The Situation Assessment and Analysis of Children and
Women in Bangladesh
provides an overview of the situation regarding children’s rights to education,
health and nutrition, protection from abuse and exploitation, participation, and
water, sanitation, and hygiene. It identifies the immediate, underlying, and basic
(or structural) factors influencing the realization or violation of children’s rights
and analyzes the roles and capacities of duty bearers—those with responsibility for
ensuring that children realize their rights. The principal frame of reference is the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which the Government of Bangladesh
ratified in 1990.
provides an overview of the situation regarding children’s rights to education,
health and nutrition, protection from abuse and exploitation, participation, and
water, sanitation, and hygiene. It identifies the immediate, underlying, and basic
(or structural) factors influencing the realization or violation of children’s rights
and analyzes the roles and capacities of duty bearers—those with responsibility for
ensuring that children realize their rights. The principal frame of reference is the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which the Government of Bangladesh
ratified in 1990.
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN BANGLADESH: THE
CONTEXT
CONTEXT
The overall context for children’s rights has legal,
political, social, cultural,economic, demographic, and environmental dimensions. The Government is
developing laws and policies with a view toward consistency with the CRC and
Bangladesh’s other human rights commitments. At present, however, many of
the rights guaranteed in international conventions are not yet supported with
legislation, and some laws and policies contradict them. When appropriate laws and
policies are in place, they are often poorly implemented and enforced.
The last national Household Income and Expenditure Survey, in 2005, found that
about 40 per cent of Bangladeshi households were poor and more than onequarter
were extremely poor. Poverty is even more prevalent among the country’s
63 million children. In 2007-2008, two major floods, a devastating cyclone, and a
spike in food prices exacerbated poverty and food insecurity for many people. The
coping strategies of the poor included reducing food intake and health expenditures,
withdrawing children from school, and taking on debt—all of which are likely to
have lasting impacts. The indicators for primary and secondary education, health,
and access to water, sanitation, and hygiene are highly correlated with wealth.
Poverty and food insecurity leave children vulnerable to exploitation and separation
from their parents and contribute to personal stress and social/family tensions,
which can lead to abuse. Most of the children who reside in institutions, live on
the street, and engage in hazardous work are from poor families. While poverty is
clearly a basic cause of rights violations, its role in causality is complicated. National
policy statements recognize that poverty is also a consequence of rights violations.
Population growth and urbanization are also basic factors in the realization of
children’s rights. Bangladesh is a densely populated country of about 148 million
people. Despite success in reducing fertility since the 1970s, the fertility rate remains
above the replacement rate. The population is likely to almost double over the next
century and to become predominantly urban in about three decades. Urbanization
strains the capacity of all service providers. The policy agenda has largely neglected
the burgeoning urban slums and the urban poor. Education, parenting support,
health care, water and sanitation, and child protection services are severely limited
or the urban poor, and vulnerability to eviction
underlies and compounds thedifficulties slum dwellers face.
Bangladesh suffers from a range of governance problems that obstruct the
realization of children’s rights. The Government’s structure is highly centralized,
limiting local officials’ authority and flexibility to adapt services to local
circumstances and demand. Achievements in the social sectors since the early 1990s
have mainly expanded access. Relative to the deeper, institutional changes needed
to improve service quality and equity, expanding access is administratively easier
and brings more immediate political gains. A vibrant civil society and politically
engaged population provide some accountability, but formal accountability
institutions are generally ineffective. Low levels of public expenditures in the
social sector reflect the country’s poverty, low rates of revenue collection, and
weak implementation capacity. The new Government has promised a number of
important reforms related to children’s and women’s rights.
Social and cultural norms and values influence the realization of children’s rights.
In many communities, for example, the low social and economic status of women
and girls contributes to social acceptance of child marriage, which is harmful to
children and women. Norms of childhood contribute to social acceptance of child
labor, sometimes even in hazardous types of work. The concept of family honor is
often linked with the behavior and experiences of girls and women. As a result, girls
and women who are victims of abuse—and even those who seem likely to have
been victims—suffer greater social consequences than do their abusers. The low
socioeconomic status of women is reflected in the health and educational services
provided to mothers and children, their food intake, and their decision-making
authority. Gender norms make it difficult for women to access water and sanitation
facilities located away from their homes. Social taboos regarding the discussion of
sex and drug use obstruct efforts to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and expand access
to testing, treatment, and care. A low level of respect for the rule of law—especially
when it conflicts with other social norms—contributes to rights violations.
Bangladesh has always been disaster-prone, experiencing severe floods, cyclones,
storm surges, droughts, and other natural disasters. Climate change could increase
the frequency and intensity of disasters. The Government has developed substantial
capacity in disaster management and risk reduction, but the country’s location, low
elevation, poverty, population density, poor infrastructure, and high dependence on
natural resources make it exceptionally vulnerable.
Children’s ability to exercise their right to participation is part of the context for
the exercise of all their rights. In Bangladesh, children rarely have opportunities
to express themselves, and when they do, adults tend not to take them seriously.
Social norms regarding childhood and low awareness of the developmental stages
of childhood and adolescence obstruct child participation. In the middle years of
childhood, when children are developing the capacity for independent opinions
and participation in decision-making, parents often tightly control children, expect
them to work or study hard, and unilaterally make important decisions concerning
their lives. A number of civil society organizations now encourage adults to share
information with children and to develop new kinds of partnerships with them. The
Government is seeking children’s views in the formulation of policies regarding
child abuse and the commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
The proportion of children who are able to raise their voices regarding public
policy, however, is very small. Many parents resist children’s participation in such
initiatives because they detract their attention from work or study and because
speaking out, particularly for girls, is considered inappropriate.
Estimates of the prevalence of disability range from 2 per cent to 10 per cent of
the population. Mortality is substantially higher among children with disabilities
than among children overall, indicating that if more children with disabilities
could survive their early years, the disability prevalence rate would be higher.
Disability prevalence rises with age, but childhood is a critical stage for the onset
of disabilities. The disability prevalence rates for different population groups reflect
other inequalities in society. The main immediate causes of disability among
children are maternal and child under-nutrition, disease, birth and congenital
problems, and accidents. Most of these causes are preventable. Low access to
adequate health and disability services is an important underlying cause of both
disability and the vulnerability of people with disabilities. Many temporary ailments
become permanent when appropriate health services are not available or affordable.
Lack of awareness about disability combined with the limited access to disability
services leads many families to see disabled family members as a burden and to
restrict them to the home. Stress in the lives of caregivers is another underlying
factor: caring for a child with disabilities can contribute to stress and depression,
especially among caregivers who also suffer from poverty, food insecurity,
and other hardships. These caregivers are then less likely to be responsive and
stimulating toward their children, which in turn influences child development.
NGOs and private sector organizations have overcome all obstacles in their support
for Bangladesh’s participation in the Special Olympics World Games and regional
events, which engage people with intellectual disabilities from around the world in
athletic training and competition. Bangladesh has achieved a distinguished record of
achievement in these events.
CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO EDUCATION
The key areas where children’s access to their right to
education is challenged arepreschool attendance, primary school completion, secondary school enrollment
and completion, the quality of education, and inequality and exclusion of various
groups. Only 15 per cent of children of ages 3-5 years attend an early childhood
education programme. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in primaryschool
enrolment over the past two decades, but many children repeat grades, and
possibly as many as half of primary school students drop out before completion.
The Government and NGOs provide non-formal education for some children who
have dropped out or never enrolled, but most of them remain unreached. The
secondary net attendance rate is less than 40 per cent. The proportion of girls
attending primary and secondary school has risen dramatically in recent years,
and girls are now ahead of boys in primary attendance, enrollment, retention, and
completion. At the secondary level, however, dropout rates are higher for girls after
Grade 6, and fewer girls complete Grade 10 than do boys. Moreover, boys appear to
outperform girls at all levels.
The quality of education is unsatisfactory for most students. Many children
complete primary school without basic literacy and numeracy competencies, and
many complete secondary school without the knowledge and skills needed for
either the workplace or further education. Children are rarely provided opportunities
to develop critical thinking and extra-curricular interests and skills. Primary-school
class sizes are large, many primary schools run on double shifts, and studentteacher
contact hours are among the lowest in the world. Preschool, primary, and
secondary education institutions use very different approaches, and mechanisms
are not in place to facilitate students’ transition from one level to the next.
The low availability of preschools precludes attendance for the majority of children
of preschool age. At the primary and secondary levels, school availability and
access are different for different children. The children of wealthy households and
educated mothers have substantially greater educational opportunities than do
others. Overall, children in urban areas have better educational opportunities than
do those in rural areas, but the children of urban slums are severely deprived of
the right to education. Children with disabilities, street children, working children,
tribal children, and children living in urban slums, remote rural areas, and brothels
are most likely to find schools unavailable, inaccessible, or lacking in relevance to
them. Some schools become inaccessible during seasonal floods, and some parents fear that traveling to and from school will expose their children to road accidents,
violence, sexual abuse, trafficking, and other risks.
The levels of knowledge, awareness, and participation of caregivers and
communities is an immediate factor influencing the right to education. Many
caregivers lack knowledge of positive discipline, the importance of play and
physical activity, and the skills children will need as they reach adulthood in
the modern economy. Caregivers who have access to flows of information and
understand modern teaching-learning methods are more likely to support learning
at home. Community involvement with schools and community awareness about
quality education are mutually reinforcing. School Management Committees
(SMCs), parent-teacher associations, community learning centers, and programmes
for adolescent and parent empowerment are examples of mechanisms that foster
meaningful community involvement when they exist and function properly.
The quality of teaching, school infrastructure, and educational materials are also
immediate determinants of whether children attend school and what they gain when
they attend. Many teaching posts remain vacant, and corruption has been reported
in teacher recruitment. Teacher training, performance assessment, professional
development opportunities, and compensation are often insufficient to motivate and
retain qualified teachers. As a result, teacher absenteeism is reportedly high, and
many teachers focus more on private tutoring than classroom teaching. In addition,
teachers commonly use physical and other negative forms of punishment. Most
schools lack playgrounds and other recreational facilities, and schools are rarely
accessible to children with disabilities. Basic supplies and quality inputs—such as
teaching aids, libraries, and laboratories—are often unavailable or in poor condition.
Primary school textbooks were recently revised and distributed, but their quality
has drawn criticism. With support from UNICEF, the Government is gradually
providing supplementary reading materials and teaching aids for primary schools
and rolling out a school-level planning process that aims to enable improvements in
infrastructure and other local priorities.
Bangladesh has a variety of Government-supported schools, private schools, NGOoperated
schools, unrecognized madrasas, and non-formal education programmes.
The different types of school and the lack of minimum standards and a common
core curriculum may reinforce the disparities in society and undermine quality. A
unified system could allow diversity in delivery modes while ensuring that children
who complete the various levels of education have a common core of competencies
and skills.
Families with children in school face substantial costs. Studies suggest that
households provide more than half of the total spending for children to attend
Government-supported schools. Government stipends for poor primary students
and girls attending secondary school are credited for contributing to increased
enrollment, but the stipends are small and do not extend to children in urban areas.
Moreover, the primary stipends are not well targeted to the poor. Private tutoring
has become essential for school performance—and in turn for a child’s eligibility for
the stipend programme and is beyond the reach of most poor students.
A number of underlying factors influence children’s right to education. Many
caregivers are poorly educated themselves, leaving them unable or disinclined to
provide learning support at home. Poor families who concentrate their energies on
daily survival are often unable to make the financial and personal investments that
education entails. Many children work in labor arrangements that prevent or hinder
school attendance. The practices of child marriage and dowry result in withdrawal
from school for many girls. Strategies for inclusive primary education have been
adopted but have not yet had effect, and the laws and policies governing child labor
and child marriage are inadequate and poorly enforced. Finally, at just 2.3 per cent
of GDP, public expenditure on education in Bangladesh is low relative to that of
other developing countries and other countries of the region.
CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO HEALTH AND
NUTRITION
NUTRITION
Children’s access to their right to health and
nutrition is evident in the rates ofmaternal and child mortality and the threat of an HIV/AIDS epidemic. Child health
and survival is closely related to the health and survival of mothers throughout the
lifecycle. While maternal mortality is difficult to measure and track in Bangladesh,
experts agree that maternal deaths are unacceptably common. The country has
made significant progress in reducing child mortality and is considered on track for
achieving the corresponding Millennium Development Goal (MDG 4), but success in
meeting the MDG 4 targets is far from guaranteed. The neonatal mortality rate has
been declining at a relatively slow rate. These deaths account for more than twothirds
of all infant deaths. Under-nutrition is a challenge to continuing progress in child survival. Neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality rates appear to be
lower in urban than in rural areas, and a mother’s level of education and household
wealth are inversely related to her child’s risk of dying. By world standards, HIV prevalence remains low (about 0.2 per cent of the adult population), but Bangladesh is at risk for an epidemic. It shares borders with
highprevalence countries and countries where HIV infection is growing rapidly, and
many of the behavioural patterns that fuel an epidemic are found in Bangladeshi society. The infection rate is significant among some vulnerable groups, especially injecting drug users. Women’s share of the population living with HIV has been
rising. No data are yet available on the number of children living with HIV.
The most common immediate causes of maternal mortality are haemorrhage,
sepsis, eclampsia/pre-eclampsia, unsafe abortion, and obstructed labour, all of
which could be prevented or successfully treated without loss of life. For neonatal
mortality, the most common immediate causes are infections, low birth weight, and
birth asphyxia. Infant and child deaths are most commonly caused by infections, under-nutrition,
and injuries. The prevalence of under-nutrition among children has declined
over the past two decades, but about two-fifths of children under five years
of age are still underweight, and nearly half suffer from chronic malnutrition
(stunting). Micronutrient deficiencies among children are common, affecting
children’s cognitive and motor development. The nutritional status of children is
highly correlated with that of their mothers and the socioeconomic level of their
households. Drowning, road traffic accidents, falls, burns, animal bites, and other
injuries cause 38 per cent of deaths in children of ages 1-17 and are the leading
cause of death among children above the age of 5. For every injured child who dies,
many others live on with varying degrees and durations of disability and trauma.
Injecting drug use is the primary immediate factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS in
Bangladesh. Occurring mainly in urban areas, injecting drug use is increasing,
and studies indicate that users often share needles and syringes. The most-at-risk
populations also include female and male sex workers, clients of sex workers,
transgenders, and migrants. There are significant bridging populations among these
risk groups and links between them and the general population, including the risk of
parent-to-child transmission. Condom use among risk groups is low.
Bangladesh’s rapidly declining child mortality rates have hinged on its control of
vaccine-preventable diseases. Full immunization coverage of one-year olds with
valid doses of all recommended antigens reached 75 per cent nationally in 2007.
Some areas and population groups however, continue to be underserved.
Aside from immunization, the quality of health care accessible to most children
and women is low. Recent trends in antenatal care are favourable, but still only
about one-half of mothers receive antenatal care from a skilled provider. More than four-fifths of births take place at home, and medically trained providers attend only
one-fifth of births. The maternal care a mother receives is strongly correlated with
her household wealth and her educational background. Access is higher in urban
than rural areas and is particularly low in tribal areas. These disparities are seen
also in the health care that children receive, though they are not as sharp. In recent
years the Government has taken steps to improve the provision of emergency
obstetric care and introduced a demand-side financing scheme that guarantees free
maternal care services to participating pregnant women. Very few newborns receive
appropriate care, and immediate and emergency newborn care is inadequate when
available at all.
Public sector health services suffer from insufficient supplies of medications, staff
shortages, and management and coordination problems. The vast majority of
qualified health care providers are located in urban areas. Non-government health
care providers serve the majority of the population, but information on their role
is scarce. They range from traditional birth attendants, traditional healers, and
unqualified allopathic service providers to trained NGO community health workers
and private hospitals providing modern medical services. Taking children to nonformal
providers often precludes an appropriate referral and leads to inappropriate
or delayed treatment. Caregivers in rural areas often prefer non-formal service
providers because they make home visits, follow up with patients, and allow
flexibility in the mode of payment. In contrast, Government hospitals are widely
perceived to be overcrowded, to have long waiting times, and to provide care that is
rushed and impersonal.
Maternal nutrition and health are underlying factors determining child health and
survival. Nutrition is important throughout the lifecycle. The nutritional status of
girls affects the nutritional status of the adolescents and women they become.
Their nutritional status during pregnancy, in turn, affects intrauterine development
and the risks of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In Bangladesh,
interventions supporting maternal nutrition have very low coverage. One-third of
women in the country suffer from chronic energy deficiency, and more than onethird
of children are born with low birth weight. Child marriage often results in early
motherhood, which is harmful to the health of both mothers and children. Violence
against women is another pervasive problem affecting women’s health.
Family care practices—such as care seeking for maternal and child health, neonatal
care, infant and young child feeding, hygiene practices, and injury prevention and
care—are important determinants of child and maternal health. Poor quality of
care, misperceptions regarding the need for care, and social barriers lead to low
care-seeking. Care-seeking from trained providers for newborns is uncommon, and
the care given to newborns at home is usually inadequate. Almost all Bangladeshi
babies are breastfed during the first year, but the rates of early initiation of
breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months are low. Proper
care for children with diarrhea, a leading contributor to child malnutrition and
mortality, is widely practiced. Effective hand washing is critical to avoiding gastrointestinal
diseases and is not widely practiced, especially among the very poor.
A prevailing culture of shame and embarrassment surrounding menstruation—
combined with limited access to sanitation facilities—often leads to poor menstrual
hygiene, which can cause illness and infection among women and adolescent girls.
(Lack of access to safe water and sanitation contributes to respiratory and gastrointestinal
illnesses, which in turn contribute to both malnutrition and mortality.
Children’s right to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene is discussed further below.)
Knowledge and awareness among caregivers and children are also underlying
factors. Caregivers are often poorly informed about when to seek treatment for
acute respiratory infections. Many caregivers believe that allopathic medicines are
too harsh for infants and therefore seek alternative care providers even when urgent
medical care is needed for infection. Knowledge about injury prevention and care—
and about HIV/AIDS and its prevention—is also low.
many of the behavioural patterns that fuel an epidemic are found in Bangladeshi society. The infection rate is significant among some vulnerable groups, especially injecting drug users. Women’s share of the population living with HIV has been
rising. No data are yet available on the number of children living with HIV.
The most common immediate causes of maternal mortality are haemorrhage,
sepsis, eclampsia/pre-eclampsia, unsafe abortion, and obstructed labour, all of
which could be prevented or successfully treated without loss of life. For neonatal
mortality, the most common immediate causes are infections, low birth weight, and
birth asphyxia. Infant and child deaths are most commonly caused by infections, under-nutrition,
and injuries. The prevalence of under-nutrition among children has declined
over the past two decades, but about two-fifths of children under five years
of age are still underweight, and nearly half suffer from chronic malnutrition
(stunting). Micronutrient deficiencies among children are common, affecting
children’s cognitive and motor development. The nutritional status of children is
highly correlated with that of their mothers and the socioeconomic level of their
households. Drowning, road traffic accidents, falls, burns, animal bites, and other
injuries cause 38 per cent of deaths in children of ages 1-17 and are the leading
cause of death among children above the age of 5. For every injured child who dies,
many others live on with varying degrees and durations of disability and trauma.
Injecting drug use is the primary immediate factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS in
Bangladesh. Occurring mainly in urban areas, injecting drug use is increasing,
and studies indicate that users often share needles and syringes. The most-at-risk
populations also include female and male sex workers, clients of sex workers,
transgenders, and migrants. There are significant bridging populations among these
risk groups and links between them and the general population, including the risk of
parent-to-child transmission. Condom use among risk groups is low.
Bangladesh’s rapidly declining child mortality rates have hinged on its control of
vaccine-preventable diseases. Full immunization coverage of one-year olds with
valid doses of all recommended antigens reached 75 per cent nationally in 2007.
Some areas and population groups however, continue to be underserved.
Aside from immunization, the quality of health care accessible to most children
and women is low. Recent trends in antenatal care are favourable, but still only
about one-half of mothers receive antenatal care from a skilled provider. More than four-fifths of births take place at home, and medically trained providers attend only
one-fifth of births. The maternal care a mother receives is strongly correlated with
her household wealth and her educational background. Access is higher in urban
than rural areas and is particularly low in tribal areas. These disparities are seen
also in the health care that children receive, though they are not as sharp. In recent
years the Government has taken steps to improve the provision of emergency
obstetric care and introduced a demand-side financing scheme that guarantees free
maternal care services to participating pregnant women. Very few newborns receive
appropriate care, and immediate and emergency newborn care is inadequate when
available at all.
Public sector health services suffer from insufficient supplies of medications, staff
shortages, and management and coordination problems. The vast majority of
qualified health care providers are located in urban areas. Non-government health
care providers serve the majority of the population, but information on their role
is scarce. They range from traditional birth attendants, traditional healers, and
unqualified allopathic service providers to trained NGO community health workers
and private hospitals providing modern medical services. Taking children to nonformal
providers often precludes an appropriate referral and leads to inappropriate
or delayed treatment. Caregivers in rural areas often prefer non-formal service
providers because they make home visits, follow up with patients, and allow
flexibility in the mode of payment. In contrast, Government hospitals are widely
perceived to be overcrowded, to have long waiting times, and to provide care that is
rushed and impersonal.
Maternal nutrition and health are underlying factors determining child health and
survival. Nutrition is important throughout the lifecycle. The nutritional status of
girls affects the nutritional status of the adolescents and women they become.
Their nutritional status during pregnancy, in turn, affects intrauterine development
and the risks of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In Bangladesh,
interventions supporting maternal nutrition have very low coverage. One-third of
women in the country suffer from chronic energy deficiency, and more than onethird
of children are born with low birth weight. Child marriage often results in early
motherhood, which is harmful to the health of both mothers and children. Violence
against women is another pervasive problem affecting women’s health.
Family care practices—such as care seeking for maternal and child health, neonatal
care, infant and young child feeding, hygiene practices, and injury prevention and
care—are important determinants of child and maternal health. Poor quality of
care, misperceptions regarding the need for care, and social barriers lead to low
care-seeking. Care-seeking from trained providers for newborns is uncommon, and
the care given to newborns at home is usually inadequate. Almost all Bangladeshi
babies are breastfed during the first year, but the rates of early initiation of
breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months are low. Proper
care for children with diarrhea, a leading contributor to child malnutrition and
mortality, is widely practiced. Effective hand washing is critical to avoiding gastrointestinal
diseases and is not widely practiced, especially among the very poor.
A prevailing culture of shame and embarrassment surrounding menstruation—
combined with limited access to sanitation facilities—often leads to poor menstrual
hygiene, which can cause illness and infection among women and adolescent girls.
(Lack of access to safe water and sanitation contributes to respiratory and gastrointestinal
illnesses, which in turn contribute to both malnutrition and mortality.
Children’s right to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene is discussed further below.)
Knowledge and awareness among caregivers and children are also underlying
factors. Caregivers are often poorly informed about when to seek treatment for
acute respiratory infections. Many caregivers believe that allopathic medicines are
too harsh for infants and therefore seek alternative care providers even when urgent
medical care is needed for infection. Knowledge about injury prevention and care—
and about HIV/AIDS and its prevention—is also low.
CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO PROTECTION
The key areas where children’s access to their right
to protection is challenged
in Bangladesh are abuse, exploitation, and the lack of a comprehensive system
for protecting the rights of children without parental care. Three-quarters of
child respondents to the Children’s Opinion Poll of 2008 reported that physical
punishment takes place in their homes. Nine out of ten school-going children said
it takes place at their schools, and one-quarter of working children said it occurs in
their workplaces. Children in conflict with the law sometimes experience physical
abuse during arrest and interrogation, and child victims and witnesses are treated
similarly. In public areas, some children—especially street children, child sex
workers, and the children of sex workers—are subjected to verbal, physical, and
sexual abuse from police, mastaans (hoodlums), and the general public. Many
Bangladeshi children are exposed to violence against the women in their families
and communities.
Both at home and at school, higher levels of household wealth and better-educated
parents are associated with better treatment of children. In schools, teachers tend
to treat the children of non-poor households better than those of poor households
because they wish to maintain favorable relations with influential parents or
because they perceive that non-poor parents are more likely to complain about
mistreatment of their children.
Adults tend to exhibit more positive than negative behaviors toward young children,
but at some point before puberty children are typically expected to begin to work
and/or study hard, and punishment is often viewed as necessary. Rebellion against
authority is not considered a normal part of adolescence. After the onset of puberty,
girls’ activities and movements are usually restricted. Children in the later years
of childhood experience less punishment—but by then many of them are already
leading adult lives, and indeed many girls are already mothers themselves.
National surveys indicate that 13 per cent of Bangladeshi children between the
ages of 5 and 14 are working. Child labor is higher among children of the urban
slums and tribal areas than any other groups surveyed. The National Child Labor
Survey estimated that about 1.3 million children were engaged in hazardous labor,
and nearly one-fifth of the working children who responded to the Children’s
Opinion Poll felt that their working environments were unsafe. A large proportion
of children’s work is hidden and unlikely to be captured in surveys. Many child
workers, especially girls, are not paid regular wages, and they rarely have control
over the use of their wages. Employers of children rarely consider the compensation
they provide to child workers or their families as the fulfillment of duties to the
children, nor do they see the children as rights holders entitled to claim their right to
fair treatment and compensation.
Child domestic work is a sector of particular concern because of the large numbers
of children involved and the risks associated with the work. Almost all child
domestic workers live at their employers’ homes and work seven days a week.
They often face restrictions on their mobility and freedom of association. Their
vulnerability to sexual abuse is widely recognized in Bangladeshi society and
creates a stigma that can damage girls’ reputations and marriage prospects. The
stigma encourages silence among victims, which further empowers their abusers.
Many children are drawn into commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes when
they are well below the age of puberty. Some of these children are based in large
registered brothels, which are scattered throughout the country. Some work on
the streets, in parks, or at bus or train stations. Within brothels, girls who are
bonded sex workers are the most deprived of their rights. They are not allowed
outside of the brothel, they cannot choose their customers, and they are under
strict surveillance to prevent them from running away. Children of brothel-based
sex workers are stigmatized from birth. Their acceptance into society is virtually impossible, so they often start working in the brothel themselves. Street-based sex
workers have greater independence and agency, but they are more vulnerable to
physical and verbal abuse and to arrest and maltreatment in the criminal justice
system.
Trafficking in women, men, girls, and boys—internal and international—takes
place in Bangladesh for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some
trafficked persons are physically coerced, while others are lured by promises of jobs
or marriage. Some parents willingly send their children away to escape poverty,
and some sell their children into bondage (usually domestic labor). Trafficking
happens through legal and formal migration as well as through illegal, informal,
and undocumented migration. For women and children who are rescued and
repatriated, reintegration is difficult and sometimes impossible. Sometimes the
traffickers are members of victims’ families or communities, making prosecution
complicated and potentially harmful to the victim. Court cases tend to be lengthy,
which can give traffickers time to reach illegal out-of-court settlements with victims
or their families. These settlements may serve the interests of family members and
traffickers more than those of the victims.
Formal arrangements for children without parental care are limited and almost
exclusively institutional. The commonly held belief that moral character is inherited
from one’s biological parents makes adoption difficult to address. The main
Government-run facilities where children reside are orphanages, vagrant homes,
juvenile detention facilities, and adult prisons. For a child to enter a Government
orphanage, an adult must apply on his or her behalf, which closes their doors to many
children without parental care. In addition to Government-run facilities, Bangladesh
has madrasas that house and educate orphans and private or NGO-run orphanages
and shelter homes. Many children without parental care resort to informal
alternatives, such as living on the street or becoming live-in child domestic workers.
Children who live and/or work on the street are especially vulnerable to violence,
sexual abuse, hazardous work, use in political activities, conflict with the law,
and trafficking. They also suffer from abysmal sanitation and hygiene conditions,
poor health, and limited access to any kind of education. Police officers have wide
discretionary powers to arrest children in need of protection on the grounds of
vagrancy, begging, truancy, smoking, alcohol abuse, or prostitution. Often children
are incarcerated with adult prisoners, from whom they are vulnerable to abuse. The
hardships in street children’s backgrounds lead many of them to experience a sense
of freedom in the street life, despite the risks they face.
Abuse, exploitation, and the quality of care arrangements are often linked to one
another, and they have multiple causes that are also interlinked. The immediate
factors influencing children’s right to protection include the widespread acceptance
in society of physical punishment of children, violence against women, child
marriage, and child labor. Personal stress and family/social tensions are also
immediate factors.
While the practice of child marriage has decreased in Bangladesh over the last
three decades, it remains common in rural areas and urban slums, especially
among the poor. Arranging early marriage for a girl is often financially beneficial
for her family—she is no longer a financial burden, and the marriage of a younger
daughter often requires a smaller dowry than the marriage of an older daughter. A
child bride usually foregoes school to work full-time in her in-laws’ home. Because
they cannot abstain from sex or insist on condom use, child brides are exposed to
the risks of premature pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS.
Husbands and their families sometimes abuse child brides to pressure their natal
families into greater dowry payments. In addition, the notion that a child is eligible
for marriage—and is therefore an acceptable sex partner—contributes to the social
acceptance of men who patronize child sex workers. The extent to which laws and policies on child protection are enforced is another
immediate factor. Those regarding child labor, physical punishment, violence
against women, sexual exploitation, imprisonment of children with adults,
trafficking, child marriage, and other aspects of child protection are routinely
violated. In some cases, people are not aware of the laws, but more commonly
they are ignored because they conflict with social norms and established practices.
The lack of birth registration for most children has been an enabling factor in the
violation of laws to protect children, and the Government is now addressing this
issue.
The underlying factors influencing child protection include the levels of knowledge
and awareness about children’s rights and the responsibilities of duty bearers,
the legal and policy framework for child protection, and institutional capacities for
child protection. Bangladesh has significant gaps in all of these areas, though some
improvements are evident. In terms of knowledge and awareness, for example,
public policy and various initiatives have increased the priority that parents place
on schooling relative to work for their children, contributed to a gradual decline in
the prevalence of child marriage, and expanded knowledge, however slightly, about
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
in Bangladesh are abuse, exploitation, and the lack of a comprehensive system
for protecting the rights of children without parental care. Three-quarters of
child respondents to the Children’s Opinion Poll of 2008 reported that physical
punishment takes place in their homes. Nine out of ten school-going children said
it takes place at their schools, and one-quarter of working children said it occurs in
their workplaces. Children in conflict with the law sometimes experience physical
abuse during arrest and interrogation, and child victims and witnesses are treated
similarly. In public areas, some children—especially street children, child sex
workers, and the children of sex workers—are subjected to verbal, physical, and
sexual abuse from police, mastaans (hoodlums), and the general public. Many
Bangladeshi children are exposed to violence against the women in their families
and communities.
Both at home and at school, higher levels of household wealth and better-educated
parents are associated with better treatment of children. In schools, teachers tend
to treat the children of non-poor households better than those of poor households
because they wish to maintain favorable relations with influential parents or
because they perceive that non-poor parents are more likely to complain about
mistreatment of their children.
Adults tend to exhibit more positive than negative behaviors toward young children,
but at some point before puberty children are typically expected to begin to work
and/or study hard, and punishment is often viewed as necessary. Rebellion against
authority is not considered a normal part of adolescence. After the onset of puberty,
girls’ activities and movements are usually restricted. Children in the later years
of childhood experience less punishment—but by then many of them are already
leading adult lives, and indeed many girls are already mothers themselves.
National surveys indicate that 13 per cent of Bangladeshi children between the
ages of 5 and 14 are working. Child labor is higher among children of the urban
slums and tribal areas than any other groups surveyed. The National Child Labor
Survey estimated that about 1.3 million children were engaged in hazardous labor,
and nearly one-fifth of the working children who responded to the Children’s
Opinion Poll felt that their working environments were unsafe. A large proportion
of children’s work is hidden and unlikely to be captured in surveys. Many child
workers, especially girls, are not paid regular wages, and they rarely have control
over the use of their wages. Employers of children rarely consider the compensation
they provide to child workers or their families as the fulfillment of duties to the
children, nor do they see the children as rights holders entitled to claim their right to
fair treatment and compensation.
Child domestic work is a sector of particular concern because of the large numbers
of children involved and the risks associated with the work. Almost all child
domestic workers live at their employers’ homes and work seven days a week.
They often face restrictions on their mobility and freedom of association. Their
vulnerability to sexual abuse is widely recognized in Bangladeshi society and
creates a stigma that can damage girls’ reputations and marriage prospects. The
stigma encourages silence among victims, which further empowers their abusers.
Many children are drawn into commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes when
they are well below the age of puberty. Some of these children are based in large
registered brothels, which are scattered throughout the country. Some work on
the streets, in parks, or at bus or train stations. Within brothels, girls who are
bonded sex workers are the most deprived of their rights. They are not allowed
outside of the brothel, they cannot choose their customers, and they are under
strict surveillance to prevent them from running away. Children of brothel-based
sex workers are stigmatized from birth. Their acceptance into society is virtually impossible, so they often start working in the brothel themselves. Street-based sex
workers have greater independence and agency, but they are more vulnerable to
physical and verbal abuse and to arrest and maltreatment in the criminal justice
system.
Trafficking in women, men, girls, and boys—internal and international—takesplace in Bangladesh for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some
trafficked persons are physically coerced, while others are lured by promises of jobs
or marriage. Some parents willingly send their children away to escape poverty,
and some sell their children into bondage (usually domestic labor). Trafficking
happens through legal and formal migration as well as through illegal, informal,
and undocumented migration. For women and children who are rescued and
repatriated, reintegration is difficult and sometimes impossible. Sometimes the
traffickers are members of victims’ families or communities, making prosecution
complicated and potentially harmful to the victim. Court cases tend to be lengthy,
which can give traffickers time to reach illegal out-of-court settlements with victims
or their families. These settlements may serve the interests of family members and
traffickers more than those of the victims.
Formal arrangements for children without parental care are limited and almost
exclusively institutional. The commonly held belief that moral character is inherited
from one’s biological parents makes adoption difficult to address. The main
Government-run facilities where children reside are orphanages, vagrant homes,
juvenile detention facilities, and adult prisons. For a child to enter a Government
orphanage, an adult must apply on his or her behalf, which closes their doors to many
children without parental care. In addition to Government-run facilities, Bangladesh
has madrasas that house and educate orphans and private or NGO-run orphanages
and shelter homes. Many children without parental care resort to informal
alternatives, such as living on the street or becoming live-in child domestic workers.
Children who live and/or work on the street are especially vulnerable to violence,
sexual abuse, hazardous work, use in political activities, conflict with the law,
and trafficking. They also suffer from abysmal sanitation and hygiene conditions,
poor health, and limited access to any kind of education. Police officers have wide
discretionary powers to arrest children in need of protection on the grounds of
vagrancy, begging, truancy, smoking, alcohol abuse, or prostitution. Often children
are incarcerated with adult prisoners, from whom they are vulnerable to abuse. The
hardships in street children’s backgrounds lead many of them to experience a sense
of freedom in the street life, despite the risks they face.
Abuse, exploitation, and the quality of care arrangements are often linked to one
another, and they have multiple causes that are also interlinked. The immediate
factors influencing children’s right to protection include the widespread acceptance
in society of physical punishment of children, violence against women, child
marriage, and child labor. Personal stress and family/social tensions are also
immediate factors.
While the practice of child marriage has decreased in Bangladesh over the last
three decades, it remains common in rural areas and urban slums, especially
among the poor. Arranging early marriage for a girl is often financially beneficial
for her family—she is no longer a financial burden, and the marriage of a younger
daughter often requires a smaller dowry than the marriage of an older daughter. A
child bride usually foregoes school to work full-time in her in-laws’ home. Because
they cannot abstain from sex or insist on condom use, child brides are exposed to
the risks of premature pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS.
Husbands and their families sometimes abuse child brides to pressure their natal
families into greater dowry payments. In addition, the notion that a child is eligible
for marriage—and is therefore an acceptable sex partner—contributes to the social
acceptance of men who patronize child sex workers. The extent to which laws and policies on child protection are enforced is another
immediate factor. Those regarding child labor, physical punishment, violence
against women, sexual exploitation, imprisonment of children with adults,
trafficking, child marriage, and other aspects of child protection are routinely
violated. In some cases, people are not aware of the laws, but more commonly
they are ignored because they conflict with social norms and established practices.
The lack of birth registration for most children has been an enabling factor in the
violation of laws to protect children, and the Government is now addressing this
issue.
The underlying factors influencing child protection include the levels of knowledge
and awareness about children’s rights and the responsibilities of duty bearers,
the legal and policy framework for child protection, and institutional capacities for
child protection. Bangladesh has significant gaps in all of these areas, though some
improvements are evident. In terms of knowledge and awareness, for example,
public policy and various initiatives have increased the priority that parents place
on schooling relative to work for their children, contributed to a gradual decline in
the prevalence of child marriage, and expanded knowledge, however slightly, about
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO WATER, SANITATION,
AND HYGIENE
AND HYGIENE
Safe water, adequate sanitation, and good hygiene
practices are critical to the
realization of children’s rights in Bangladesh. Their use reduces the risks of
respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, which disproportionately affect children,
contributing to their under-nutrition, morbidity, and mortality. Menstrual hygiene
is important for reproductive health, and access to adequate facilities for menstrual
hygiene at schools can make the difference between going to school and not going
to school for adolescent girls. Avoiding the consumption of excessive levels of
arsenic—which contaminates much of Bangladesh’s drinking water—is necessary
to prevent the debilitating and sometimes deadly effects of arsenic-related diseases.
Safe water, sanitation, and hygiene also have potentially life-changing social
impacts, as cleanliness and avoidance of disease can raise the social standing of the
poor and influence the security of girls and women in marriage.
Safe drinking water coverage is about 80 per cent and has not changed much for
many years. Water scarcity results from seasonal droughts, water management
practices in India, and over-extraction of water for irrigation. Since the 1970s,
households have invested substantially in improved sanitation facilities, usually
relying on private sector providers, and the Government has stepped up its role in
providing sanitation facilities to households in recent years. Still, only 39 per cent of
households have access to latrines with functioning water seals or a similar or better
level of hygiene. Flooding and droughts make many latrines unusable, and they
are often not designed for hygienic emptying and sludge disposal. The availability
of latrines in public areas is minimal, and the country lacks accessible sanitation
facilities for people with disabilities.
Urbanization, growing slum populations, and poor provision of water and sanitation
in the slums and public areas of cities and towns increase the vulnerability of many
of the poor. Only about one-third of the hundreds of pourashavas (secondary towns)
in Bangladesh have piped water networks, and they usually cover only a small part
of the population. The lack of sewerage systems, household septic tanks, and solid
waste management create unhygienic living conditions for the urban poor. Hygiene
awareness is lowest among slum dwellers. The urban poor without security of
tenure have little incentive to invest privately in water and sanitation improvements
and face high costs if they choose to arrange private service provision. Good water, sanitation, and hygiene practices are essential for preventing
disease and other problems related to water and sanitation. Effective handwashing
practices are least common among the very poor. Even when latrines
are available, they are often not used, or not used consistently by all household
members. Improper water handling and storage practices can lead to contamination
of drinking water. As mentioned above, menstrual hygiene is important for
reproductive health and for girls’ school attendance. In addition, when sanitation
facilities are appropriately hygienic and private, they provide women and girls with
greater convenience and dignity. Latrines meeting requirements for menstrual
hygiene are rarely available in schools.
The main threats to water quality in Bangladesh arise from arsenic contamination,
bacteriological contamination, iron content, and saline intrusion. In many areas
of the country, arsenic enters water supplies from natural deposits in the ground.
Bacteriological contamination is common in densely populated areas where safe
distances from latrines and other pollution sources are not maintained. Saline
intrusion into drinking water sources is increasing in the coastal belt. Bangladesh
does not have mechanisms in place for systematic water quality monitoring and
surveillance.
The Government has a National Sanitation Strategy setting forth the target of 100
per cent access to improved sanitation by 2013. Under this strategy, funds are
allocated for locally elected bodies to provide hygiene education and free materials
for latrines to the hardcore poor. The strategy was pursued vigorously in 2005-2007,
but progress slowed during 2007-2008. Studies show that the sanitation programme
had significant impacts on local environments and enhanced the security of some
women and children but had implementation problems, particularly in regard to
monitoring, supervision, and targeting the poor. The strategy addresses sanitation
at the household level only. Enabling full sanitation for all people at all times
will require the introduction of sustainable sanitation facilities and maintenance
arrangements in schools, markets, transportation terminals, and other public places.
In 2006, the Government adopted a Sector Development Programme (SDP) that
sets forth a 10-year framework for development and cooperation in the water
and sanitation sector. The degree of consensus among the key sector partners,
however, was insufficient for the SDP’s effective implementation. The SDP also
does not address climate change, contain an emergency preparedness or response
strategy, or adequately recognize the special water and sanitation conditions of
the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The formulation of a revision is underway. In regard to
emergencies, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) cluster for emergency
response, with the Government in the lead and UNICEF as the lead international
partner, has helped to improve overall coordination of response activities in the
sector.
ROLE & CAPACITY ANALYSIS
Families. Families and immediate caregivers are the duty-bearers with the most
immediate responsibilities for ensuring children’s rights. They have duties to
encourage children’s school attendance, to create a home environment conducive
to learning, to maintain proper practices of feeding, hygiene, and the care and
treatment of sick children, and to advocate for children’s rights within their
communities. Many families face substantial constraints, including high private
costs for social services (and, for some, little or no access to services). Many live
in poverty and have to make choices on the basis of immediate survival needs.
Families often lack the knowledge and skills they need. Prevailing gender norms
prevent many mothers from seeking appropriate care for themselves or their
children. Social and economic pressures encourage families to arrange child
marriages, restrict the mobility of adolescent girls, and reject daughters who
become victims of trafficking and/or sexual exploitation. Many families are unaware the role they can play in supporting community services, and many are not
sufficiently empowered within their communities to play such a role.
Communities and schools. Communities have the duty to create effective local
demand for social services, to reject social and cultural norms that are harmful
to children, to demand accountability when children’s rights are violated, and
to support the reintegration of children who have been separated from their
parents and communities for any reason. Communities and schools have the best
information on which children are at risk and what could be done to ensure their
rights. Some communities fulfill their responsibilities through School Management
Committees, informal preschools, water and sanitation committees, and various
types of community centers. Children have a right to participate in these community
functions. Often, however, communities lack organizational capacity, social
awareness, and effective linkages with service providers. Social and cultural
perceptions of the roles of children obstruct their participation. Local government
bodies are often not well attuned to providing support and responsiveness to
communities, and the centralized system of government restricts communities’
ability to adapt schooling and other services to local conditions.
Teachers have duties to provide all children with high-quality and equitable
teaching, to engage with parents and other community members in the learning
process, and to avoid negative forms of discipline. Many teachers play important
roles beyond the classroom—in improving health and hygiene, raising awareness
of social and environmental issues, and assisting families in various ways. Teachers
face the obstacles of inadequate training, low compensation, few opportunities for
professional advancement, and heavy workloads. Most schools are under-resourced
and have severely inadequate provisions for water and sanitation.
Civil society. In Bangladesh, civil society organizations—including NGOs, academia,
the private sector, and the media—play a vital role and have substantial capacity
in the promotion and protection of children’s rights. In many respects, NGOs
have taken the role of duty-bearer in the provision of services for children who
are poorly served by government providers. NGOs foster dialogue on policy
development, promote positive behavior change, mobilize community demand
for services, pilot innovative models of service delivery, provide training, support
technological innovation, provide legal aid, and support disaster preparedness and
response. NGOs and the media monitor human rights and raise public awareness
about progress and setbacks. NGOs and private organizations have been the main
providers of preschool education, though the Government is now also taking
a role. The private sector plays the leading role in the provision of water and
sanitation facilities. Insufficient trust and cooperation between civil society and the
Government present a significant constraint to civil society’s effectiveness. The
Government does not effectively regulate, monitor, or support the contributions of
civil society in education and health care. To ensure that the children of Bangladesh
benefit from the full range of national expertise, further efforts are needed to build a
common understanding of the roles of civil society vis-à-vis the Government.
Local government institutions. Bangladesh’s local government institutions have
responsibilities for delivering Government services to households and communities.
Locally elected officials are expected to ensure the accountability of service
providers for their performance. Social workers, administrators, police, and others
at the local level are responsible for ensuring that socially disadvantaged and
at-risk children receive appropriate services. Within the Government structure,
local government institutions are most in touch with communities’ needs and
perspectives and have the most knowledge about the performance of individual
schools and other service providers. They are in the best position to ensure that
service providers work together in the best interests of local children, and they are
logical links between communities and policy makers. At present, however, they
tend to play a passive role. Mechanisms for participatory local decision-making
are limited. The centralized system of governance and inadequate funding often
leave them without the authority or the human and financial resources needed to carry out their responsibilities. Top-down planning mechanisms allocate resources
with inadequate reference to local circumstances. One consequence is insufficient
development of technologies suiting the country’s different geo-hydrological
environments. Concerns about abuses by the police and their lack of responsiveness
arose repeatedly during the preparation of this Situation Analysis.
Government of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh holds the ultimate
responsibility for ensuring the rights of all people in the country. A variety of laws,
policies, programmes, and institutions demonstrate the Government’s recognition
of its role as duty-bearer and its commitment to children’s rights. For example,
the Constitution of Bangladesh establishes free and compulsory education as a
fundamental principle of state policy. The Second National Strategy for Accelerated
Poverty Reduction (NSAPR II) commits the Government to improvements in the
quality and coverage of early childhood development programmes and primary,
secondary, and non-formal education. The Election Manifesto of the recently elected
Government and the NSAPR II acknowledge many of the problems identified in
this report and set forth a vision for addressing them. With support from a range of
development partners, the Government is leading the Second Primary Education
Development Programme (PEDP II) and the Health, Nutrition, and Population Sector
Programme (HNPSP). The ongoing birth registration drive is expected to enable
better protection and service delivery for children. Bangladesh has an extensive
institutional structure in place for the delivery of public services.
The Government faces many constraints in fulfilling children’s rights, however,
and the system of governance has shortcomings that compromise its effectiveness
in providing services to women and children. As mentioned above, the legal and
policy structure is far from fully consistent with the CRC. The centralized structure
of governance prevents the utilization of the full potential of the local levels of
government, which are closest to children and their families and communities.
Complaints of corruption are common. Coordination among the various
government bodies with responsibilities for children’s rights is often weak. The
levels of trust and cooperation between the Government and civil society are
also insufficient to harness the full range of national capacity. Key government
personnel are frequently transferred, and many sanctioned posts remain vacant
for long periods of time. Unattractive work conditions and remuneration lead
government doctors and teachers to provide private services, which detract from
their accessibility to poor and disadvantaged women and children. Institutional and
capacity limitations in monitoring and evaluation prevent timely and reliable needs
assessments and measurement of progress toward fulfilling children’s rights. The
country’s low revenue base and inefficiencies in revenue collection leave public
programmes for children underfunded. Community-level nutrition services reach
only a fraction of the population and are poorly linked with the public health system.
A comprehensive network of social workers is in place, but at present most activities
focus on institutionalization with little attention to preventive measures or the
reintegration and rehabilitation of children at risk.
International development partners. International development partners have
duties to ensure that the projects and programmes they support have national
leadership and ownership and that they are effective and sustainable. Development
partners have the potential to play a catalytic role in bringing about better trust
and cooperation among national stakeholders. This requires deep understanding
of the complexities of relationships in Bangladesh within and among the different
Government bodies, political parties, and actors in the public sector and civil
society. It also requires strong diplomacy to help bring about a culture of dialogue.
Development partners are constrained in fulfilling their duties by the continuation
of fragmented project-based approaches and the complexity of coordinating efforts
with other development partners, NGOs, and the Government while fulfilling
the special reporting requirements and other demands of their headquarters.
Development partners also have frequent personnel changes and often lack
sufficient mechanisms for institutional memory.
realization of children’s rights in Bangladesh. Their use reduces the risks of
respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, which disproportionately affect children,
contributing to their under-nutrition, morbidity, and mortality. Menstrual hygiene
is important for reproductive health, and access to adequate facilities for menstrual
hygiene at schools can make the difference between going to school and not going
to school for adolescent girls. Avoiding the consumption of excessive levels of
arsenic—which contaminates much of Bangladesh’s drinking water—is necessary
to prevent the debilitating and sometimes deadly effects of arsenic-related diseases.
Safe water, sanitation, and hygiene also have potentially life-changing social
impacts, as cleanliness and avoidance of disease can raise the social standing of the
poor and influence the security of girls and women in marriage.
Safe drinking water coverage is about 80 per cent and has not changed much for
many years. Water scarcity results from seasonal droughts, water management
practices in India, and over-extraction of water for irrigation. Since the 1970s,
households have invested substantially in improved sanitation facilities, usually
relying on private sector providers, and the Government has stepped up its role in
providing sanitation facilities to households in recent years. Still, only 39 per cent of
households have access to latrines with functioning water seals or a similar or better
level of hygiene. Flooding and droughts make many latrines unusable, and they
are often not designed for hygienic emptying and sludge disposal. The availability
of latrines in public areas is minimal, and the country lacks accessible sanitation
facilities for people with disabilities.
Urbanization, growing slum populations, and poor provision of water and sanitation
in the slums and public areas of cities and towns increase the vulnerability of many
of the poor. Only about one-third of the hundreds of pourashavas (secondary towns)
in Bangladesh have piped water networks, and they usually cover only a small part
of the population. The lack of sewerage systems, household septic tanks, and solid
waste management create unhygienic living conditions for the urban poor. Hygiene
awareness is lowest among slum dwellers. The urban poor without security of
tenure have little incentive to invest privately in water and sanitation improvements
and face high costs if they choose to arrange private service provision. Good water, sanitation, and hygiene practices are essential for preventing
disease and other problems related to water and sanitation. Effective handwashing
practices are least common among the very poor. Even when latrines
are available, they are often not used, or not used consistently by all household
members. Improper water handling and storage practices can lead to contamination
of drinking water. As mentioned above, menstrual hygiene is important for
reproductive health and for girls’ school attendance. In addition, when sanitation
facilities are appropriately hygienic and private, they provide women and girls with
greater convenience and dignity. Latrines meeting requirements for menstrual
hygiene are rarely available in schools.
The main threats to water quality in Bangladesh arise from arsenic contamination,
bacteriological contamination, iron content, and saline intrusion. In many areas
of the country, arsenic enters water supplies from natural deposits in the ground.
Bacteriological contamination is common in densely populated areas where safe
distances from latrines and other pollution sources are not maintained. Saline
intrusion into drinking water sources is increasing in the coastal belt. Bangladesh
does not have mechanisms in place for systematic water quality monitoring and
surveillance.
The Government has a National Sanitation Strategy setting forth the target of 100
per cent access to improved sanitation by 2013. Under this strategy, funds are
allocated for locally elected bodies to provide hygiene education and free materials
for latrines to the hardcore poor. The strategy was pursued vigorously in 2005-2007,
but progress slowed during 2007-2008. Studies show that the sanitation programme
had significant impacts on local environments and enhanced the security of some
women and children but had implementation problems, particularly in regard to
monitoring, supervision, and targeting the poor. The strategy addresses sanitation
at the household level only. Enabling full sanitation for all people at all times
will require the introduction of sustainable sanitation facilities and maintenance
arrangements in schools, markets, transportation terminals, and other public places.
In 2006, the Government adopted a Sector Development Programme (SDP) that
sets forth a 10-year framework for development and cooperation in the water
and sanitation sector. The degree of consensus among the key sector partners,
however, was insufficient for the SDP’s effective implementation. The SDP also
does not address climate change, contain an emergency preparedness or response
strategy, or adequately recognize the special water and sanitation conditions of
the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The formulation of a revision is underway. In regard to
emergencies, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) cluster for emergency
response, with the Government in the lead and UNICEF as the lead international
partner, has helped to improve overall coordination of response activities in the
sector.
ROLE & CAPACITY ANALYSIS
Families. Families and immediate caregivers are the duty-bearers with the most
immediate responsibilities for ensuring children’s rights. They have duties to
encourage children’s school attendance, to create a home environment conducive
to learning, to maintain proper practices of feeding, hygiene, and the care and
treatment of sick children, and to advocate for children’s rights within their
communities. Many families face substantial constraints, including high private
costs for social services (and, for some, little or no access to services). Many live
in poverty and have to make choices on the basis of immediate survival needs.
Families often lack the knowledge and skills they need. Prevailing gender norms
prevent many mothers from seeking appropriate care for themselves or their
children. Social and economic pressures encourage families to arrange child
marriages, restrict the mobility of adolescent girls, and reject daughters who
become victims of trafficking and/or sexual exploitation. Many families are unaware the role they can play in supporting community services, and many are not
sufficiently empowered within their communities to play such a role.
Communities and schools. Communities have the duty to create effective local
demand for social services, to reject social and cultural norms that are harmful
to children, to demand accountability when children’s rights are violated, and
to support the reintegration of children who have been separated from their
parents and communities for any reason. Communities and schools have the best
information on which children are at risk and what could be done to ensure their
rights. Some communities fulfill their responsibilities through School Management
Committees, informal preschools, water and sanitation committees, and various
types of community centers. Children have a right to participate in these community
functions. Often, however, communities lack organizational capacity, social
awareness, and effective linkages with service providers. Social and cultural
perceptions of the roles of children obstruct their participation. Local government
bodies are often not well attuned to providing support and responsiveness to
communities, and the centralized system of government restricts communities’
ability to adapt schooling and other services to local conditions.
Teachers have duties to provide all children with high-quality and equitable
teaching, to engage with parents and other community members in the learning
process, and to avoid negative forms of discipline. Many teachers play important
roles beyond the classroom—in improving health and hygiene, raising awareness
of social and environmental issues, and assisting families in various ways. Teachers
face the obstacles of inadequate training, low compensation, few opportunities for
professional advancement, and heavy workloads. Most schools are under-resourced
and have severely inadequate provisions for water and sanitation.
Civil society. In Bangladesh, civil society organizations—including NGOs, academia,
the private sector, and the media—play a vital role and have substantial capacity
in the promotion and protection of children’s rights. In many respects, NGOs
have taken the role of duty-bearer in the provision of services for children who
are poorly served by government providers. NGOs foster dialogue on policy
development, promote positive behavior change, mobilize community demand
for services, pilot innovative models of service delivery, provide training, support
technological innovation, provide legal aid, and support disaster preparedness and
response. NGOs and the media monitor human rights and raise public awareness
about progress and setbacks. NGOs and private organizations have been the main
providers of preschool education, though the Government is now also taking
a role. The private sector plays the leading role in the provision of water and
sanitation facilities. Insufficient trust and cooperation between civil society and the
Government present a significant constraint to civil society’s effectiveness. The
Government does not effectively regulate, monitor, or support the contributions of
civil society in education and health care. To ensure that the children of Bangladesh
benefit from the full range of national expertise, further efforts are needed to build a
common understanding of the roles of civil society vis-à-vis the Government.
Local government institutions. Bangladesh’s local government institutions have
responsibilities for delivering Government services to households and communities.
Locally elected officials are expected to ensure the accountability of service
providers for their performance. Social workers, administrators, police, and others
at the local level are responsible for ensuring that socially disadvantaged and
at-risk children receive appropriate services. Within the Government structure,
local government institutions are most in touch with communities’ needs and
perspectives and have the most knowledge about the performance of individual
schools and other service providers. They are in the best position to ensure that
service providers work together in the best interests of local children, and they are
logical links between communities and policy makers. At present, however, they
tend to play a passive role. Mechanisms for participatory local decision-making
are limited. The centralized system of governance and inadequate funding often
leave them without the authority or the human and financial resources needed to carry out their responsibilities. Top-down planning mechanisms allocate resources
with inadequate reference to local circumstances. One consequence is insufficient
development of technologies suiting the country’s different geo-hydrological
environments. Concerns about abuses by the police and their lack of responsiveness
arose repeatedly during the preparation of this Situation Analysis.
Government of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh holds the ultimate
responsibility for ensuring the rights of all people in the country. A variety of laws,
policies, programmes, and institutions demonstrate the Government’s recognition
of its role as duty-bearer and its commitment to children’s rights. For example,
the Constitution of Bangladesh establishes free and compulsory education as a
fundamental principle of state policy. The Second National Strategy for Accelerated
Poverty Reduction (NSAPR II) commits the Government to improvements in the
quality and coverage of early childhood development programmes and primary,
secondary, and non-formal education. The Election Manifesto of the recently elected
Government and the NSAPR II acknowledge many of the problems identified in
this report and set forth a vision for addressing them. With support from a range of
development partners, the Government is leading the Second Primary Education
Development Programme (PEDP II) and the Health, Nutrition, and Population Sector
Programme (HNPSP). The ongoing birth registration drive is expected to enable
better protection and service delivery for children. Bangladesh has an extensive
institutional structure in place for the delivery of public services.
The Government faces many constraints in fulfilling children’s rights, however,
and the system of governance has shortcomings that compromise its effectiveness
in providing services to women and children. As mentioned above, the legal and
policy structure is far from fully consistent with the CRC. The centralized structure
of governance prevents the utilization of the full potential of the local levels of
government, which are closest to children and their families and communities.
Complaints of corruption are common. Coordination among the various
government bodies with responsibilities for children’s rights is often weak. The
levels of trust and cooperation between the Government and civil society are
also insufficient to harness the full range of national capacity. Key government
personnel are frequently transferred, and many sanctioned posts remain vacant
for long periods of time. Unattractive work conditions and remuneration lead
government doctors and teachers to provide private services, which detract from
their accessibility to poor and disadvantaged women and children. Institutional and
capacity limitations in monitoring and evaluation prevent timely and reliable needs
assessments and measurement of progress toward fulfilling children’s rights. The
country’s low revenue base and inefficiencies in revenue collection leave public
programmes for children underfunded. Community-level nutrition services reach
only a fraction of the population and are poorly linked with the public health system.
A comprehensive network of social workers is in place, but at present most activities
focus on institutionalization with little attention to preventive measures or the
reintegration and rehabilitation of children at risk.
International development partners. International development partners have
duties to ensure that the projects and programmes they support have national
leadership and ownership and that they are effective and sustainable. Development
partners have the potential to play a catalytic role in bringing about better trust
and cooperation among national stakeholders. This requires deep understanding
of the complexities of relationships in Bangladesh within and among the different
Government bodies, political parties, and actors in the public sector and civil
society. It also requires strong diplomacy to help bring about a culture of dialogue.
Development partners are constrained in fulfilling their duties by the continuation
of fragmented project-based approaches and the complexity of coordinating efforts
with other development partners, NGOs, and the Government while fulfilling
the special reporting requirements and other demands of their headquarters.
Development partners also have frequent personnel changes and often lack
sufficient mechanisms for institutional memory.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The causality and role analyses indicate that policy
advocacy and support, technical
assistance and capacity building, communication for development (C4D), and
expanding the evidence base are key areas where UNICEF and other organizations
can effectively support Bangladesh’s progress toward the realization of children’s
rights.
The following are some areas where policy advocacy and support may be
particularly important:
• Promotion of higher levels of public investment in children and more
effectiveness, efficiency, and equity in the use of financial resources.
• Promotion of decentralized planning, management, and monitoring and
advocacy for genuinely consultative processes, involving children and adults, in
policy development.
• Advocacy for mechanisms to strengthen coordination among the various
Government bodies responsible for children’s rights.
• Facilitating coordination among all stakeholders involved in protecting the
rights of children affected by disaster and ensuring that children’s rights are
respected in climate change adaptation.
• Advocacy for the high-level and inter-ministerial policy decisions needed to
meet human resource requirements in the social sectors.
• Serving as a catalyst between the Government and civil society and supporting
policies to recognize, support, and regulate non-government service providers.
In all cases, a first step in building capacity would be to ensure that duty bearers
recognize children as rights holders who are entitled to claim their rights, not
just to receive benevolence. Particular areas where technical assistance and
capacity building support would be useful include monitoring and evaluation, the
development and piloting of mechanisms for decentralized planning, strengthening
of School Management Committees and other community organizations, screening
for learning disabilities, expanding extracurricular activities, developing parenting
skills, fostering mechanisms for the Government and civil society to work together,
and introducing mechanisms for the age-appropriate participation of children in
matters affecting them.
The use of methods of communication for development (C4D)—involving social
mobilization, community-led social change, and advocacy—will be essential for
expanding the realization of children’s rights. C4D processes require understanding
of beliefs, practices, and social and cultural norms. They may take more time to
yield results than other interventions, but their results are likely to be enduring.
A wide range of research initiatives could contribute to the evidence base for the
development of policies and programmes to secure children’s rights. Assessments
of the quality and quantity of child-related services provided by the private
sector and NGOs will be particularly important for addressing children’s rights
comprehensively. Qualitative and quantitative research can complement one
another to provide a holistic picture of children’s experiences and the factors affecting them.
assistance and capacity building, communication for development (C4D), and
expanding the evidence base are key areas where UNICEF and other organizations
can effectively support Bangladesh’s progress toward the realization of children’s
rights.
The following are some areas where policy advocacy and support may be
particularly important:
• Promotion of higher levels of public investment in children and more
effectiveness, efficiency, and equity in the use of financial resources.
• Promotion of decentralized planning, management, and monitoring and
advocacy for genuinely consultative processes, involving children and adults, in
policy development.
• Advocacy for mechanisms to strengthen coordination among the various
Government bodies responsible for children’s rights.
• Facilitating coordination among all stakeholders involved in protecting the
rights of children affected by disaster and ensuring that children’s rights are
respected in climate change adaptation.
• Advocacy for the high-level and inter-ministerial policy decisions needed to
meet human resource requirements in the social sectors.
• Serving as a catalyst between the Government and civil society and supporting
policies to recognize, support, and regulate non-government service providers.
In all cases, a first step in building capacity would be to ensure that duty bearers
recognize children as rights holders who are entitled to claim their rights, not
just to receive benevolence. Particular areas where technical assistance and
capacity building support would be useful include monitoring and evaluation, the
development and piloting of mechanisms for decentralized planning, strengthening
of School Management Committees and other community organizations, screening
for learning disabilities, expanding extracurricular activities, developing parenting
skills, fostering mechanisms for the Government and civil society to work together,
and introducing mechanisms for the age-appropriate participation of children in
matters affecting them.
The use of methods of communication for development (C4D)—involving social
mobilization, community-led social change, and advocacy—will be essential for
expanding the realization of children’s rights. C4D processes require understanding
of beliefs, practices, and social and cultural norms. They may take more time to
yield results than other interventions, but their results are likely to be enduring.
A wide range of research initiatives could contribute to the evidence base for the
development of policies and programmes to secure children’s rights. Assessments
of the quality and quantity of child-related services provided by the private
sector and NGOs will be particularly important for addressing children’s rights
comprehensively. Qualitative and quantitative research can complement one
another to provide a holistic picture of children’s experiences and the factors affecting them.
e against
women continues with impunity in Ba
-i-Islami
were arrested without charge from their offices. Among them was a 5 month
pregnant young lady who was not permitted bail. The women were forcibly
unveiled and subjected to violence during questioning. Later, 13 women were
arrested from a women’s rights press conference organized in response to the
students’ arrest. Recently Four BNP lady MPs were arrested and detained for
eight hours during protests on March 7.
violence against women continues with impunity in
Bangladesh. In January 2013, the New Age reported
how a local leader of the Awami League, Mahfuzur Rahman, had allegedly raped a
woman in the district of Bagherhat, and then compelled her to leave the
country.
Odhikar, the Bangladeshi-based human rights NGO,
released a statement on International Women’s Day 2013, published March, 07,
2013, expressing concern for the recent rise in violence against women in
Bangladesh. Statistics have shown a significant rise in domestic violence,
dowry violence, rape, acid violence, illegal fatwa, sexual violation and harassment.
Odhikar highlights the role of the ruling party,
stating that ‘Upon reading various published reports of incidents of violence
against women, it is found that in Bangladesh the leaders of the elected
government and the activists of the party in power committed various acts of
violence against women.’
The report further states, ‘The Government has also
withdrawn rape and assault cases by showing them to be ‘politically motivated’.
They also prevent the police from carrying out their duties. ‘
Odhikar offers several recommendations to address the
increase in violence against women in Bangladesh. These include the
implementation of rule of law, that Government cease withdrawing cases
identified as politically motivated, education campaigns, legislating victim
and witness protection laws, and that Government begin dialogue with all
relevant stakeholders to resolve the existing political crisis.
For Odhikar’s full statement, follow this link: Statement of Odhikar on International Women’s Day 2013
Gender Equality & Children’s Rights – Key Facts
- Women’s rights have deteriorated. In 2012 at least 805 women were raped (13% more than in 2011), 822 were victims of dowry violence (59% more than in 2011), 78 were victims of acid violence (16% more than in 2011). In 2012, 13 women were raped by law enforcement agencies. In 2011, four women were raped by law enforcers. (Odhikar.org)
- Rampant police brutality does not spare children. A boy of class 10 was killed, while a boy of class 8 sustained bullet wounds, both from police fire. Child employees were beaten by police at garment factory worker protests.
- Underage children continue to be employed under often terrible conditions and with poor pay.
- Troubling rise of child rape, including an 11 year old indigenous girl raped by police in Chittagong Hill Tracts (September 2012 – AHRC), a nine year old girl raped and killed in Dhaka (January 2013) and a girl of class two raped and killed in Rajshahi (March 2013). Reports suggest 21 reported child rapes in October 2012 and 26 in November 2012 alone.
- Women politically targeted: in December 19 female students and one elderly lady of the opposition Jamaat-i-Islami were arrested without charge from their offices. Among them was a 5 month pregnant young lady who was not permitted bail. The women were forcibly unveiled and subjected to violence during questioning. Later, 13 women were arrested from a women’s rights press conference organized in response to the students’ arrest. Recently Four BNP lady MPs were arrested and detained for eight hours during protests on March 7.
-i-Islami
were arrested without charge from their offices. Among them was a 5 month
pregnant young lady who was not permitted bail. The women were forcibly
unveiled and subjected to violence during questioning. Later, 13 women were
arrested from a women’s rights press conference organized in response to the
students’ arrest. Recently Four BNP lady MPs were arrested and detained for
eight hours during protests on March 7.
In 2013, violence against women continues with
impunity in Bangladesh. In January 2013, the New Age reported
how a local leader of the Awami League, Mahfuzur Rahman, had allegedly raped a
woman in the district of Bagherhat, and then compelled her to leave the
country.
Odhikar, the Bangladeshi-based human rights NGO,
released a statement on International Women’s Day 2013, published March, 07,
2013, expressing concern for the recent rise in violence against women in
Bangladesh. Statistics have shown a significant rise in domestic violence,
dowry violence, rape, acid violence, illegal fatwa, sexual violation and
harassment.
Odhikar highlights the role of the ruling party,
stating that ‘Upon reading various published reports of incidents of violence
against women, it is found that in Bangladesh the leaders of the elected
government and the activists of the party in power committed various acts of
violence against women.’
The report further states, ‘The Government has also
withdrawn rape and assault cases by showing them to be ‘politically motivated’.
They also prevent the police from carrying out their duties. ‘
Odhikar offers several recommendations to address the
increase in violence against women in Bangladesh. These include the
implementation of rule of law, that Government cease withdrawing cases
identified as politically motivated, education campaigns, legislating victim
and witness protection laws, and that Government begin dialogue with all
relevant stakeholders to resolve the existing political crisis.
Gender Equality & Children’s Rights – Key Facts
- Women’s rights have deteriorated. In 2012 at least 805 women were raped (13% more than in 2011), 822 were victims of dowry violence (59% more than in 2011), 78 were victims of acid violence (16% more than in 2011). In 2012, 13 women were raped by law enforcement agencies. In 2011, four women were raped by law enforcers. (Odhikar.org)
- Rampant police brutality does not spare children. A boy of class 10 was killed, while a boy of class 8 sustained bullet wounds, both from police fire. Child employees were beaten by police at garment factory worker protests.
- Underage children continue to be employed under often terrible conditions and with poor pay.
- Troubling rise of child rape, including an 11 year old indigenous girl raped by police in Chittagong Hill Tracts (September 2012 – AHRC), a nine year old girl raped and killed in Dhaka (January 2013) and a girl of class two raped and killed in Rajshahi (March 2013). Reports suggest 21 reported child rapes in October 2012 and 26 in November 2012 alone.
- Women politically targeted: in December 19 female students and one elderly lady of the opposition Jamaat-i-Islami were arrested without charge from their offices. Among them was a 5 month pregnant young lady who was not permitted bail. The women were forcibly unveiled and subjected to violence during questioning. Later, 13 women were arrested from a women’s rights press conference organized in response to the students’ arrest. Recently Four BNP lady MPs were arrested and detained for eight hours during protests on March 7.