Over 3.4 million children live in street situations without parental care in Bangladesh, according to a report.
The report highlights the complex difficulties and harsh realities that children living on the streets experience by presenting the voices of over 400 children from different districts.
The launching ceremony of the Qualitative Study on Children in Street Situations, part of the “Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh (CSPB) Project, Phase-II” was arranged at the National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Monday.
This initiative is a collaboration between the Department of Social Services, Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and Unicef Bangladesh, with support from the European Union (EU) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
According to the report, in Bangladesh, about 3.4 million children live on the streets without the support of their parents.
There are stories behind every street child in Bangladesh. These stories are different.
The study “Voices from the shadows” illustrates the complicated realities of the street children in Bangladesh.
This study addresses the root reasons for the issues faced by street children.
Sheldon Yett, Representative to Unicef Bangladesh said: “We see a lot of street children while going to office, or coming back home. This report has given us the opportunity to look beyond the numbers. These street children in the picture have stress in their lives. These children also need to know about the possibilities out there for them. This part is important about the challenges but it’s about the action from us, the donor communities.”
According to Unicef, Poverty, climate change, disasters, and familial dysfunctional migration bring children into the street.
Social Welfare Minister Dr Dipu Moni said that Children in vulnerable places are not secure.
“Our country was once very poor. Nowadays it has decreased, though there are still poor people. We can see a lot of children in Bangladesh specially in the traffic. There are about 10 million middle-class families. According to Unicef, there are 3.4 million street children. It is easy to take care of one child in a middle class family. We need to show at least empathy to them.”
The policy recommendation strengthened the child protection mechanisms to prevent abuse, exploration, and illegal activities among street children.
State Minister Simeen Hussain Rimi, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs said: “There are two street children rehabilitation in Dhaka where street children get food, shelter and other fasciitis to grow. The children are also given counseling to improve their mental health.”
The Child Protection Section of Bangladesh has partnered with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) to prevent violence against children and women (VACW) and harmful practices (child marriage, child labour, online violence, etc.) in a sustainable and scalable way.
In 2021, a meaningful shift took place to reform the partnership with MoWCA to make a national program and to achieve larger and more meaningful reach.
There were pictures in the gallery of National Art Gallery which talks a lot about the vulnerable life of street children.
There are installation art and photographs in the art gallery. There are many artworks by street children in a corner of the gallery.
There was a picture of an 11-year old girl child Rohini who ran away from her grandmother's home. Rohini's father died when she was one year old and her mother left her and got married again. Everyday Rohini used to wait for her mother but her mother never came back for her. So, she stayed with her grandmother. But her grandmother was very abusive and sold her to a man. After being physically assaulted by that man, she decided to run from home.
Now, she lives in a launch and every night she travels to Barisal by sleeping on the deck. The next morning, she came back to Dhaka again by taking the same boat. She sometimes begs and this is how she eats. Boys tease her, men try to touch her but she always tries to protect herself. Rohini found a kitten and she is determined to raise it as her friend.
Another child Karim, a 9-year-old child from Kolatoli, Coxbazar, does not have parents. Both of them left him. First, his father left and got married again and later his mother also left. Karim now lives on the street with his friends.
