawyers, judges, government officials, journalists, researchers, legislators, police officials, social workers and children at upazila, district and national level through the regular meetings, seminars, workshops, consultations and trainings on CRC organised by different ministries and other entities. The MoHTA also translated the CRC in Marma, Chakma and Tripura languages to reach the ethnic minority groups;

MoI organised series of trainings, workshops, courtyard meetings through the project titled “Advocacy and Communication for Women and Children” to make the provisions of the Convention widely known and understood. Department of Films and Publication (DFP), an agency of MoI produced a series of documentaries on the responsibilities of guardians and other stakeholders towards realizing the rights of the children with special focus on people with low literacy or illiterate. These documentaries were screened by the Department of Mass Communication (DMC) in all 64 districts of the country;

The State owned television and radio namely, Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Bangladesh Betar, produced and telecasted a series of promotional programmes that would include discussion/talk shows, children’s news, single episode and series drama, songs, filler/TV spot, debate on child rights issues throughout the year. Besides, private TV channels and radio have been producing regular programmes on child rights issues. The print media have also showed interest in regularly publishing news and features on child rights issues, especially on the occasion of the national and international days related with child rights;

BSA has been promoting child rights issues through organizing cultural events (songs, dance, popular theatre, art competition etc.) and trainings. The BSA has got its branches in all 64 districts and 6 upazilas of the country;

National and international NGOs and United Nations agencies, especially UNICEF and ILO have made enormous efforts in disseminating the provisions of the Conventions among its staff members, partner organizations, relevant government officials, community leaders, religious leaders, people’s representatives, media activists, employers’ and workers’ organizations, children’s organizations and members of the civil society through workshops, seminars, trainings, TV and radio programmes, publishing posters, booklets and leaflets and national and international day observations;

Trade Union organizations have organized a good number of workshops, seminars and trainings to disseminate CRC with special focus on child labour among their members and affiliated organizations, parents of the working children, community members and employers and their organizations in formal and informal sectors with technical and financial support from ILO.

It is to be noted that although the GoB did not undertake any formal assessment to review the outcomes and impact of the dissemination of the CRC, it can be said easily that the level of awareness on child rights issues among the key stakeholders has tremendously increased during the reporting period. Some of the indications of such awareness include regular reporting on child rights violations in print and electronic media, increased number of enrolment and retention rate in primary and secondary schools, especially enrolment of girls in higher education, increased coverage of immunization, strong role of the parents and community members to withdraw children from hazardous labour, growing concern of the society as a whole against the incidences of violence against children, especially domestic child workers.

Series of trainings were conducted in all 64 districts by the Capacity Building and Monitoring Child Rights Project (CBMCRP) of MoWCA. A total of 2048 participants from government institutions, NGOs and print and electronic media attended these trainings. The training courses include Training of Trainers (ToT) on CRC Monitoring & Reporting, District Forum Member Monitoring & Reporting Workshop etc. The purpose of these trainings is to develop a team of National Master Trainers (NMTs) to plan and conduct district level training courses on CRC Monitoring and Reporting, equipping the district level GO/NGO functionaries with required knowledge, attitude and skills for responsive monitoring that will lead to strengthening of a coordinated institutional system for effective reporting on implementation of child rights.

Apart from that, the Policy Advocacy and Legislative Reform Project implemented by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division of the MoLJPA with support from the Judicial Administration Training Institute (JATI) providing training on CRC focusing on the juvenile justice system to judicial personnel, including judges, lawyers, police officers, social welfare officers, magistrates and Probation Officers as well as government officials.

In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs provided training to 550 members of the law enforcing agency on child right issues with special focus on juvenile delinquents, safe custody, behaving with the child offenders etc. Besides, special training on child rights and juvenile offences has been included in Police Training manuals at all level. Under the Police Reform Project a guideline has been developed on child rights and child offenders and campaign materials among police officials have been disseminated.

The Ministry of Social Welfare imparted training on Basic and Professional Services Training to around 1,500 social workers focusing on child rights and child sensitive social protection.

With regard to the integration of the CRC into school curriculum, the Ministry of Education has taken an initiative to revise the curriculum for grade I - X and the revised curriculum has already been approved. The new curriculum will be distributed in 2013 and it will have a section on child rights issues. However, a chapter on “Human Rights” has already been included in the curriculum of grade V (Social and Environmental Science).

Besides, the CRC has also been included in the training curriculum of institutions providing training to government officials and professionals (in-service trainings) dealing with children issues, including in Primary Teachers Training Institutes.

9.Dissemination of the periodic reports and the concluding observations at local and national level

The combined third and fourth periodic reports and concluding observations were disseminated by the MoWCA among relevant stakeholders that included Government ministries and departments Legislators, child rights NGOs, children’s organizations, Employers’ and Workers’ organizations, religious institutions and media at local and national level. Just after the concluding observations were issued, the MoWCA in cooperation with UNICEF organized a dissemination workshop in the presence of a member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child who came to Bangladesh in 2009.

10.Cooperation with civil society organizations

There is collaboration between GoB and NGOs and civil society organizations in areas of non-formal and formal education, early childhood development, prevention of violence against children etc.

III.Definition of the child

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

The GoB has undertaken several measures during the reporting period to set a uniform definition of the child in the laws and policies of the country in accordance with the article 1 of the CRC, which are given below.

2.Review of the existing laws and policies in connection with the age of children

The reviewed laws and policies regarding the age of children are set out below:

The Children Act 1974 has been thoroughly reviewed and the new Children Act has been drafted and endorsed by the Cabinet to replace the existing one in order to ensure the rights of the children in alignment with the CRC with special focus on the age of children. The age of child has been defined as any person below the age of 18 years in the draft Children Act.

Following the review of the National Children Policy 1994, the new Children Policy 2011 was adopted that defined a child as any person under the age of 18 years.

MoLE adopted the National Child Labour Elimination Policy (NCLEP) 2010 to prevent and eliminate child labour, especially hazardous forms of child labour. According to the NCLEP, “a person not attaining the age of 14 is a child” and “a person who has attained the age of 14 but below the age of 18 is considered to be an adolescent”. Minimum age for employment is set at 14 and no person under the age of 18 years is allowed to be engaged in hazardous work.

As per the existing law, the minimum age of marriage is set at 18 for girls and 21 for boys.

The age of criminal responsibility was raised from 7 years to 9 years through an amendment of the Penal Code 1860. However, the Section 83 stipulates that criminal responsibility between the ages of 9 and 12 is subject to judicial assessment of their capacity to understand the nature and consequences of their actions at the time of occurrence.

IV.General principles

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

During the reporting period, the GoB has taken several measures to address the principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development and respect for the views of children particularly with regard to education, health care, nutrition, early marriage, social protection, disability, and ethnic minority children.

Bangladesh has made measurable progress in reducing gender-based discrimination in a number of areas. The GoB has made strong commitments and undertaken various initiatives to reduce the gap between boys and girls. The details are furnished below.

With regard to the respect for the views of the child, the GoB is fully committed to children’s participation in policy development, its implementation and monitoring and evaluation. All child rights related laws and policies have given special emphasis on the importance of children’s participation in every action of the Government and non-government organizations that affect the lives of children. In recent years, the issue of children’s participation has got special attention both by the Government and non-government agencies.

The GoB has taken various measures to guarantee the life, survival and development of the children. The life, survival and development of children are interconnected with the economic poverty of the families to which the children belong. The SPP address the basic needs of the poor and vulnerable people, including children. The GoB has been implementing a number of social protection programmes such as, Food for Work (FFW), Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Open Market Sales (OMS), Cash for Work (CFW), 100 Days Employment Guarantee Scheme, Allowances for Widow and Distressed Women, Grants for Orphanages, Cash Transfer for Vulnerable Children, Oppressed and Destitute Women and Children Welfare Fund, Vulnerable Group development programme for ultra Poor (VGDUP), Fund for supporting the lactating working mothers in urban areas, Maternity Allowances etc.

2.Measures taken to combat gender-based discrimination

In order to further reducing gender-based discrimination, the GoB has proposed specific strategy and policy initiatives in its SFYP with specific activities to implement. Some of the strategies include reforming the policy and legal framework, creating an enabling environment for girls, eliminating health and education disparities, priority to girls and women in social protection programmes, empowerment and participation of women and girls, addressing violence against girls and women, mainstreaming gender issues, developing institutional capacity, giving special training to service providers, creating women friendly physical facilities at all public health complexes and improving access to health services for women and girls, incorporating topics on health needs of both males and females and their impact on gender disparities in school curricula, integrating gender issues in planning and budgetary processes and ensuring female participation in economic decision making.

The MoE audited all text books with focus on gender and revised accordingly. The stipend programme for the girl students created special interest for them to get enrolled in schools and to continue their education. At present, a total of 3.9 million students have been receiving stipends. Bangladesh has succeeded in attaining gender parity at the primary and secondary levels.

Special emphasis has been given to the physical and mental development of girls and reducing all forms of discrimination against girl children along with empowerment of adolescent girls, including enhancement of life skills in formulating and implementing of the NPA, NCLEP, Children Act and National Children Policy.

The Department of Women Affairs (DWA) is implementing a programme titled “Empowerment of Girls and Boys for bringing positive changes within the community” in seven districts under seven divisional cities for adolescents. A total of 379 clubs have been formed to organize adolescents at upazila level to enhance their life skills.

Massive social awareness programmes were planned and implemented by various ministries, departments and NGOs to create awareness among the parents/guardians, teachers, media and children regarding the negative consequences of the gender-based discrimination.

Some other achievements include formulation of the National Women Development Policy 2011, which aims at eradicating gender disparities which seriously affect girls and making progress towards achieving MDGs 2, 3 and 4 through a significant increase in enrolment in primary schools and the attainment of gender parity at the primary and secondary levels.

3.Rights of children with disabilities and children belonging to minorities

Four Action Plans were approved by the GoB for addressing the needs of children with special needs, including minorities and children with disabilities. The Gender and Inclusive Education Action Plan is being implemented by the MoPME. Construction of all new school buildings, include ramps to make easy access for children with physical disabilities. One separate toilet easily accessible for children with disabilities is being constructed at each new school building. At present, a total of 27,573 children with disabilities are attending secondary schools.

The children of ethnic minorities are being treated equally in all schools. The option for providing education in tribal languages created an opportunity for the minority children to receive education in their own language.

The MoSW has drafted the Act titled “Protibondhi Baktir Adhikar Ain, 2011” (The Persons with Disabilities Rights Act, 2011) in alignment with the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (CPRD) that came into force in May 2008. Department of Social Services (DSS) has taken an initiative to undertake a disability identification survey in 2012. The objectives of the survey include:

(a)Identifying families having people with disabilities and determining the number of people with disabilities, including children;

(b)Detecting the visible and invisible disabilities;

(c)Preparing a database;

(d)Providing registration and ID card; and

(e)Ensuring the welfare of the people with disabilities through implementation of the National Disability Welfare Act.

The MoSW has introduced Integrated Special Education Policy, 2009. Under the implementation of this policy, Jatiyo Protibondhi Unnyan Foundation (National Disabilities Development Foundation) has been running 55 special schools in different parts of the country. A total of 9,465 students are attending these special schools. In addition, a total of 22,000 children of the special schools are receiving services through Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR). So far, a total of 12,700 children have been rehabilitated.

The GoB through the MoSW also introduced a stipend programme to encourage education for the student with disabilities. A total of 18,602 students received stipends during the reporting period. The GoB has allocated 88 million Tk. for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

4.Measures taken to ensure the best interest of children

In order to ensure the best interest of children the GoB has undertaken serious efforts that include incorporating the principle of the best interests of children in the new laws and policies, providing training to the Government officials and professionals directly involved with child rights issues to develop capacity to deal with children’s issues efficiently, organizing a series of awareness-raising campaigns and regular monitoring and assessment of the ongoing practices at different levels. The issue of the best interests of children has been outlined in the new Children’s Policy as one of the core principles.

Section 17 (1) of the Guardians and Ward Act, 1890 states that “In appointing or declaring the guardian of a minor, the Court shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be guided by what, consistently with the law to which the minor is subject, appears in the circumstances to be for the welfare of the minor”.

Section 17 (2) states that “In considering what will be for the welfare of the minor, the Court shall have regard to the age, sex and religion of the minor, the character and capacity of the proposed guardian and his nearness of kin to the minor, the wishes, if any, of a deceased parent, and any existing or previous relations of the proposed guardian with the minor or his property. If the minor is old enough to form an intelligent preference, the Court may consider that preference”.

Human rights and child rights issues, relevant policies, laws, standards and guidelines have been included in the training curriculum of the National Academy for Social Services and all Regional Training Centers of DSS. Through the six training centres located at 6 divisions, DSS has been providing trainings for its grass root level staff and social workers. Besides, MOLJPA has been providing trainings to the officials of the judicial branches and law enforcement agencies (Judges, Magistrates, Police, Staff of correctional homes and prisons etc.) on human rights and child rights issues. Awareness- raising activities are being implemented by the GoB ministries and social partners at the local and national levels.

5.Capital punishment

The existing Children Act, 1974 prohibited capital punishment of children up to 16 years of age and the draft Children Act, 2012 specifies that no child will be given the death penalty or a life sentence under any circumstance. The Act also specifies that if any child commits a criminal offence for which the child would be eligible for capital punishment, the Children Court will give punishment for maximum ten years and minimum three years imprisonment and will make an order to send the child to the Children Development Center.

The MoLJPA and MoSW have been organizing trainings for the members of the law enforcement agencies, judiciary and social services on a regular basis in order to make them aware regarding the provisions of the Children Act. It may be noted that not a single incidence occurred during the reporting period where children were given capital punishment.

6.Registration of births and deaths of children

The Birth and Death Registration Act 2004 explicitly defines the role of different authorities to register birth and death of all children, including those placed at alternative care irrespective of religion, cast, gender and ethnicity. Accordingly, responsible institutions have developed specific mechanisms to register birth and death of all children. The Local Government Division (LGD) of the MoLGED is responsible for registering birth and death of all children through birth and death registrar offices (Union Parishad, Municipility, City Corporation, Cantonment Board and Bangladesh Embassy). The MoSW is responsible to report births and deaths of children placed in shelter homes, Baby Homes, Child Development Centers and other alternative care through due process. The Ministry of Home Affairs is also responsible for reporting births and deaths of children born and placed in prison and in safe custody.

7.Respect to children’s voices

The GoB is fully convinced that children’s participation and respecting their voices is a must to formulate appropriate programmes or policies for the betterment of the children. Henceforth, the GoB has taken various measures to ensure that children’s voices are heard in a systematic manner in the process of formulating national laws and policies related to children and for their implementation.

Children’s representatives actively took part in the process of formulation of the National Children Policy, Prevention of Domestic Violence Against Women and Children Act and National Plan of Action to Eliminate Child Labour.

Through the MoWCA, the GoB facilitated formation of the NCTF at district and national levels. The members of the NCTF represent children from all categories and express opinions on the formulation of various laws, policies and actions initiated by the GoB. NCTF was fully involved in monitoring the implementation of the NPA, formulation of the National Children Policy and revision of the Children Act 2012. NCTF is also included in District Child Rights Monitoring Forum. Children Act (Section 22) has made provision to ensure participation of children in all stages of the judicial process.

Bangladesh is one of the members of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) and has been playing a significant role to make the alliance effective. A child from Bangladesh has become one of the members of the Governing Body for the first time during the 3rd Governing Body Meeting held in May 2012 in Sri Lanka.

The Child Parliament (CP) is another children’s body having branches at district and central levels. The CP was formed in 2003 with assistance from Save the Children in Bangladesh. During the reporting period, 10 sessions have been observed by the CP where they expressed their opinions regarding the weaknesses of different policies and programmes of the GoB in relation to child rights. The highest level policy makers of the GoB immediately acted on their recommendations.

An initiative has been taken to expand the CP to the Parliamentary Constituency level. A total of 350 branches of CP will be formed, of which 300 will be formed against 300 Constituencies of Bangladesh and additional 50 will be formed to cover up hard to reach areas. UNICEF, Manusher Jonno Foundation, Save the Children, Plan Bangladesh and BSA have been supporting this initiative.

There had been a workshop for strengthening the capacity of the CP with support from MoWCA. Members of the CP have been representing in various national and international forums at home and abroad. Children’s representatives have been taking part in all national and local level consultations on child rights issues organized by the GoB and NGOs.

Very recently, a Children’s Gallery has been set up in the National Parliament to facilitate interested children’s observation of the proceedings of the Parliament sessions, which would definitely contribute to developing the leadership qualities of the children.

The MoPME initiated the formation of Student Council in all primary schools to ensure children’s participation in the school level improvement plan. The first conference of the Student Council was held on 15 July, 2012 with the presence of the Honourable Prime Minister as the Chief Guest. The MoE is also exploring the possibility of introducing this concept in secondary schools.

However, it still remains a challenge for the GoB to ensure participation of children from low income groups and hard to reach areas, including ethnic children.

V.Civil rights and freedoms

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

The GoB is fully committed to register births of all children born within the national territory. Accordingly, tremendous efforts were made to achieve 100 per cent birth registration during the reporting period, including setting up an online Birth and Death Registration Information System (BRIS). 98.91 per cent birth registration has been achieved so far. The GoB has given special focus to register birth and death of children whose fathers or parents are not known.

The GoB has taken several steps in order to ensure access to appropriate information for all children by equipping many schools with computer and Internet services, introducing children’s corners at libraries, producing various programmes appropriate for children on television and radio channels and so on.

The Pornography Control Act 2012 has been enacted to prevent production and marketing of harmful materials that undermine the welfare and dignity of children.

The issue of corporal punishment was taken by the GoB very seriously and to prevent corporal punishment in all settings, especially in schools, several measures were taken, including issuing special instructions to all schools, bringing the perpetrators to justice, providing trainings on alternative forms of disciplining and creating mass awareness against corporal punishment.

The GoB has taken steps to prevent violence against children taking into account the recommendations of the United Nations Study on Violence against Children. These measures include amendment and enactment of laws and policies (Amendment of the Nari O Shishu Nirjaton Daman Act, 2000 (Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000), Amendment of the Children Act 1974, Formulation of the National Children Policy 2011, enactment of the Domestic Violence Prevention and Security Act, 2010 and implementation of such laws and policies, mass awareness creation on values of non-violence and developing a national data collection system.

2.Birth registration, name and nationality and preservation of identity

The MoLGRD&C is solely responsible for birth registration. The Local Government. Division of the MoLGRD&C has been implementing the Birth and Death Registration Project with support from UNICEF since 2001. The aim of the project is to ensure birth registration and providing certificates to all people, including children. According to the closing report as of March 2012, 98.91 per cent of the total population of the country brought under the birth registration programme. Birth registration is free for children. Submitting birth registration certificates as a proof of age at the time of enrolment in schools has become mandatory and accessing 15 other services (e.g. Obtaining Voter ID, passport and land registration) have to submit their birth certificate as a proof of age.

A massive awareness programme (production and dissemination of posters, leaflets, brochures and promotional programmes on radio and television) were carried out by the concerned Ministry to raise awareness among the people regarding the importance of birth registration.

There are still some pockets (such as tea garden, hilly areas and char land areas) where the birth registration rate remains very low. According to the Law, births of all children are to be registered within 45 days. However, many parents are reluctant to do that as the first time they need a birth certificate for their children at the time of enrolment in primary school. By that time children usually reach the age of 6 years. The LGD has taken a special initiative to achieve the birth registration target in the low performance areas, including registration of births within the given timeframe by the law. The special measures include linking birth registration with the Extended Programme of Immunization (EPI) so that parents become obligated to register births of their children to get the EPI service and mobile birth registration in hard to reach areas.

The Ministry has recently introduced online birth registration programme with the support of UNICEF. As of 1 October 2012 a total of 58 million people have been registered through the online birth registration system. The 3rdphase of the project is under approval and it is expected that all birth registration data will be computerized by June 2013. New births will be registered through online birth registration system by 2013.

According to Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1951 (Amended in 2009), Bangladeshi citizenship can be obtained by birth, descent, migration and naturalization. Every person born in Bangladesh shall be a citizen of Bangladesh, unless , by virtue of this Section, if at the time of his birth:

(a)His father possesses such immunity from suit and legal process as is accorded to an envoy of an external sovereign power accredited in Bangladesh and is not a citizen of Bangladesh; or

(b)His father is an enemy alien and the birth occurs in a place then under occupation by the enemy.

Subject to the provisions of Section 3, a person born after the commencement of this Act, shall be a citizen of Bangladesh by descent if his father or mother is a citizen of Bangladesh at the time of his birth.

The Government may, upon his obtaining a certificate of domicile under this Act, register as a citizen of Bangladesh by migration any person who after the commencement of this Act has migrated to the territories now included in Bangladesh from any territory in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent outside those territories, with the intention of residing permanently in those territories.

The Government may, upon an application made to it by any person who has been granted a certificate of naturalization under the Naturalization Act, 1926, register that person as a citizen of Bangladesh by naturalization.

It is to be noted that previously only the father’s name was necessary to identify a child for official purposes, but according to the revised Citizenship Act, 2009 writing names of both parent has been made mandatory.

In case of abandoned children, different institutions like Children’s Village, Baby Homes under the MoSW take measures to give a name and identity through case management system.

Freedom of expression and right to seek, receive and impart information

At present, the print and electronic media industry in Bangladesh is very big and free from Government interference. Around 15 private satellite television channels and 6 FM radio stations, in addition to the state owned Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Bangladesh Betar, are in operation and providing quality information services to the people, including children. There are more than 300 daily, weekly and monthly newspapers being published throughout the country. In recent times, the print and electronic media have been playing a supportive role to the causes of children. Almost all television channels have dedicated a special programme run by children. Besides, regular reporting and programmes on child rights issues have special priority in both print and electronic media.

BTV has been broadcasting a monthly programme titled “Amader Kotha” (Our Words), in which high level government policy makers take part in answering questions posed by children. Recently the Honourable Prime Minister took part in this programme and answered different questions on the Government’s commitment towards child rights.

One of the private satellite TV channels has been awarded the Emmy Award for the second time for their regular children’s programme titled “Amra Korbo Joy” (We shall overcome).

During the reporting period, a good number of national and international NGOs and United Nations agencies, initiated various efforts to strengthen the capacity of the print and electronic media to enable them to adequately address the child rights issues. Regular interaction between the media and the children from all walks of life created the opportunity for children to express their views and opinions on issues that directly and indirectly affect their lives, as well as receiving information on various issues regarding the Government’s actions and actions taken by other stakeholders on the overall development of the country in general and the rights of children in particular.

In addition to the media, many government and non-government organizations have been regularly organizing consultation meetings, workshops and seminars at local and national level through which children have the opportunity to get information and express their views. However, ensuring equal access to appropriate information for all children, especially children living in hard to reach areas remains a big challenge. Children have also access to seek and receive information through Information Resource Center established up to the Union Level.

Moreover, the GoB has enacted the Right to Information Act, 2009 and established the National Information Commission to ensure free flow of information at all levels.

3.Freedom of association and peaceful assembly

Freedom of association and peaceful assembly for all citizens of Bangladesh has been guaranteed by the Constitution. The children of Bangladesh are enjoying full freedom to form their own associations and organize peaceful assemblies. During the reporting period, the GoB and NGOs facilitated formation of a good number of children’s organizations at all levels represented by various categories of children.

Some of the children’s organizations are actively taking part in promoting children’s rights include National Children’s Taskforce, Child Parliament, Adolescents’ Clubs, Shishu Parishad, Child Brigade, Khelaghar, Chander Hat, Kendrio Kochi Kachar Mela etc. The children’s organizations have been taking part in various rallies, human chains and other forms of demonstrations to place their demands to the relevant authorities at local and national levels. These organizations have played an important role to prevent early marriage, achieving the target of birth registration, preventing child labour, accessing safe water and sanitation facilities, promoting democratic practices and so on through their group efforts. NGOs are providing training on a variety of issues to the members of the children’s organization to develop their skills and ability to perform their responsibilities effectively.

4.Protection of privacy and protection of the image

The Children Act, 1974 and National Children Policy 2011 made provisions for the protection of privacy and image of the children who come into contact with the law as well as to protect other children.

The draft Children Act, 2012 clearly spelt out provisions to protect the privacy and image of children that come into contact with the law that include (i) formation of a children’s desk in each police station; (ii) separate charge sheet for children and adults; (iii) formation of children’s courts; (iv) separate trial for children and adults; (v) children’s participation in judiciary process; (vi) in camera trials; and (vii) prohibition of dissemination of information regarding ongoing trials in children’s courts through print and electronic media.

5.Access to information from a diversity of sources and protection from material harmful for the well-being of children

The GoB with support from public and private news agencies and other communication channels has been trying to reach children as much as possible. However, a large portion of the children living in rural and hard to reach areas are still deprived of accessing appropriate information.

Bangladesh Betar (State run Radio) and BTV regularly broadcast varieties of programmes on child rights issues in the form of messages, single episode and series dramas, songs, jingles, talk shows etc. Private FM Radio and satellite television channels are also playing a significant role in disseminating information on child rights issues. Besides, print media is also playing an important role through organizing round table dialogues followed by publishing special supplements, editorials and subeditorials in addition to regular news and features. Both public and private news media are taking special measures on the occasion of the international and national day observation related to child rights.

Side by side, national and international NGOs are also playing an important role to disseminate information among children on the rights of the children and other relevant issues such as, health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, birth registration, breastfeeding, early childhood development, adolescent’s issues, children’s education, child labour and so on.

There are also regulations such as the Censorship Act, 1963, the Information Communication Technology Act and the Online Child Protection Policy in relation to censorship on publications and dissemination of harmful information and materials.

6.The right not to be subjected to torture or other inhuman treatment, including corporal punishment

The Constitution of Bangladesh, the Penal Code 1860, the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000 (Amended in 2003) and other relevant laws and policies have prohibited torture and other forms of inhuman treatment.

As a follow up to the United Nations Study on Violence against Children, the GoB has taken initiatives to ensure proper implementation of the existing laws. In addition to the existing law, a good number of child friendly guidelines have been issued by the High Court Division focusing on safe homes with comprehensive child friendly services, protection of children from violence, abuse and neglect, basic needs, minimum standards of care, right to consent and opinion, prohibition of death penalty and capital punishment.

The High Court through a writ petition no. 5684/2010 banned all forms of punishment in all primary and secondary educational institutions in Bangladesh. Through the writ petitions no. 5863/2009, 754/2010, 7245/2010 the High Court declared imposition of extrajudicial punishment, including those in the name of fatwa, illegal and provided some guidelines. The High Court through another writ petition no. 5916/2008 also issued a guideline regarding protecting children from sexual harassment.

The Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) has issued four circulars during the reporting period to prevent all types of corporal punishment in schools. Besides, the DPE implemented a number of awareness raising activities such as Interactive Popular Theatre (IPT), Meena Day, Education Fair and Education Week to raise public awareness to stop corporal punishment in schools and other settings.

The MoE also issued a circular prohibiting any kind of corporal punishment. Principles and guidelines have been developed to address the issue of corporal punishment. The MoE also implemented massive awareness raising campaigns using print and electronic media. Teachers have been provided with appropriate trainings on the alternative forms of disciplining under the project titled “Violence Against Women” supported by UNESCO.

The Ministry of Information also initiated awareness raising activities against corporal punishment which include production and projection of documentary films, production and telecasting of television spots, docu-dramas, and organizing rallies under its Advocacy and Communication for Women and Children project.

With an increased level of awareness on the issue of corporal punishment, the parents and local communities have become more aware and are taking proactive role to protect children from corporal punishment in schools. However, prevention of corporal punishment at homes and workplaces is making a gradual improvement.

As a part of developing a comprehensive child protection system, the GoB is carrying out a multi-stakeholder child protection system mapping and assessment. The assessment is being finalized by the MoSW using a comprehensive toolkit.

7.Physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of child victims

In order to address the needs of the child victims, the MoWCA has been implementing Multi-Sectoral Programme on Violence Against Women (MSPVAW) jointly with the Government of Denmark. Eight One-stop Crisis Centers (OCC) are being run by the MSPVAW of which seven are located at divisional level medical college hospitals and one at district level medical college hospital. The main objective of the OCC is to provide all required services for women and child victims of violence. The OCC provides health care, legal assistance, DNA test, social services and psychological counselling. Up to April 2012 a total of 2,808 child victims received services from OCC. A national help-line (10921) has been established to receive complaints and respond to the incidences of violence against women and children, and to provide appropriate information and guidance.

A National Trauma Counselling Center (NTCC) has been established in 2009 for providing psychological counselling to women and child victims of violence. A total of 70 children received counselling services along with study materials from this centre. Besides, NTCC has been arranging awareness and supportive counselling training programmes on for teachers and students of different schools and colleges, including on problems among children and adolescents and on how to deal with such problems and psychological counselling services for women and child victims etc.

There are six divisional support centers for women and children victims and seven support centres in seven districts under the Promotion of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Project of DWA where children and adolescent victims of violence are given shelter with all necessary support, including legal support. Besides, there is one safe custody for women, adolescent and girls in Gazipur district where victims get shelter and legal support.

VI.Family environment and alternative care

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

The GoB through the MoSW has taken an initiative to revise the Children Act, 1974 to accommodate appropriate provisions with regard to alternative care for children outside family environment. The draft Children Act proposes several provisions that include institutionalization as last resort for children in need of care and protection, preference on the appropriate persons in case of alternative care arrangements such as placement, reintegration with families, defining and ensuring minimum standards of care for children in institutions, practice of child protection case management by the DSS, introduction of the inspection and reporting system , introduction of special rehabilitation and re-integration programmes and formation of child welfare board instead of courts to take care of children in need of care and protection at national, district and upazila level.

Through the National Academy for Social Services and six Regional Training Centers located in six divisions, DSS conducted a series of trainings for grassroots level staff of DSS (Field Supervisors, Union Social Workers, Municipal Social Workers, Trade Instructors, Nurses etc.) and voluntary social workers. The curriculum of these trainings includes implementation manuals/guidelines of different programmes/projects, rules and regulations as well as office management.

The MoSW has taken an initiative to increase community based alternative care facilities. A Policy Committee has already been formed and been acting as the platform to reform institutional care systems to promote family/community-based alternative care mechanisms in Bangladesh and to develop and enforce minimum care standards.

The MoSW has taken an initiative in 2010 with support from UNICEF for a gradual shift in its approach by incorporating preventive and protective measures supported by the concept of transformation of institutions into a family environment. Transformation of institutional care model has been piloted in 9 selected institutions (3 Govt. Children’s Family, 3 Safe Homes and 3 Child Development Centers), which includes introduction of gate keeping, minimum standards of care and child reintegration.

The MoSW undertook a study in 2008-2009 to assess the situation of different categories of children placed in institutions. Based on the findings of the study, the MoSW adopted measures to improve their living conditions.

The MoSW has appointed 31 Class One Officers in order to strengthen the services provided at various institutions. Recruitment of 641 staffs is under process. A total of 1,500 Social Workers and Caregivers received Basic Social Service (BSS) and Professional Social Service (PSS) training.

The MoSW, MoWCA, MoI and various national and international NGOs conducted public awareness campaigns on the importance of parental guidance using print and electronic media at local and national levels. Number of IEC materials such as posters, leaflets, billboards, handbooks, stickers etc. were produced and widely disseminated. Besides, public and private TV and Radio produced and broadcasted good number of documentaries, drama, and talk shows on this issue.

The MoSW established six Shishu Bikash Kendra (Children Development Center) in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahe and Khulna Division with a total capacity of 1,500 children. At present, MoWCA has been running these centres.

The MoSW has been providing services that include shelter, food, education and training, behavioral change etc. to the disadvantaged children through children family, residence for small children, training and rehabilitation centres for disadvantaged children, shelter homes and other institutions selected by the Government.

2.Family environment, parental guidance and capacity and responsibility of parents

Increased level of understanding on child development is an integral step to promote appropriate and supportive parental skills. The use of physical and humiliating punishment as a form of disciplining is being practiced at certain levels of the society. It is therefore, important to introduce discussion and learning on age specific child development and parenting programmes to change the practice of corporal punishment. Children need support not only for their physical development, but also their socio emotional and cognitive development. Parents provide the most immediate and important environment where children can develop to their full potentials in these domains. The family has a key responsibility to ensure children’s fundamental rights. However, many parents in Bangladesh do not have the adequate knowledge and capacity to provide appropriate support for the overall development of their children and there is an increasing demand for a child development knowledge package in Bangladesh.

Under the above backdrop, the MoWCA with technical and financial support from UNICEF initiated development of a training package titled “Child Development: A Child’s Right Perspective” under the Enabling Environment for Child Rights (EECR) Project. Knowledge on child development is being introduced and disseminated to help change perceptions of a “child” and “childhood” in the society so that participants’ groups recognize and describe key features of physical, emotional, psychological and cognitive development at different stages of childhood. The training package has been articulated in six modules and will be delivered to members of the Community Based Child Protection Committees (CBCPC), parents, adolescents and youths to initiate and enhance the protective environment in the community.

3.Children separated from parents

The PCAR project targeted vulnerable children in urban areas aiming to promote and protect the rights of street children. The project had two components. The first one is service provision and the second one is strengthening the protection system with three major areas of interventions: policy advocacy and regulatory framework, capacity building and training of GOs and NGOs and child protection mechanisms.

The MoSW with assistance from UNICEF has initiated a project named “Amader Shishu” (Our Children) in 2008 to provide community based care for orphans and vulnerable children. The project was designed after the devastating Cyclone Sidr. The goal of this on-going project is to better protect the rights of orphan children and children made vulnerable by natural disasters through promoting family based care, providing conditional cash transfers, strengthening the capacity of social welfare and establishing case management, follow - up and referral systems.

The MoWCA and MoSW have developed the concept of Child Friendly Space (CFS) with support from UNICEF to ensure protection of children affected by the Cyclone Sidr. Established in schools, local government buildings and tents, the CFS provided safe spaces for children to play, learn and socialize with a provision of hot meals, access to safe drinking water, medical and psychological care and hygienic latrines. This has helped re-establish normalcy and improve psychosocial well-being among children affected by the natural disaster. It has also offered families the opportunity to concentrate on rehabilitating their homes and rebuilding their livelihoods while children were playing and learning in a safe place. Moreover, CFS served as a Child Protection Network with referral mechanisms that identify orphans and vulnerable children who need long term support.

Taking positive lessons from the temporary CFS, the GoB decided to set up a permanent CFS as part of community-based child protection system to be established in flood and cyclone prone areas as well as in urban slums with a standard package of services that would include case management of each child, social work outreach for identifying children, non-formal education, and recreation and schooling.

4.Family reunification

Children staying in Child Development Centers (CDC) and Vagrant Homes usually have limited contact with their families. However, the social case workers make efforts to find out the address of the children’s families and try to contact family members or guardians by telephone and letter. They provide basic information to the parents or guardians about the reasons of detention, where and why the child is staying at the centre, the facilities children are provided with, and on the procedure for release and rehabilitation.

The social workers also follow up with some preparation for children returning to families, such as mediation with guardians and the child. The views of children about their family reintegration are taken into consideration. The staff and the children are not sufficiently aware of the system and the rights of the children to be reunified with their family. The DSS has been trying to develop the capacity of the social workers through various trainings and orientations.

Reintegration of the children with the family and community was one of the main objectives of the PCAR project. The activities include family tracking, reintegration in the family, family counselling, livelihood support for families and follow up of post reintegration services. Under the CSPB project, the reintegration guidelines that have been developed will be finalized along with the minimum standards of care and the alternative care policy.

5.Children deprived of family environment

So far, the main care arrangement for children without parental/family care is institutionalization of children. However, the draft Children Act has incorporated provisions of family/community based alternative care options.

One of the components of the Child Sensitive Social Protection System in Bangladesh(CSPB) Project of the MoSW is to taking care of the children without parental care by preventing separation of children from families, reintegrating children with their families, extended families etc. The objectives of the CSPB project also include providing social protection services to the child victims of natural disasters, social protection for street children, improvement of institutional service quality, establishing social centres and child help lines, formation of child protection network, developing child protection information management system and capacity development of the Government and non-government social workers, caregivers and managers. Under the project, 100,000 children are expected to benefit from the child sensitive social protection services.

The MoSW has been preparing to establish a national child protection system to ensure protection of children including children without parental/family care. An assessment of a child protection system of Bangladesh is underway. The draft law has provided for the establishment of child welfare board at national, district and upazila level.

BSST and PSST have been developed with a pool of 48 Master Trainers. The Project provided BSST training to 800 social workers (574 from DSS and 226 from NGOs) and PSST training to 728 (660 from DSS and 68 from NGOs) in order to develop institutional capacity of the service providers.

The DSS has been running a number of centres of various categories for children deprived of a family environment. These are as follows:

Baby Home

The DSS has established six Baby Homes in six divisions of the country for unclaimed and abandoned babies up to 6 years of age. Under this programme food, care, protection, education and nursing facilities are provided to the inmates.

Whenever an abandoned baby is found, anyone can send him/her to the nearest baby home filing a General Diary in the respective police station. The baby Home Authority tries to find out the relatives of the baby and maintain a case history along with the source as to how the baby has been received. After attaining the age of 6, the baby is shifted to the State Children Family for further care, protection and education and training up to the age of 18. So far, 1,037 babies have been rehabilitated through these homes.

State Children Family

There are 85 State Children Family in the country with a capacity for 10,300 orphans. The main objective of the State Children Family is to create an environment for orphan children to grow up as normal citizens of the country. The services being provided include food and lodging, shelter and maintenance, general education, religious and moral teaching, sports and recreation, medicare, vocational training and rehabilitation. A total of 51,342 orphans have been rehabilitated through this programme.

Day Care

The DSS established a Day Care Center in the Capital City with a capacity of 50 children. The working mothers keep their children in the centres during day time free of cost. The centre provides care, protection, food, security, recreation, education etc. A total of 8,178 children have benefited since the inception of these centres.

Destitute Children Rehabilitation

Under the Child Welfare and Development Programme, DSS established three institutions to provide training and rehabilitation services to destitute children. Destitute and street children are admitted into the destitute Children Rehabilitation Centres. They are provided with formal education and vocational training and counselling with the objective of rehabilitating them into the society. So far, a total of 3,141 children have been rehabilitated through this programme.

Home for Disadvantaged Girls

With a view to addressing the problem of the socially disadvantaged girl children (e.g. sex workers), the MoSW initiated a programme titled “Training and Rehabilitation Center for the Socially Disadvantaged Girls” by establishing six centres in six divisions. The objective of the programme is to provide food, care, protection, development and socio-economic rehabilitation of the child sex-workers, including the distressed girl children who are exposed to risk of abuse or violation. Each centre has a capacity for 100 girls.

The MoWCA has been running a number of day-care centres since 2009 from the revenue budget throughout the country to provide services to the children deprived of a family environment. At present, 42 day-care centres (33 for lower income groups and 9 for middle income groups) are operational. The services being provided at the day-care centres include primary health care, nutritious food for children, cleanliness of the children, indoor games and recreational facility as well as education on basic health and environment and introducing them to the history, culture and heritage of Bangladesh. In addition, various national and international days are observed with the participation of the children. Monthly mothers’ meetings are held to educate mothers on child health, nutrition, education, sanitation, family planning, early marriage and awareness building on other social issues. More than 4,000 children and equal number of mothers have benefited from these day-care centres.

The legal basis of the programme derives from the provision of the article 18(2) of the Constitution of Bangladesh, provisions of the Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act, 2012, provisions of Women and Children Oppression Restraint Act, 2000 (Amended in 2003), provisions of the Sections 366(A), 372 and 373 of the Penal Code and provisions of the Vagrancy Act, 2011.

6.Placement of children in shelter homes and periodic review of placement

In view of the increasing demands and needs for providing safe custody for women, children and adolescents in the country, the MoSW has established 7 Safe Custody Homes at six divisions (2 in Dhaka). These Homes have been protecting the victims from suffering and humiliation by separating them from their confinement in jails with adults and serious criminals. The Police Department has been assigned to ensure security of the inmates. Each Home has a capacity for 50 children.

Although the periodic review carried out by the DSS officials was not very systematic in the past, specific provisions have been proposed in the draft Children Act for carrying out review of the children placed in shelter homes and other institutions through introducing the case management system.

7.Abuse and neglect, including physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration

Despite various efforts taken by different Ministries and Departments of the GoB to create mass awareness regarding child abuse and neglect, many children are yet to be protected from this phenomenon. It happens mainly due to lack of understanding on child rights issues, lack of access to education which in turn force children into work and subject them to abuse and neglect, especially in the case of domestic child workers.

The DSS under the MoSW has been providing support to the victims of abuse and neglect to ensure their access to adequate services for recovery, counseling and rehabilitation. These services are being provided through six Shelter Homes, one Reception Center, and six Safe Home and Six Training and Rehabilitation Centers for the socially disadvantaged women and children. A total of 19,672 children have been reunified in the family since inception of the Shelter Homes.

The National Trauma Counseling Centre has been established by DWA under the MSPVAW with a view to providing mental health support to the women and children victims of violence. This centre has been providing psycho-social counselling support to the victims of violence free of cost.

Massive awareness campaigns were undertaken on CRC with special focus on abuse, violence and neglect of children by various GoB institutions and NGOs towards behavioral change of the caregivers.

The Office of the District Women Affairs under the MoWCA formed District Committee to Protect Abuse Against Women and Children in all districts of Bangladesh headed by the Deputy Commissioner. This Committee meets on a monthly basis to discuss and review situation of abuse against women and children and sends a report to the Cabinet and concerned ministries.

8.Recovery of maintenance for the child

The rights of the recovery of maintenance for the child are protected by several laws and ordinances in Bangladesh. Section 488 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has the provisions for maintenance of wives and children. The Code of Criminal Procedure states “If any person having sufficient means neglects or refuse to maintain his wife and legitimate or illegitimate child unable to maintain itself, the District Magistrate, a Sub-Divisional Magistrate or a First Class Magistrate may, upon proof of such neglect or refusal, order such person to make a monthly allowance for the maintenance of his wife or such child.” Such allowance shall be payable from the date of the order, or if so ordered from the date of application for maintenance.

As per the Family Courts Ordinance, 1985, parents are liable to maintain their sons until they reach puberty and daughters until marriage.

In accordance with the Muslim Personal Law 1961, the father is bound to maintain his daughter until she is married. The fact that the mother has the custody of the daughter until the latter attains puberty does not relieve the father of his obligation to maintain the daughter. If the father is poor, but the mother is in easy circumstances, the mother has the obligation to maintain the daughter. But a father is not bound to maintain a daughter who is capable of being maintained from her own property.

The Suppression of Violence against Women and Children Act, 2000 (amended in 2003) provides imposing on the father of an illegitimate child responsibility for maintaining the child (for boys until the age of 21 years and for girls until marriage).

VII.Disability, basic health and welfare

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

The GoB has taken various initiatives during the reporting period to fulfil its commitment with regard to the rights of persons with disabilities and to achieve sustainable improvement in health, nutrition and reproductive health, including family planning for the people, particularly vulnerable groups, including women, children, the elderly and the poor.

According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2009 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the infant mortality rate is estimated at 49 deaths before the age of one year for every 1000 live births, while the under- five mortality rate is 64 per 1000 live births. Girls and children in urban areas have lower child mortality rate then boys or children in rural areas. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel increased from 20.1 per cent in 2006 to 24.4 per cent in 2009. The comprehensive and correct knowledge of HIV prevention among women aged 15–24 years has decreased from 15.8 per cent in 2006 to 14.6 in 2009.

The Persons with Disabilities Rights Act, 2011 has already been drafted in alignment with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. For ensuring further development and empowerment of the persons with disabilities the “Jatiyo Prothibondhi Unnayan Foundation” (JPUF) was reconstituted in order to ensure the clear role and responsibilities of the JPUF. The JPUF has taken various efforts for establishing equal rights and honour, full participation and facilities forthe persons with disabilities. A national disability identification survey has been initiated by the JPUF making available reliable data on the extent and causes of disability. JPUF has also been implementing projects to make the disability related specialists available at the local level and to promote community-based rehabilitation programmes.

The Health, Population and Nutrition (HPN) sector of Bangladesh lays emphasis on reducing severe malnutrition, high mortality and fertility, promoting healthy life styles and reducing risk factors to human health from environment, economic, social and behavioural causes with a special focus on improving the health of the poor.

Bangladesh has been implementing Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) in HPN sector since 1998. The first SWAp was implemented during 1998 – 2003. The second SWAp for 2003-2011 is ongoing and the new SWAp will be in place without interruption of the current one. Since Bangladesh was the first country in the world to implement SWAp, much of the learning was by doing. Despite this shortcoming, significant progress has been achieved in a number of HPN areas. According to the findings of the Demographic and Health Surveys, total fertility rate declined to 2.7 from 3.3, percentage of children underweight for age declined to 41 from 56.3, percentage of children underweight for height declined to 17.4 from 17.7, percentage of children short for age reduced to 43.2 from 54.6, under-five mortality rate per 1000 live births declined to 65 from 116, percentage of infant mortality rate per 1000 live births declined to 52 from 82 and percentage of children’s vaccination has improved to 81.9 from 54.1. However, lack of progress in reducing stunting raises concerns about the adequacy of child nutrition. The percentage of mothers with access to trained birth attendants is still very low.

2.Dignity, self-reliance and active participation of children with disabilities

The National Disability Welfare Act, 2001, The Persons with Disabilities Rights Act, 2011(still in draft and waiting for approval by the Cabinet) and the National Children Policy 2011 provide equal rights for Persons with Disabilities (PWD). All these Acts have the provisions to ensure the dignity, self-reliance and participation of children with disabilities. Some of the key provisions of the revised (draft) Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011 include shifting from welfare to rights based approach, defining the types of disabilities and their specific rights, providing identity cards for all persons with disabilities, formation of committees at national, district and upazila levels to protect the rights of the persons with disabilities and ensuring representation of organizations working for persons with disabilities in those committees. The National Children Policy 2011 also kept special provisions for children with disabilities that include ensuring the survival of all children with disabilities with dignity in accordance with the provision made in the Convention, mainstreaming children with disabilities into society and ensuring their active participation in all aspects of their life, including education, arrangement for special education for children with disabilities who may not be able to get enrolled in mainstream education for obvious reasons, initiating activities for identification and prevention of disabilities and providing appropriate support to their families and ensuring easy access to all types of infrastructures and services for children with disabilities.

Different ministries have been implementing a number of projects to provide appropriate services to the children with disabilities. Under the Social Safety Network programme, the Ministry of Social Welfare has been implementing a special programme titled “Protibondhi Sheba O Sahajya Kendra” since 2009. A total of 35 centres have been operational in different parts of the country. One of the important services of these centres is early detection of disabilities. Each centre has a total of 12 professional staff (disability affairs officer, physiotherapist, therapy assistant, clinical speech and language therapist, technicians etc.). Since its inception, about 100,000 persons, including children have been rendered therapeutic, counselling, referral and other related services free of cost from these centres. Besides, assistive devices such as artificial limbs, wheel chairs, tricycles, crutches, standing frames, white canes, elbow clutches, and hearing aides have also been distributed among the poor persons with disabilities in the country.

Since its inception, JPUF has disbursed as grant among the PWDs a total amount of more than 55 million taka and 20 million taka was disbursed as loan. During the fiscal year 2010-2011, a total amount of 10.3 million taka was disbursed among different NGOs working for the welfare of the persons with disabilities, including children.

JPUF has been implementing another development project titled “Promotion of Services and “Opportunities to the Disabled Persons in Bangladesh” with a budget of 150 million taka. One Stop Mobile Therapy Service has also been inaugurated in April 2010 to provide therapy services at the door step of the persons with disabilities. JPUF has set up Autism Resource Center in 2010. Special education, therapy, referral and counselling services are being provided to autistic children and their guardians. Besides, a free special school for autistic children is in operation since 2011. At present, 15 poor autistic children are being imparted free special education from this school.

In addition to the implementation of several projects and programmes, the JPUF has been implementing different types of training programmes for sensitization and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. These include training for the mothers of mentally challenged children, orientation and trainings for teachers on sign language, trainings for parents/guardians on autism, behaviour modification and picture exchange communication system.

The SFYP plan emphasizes the importance of expanding services for children with disabilities. Apart from the poverty focus, a part of the social protection programme is aimed at addressing the special needs of the physically challenged children, persons with disabilities and socially excluded populations. Along with the expansion of an integrated education programme for visually impaired children, existing institutions for hearing impaired and mentally retarded children will be expanded. New institutions will be established to provide access to education for more children with disabilities at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. A collaborative effort among the Government, NGOs and the private sector will be encouraged to expedite the expansion of the existing institutions, establishing new institutions and undertaking teachers’ training and action research on disability.

3.Survival and development

During the reporting period, Bangladesh has made commendable progress in respect of eradication of poverty and hunger. It has sustained growth rate in excess of 6 per cent in recent years that has played a positive role on the way to eliminating poverty. The inclusive growth rate has resulted in impressive poverty reduction from 56.6 per cent in 1991-92 to 31.5 per cent in 2010. The reduction of poverty rate has a positive impact on children by increasing the family income and improving the overall living standard of the family.

About 46 per cent of all children in Bangladesh live below the upper poverty line and 30 per cent are below the lower poverty line. Moreover, an application of the international poverty line reveals that 66 per cent of children are living below the poverty line. However, the incidence of poverty among households decreased in recent years. The extent of poverty seems to reduce with improvements in the educational levels of the parents. Some 53 per cent of households that have a household head with no education live below the upper poverty line compared to only 19 per cent of households headed by persons with secondary and above levels of education. Besides, male-headed households with children are more likely to be poverty than female-headed households.

As a result of the reduction of poverty, the country has made significant progress in the area of child rights promotion, including the survival and development of children. The Millennium Countdown Report of UNICEF places Bangladesh among only 16 countries in the world that are on track to achieve the MDG target of child mortality. Bangladesh achieved international recognition for its achievements in women’s and child health. The Honourable Prime Minister received the MDG award for Bangladesh’s outstanding achievement in reduction of child mortality. The successful programmes for immunization, control of diarrhoeal diseases and vitamin – A supplementation are considered to be the most significant contributors to the decline in child and infant deaths along with the general effect of economic and social development in the country. Nevertheless, the general situation of children needs to be further improved since the survival and development of many children in the country are still under threat.

As per the Declaration of International Conference on Nutrition, to which Bangladesh is a signatory, Bangladesh’s National Food and Nutrition Policy of 1997 aims to increase production and availability of both staple and non-staple nutritious food to improve people’s nutritional status. The National Plan of Action for Nutrition (NPAN), 1997 aimed to impart nutrition education to children. The National Food Policy 2006 is aimed at ensuring a dependable food security system for all. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (2004-2007) aimed to reduce the proportion of under-five malnourished children by 50 per cent and to eliminate gender disparity in child nutrition.

The NPA for children set goals to be achieved by 2010 were to: increase food security of food insecure households, reduce the prevalence of low birth weight, and reduce the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies including vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorders and iron deficiency induced anaemia among children, adolescent girls and women of child bearing age.

The National Health Policy of Bangladesh has 15 goals and objectives and a few of them are related to improving the nutritional status of children. The Programme against Vitamin A deficiency is being implemented nationwide by the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN) under the MoHFW. The objective of the programme is to reduce child mortality and morbidity rates and sustain the prevalence of night-blindness among under-five children at below 1 per cent.

The Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (CIDD) through universal salt iodized programme is being implemented countrywide by the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) under the Ministry of Industries (MoI) and the MoHFW with the objective of improving coverage of household consumption of adequately iodized salt by more than 90 per cent by 2015.

In 2004, the National Nutrition Programme (NNP) was initiated as follow-up to the Government’s previous nutritional initiatives. The total cost for of the NNP for the period of 2004-2010 was TK. 13,472 million. However, there are still some challenges for the GoB to achieve the desired goal in relation to improving the nutritional status of all children.

To address these challenges, the SFYP (2011-2015) aims at significantly strengthening children’s advancement and rights issues in the national policies and plans. A strategic orientation to nutrition planning is provided under the nutrition dimension of the National Food Policy 2006 and the National Food Policy Plan of Action (2008–2015) that comprehensively addresses food security and nutrition to achieve adequate and stable supply of safe and nutritious food, increased purchasing power and access to food and adequate nutrition for all individuals, especially women and children.

4.Health and health services

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) is the responsible entity to ensure quality health and family welfare related services for the people of the country. Major health-care services provided by the MoHFW include maternal health- care services, reproductive health- care services, newborn and child health-care services, nutrition services, physical and mental health services, services for communicable and non-communicable diseases, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health services for adolescents.

The goal of the health, population and nutrition sector (HPN) in Bangladesh is to achieve sustainable improvement in the health, nutrition, and reproductive health, including family planning for the people, particularly of vulnerable groups, including women, children, the elderly and the poor. During the reporting period, the HPN sector emphasised reducing severe malnutrition, high mortality and fertility, promoting healthy life styles and reducing risk factors to human health from environmental, economic, social and behavioural causes with a sharp focus on improving the health of the poor. More specifically, with regard to MDG/PRSP in the health sector, the main emphasis was on the human dimension of poverty i.e. deprivation in health and nutrition, including water and sanitation.

Bangladesh has achieved greater progress than most low-income countries on a range of health indicators that include:

(a)Increasing in life expectancy from 44 years to 67 between 1970 and 2007;

(b)Declining in infant mortality from 92 per 1,000 live births to 41 between 1991 and 2008;

(c)Declining in under five child mortality from 146 per 1,000 to 54 between 1991 and 2008;

(d)Increasing in percentage of children’s vaccination to 81% in 2007 from 54.1 in 1996-1997; and

(e)Increasing in percentage of women who started breastfeeding within one hour of birth from 36 per cent in 2006 to 50 per cent in 2009 and percentage of women who started breastfeeding within one day of birth increased from 82 per cent in 2006 to 89 per cent in 2009.

Some of the other key achievements during the reporting period in relation to health services are:

(a)Access to free primary health services has been expanded up to community level through community clinics. Around 11,000 community clinics are operational throughout the country;

(b)Emphasis has been given on building national capacities to train health workers and medical practitioners through expanding medical and nursing education in public and private sectors. In addition, the National Institute of Population, Research and Training (NIPORT) is implementing basic training of about 800 Family Welfare Visitors and coordinating the ongoing training programmes of about 900 community paramedics. This is also working to increase the number of Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) and already more than 6000 community SBAs have been trained;

(c)Safe motherhood and child feeding practices have got important focus of BCC campaigns not only at the community level but also in the media. Currently more than 100,000 community health workers from the Government and NGOs are involved in awareness-raising campaigns. Along with special programmes on BTV and Bangladesh Betar, private channels are also featuring messages on safe motherhood, breast feeding, infant and young child feeding practices under the promotional programmes of IPHN.

The MoHFW made efforts to address the most prevalent health challenges and promote physical and mental health and to deal with communicable and non-communicable diseases, which include:

(a)Expanding EPI to protect children from nine major diseases;

(b)Vitamin A plus campaign to combat night blindness and helminthiasisinfestation among under 5 children;

(c)Deworming programme to prevent helminthiasisinfestation among primary level children;

(d)Child Nutrition by NNS;

(e)Adolescent and school health programme to develop awareness to use and maintain personal hygiene, medical check-up and treatment of minor ailments;

(f)Managing child injury and drowning;

(g)Emphasis on early childhood development;

(h)Promoting infant and young child feeding;

(i)Breast feeding; and scaling up Integrated Mother and Child Illness (IMCI) Programme.

Different strategies and activities have been undertaken to achieve the goal of prevention of HIV/AIDS in the 3rd national strategic plan for HIV and AIDS response. Major achievements include completion ofthe9th round serological surveillance, establishment of 102 VCT centres throughout the country, effective interaction with 16 ministries to support a multi-sectoral approach, establishment of 146 blood screening centres, national strategy for BCC and HIV testing and counselling to address HIV issues among national uniformed services, routine conduct of orientation sessions on HIV/AIDS and STI for different communities, promotion of HIV-related reproductive and sexual health education for young people, behaviour change communication campaigns through print and electronic media, billboards, street drama and cultural shows, support for self-help groups, incorporating HIV/AIDS related information into national curriculum for grade VI‑VII.

The MoWCA established a 100 beds specialized hospital jointly with Bangladesh Diabetic, Endocrine Metabolic Hospital in Dhaka for ensuring health services to women and children. In addition, a female cardiac unit for women and children has been established at the National Heart Foundation to ensure services to women and children.

5.Reproductive health rights of adolescents

The MoHFW has been implementing the following activities to ensure health rights of adolescents:

Implementation of adolescents health strategies action plans;

Awareness building programmes at community level;

Delayed marriage campaign at community level;

Counselling and developing awareness of adolescents on personal hygiene practices, nutrition, puberty, anaemia, RTI.STD, unprotected sexual activities, night wets, drug addiction, accident, violence and sexual abuse;

Providing training on SRH through peer groups;

Management of minor gynaecological problems;

Syndromes management of STI/STDs, awareness building on HIV/AIDS and condom promotion for married adolescents;

Providing consultation and treatment for some reproductive health related problems of adolescents;

Full immunization of adolescents girls with five dose TT vaccination in coordination with the EPI programme;

Making all service centres adolescents friendly in phases.

6.Early and forced marriages

In Bangladesh, there are 28 million adolescents who constitute 22 per cent of the population. Among these, 13.8 million are girls. As adolescent girls enter puberty and their families begin to see them as adults rather than as the children they are, their lives become more restrictive. Child marriage along with interrelated practices such as dowry makes girls particularly vulnerable to early marriage, especially in rural areas and urban slums and among poor and less educated girls.

The legal age of marriage in Bangladesh is 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys; however, a large proportion of marriage takes place before the legal age of marriage. Early and forced marriage of girls still remains a big problem in Bangladesh, especially among the lower income group living in rural and hard to reach areas.

In this context, the Empowerment of Adolescent Girls Project (EAGP) was initiated by the MoWCA with technical support from UNICEF and financial support from the European Union (EU) to promote interaction between boys and girls to address the practice of early marriage with the direct and active participation of parents and community groups. The overall goal of the project was to improve the quality of life of vulnerable adolescents, especially girls in 29 districts of Bangladesh.

Over the period between 2006 and 2011, approximately 130,000 adolescent girls and boys have directly participated in the EAGP. The majority of them were single adolescent girls living in rural areas, both in school and out of school situations and vulnerable to child marriage. The project has also targeted mothers and fathers of those individuals enrolled in this initiative. The Behavioural Monitoring Study has confirmed that 94 per cent of adolescents reporting were initiating discussions. In addition to this, the End Line Study has confirmed significant improvement in 78 per cent adolescents’ ability to initiate discussion with parents/community on child marriage, dowry, gender discrimination, HIV and AIDS, reproductive health, domestic violence etc.

The Department of Women Affairs is implementing a programme titled “Empowering Adolescent Girls and Boys” through organizing them in adolescents club for bringing positive changes within the communities This Programme covers seven districts from seven divisions of the country. A total of 379 clubs have been formed up to Upazila level. The clubs provide life skill-based training on child rights, gender, child marriage, marriage registration, birth registration, problem of adolescents, reproductive health, sports and cultural activities for the physical and mental development of the child members. One of the objectives of these clubs is to engage children with different social activities like disaster management, village development, child marriage and dowry prevention, plantation etc. so that adolescents can prepare them as active agents for positive social change.

In addition, with the massive awareness campaigns implemented by the MoWCA and MoI through print and electronic media and the active role of the Ministry of Home Affairs through enforcement of the relevant laws, as well as the watchdog role of the NGOs, children’s organizations and media, the rate of early and forced marriage tends to be low compared to the previous situations.Parents, teachers, religious leaders, community representatives and children, especially girls have become aware about the negative consequences of early marriage and they have been playing a proactive role to prevent it. In recent times, there have been many incidences where the children and community members have taken a proactive role in different places of the country to protect girls from forced and early marriage. There is a strong co-relation between early marriage and poverty. The stipend programme for girls’ education has been playing a key role in preventing early marriage through empowering the girls.

7.Social security, including reducing poverty and inequality and childcare services and facilities

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress on many human development indicators during the reporting period. Progress has been made on health, education, nutrition, employment generation and the creation of social safety nets for the poor through social security programmes.

Around 26.5 million children in Bangladesh live below the national poverty line and more than half of households with children are poor in terms of the international definition of poverty line. Around 58 per cent of all children are still deprived of one of the six deprivation indicators: shelter, sanitation, water, information, education and health. Around 13 per cent of all children aged 5-14 years are engaged in child labour.

Under the above backdrop, the GoB has been implementing various programmes and projects through different ministries and departments to reduce poverty and provide child-care services and facilities to the vulnerable children. Descriptions on some of key programmes are given below:

100-day Employment Generation Programme

The GoB launched this programme in the fiscal year 2008-2009, with a view to include the ultra-poor people and the marginal farmers in the social safety net programme during the lean period. The major objectives of the programme are:

(a)To create employment opportunities for the ultra-poor unemployed population; and

(b)To increase the purchasing capacity of those who are victims of the global food shortage and price hike of essentials. Approximately 2 million people will receive employment opportunities under this programme.

Social Poverty Alleviation Programmes

This programme includes poverty alleviation and micro-credit undertaken by the poultry and livestock sector, the Department of Fisheries, Fund for Housing the Homeless, Programme for Generating Employment for the Unemployed Youth and Poverty Alleviation and Rehabilitation project.

Micro-credit Programmes for Self-employment

The GoB has taken up social credit programme under both revenue and development budgets to create employment for the poor.

Cash Transfer Programme

Among the social safety net programmes, the Old-Age Allowance Programme for the poor is on the top in terms of budgetary allocation, beneficiary coverage and the amount of benefit received by the target group. In the year 2007-2008, the total fund allocation was Tk. 3,840 million for a total number of 1.7 million beneficiaries. The amount of allocation and number of beneficiaries is increasing over time.

Food Transfer Programme

Existing social safety net programmes also include the food transfer programme with a view to fulfil nutritional requirements and food security. In the year 2007-2008, around 100,000 metric tons of food grains were allocated under the Food for Works programme and this allocation is increasing over time.

Vulnerable Group Development

The Vulnerable Group Development is one of the most crucial social safety net programmes and its activity predominantly focuses on the nutritional status of malnourished women and children. This programme has two components:

(a)Income generating; and

(b)Food security. In the income generation component, a beneficiary receives monthly 30 kilograms of wheat or 25 kilograms of fortified flour and in the food security component, a beneficiary receives 15 kilograms of fortified flour and Tk. 150 per month. In the year 2007-2008, it covered about 636,000 ultra-poor rural women (female headed households in all 64 districts of Bangladesh).

Vulnerable Group Feeding

Vulnerable Group Feeding is another food transfer programme which is being implemented as post-disaster intervention. The number of beneficiaries was 7.68 million and the total allocation was 229,000 metric tons of food grains in the year 2007-2008.

In addition, the MoWCA has been implementing number of projects under the social safety-net programme. Some of the key projects are as follows:

Enabling Environment for Child Rights (EECR)

With the objective to reduce child poverty and improving the living standard of children through conditional cash transfer. Around 500 children in urban area are being provided 1500 TK per month. Recently, the project has expanded its activities in rural areas. Through the “Enabling Environment for Children” (EEC) Project, a total of 10,000 children will be provided with similar scholarship in all divisional cities of Bangladesh in 2012. Besides, life skill based education and livelihood programmes are also being provided through this project which leads towards the reduction of children’s poverty and upgrade their living standard.

Maternity allowance

Under this programme, provision has been made for providing Taka 350 a month to the poor pregnant women for a period of two years. During 2009-2010 fiscal year, a total of 80,000 women received this allowance. During 2010-2011 fiscal year, the number of beneficiaries has been increased to 88,000 and during 2011-2012 the number of beneficiaries raised to 101,200

Fund for supporting the lactating working mother in urban areas

This is a splendid initiative taken by the MoWCA for the poor working mothers and for children’s nutritional development. The overall objective of this programme is to bring development in health and birth control, home and safety environment, nutrition and livelihood. Under this programme, a working lactating mother is given a monthly allowance of Tk. 350 for two years. A total of 77,000 women (10,000 were garment workers) benefited since the inception of the programme in 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Vulnerable Group development Programme for Ultra Poor

The main objective of this project is to provide economic support and training for poverty reduction of ultra poor specially women through economic development, development of nutrition and life style. The project has been implemented in 36 upazila under 8 districts. A total of 80,000 women were given Tk. 400 per month for two years along with various income generating training.

Credit Programme for poverty reduction

With an aim of making rural destitute women self-reliant, credits are provided for self-employment. Under this programme the maximum amount of credit given to a woman is Tk. 15,000 to be repaid in 12 installments within two year term. 5 per cent service charge is fixed on the total credit amount. This programme is being implemented in 473 upazilas of 64 districts of the country up to union level.

VIII.Education, leisure and cultural activities

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

The GoB has always been committed to the improvements of the education sector. Development plans with education have been given the highest priority in the public sector investments. Education sector allocations are currently about 2.3 per cent of the GDP and 14 per cent of total government expenditure.

The management of the education system falls under two ministries – The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME), responsible for primary education and mass literacy and the Ministry of Education (MoE) responsible for secondary, vocational and tertiary education. Overall there are 17 million students at the primary level and over 8 million at the secondary level.

The GoB has taken various steps to address the concluding observations given by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on education, leisure and cultural activities. The Education Policy has been adopted in 2010. The National Skills Development Policy has also been approved in 2011. The length of compulsory education has been extended from grade V to grade VIII (yet to be effective). Budgetary allocation has been increased and the quality of education has received special priority in the new education policy. Enrolment and retention rate has improved. Selected number of multilingual education has been available for children of ethnic minority groups at primary level. Transition rate to secondary and higher education, especially in the case of girl children has been increased due to stipend programme extended up to grade XII level. Non-formal education and vocational training are being provided by the Bureau of Non-Formal Education in partnership with NGOs throughout the country. Sanitation facilities, especially separate toilets for girls, have been incorporated in all new schools. All text books have been revised in accordance with the current global competitiveness and texts books are being provided at the beginning of the new education year. Stipend programmes are continuing. Involvement of the School Management Committees and local communities, including parents, to monitor the school activities, including sports and cultural activities has been significantly improved. Massive awareness-raising campaigns were conducted to prevent mistreatment of children and bullying of girls in schools and on their way to schools.

Progress has been made in terms of increasing access to education and gender parity, both at primary and secondary levels. Net primary enrolment rates rose from 61 per cent in 1991 to 91.9 per cent in 2008, 93.5 per cent in 2009, while a corresponding increase in enrolment rates at the secondary level from 28 per cent to 43 per cent in 2008 and 55.74 per cent in 2009. The introduction of the Female Secondary Stipend Programme (FSSSP) has had a tremendous impact on girls’ education, with girls now outnumbering boys at primary (50.3:49.7) and secondary (54:46) levels. As a result the Government is revising its scholarship programme to make subsidies more equitable to both boys and girls.

Major advances in girls’ education have had many positive and wide-ranging effects, including increased employment opportunities, higher age at marriage and greater say in the choice of their spouse and in decision making generally. Women’s education and access to information have been found to be the key to increased use of maternal health services and improved health outcomes, as well as reduced fertility and improved family nutrition.

2.Legal and policy options to ensure the right to education, including vocational training

The Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees the fulfilment of basic rights, including education for all citizens. In light of that the GoB adopted the Compulsory Primary Education Act to making sure that all school aged children are enrolled in school. The Bangladesh Non-formal Education Act also provides education options for drop out children through combining work and education. The Education Policy 2010 explicitly mentioned the importance of compulsory education for all children. The National Skills Development Policy provides options for vocational education, with special focus for drop out and underprivileged children. The Labour Act 2006 and the National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010 prohibits children from engaging in labour before completing the compulsory primary education.

The GoB is fully committed to alleviating the existing problems in respect of management and quality through reforms across the education system. In order to address issues at the secondary and higher levels, the MoE has developed a medium-term framework for the secondary education sub-sector, focusing on quality improvements, policy measures and specific actions needed to reform the system. The main objective of reforms is to address systematic governance issues aimed at raising the quality and cost-effectiveness of service delivery and to improve equity of access in secondary education. The new education policy formulated in 2010 aims to provide the guidelines to translate the vision for educational development into reality. Implementation of the policy has already started and the Government has initiated actions in a number of areas.

The GoB has adopted several policies to ensure education for all children. Pre-school system has been introduced in all government primary schools. A mid-day meal is being provided in many government primary schools. 1,500 new primary schools have been built in 1,500 villages. Primary School Completion and Junior School Completion exams have been introduced to ensure quality education. All Registered Primary Schools have been nationalised. 60 per cent quota of Primary Teachers reserved for women. Results of secondary and higher secondary certificate examinations are published within sixty days of the examinations held and disseminated through website and mobile phone operators.

The MoE is aiming to moving towards a developed system of governance within the current administrative structure. In this system the central government will be responsible for formulating policies, financing, setting quality standards, monitoring and evaluation, while the local government will be responsible for administering the system. MoE is empowering officials at the district and Upazila levels to take greater responsibility in monitoring school performance and to ensure public disclosure of information related to school quality.

The primary responsibility for overseeing the Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) rests with two agencies; the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) and the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB). The VTE programmes are regulated by the BTEB, attached to the MoE, and offers a course of one to four years duration after the grade eight.

Certificate level courses in various trades and skills are offered in approximately 100 public sector institutions and some 1,500 non-government institutions. The introduction of vocational courses as part of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and business course at the HSC level by the DTE has helped to raise the share of post-primary student enrolment in VTE.

The Government policies and goals are to increase substantially the proportion of post-primary students enrolling in VTE. The impact of public sector VTE on poverty alleviation is undermined in two ways. It mainly serves the urban young males who have completed at least grade VIII. The challenges diversifying its clientele and to make the programmes more flexible, adaptable and responsive to market needs and geared to the informal economy suggests that the VTE is failing to help the poor improve their employment and income opportunities. To address this issue the GoB has established the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) as the apex body for policy formulation on skill development with representation from the Government, employers, workers and civil society. A national skill development policy has already been drafted by the NSDC and approved by the Government.

Quite apart from the above, the GoB has been promoting Mosque based pre-primary education throughout the country. The Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) through Bangladesh Islamic Foundation has been implementing Mosque based child and adult education project since 1993. The fifth phase of the project started in 2009 and will be ended in 2013. A total of 5,286,000 learners will be provided with basic and religious education through 24,000 pre-primary Centers, 768 Adult Literacy Centers, 12,000 Quran Learning Centers, 1,051 normal Resource Centers and 485 Model Resource Centers that have been established in 485 Upazillas. Since the inception of the project a total of 4,139,110 children received education through this project.

3.Quality of education

The GoB has taken several steps to ensure quality of education at all levels. Curriculum of primary and secondary level education has been revised. Primary School Completion and Junior School Completion examinations under the same creative question papers for the whole country has been introduced, ICT has been included in the curriculum, massive teachers’ training have been organized and gaps between the curriculum of school and madrasa education has been reduced. With all these steps the quality of education has been increased up to a certain level. In order to achieve the remaining gaps, the SFYP has set the goal to improve the standard of education at all levels. The major strategic interventions will be:

Modernization of curricula, texts pedagogy and examination techniques. Giving more importance to science and mathematics subjects at the secondary level;

Introduction of ICT and technical education at secondary level, while encouraging equal participation of girls in technical education;

Improvement of capacity for teachers to promote quality teaching. Providing computer trained teachers and subject based teachers especially for science and mathematics;

Modernization of Madrasa education with the changing society and to reduce the gap of existing facilities for secondary education between general education and Madrasa education;

Strengthening gender and region based monitoring, analysis and reporting;

Based on sex-disaggregated data collection, introduce follow-up mechanism to identify pockets of disparity and accordingly develop capacity to adjust policies and strategies based on information received;

In addition, Primary Education Development Programme – III (PEDP-III) is being implemented for the period from July 2011 to June 2016 to ensure quality primary education for all primary school aged children of the country.

4.Cultural rights of children belonging to minority groups

The Constitution of Bangladesh, The NPA, The National Children Policy, The Education Policy and other related laws and regulations have the provisions to guarantee the equal rights of all children, including children belonging to ethnic minority groups. The minority groups have been enjoying their cultural rights through their participation in their local cultural activities, as well as participation at national level cultural activities organized by the Government and non-government organizations. On special days, state run and private television and radio channels regularly arrange special programme with the participation of the minority groups. Bangladesh Shishu (Children) Academy has expanded its activities in all districts of the country; including the districts where the ethnic minority groups are located. Minority groups are being equally allowed to participate in all events organized by the Academy. In addition, the MoHTA and MoCA have been facilitating various cultural activities with special focus on the minority groups. The MoCA displays photographs and objects of 23 ethnic groups of Bangladesh at the Chittagong Ethnological Museum.

5.Human rights and civic education

The main source of human rights and civic education for children is educational institutions apart from the family and media. The MoPME incorporated a chapter on human rights in all text books of grade I – V. The Ministry of Education has revised the curriculum and the new curriculum of grade VI – X includes a chapter on human rights issues.

Children of the advantaged families have got some opportunities to learn civic and human rights from the family. However, children from disadvantaged families rarely have this opportunity as their parents are often not even aware of these rights.

The print and electronic media in Bangladesh has become aware of their responsibilities towards realizing the rights of the children. However, they have been rather slow in responding to the needs of children’s education on human and civic rights.

6.Rest, play, leisure, recreation and cultural and artistic activities

The MoWCA has been implementing several activities with regard to recreation and cultural and artistic activities for children. One of the implementing organizations of MoWCA is BSA which has been creating opportunities for cultural and artistic activities, including cultural training throughout the country to develop children’s talents and also to culture their finer aspects of life. 25,000 children are participating in different programmes of BSA at the moment.

Apart from that the Academy organizes two competitions annually at national level. These are National Children Award Competition and Seasonal Competition. About 4 million children participate through these programmes round the year.

BSA is working in different areas for overall development of the children. The areas include music, dance, painting, acting, musical instrument playing, recitation, sports, information technology, children’s films, children’s publications, children’s library, children’s museum, debate, pre-primary education and campaign against corporal punishment. Early childhood development also becomes an important area of activities of BSA.

BSA has been implementing “Sisimpur Outreach Project” since January 2009 throughout the country with support from USAID. The overall objective of the project is to increase learning opportunities and meeting critical educational needs of young children aged 3-6 years. The specific objectives of the project are:

(a)Reaching a large number of children with high quality programmes appropriate for the concerned age group;

(b)Making educational messages available, focusing on literacy, numeracy, critical thinking and other cognitive processes and socio-emotional elements that are not adequately addressed;

(c)Delivering education through the under-utilized tools of Television; and

(d)Creating and distributing community outreach materials and encouraging parents and caregivers to use in activities that would promote child learning and development. The major activities include advocacy, social mobilization and programme communication, centre-based services to children, parents’ education and organizational development and capacity building.

The MoPME and MoE organize inter-school sports and cultural competition each year in order to get children involved in play, leisure and cultural activities.

Different NGOs have also been organizing various cultural activities for the underprivileged children. However, a large number of poor and disadvantaged children remained deprived of opportunities for leisure, recreation, play and cultural activities.

IX.Special protection measures

1.Measures taken to implement the concluding observations

The GoB has not ratified the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bangladesh and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the GoB has been providing services to the Myanmarese refugees living in two camps in Cox’s Bazar district. Bangladesh has always adhered to the principles of non-refoulement and offered protection and assistance to refugees.

The GoB is fully aware of its responsibility to guarantee that no child is enrolled in army under the minimum age and a systematic process has already been established to verify the age. Minimum age of recruitment in Bangladesh Army is 17 years. This recruitment process takes six months and after which the candidates undergo recruit training for another six months. As such, all of them attain the minimum 18 years of age to become a soldier in Bangladesh Army. Moreover, prior written consent of parents or legal guardians of the candidates are obtained for all kinds of recruitment in Bangladesh Army.

Remarkable progress has been made during the reporting period in addressing the child labour problem. National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010 has been adopted. A National Plan of Action to implement the National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010 has also been formulated. Amendment of the Labour Act 2006 is under process. The list of hazardous work for children has been finalized and will be adopted soon. Several projects were implemented with technical and financial support from the ILO under the National Time Bound Framework. The Ministry of Labour and Employment implemented two phases of the Eradication of the Hazardous Child Labour Project and the third phase is in operation under the GoB’s revenue budget.

A Child Labour Unit (CLU) has been established in the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) to plan and monitor implementation of all child labour related interventions by the Government and NGOs at national and local level. The CLU has developed a Child Labour Information Management System (CLMIS) as part of data collection and monitoring mechanism. The GoB is currently working to prepare grounds for considering the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Employment.

In order to address the issue of street children, two major projects were implemented during the reporting period by the MOSW with financial support from UNICEF and World Bank. These are: Protection of Children at Risk (PCAR) and Services for Children at Risk (SCAR) Projects. The PCAR Project was implemented between 2007 and 2011. The SCAR Project started in 2009 and will be ended in 2014. Both the projects aimed at protecting street children and children without parental care from all forms of violence, abuse and exploitations leading towards the overall development of these children. A total of 112,531children aged 8-17 years benefitted from the PCAR Project through Drop-in-Centers, non-formal education, vocational training, psycho-social support, life skill, health, legal aid and birth registration services.

The MoSW has undertaken a new project following the completion of PCAR titled “Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh” (CSSB). This project supported by UNICEF aims at eliminating abuse, neglect, exploitation and trafficking of children through providing effective social protection services to the children and their families. The project will be implemented from 2012 to 2016.

Although the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children has not yet been ratified, the GoB has taken various efforts in addressing the sexual abuse and exploitation. Several laws have been enacted namely, Domestic Violence Act, 2010, Human Trafficking Prevention and Repression Act, 2012 and Pornography Control Act, 2012. Training has been provided to the members of the law enforcing agency. Measures have been taken to ensure arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of sexual offences against children. Awareness-raising activities were carried out by the public and private media and NGOs at local and national levels. One Stop Crisis Centers (OCC) have been established in six divisional cities to provide psychological assistance and counselling to child victims. The Ministry of Home Affairs has been implementing the “Anti Trafficking Mechanism and Monitoring Project” to ensure rescue, repatriation, recovery and integration of trafficked children. AnMoU with India is being considered on this.

An alliance to combat trafficking in women and children led by the Department of Women Affairs has been formed with the participation of relevant ministries, INGOs and NGOs.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has already allocated a four-digit toll-free helpline number (1098) accessible for 24 hours. However, this helpline service is only available in three divisions (Dhaka, Chittagong and Barishal) at the moment and accessible from land phone. The MoSW is working to expand the service in other divisions.

2.Refugee children

All the registered Rohingya refugee children have been provided with access to basic education through establishing 21 schools in two refugee camps. Similar facilities are also provided for adolescent and adults. There are also computer training centres and skill development centres for the adults. Children born in refugee camps get registered. At present, a total of 14,867 (Male – 10,163, Female – 4,704) refugee children are residing at the camps. All children aged between 6-23 months have been brought under blanket feeding programme, special care for improving nutrition programme and therapeutic feeding programme. Children and their families have easy access to health care services inside the camps, as well as in the local and secondary medical facilities. Community management and protection against violence have been strengthened through special management. Regular awareness building sessions are being conducted to develop their understanding on the consequences of violence.

3.Children in armed conflict, including physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration

Bangladesh has ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of the children in armed conflict on 6 September 2000. There were no such incidents in Bangladesh where children were involved in armed conflict.

4.Economic exploitation of children, child labour and minimum age for employment

Several steps were taken to prevent and eliminate child labour, especially hazardous forms of child labour in terms of policy formulation and implementation of projects and programmes. The Child Labour Elimination Policy (NCLEP) was adopted in 2010. The NCLEP set the minimum age for employment at 14 years and it prohibits children’s engagement in hazardous work below the age of 18 years. A National Plan of Action has been adopted to implement the NCLEP. Revision of the Labour Act 2006 is almost completed. The new national child labour survey has been initiated with technical support from ILO. It is expected that the new figures and updated situation of child labour will be available in early 2013. The final list of hazardous work for children has been drafted and will be approved soon. With support from ILO, a Child labour Unit (CLU) has been established in the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) to monitor all child labour related interventions by the Government and NGOs at local and district level. The CLU has developed a Child Labour Information Management System (CLMIS). The MOLE is working to give a permanent shape of the CLU under the revenue budget. The issue of child labour has been incorporated in all major national development plans, including SFYP.

Apart from the policy formulations, from July 2010 the MOLE has started implementation of the 3rd phase of the project titled “Eradication of Hazardous Child Labour in Bangladesh” with the target of withdrawing 50,000 children from hazardous sectors through non-formal education and skill development training. The project is being funded by the Government through ADP. The total budget is $ 9.00 million for a period of three years. The GoB with the assistance of the Kingdom of the Netherlands under the execution of the ILO implemented a project titled “Prevention and Elimination of Hazardous Child Labour in the Urban Informal Economy of Dhaka”. A total of 10,000 working children were either prevented and/or withdrawn from the hazardous work through their involvement in non-formal education, skill development training, social and economic empowerment of the parents of the working children and workplace improvement programme.

During the reporting period Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), an international NGO has implemented 14 different projects in eight districts with a target to rehabilitate 30,000 children from hazardous work.

The MoPME with the support of UNICEF has been running a project called “Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children (BEHTRUWC)”. The Hard to Reach project establishes learning centres in urban areas that have large populations of working children.

The second phase of the project started in July 2004 and ended in 2011. Under this phase, BEHTRUWC has opened 6,646 learning centres in the six major cities of Bangladesh: Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal .These centres provide life-skills based basic education to 166,150 urban working children. (60 per cent of the students are girls.) About 20,000 of those children had the opportunity to receive marketable livelihood skills training. Overall, working children and adolescents had better access to their rights for education, protection, participation and development through life-skill-based basic education and livelihood programmes of the BEHTRUWC project. Accessing these rights empowers children to make decisions regarding their own futures and access a wider range of life options.

5.Children in illicit activities, including production and trafficking of narcotic drugs

Despite specific laws and regulations in place to prevent children from production and trafficking of narcotic drugs, the trend of children’s involvement with such illicit activities continues, especially in urban slum and border areas due to illegal practices of the drug sellers and other vested interest groups. These groups use children mostly as carrier of drugs to easily traffic to different places as the law enforcement agencies usually do not consider children as drug traffickers. Due to lack of knowledge on the possible consequences and other push factors e.g. unemployment and poverty, children easily fall into the trap of the drug sellers.

Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) with the help of law enforcing agencies is fully vigilant to the illicit production and trafficking of narcotic drugs and substances with special focus on involving children in such illicit activities. Perpetrators are immediately brought under justice and given exemplary punishment. Side by side, motivational campaigns are being conducted by the relevant ministries and departments to create mass awareness throughout the country. Apart from GoB initiatives, many national and international NGOs have been implementing rehabilitation and awareness raising programmes in the targeted areas.

6.Sexual exploitation and abuse

The GoB is fully concerned about the problem of sexual abuse and exploitation of children, which was reflected in the National Plan of Action against Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children including Trafficking (NPA-SAECT) adopted in 2002.

During the reporting period the GoB has enacted several laws to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. These include The Domestic Violence Act, 2010, The Human Trafficking Prevention and Repression Act, 2012 and The Pornography Control Act, 2012, in addition to the Prevention of Women and Children Repression Act, 2000 (Amended in 2003).

The MoWCA has been running the Central Cell with a view to fostering opportunities to render all kinds of support to women and children who have been victims of abuse and exploitation, ensuring coordination of activities for preventing violence against women and children and monitoring implementation of these programmes. District Committee for prevention of Violence against Women, the Department of Women Affairs, Jatiyo Mohila Sangstha, Police Headquarters, Multi-sectoral programme on Violence against Women and various NGOs send periodic reports to this Cell. Findings of these reports are presented at the Inter-ministerial Coordination Committee on the national programme for preventing child abuse and dowry for further actions.

There are still some challenges for the GoB to fully prevent sexual abuse and exploitation against children for various social and economic factors as well as legal enforcement challenges. There are many middle class families who do not seek justice through any means and keep silent to limit the scandal. There are families who want justice but are ill informed or misinformed about the procedures to follow.

7.Sale, trafficking and abduction

Enacting the Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act, 2012 has been the most significant achievement of the on-going anti-trafficking measures by the GoB. It is a rights-based legislation with special concern for the victims of trafficking. The Act criminalizes all forms of human trafficking both internal and transitional human trafficking. It provides for the deterrence of the heinous crime of trafficking mainly through providing effective prosecution of the offence and a protective regime for safeguarding and rehabilitating the victims. Moreover, this is the first law in Bangladesh to include labour trafficking meaning trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation through labour. The law strikes a balance between migration for development and the need for controlling trafficking under the guise of migration. In addition, the Act provides an inclusive and specific definition of human trafficking in men, women and children, stern punishment for the trafficking offence including death penalty and a special tribunal for the prompt trial of trafficking offences with wide powers.

However, there are challenges for implementation of this new Act, which may include making the Act and its provisions widely known to the law enforcing agencies, judges and prosecutors for building more cases and prosecutions.

Apart from enacting the Act, many Ministries and Departments have taken initiatives to combat trafficking. Some of the initiatives are given below:

MoHA has been the lead ministry to address the issue of human trafficking in a holistic way through coordinated activities of the concerned Ministries and departments, INGOs and NGOs. The MoHA had been active in formulating the new Act on human trafficking and National Plan of Action 2012. The objectives of the NPA 2012 are to provide for certain implementation of activities to prevent and suppress human trafficking and protect the victims of trafficking and to allocate the responsibilities amongst various government agencies and other implementing organizations.

Bangladesh Police has been actively participating in the collective effort of GoB to combat trafficking in humans, especially in women and children. It has played an active role in every phase i.e. prevention, detection, investigation and rehabilitation. Since its inception in 2004, the Monitoring Cell for Combating Trafficking in Women and Children at Police headquarters has been working successfully by guiding and liaising with the district level monitoring cells of Bangladesh Police. In every district, there is a monitoring cell headed by an Additional Superintendent of Police. These cells closely monitor the cases related to trafficking in women and children. As of August 2012, a total of 719 cases are under trial in different courts of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Coast Guard regularly carries out operations to combat human trafficking through the waterways of Bangladesh. Coast Guard zones, bases, stations, ships and crafts are assigned to maintain constant vigilance to curb such activities in their area of responsibility. In 2011, Bangladesh Coast Guard has conducted a total of 9,882 operations.

Border Guard of Bangladesh is involved in controlling the border, interception, apprehension of traffickers, rescue and recovery of victims of trafficking and repatriation of victims through flag meetings. With regard to prevention of trafficking the Border Guard takes part in awareness raising activities. It also carries out regular training and awareness programmes for officials at all levels.

In addition, Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party have been playing an important role to prevent trafficking at community level through creating awareness among the community as well as being vigilant on the activities of the suspected traffickers.

MoWCA has been carrying out several activities and projects through Department of Women Affairs, Jatiyo Mohila Sangstha and Shishu Academy for empowering women and girls at the grassroots level to protect their rights and prevent all forms of violence including trafficking. There are 15,910 women volunteer organizations under the DWA throughout the country. DWA has been taking initiatives in raising the level of awareness of the members of these organizations on trafficking issues.

An Alliance to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children (ACTWC) led by the DWA has been formed with the representation of relevant ministries and NGOs. ACTWC has been working on the social aspects of trafficking such as research, information dissemination, awareness raising, training and rehabilitation and referral services for victims of trafficking in line with the National Action Plan for Combating Trafficking of Women and Children.

The Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE) has formed the Inter-ministerial Vigilance Task Force in July 2010 headed by a Joint Secretary to monitor the migration process, ensure accountability and transparency of recruiting agencies and check irregular practices in labour migration, including child trafficking. The MoEWOE is working to set up a monitoring cell to monitor the activities of different agencies involved in the labour migration process.

MoPME as an oversight agency concerned with children has been playing a vital role in supporting counter trafficking initiatives led by the GoB through creating motivation and awareness among school children, which has been considered as an essential part to fight against human trafficking. The MoPME has introduced stipend programmes for the poor and disadvantaged children to enhance the enrolment in the schools with a view to attract them to schools which in turn contribute to reducing exploitation by the traffickers.

MoI has been working as a catalyst to ensure free flow of information and people’s access and right to information. The MoI and its attached departments have been publicising different anti-trafficking information through print and electronic media. BTV, Bangladesh Betar and Department of Films and Publications have been regularly broadcasting series of discussion programmes, documentary programme, drama, TV spot, reporting, musical soiree, cartoons and messages on the causes and consequences of human trafficking.

In addition, a number of international and national NGOs have been implementing programmes on women and child trafficking which include, legal aid support, psychological support, shelter support, rescue, repatriation, research, capacity building of the relevant stakeholders and advocacy.

8.Street children and their rehabilitation

In order to ensure protection of children living in the street, the MoSW implemented a Project titled “Protection of Children at Risk (PCAR)” from 2007 to 2011 with the technical and financial support from UNICEF. The overall objective of the project was to develop the life style of the street children and children without parental care through protecting them from all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation. The specific objectives of the project were:

(a)Developing capacity to reintegrate street children into families and community;

(b)Ensuring protection of street children and developing capacity of the concerned stakeholders;

(c)Increasing and strengthening basic services of the Drop-in-Centers in six divisional cities;

(d)Strengthening psychosocial and life skills related services;

(e)Ensuring sustainable change in the lives of street children through providing Non-formal education and vocational training; and

(f)Ensuring street children’s protection and safety through creating income generating opportunities for the parents/guardians of street children.

A total of 36 (18 full-time and 18 day-time) Drop- in- Centers in six divisional cities has been established. 33,034 children received life skills training, 2,730 children received vocational training and 2,117 children were provided with alternative livelihood or non-hazardous jobs. 13,979 children received full time social protection services and 2,124 children were reintegrated within their families with the support of the “Local Monitoring and Supervision Committee” that has been developed and capacitated by the project. 1192 parents received cash support to set up their income generating projects.

MoWCA has also created an opportunity for street children to have education through its Early Learning and Childhood Project (ELCD). A total of 8771 pre-primary education centres have been established throughout the country and 0.6 million children (aged 4-5 years) receiving pre-primary education from these centres.

In addition to the interventions by the Government, a large number of national and international NGOs have been working to provide services to street children at divisional and district levels. The services include non-formal and vocational education, shelter homes, reintegration into family, health care etc.

9.Children in emergency situations

The current policies of the GoB on emergency situations involve care for children only when they are orphaned. However, with assistance from UNICEF and other development partners, the GoB took a more holistic approach in response to Cyclone Sidr in 2007. This approach targeted all vulnerable children, not just orphans, and involved basic care and psychological, recreational and learning support. A regular coordination body was established under MoWCA that has the mandate to facilitate protection of children during emergencies.

The MoSW has the mandate for the provision of long-term support that orphaned and vulnerable children need for recovery and reintegration. The MoSW is also working for the adoption of policies that incorporate broader child protection coverage for children affected by natural disasters and other emergencies.

As a follow up to the PCAR Project, the MoSW with financial assistance from UNICEF has initiated a project titled “Child Sensitive Social protection in Bangladesh” for a period of five years (2012–2016). One of the main objectives of this project is to provide social protection services to 6,700 child victims of natural disasters. The Project will be implemented in 20 districts identified by the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).

The MoSW has been implementing a programme titled “Amader Shishu” (Our Children) with assistance from UNICEF in three coastal districts affected by cyclone Sidr. The objectives of the programme are: to develop community based support and care system and create opportunities for orphan and vulnerable children to grow up in a family environment with proper protection, development and access to basic services. 2,081 children received cash grant (1500 TK. Per month) during the period 2008–2011.

In light of the successful implementation of “Amader Shishu”, a similar programme targeting the urban poor has been initiated by the MoWCA in 2011. The Social Protection Initiative for Vulnerable Children in Urban Areas is being implemented by the MoWCA in collaboration with UNICEF, which provides caregivers of vulnerable children with money to invest in their child’s future.

10The administration of juvenile justice and minimum age of criminal responsibility

A new legal framework has been proposed to improve the administration of juvenile justice. In line with the CRC and other international standards, diversion and other alternatives to prevent and/or reduce deprivation of liberty of children coming in conflict with the law has been incorporated in the draft law. The draft law has already been approved by the Cabinet and awaits enactment by the National Parliament. Besides, a National Task Force has been working to release children from prison.

Juvenile Courts exist in each district to deal with children who come in conflict with the law. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has asked the lower judiciary to designate one judge at each tier as the juvenile court judge. The draft law has proposed appointment of one judge with appropriate jurisdiction to deal with all cases of children in a district ensuring a child friendly environment. Separate custody for children has been built in all new police stations. Special Monitoring Team led by a District Judge has been formed to monitor the situation of child convicts and providing legal aid. Child friendly Police Officers will be assigned at all police stations across the country and specialised police units will be set up at the district level to deal with children in contact and conflict with the law. The minimum age for criminal responsibility remains at 9 and the rebuttable presumption of innocence exists for children between ages 9 and 12.

11.Arrest, detention and imprisonment of children

The draft Children Act, 2012 has proposed to use detention of children coming in conflict with the law as a measure of last resort. A national task force has been working to ensure that children do not go to adult prison and those who are already there are released without delay. As of May 2012, a total of 53 children under 18 years of age were in various prisons of the country, of them 5 were girls. As of May 2012, there were a total of 447 children including 42 girls in three Kishore Unnayan Kendra (previously known as Juvenile Correction Centers) of the country. According to the draft law, diversionary measures can be taken at any stage of legal proceedings. Victim offender mediation and family-group conference can be organized as restorative justice measures as per the draft law.

12.Sentencing of children and the existence of alternative sanctions

The death penalty and life imprisonment with possibility of release for children have been prohibited in the draft law. Alternative sanctions such as probation for good conduct, and release at the care of fit persons have been introduced. Although the death penalty and life imprisonment without possibility of release can be imposed on children between 16 and 18 years as the definition of child according to the existing law is any person below the age of 16, no child below the age of 18 years has so far been executed.

13.Training for professionals involved with the system of juvenile justice

The JATI under the MoLJPA has been organizing regular on the job special training for juvenile justice for judges and magistrates. The Police Academy of Bangladesh also provides regular training to police personnel on justice for children, the Legal Education and Training Institute of Bangladesh Bar Council provides training to the selected lawyers enrolled with all 64 District Bar Associations. The Social Workers and Probations Officers are also trained on justice for children and basic and professional social services.

Tables

Table 1 Allocation of budget for implementation of the CRC in Tk. in BDT (million)

Year	Ministry of Women and Children Affairs	Ministry of Social Welfare	Ministry of Primary and Mass Education	Ministry of Health and Family Welfare	Ministry of Home Affairs	Ministry of Labour and Employment	Ministry of Information	Ministry of Religious Affairs	Total
2008	409.8	126.2	1 , 360.4	1 , 514.4	00	00	43.5	86.5	3 , 540.8
2009	374	30.7	1 , 483.6	1 , 260.9	00	163.2	44.5	91.6	3 , 448.5
2010	622.7	501	1 , 757.3	1 , 323.5	50	106.8	44.5	912.9	5 , 318.7
2011	446.6	380.1	1100	1 , 328.3	41.3	172.5	58	1 , 200	4 , 726.8
2012	283.7	414.4	1 , 275.2	228	40	189.6	69	1 , 265	3 , 764.9
Total	2 , 136.8	1 , 452.4	6 , 976.5	5 , 655.1	131.3	632.1	259.5	3 , 556	20 , 799.7

Source : Ministry of Finance .

Table 2 Training provided on the Convention for professional s

Title of the training	Number of participants
Judicial personnel	Law enforcement personnel	Teachers	Health-care personnel	Social workers	Others
Child Rights	240	540	6 , 000	322	490	210
Child Rights M onitoring and  Reporting	64	320	384	256	448	576
Basic Social Service Training	-	-	-	-	2 , 049	-
Professional Social Service Training	-	-	-	-	2 , 188	-
Safe Custody of Juvenile Delinquent	-	60	-	-	-	-
Prevention of Child Labour	-	65	-	-	-	-
Human Rights and Gender	-	273	-	-	-	-

Source : Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ministry of Social Welfare and Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs .

Table 3 Child population under 18 years – Figures in 000

2008

Age group	Total	Boys	Girls	Urban	Rural
00 ‑ 4 yrs	14 , 538	7 , 640	6 , 898	2 , 965	11 , 573
05 ‑ 09 yrs	16 , 576	8 , 696	7 , 880	3 , 876	12 , 700
10– 14 yrs	16 , 748	8 , 714	8 , 034	4 , 261	12 , 487
<18 yrs	8 , 989	4 , 986	4 , 003	2 , 355	6 , 634
Total	56 , 851	30 , 036	26 , 815	13 , 457	43 , 394

2009

Age group	Total	Boys	Girls	Urban	Rural
0 ‑ 4 yrs	14 , 715	7 , 689	7 , 026	3 , 457	11 , 258
05 ‑ 09 yrs	16 , 829	8 , 742	8 , 087	3 , 998	12 , 831
10– 14 yrs	17 , 209	9 , 050	8 , 159	4 , 036	13 , 173
<18 yrs	8 , 973	4 , 979	3 , 994	2 , 241	6 , 732
Total	57 , 726	30 , 460	27 , 266	13 , 732	43 , 994

2010

Age group	Total	Boys	Girls	Urban	Rural
0 ‑ 4 yrs	14 , 846	7 , 757	7 , 089	3 , 513	11 , 333
05 ‑ 09 yrs	16 , 954	8 , 766	8 , 188	4 , 067	12 , 887
10– 14 yrs	17 , 381	9 , 171	8 , 210	4 , 151	13 , 230
<18 yrs	9 , 011	5 , 009	4 , 002	2 , 312	6 , 696
Total	58 , 192	30 , 703	27 , 489	14 , 043	44 , 149

2011

Age group	Total	Boys	Girls	Urban	Rural
0 ‑ 4 yrs	15 , 049	7 , 837	7 , 212	3 , 563	11 , 486
05 ‑ 09 yrs	17 , 185	8 , 851	8 , 334	4 , 129	13 , 056
10– 14 yrs	17 , 614	9 , 258	8 , 356	4 , 187	13 , 427
<18 yrs	9 , 044	5 , 021	4 , 023	2 , 293	6 , 751
Total	58 , 892	30 , 967	27 , 925	14 , 172	44 , 720

2012

Age group	Total	Boys	Girls	Urban	Rural
0 ‑ 4 yrs	15 , 245	7 , 939	7 , 306	3 , 653	11 , 592
05 ‑ 09 yrs	17 , 409	8 , 966	8 , 443	4 , 214	13 , 195
10– 14 yrs	17 , 843	9 , 378	8 , 465	4 , 295	13 , 548
<18 yrs	9 , 092	5 , 039	4 , 053	2 , 312	6 , 780
Total	59 , 589	31 , 322	28 , 267	14 , 474	45 , 115

Source : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) .

Table 4 Number of schools with independent student councils

Number of schools	Rural	Urban
13 , 593	10 , 884	2 , 709

Source : Ministry of Primary and Mass Education .

Table 5 Number of children who have been heard under judicial and administrative proceedings

Number of children	Age group	Boys	Girls	Urban	Rural
800	03-18	675	125	194	606

S ource : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 6 Birth and death registration status

	Population estimated as on 01 July 2011	Cumulative birth registration as on 31st March 2012	Cumulative death registration as on 31st March 2012
Bangladesh	151 , 600 , 421	149 , 316 , 997	5 , 731 , 455
Barishal Division	9 , 740 , 092	9 , 985 , 052	632 , 748
Chittagong Division	29 , 536 , 834	31 , 076 , 362	948 , 338
Dhaka Division	49 , 115 , 961	43 , 222 , 874	1 , 752 , 921
Khulna Division	17 , 778 , 373	17 , 735 , 589	745 , 845
Rajshahi Division	19 , 474 , 591	20,550,039	785,094
Rangpur Division	16 , 557 , 254	17 , 004 , 148	666 , 096
Sylhet Division	9 , 397 , 316	9 , 742 , 933	200 , 413

Source : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) .

Table 7 Number of public libraries accessible to children

Types of libraries	Rural	Urban	Total
Fixed	-	133	133
Mobile	-	-	-
Total	-	133	133

Source : Ministry of Cultural Affairs .

Table 8 Number of schools equipped with information technology

Types of schools	Number of schools
Government	301
Private	10 , 973
Total	11 , 274

Source : Ministry of Education .

Table 9 Number of children reported as victims of torture, inhuman treatment or other forms of punishment, including forced marriage

Nature of torture	Number of children reported	Age group (Years)	Sex	Area
Male	Female	Urban	Rural
Sexual abuse	142	12-18	14	128	34	108
Forced marriage	89	12-18	05	84	12	77
Abduction	249	12-18	10	239	63	186
Physical assault	45	11-15	23	22	20	25
Mental	10	13-15	02	08	01	09
Rape	05	10-16	00	05	02	03
Eve teasing	12	12-16	00	12	08	04
Homicide	09	12-16	01	03	03	06
Others	194	10-18	12	182	143	51

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 10 Number of incidences of corporal punishment

Places of punishment	Number of incidences	Age group (Years)	Sex	Area
Male	Female	Urban	Rural
School	19	7-16	13	06	07	12
Family	36	10-18	20	16	15	21
Childcare facilities	03	03-15	-	-	-	-
Other places	32	07-18	16	16	15	17

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 11 Number and percent age of children received special care

Types of care	Number of children	Age group (Years)	Male	Female
Recovery	1 , 037	6-18	762	275
Social reintegration	337	6-18	216	121

Source : Ministry of Social Welfare .

Table 12 Number of children separated from parents as a result of court decisions

Causes of separation	Number of children	Male	Female
Detention	3 , 700	3 , 358	342
Imprisonment	360	331	29
Exile/deportation	02	02	00
Total	4 , 062	3 , 691	371

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 13 Number of children separated from their parents and living in institutions

Age group	Male	Female	Urban	Rural
0-6 years	202	122	324	-
6-18 years	9 , 718	3 , 644	13 , 358	-
Total	9 , 502	3 , 652	12 , 854	-

Sou rce : Ministry of Social welfare .

Table 14 Number of children reunited with parents after placement

Age group	Male	Female	Urban	Rural
0-6 years	18	05	16	07
6-18 years	1 , 722	262	431	1,553
Total	1 , 740	267	447	1 , 560

Source : Ministry of Social Welfare .

Table 15 Number of children abducted from the country

No. of children abducted	Age group (Years)	Male	Female	Rural	Urban	National origin
59	06-18	13	46	17	42	Bangladeshi

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 16 Number of children reported as victims of abuse and/or neglected by parents or other relatives

Types of abuser	No. of children abused/neglected	Male	Female	Rural	Urban
Family	1 , 151	34	1 , 117	1 , 050	101
Relatives	403	40	363	235	168
Others	824	72	752	562	262
Total	2 , 378	146	2 , 232	1 , 847	531

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 17 Disability rate per 1000 population by age and sex, 2010

Age group (Years)	2010
Both sex	Male	Female
00-04	0.62	0.83	0.41
05-09	0.93	1.06	0.80
10-14	6.58	7.47	5.63
15-59	9.04	10.69	7.43
60+	53.77	54.84	52.62
Total	10.18	10.75	8.52

Source : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics .

N.B . : Completed year .

Table 18 Number of parents received assistance

Types of assistance	No. of parents	Rural	Urban
Material	-	-	-
Psychological	-	-	-
Cash support	1 , 192	1 , 192	-
Total	1 , 192	1 , 192

Source : Ministry of Social Welfare .

Table 19 Number of institutions providing services to children with disabilities

Types of services	No. of institutions
Integrated Education Programme for the Visually Impaired	64
School for the Visually Impaired	05
School for the Hearing Impaired	07
Institution for the Mentally Retarded Children	01
Employment and Rehabilitation Training Center for the Physically Handicapped	01
National Training and Rehabilitation Center for the Visually Impaired	01
Special Schools	55
Special Schools for Autistic Children	01
Total	135

Source : Ministry of Social Welfare .

Table 20 Number of children with disabilities attending regular school

Types of school	Age group	No. of children with disabilities
Primary	5-10	83 , 023
Secondary	11-16	27 , 573
Total		110 , 596

Source : Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and Ministry of Education .

Table 21 Number of children with disabilities attending special schools

Types of schools	No. of children with disabilities
School for the Visually Impaired	212
Institution for the Mentally Retarded Children	44
Special Schools	9 , 465
Special School for Autistic Children	15
School for the Hearing Impaired	372
Integrated Education Programme for the Visually Impaired	309
Total	10 , 413

Source : Ministry of Social Welfare .

Table 22 Unde r-five child mortality rate per 1000 live birth s

Year	National	Rural	Urban
Both sex	Male	Female	Both sex	Male	Female	Both sex	Male	Female
2008	54	55	53	56	57	54	50	49	50
2009	50	52	48	52	54	50	47	48	46
2010	47	50	43	48	52	43	44	44	43

Source : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) .

Table 23 Proportion of children with moderate and severe underweight, wasting and stunting

Background characteristics	Proportion of underweight children	Proportion of wasting children	Proportion of stunting children
Age group (under 5)	36.0	16.0	41.0
Male	34.3	16.0	40.6
Female	38.5	15.2	42.0
Urban	28.0	14.0	36.2
Rural	38.7	16.0	42.7
Total	35.1	15.44	40.5

Table 24 Number of children who died due to suicide

Child mortality due to suicide	Male	Female	Urban	Rural
1 , 293	762	531	618	641

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 25 Percentage of one - year old fully immunized children – % of immunized children

Tuberculosis	Diphtheria	Pertussis	Tetanus	Polio	Measles	Total
97.8	93.2	93.2	93.2	93.2	84	83.5

Source : Ministry of Health and Family welfare .

Table 26 Proportion of mothers who p ractice exclusive breastfeeding

Proportion of mothers practices breastfeeding	Duration of breastfeeding
64%	20-22 months

Source : Ministry of Health and Family welfare .

Table 27 Number of child victims of drug and substance abuse

No. of child victims	Age group (Years)	Male	Female	Rural	Urban
286	10-18	280	06	106	180

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 28 Number of children with incarcerated parents and their average age

Number of children	Average age	Male	Female
105	2-18	52	53

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 29 Enrolment and attendance rate of children in primary schools

Enrolment	Attendance
Male	Female	Male	Female
92.2	97.6	82.8	84

Source : Ministry of Primary and Mass Education .

Table 30 Enrolment and attendance rate of children in secondary schools

Enrolment	Attendance
Male	Female	Male	Female
51.59	63.22	43.25	56.38

Source : Ministry of Education .

Table 31 Percentage of dropout for primary and secondary schools

Primary Schools	Secondary Schools
Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
40.3	39.3	39.8	57.29	53.57	55.26

Source : Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and Ministry of Education .

Table 32 Teacher – student ratio and percent age of trained teachers

Background characteristics	Primary	Secondary
Teacher –student ratio	1:47	1:34
Percentage of trained teachers	82.9	65.3

Source : Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and Ministry of Education .

Table 33 Number of children in non-formal education

No. of children	Male	Female	Urban	Rural
166 , 150	66 , 460	99 , 690	166 , 150	-

Source : Ministry of Primary and Mass Education .

Table 34 Number of children attending pre-school education

No. of children	Male	Female
3 , 020 , 737	1 , 498 , 768	1 , 521 , 969

Source : Ministry of Primary and Mass Education .

Table 35 Number of refugee children

Age group	Male	Female	Total
0-4	2 , 587	2 , 117	4 , 704
05-17	5 , 285	4 , 878	10 , 163
Total	7 , 872	6 , 995	14 , 867

Source : Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives .

Table 36 Number of refugee children attending primary schools

Age group	Male	Female	Total
05-17	4,581	4,517	9,098
Total	4,581	4,517	9,098

Source : Ministry of Local Government, Rur al Development and Cooperatives .

Table 37 Number of students attending military schools and the minimum age for admission

No. of students	Male	Female	Minimum ag e for admission
599	595	04	17 years

Source : Ministry of Defense .

Table 38 Child labour by age g roup and gender (Number in 000)

Gender and age group	Bangladesh	Urban	Rural
Economically active children	Child labour	Economically ac tive children	Child labour	Economically active children	Child labour
Both sexes Total Age group (05-17)	7 , 432	3 , 179	1 , 402	708	6 , 041	2 , 471
Boys Total Age group (05-17)	5 , 471	2 , 461	1 , 041	550	4 , 430	1 , 911
Girls Total Age group (05-17)	1 , 952	718	367	158	1 , 584	560

Source : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics .

Table 39 Children in hazardous work by age g roup and gender (Number in 000)

Gender and age group	No. of children in hazardous work	Percent
05– 17 Total Boys Girls	1 , 291 1 , 172 120	100.0 90.7 9.3
05– 11 Total Boys Girls	124 102 22	100.0 82.1 17.9
12-14 Total Boys Girls	430 385 45	100.0 89.5 10.5
15-17 Total Boys Girls	737 685 52	100.0 92.9 7.1
05-14 Total Boys Girls	555 487 45	100.0 87.8 12.2

Source : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics .

Table 40 Number of reported cases of sexual exploitation

Types of cases	Male	Female	Urban	Rural	Total
Sexual abuse of  children	73	575	603	45	648
Sale of children	03	09	00	12	12
Abduction of children	115	284	91	308	399
Violence against children	16	153	03	166	169

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 41 Number of reported cases of sexual exploitation that resulted in sanctions

Types of cases	No. of sanctions
Sexual abuse of children	353
Sale of children	02
Abduction of children	202
Violence against children	122
Total	679

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 42 Number of children trafficked for other purposes, including labour

Reasons for being trafficked	No. of children trafficked	Male	Female	Urban	Rural
Prostitution	60	22	38	13	47
Camel Jokey	10	10	00	02	08
Labour	05	01	04	04	01
Illegal migration	05	03	02	02	03
Total	80	36	44	21	59

Source: Ministry of Home Affairs.

Table 43 Number of border and law enforcement officials received training

Title of training	No. of officials attended	Male	Female
Human Rights and Gender	49	42	07
Immoral Trafficking and  Sexual Abuse	549	515	34
Ensuring Child Rights	583	439	144
Basic training	240	200	40
Illegal Migration	17	15	02
Children Act	21	18	03
Total	1 , 459	1 , 229	230

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 44 Number of reported cases of sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography and child sex tourism

Types of cases	Male	Female	Urban	Rural
Sale of children	18	35	18	35
Child prostitution	03	46	39	10
Child pornography	08	21	20	09
Child sex tourism	01	03	00	04

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 45 Number of reported cases that resulted in sanctions

Types of cases	No. of cases investigated	No. of cases prosecuted	No. of cases sanctioned
Sale of children	35	25	09
Child prostitution	28	18	10
Child pornography	24	13	06
Child sex tourism	02	02	00
Total	90	58	25

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 46 Number of persons under 18 years arrested by the police due to an alleged conflict with the law

Reasons for arrest	No. of children arrested	Male	Female	Urban	Rural
Smuggling	55	53	02	20	35
Theft	14	13	01	00	14
Drug selling	94	82	12	32	62
Physical assault	36	36	00	30	06
Rape	34	34	00	01	33
Sexuality	03	03	00	00	03
Robbery	06	01	05	02	04
Kidnapping	04	04	00	00	04
Crpc-54	03	03	00	09	03
Crpc-51	31	23	08	00	22
Violence against women	03	03	00	00	03
Conflict with law	35	35	00	09	26
Foreign Citizen Act	31	26	05	00	31
Arson cases	11	08	03	03	08
Others	393	352	41	115	166
Total	795	721	74	221	574

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs .

Table 47 Maternal mortality ratio by locality

Year	National	Rural	Urban
2008	3.48	3.93	2042
2009	2.59	2.85	1.79
2010	2.16	2.30	1.78

Source : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics .

References

The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Bangladesh Economic Review 2010, Finance Division

Ministry of Home Affairs, Combating Human Trafficking: Bangladesh Country Report, 2010

Ministry of Home Affairs, Combating Human Trafficking: Bangladesh Country Report, 2011

Ministry of Labour and Employment, National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010

Planning Commission, General Economic Division, Sixth Five Year Plan FY2011-FY2015, December 2011

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on Sample Vital Registration System – 2010

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics & UNICEF Bangladesh, Monitoring the Situation of Children and Women, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2009, June 2010

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Pilot Survey 2008

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour Survey 2002-2003

Ministry of Social Welfare, Department of Social Services, Technical Assistance Project Proposal on Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh, 2012-2016

Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, National Children Policy 2011

Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Activities of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, January 2009-December 2011

Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, National Plan of Action for Children 2005-2010

UNICEF Bangladesh, National Budget: Are the Commitments to the Children of Bangladesh being Kept, June 2011

UNICEF Bangladesh, Sexual Abuse and Commercial Exploitation of Children, Elements for a National Strategy and Plan of Action, March 2011

UNICEF Bangladesh, National Report Bangladesh, Key Findings: Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities, 2009

Ms. Neelam Singh, Implementation of the third National Plan of Action for Children (2005‑2010) of Bangladesh: A Review of Progress, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs & UNICEF Bangladesh 2010