When you are at a traffic signal in the city, you will see children rushing up to sell you various items. Some are selling flowers and sweets, or carrying stacks of books in their thin arms, others wipe the windscreen of cars with dirty rags and beg to be paid. Many of the children on the streets are little girls.
The reality behind the scene is very grim because activists say most of these girls have been abused. Every minute, one girl child is abused in Bangladesh.
Child rights activists report girls face various kinds abuse, including sexual abuse. There are no specific safeguards in place to protect girls in our society, and activists say the state fails to protect them as well.
The number of street children in Bangladesh is estimated to be around 400,000. Nearly half live in the capital, and a large percentage are young girls, and they are especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
According to a 2012 report by Unnayan Onneshan, an independent research centre, nearly 19% of girl street children are forced into prostitution, and many resort to selling on the streets when they fall sick.
Selina (not her real name) is a former child prostitute, who has been selling sweets on the roads for two years. The teenager said she no longer “takes on clients” because she is HIV positive. Activists say almost 45% of girls with various medical conditions like Selina’s do not receive any treatment from state medical facilities or clinics.
Fahima Nasrin, vice president of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA), said across the country about 20,000 children work as commercial sex workers on the streets.
However, the sexual abuse taking place in homes, schools and public places is often shrouded in secrecy. She said the issue is mostly under-reported due to social stigmas related to revelations.
Wahida Banu, executive director of Aparajeyo Bangladesh, a child rights organisation, said child sexual abuse is a taboo not addressed in our society.
“We do not openly discuss it, just like child labour, trafficking and exploitation. In the National Child Policy 2011, sexual abuse was given some attention under the broad heading of child safety. No specific section was devoted to the area of children’s sexual exploitation.”
She said children who are sexually abused face many difficulties;they suffer from depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, ill health due to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/Aids, unsafe abortions, and traumatised. But they do not get any assistance from the state to help then live a healthy and normal life.
Wahida Banu believes sex education and school-based programmes can raise awareness about the issue of children’s sexual abuse.
In 1990, Bangladesh ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which recognises children as anyone below the age of 18, it is based on four general principles of non-discrimination and the best interest of the child, guaranteeing every child the right to life, survival and development and participation. The Convention guarantees every child the right to a childhood (including protection from harm), to education, health, to be treated fairly and to be heard.
Activists said all or some of the above principles are violated when a child is sexually exploited. The
state, thus, cannot ignore its primary responsibility towards children, which is to protect and advance children’s rights.