Child Rights in Bangladesh

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1. Intruduction
“Children never stop needing their mommies; children never stop needing their
daddies”. The child is father of an adult. The child is an abridged adult with rights which
cannot be abridged. The Child is a person for all practical purposes. The child observes,
thinks and imitates or reacts to happenings around. The child is a person. Either at home
or school, the child is subjected to disciplinary practices while, child should be part of
those processes. If the indiscipline of the child could be complained, ascertained and
responded to, then where is the way to find and establish the indiscipline of the adults?
The discipline is not taught, it is learnt. The text books give information. The
communication through teaching is imparting education. To attain wisdom, an abundant
amount of common sense has to be added to education, which then includes discipline.
Discipline is an attitude, character, responsibility or commitment. The discipline is
basically internal, while the attempt to impose it would be an external process. One has
to internalize the process of education and discipline. Discipline and education go
together in letter and spirit1.
The Child’s education is mostly from observation and imitation. Their participation
depends upon their developing capacity, which again depends upon the surroundings
and family. Information is a prelude of participation. If child does not have sufficient
information he cannot effectively participate. Such participation should be meaningful.
One has to talk in terms of chances rather than rights as the child does not and cannot
know how to participate2.

11
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989.
22
Shahdeen Malik, The Children Act, 1974: A Critical Commentary, 1st ed. (Dhaka: Save the children UK, 2004),
p. 73

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Without participation the discipline within him will not develop. Right to drive, he may
have. But a chance to drive, he may not get. It may be like giving a discourse in driving
without putting him in driver’s seat. The main purpose of the thesis is to furnish a true
and specific feature of the scenario of children rights in different countries. The study
examines the situations and the problem of child rights and try to redress from this
situation by implementation of a legal enforcement mechanism which shall be analyzed
on the basis on how much of these measures have been effective in preventing the
children rights relating problems in our local arena. The main aims and objects of this
study are to collect the comprehensive, reliable and descriptive information about the
situation of the violation of the children rights and the protective organs and their
activities also. We can realize that the protection of child rights in different countries to
raised awareness on this matter and to motivate the community against it. We can also
identify the laws, policies and programs of the different organizations that are worked
in connectivity with protection and care of the violation of children rights in all over the
world3.

1.1. Background of the study

Bangladesh is overpopulated country. Most of the people are poor. Many people
migrating to cities in search of jobs. They live extreme poverty and the positions of their
children are even worse. Specially, a large number of children is working and staying
on the street. In Bangladesh, whose age is less than 18 year is consider as a child. If the
actual age is seem to be up to 14 years. Child labor is work that exceeds a minimum
number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work. Such work
is considered harmful to the child and should therefore be eliminated. Social norms and
economic realities mean that child labor is widely accepted and very common in
Bangladesh. Many families rely on the income generated by their children for survival,
so child labor is often highly valued. Additionally, employers often prefer to employ

33
Ibid
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children because they are cheaper and considered to be more compliant and obedient
than adults. When children are forced to work, they are often denied their rights to
education, leisure and play.

Millions of children are reported not to attend school, however estimates vary. Among
children aged 5-14, about five million, are economically active. “Child labor” is a
narrower concept than “working children”. According to the International Labor
Organization definition (right,2003), there are about 3.2 million child laborers in
Bangladesh. Certain groups of children are more likely to work than others, for instance
boys comprise about three-quarters of all working children. In slums almost one in five
children aged 5-14 are child laborers, and of these, only 25 per cent attend school. Child
employment rates increase with age, but even about two per cent of five-year-olds and
three per cent of six-year-olds work. Of the estimated 16 million children in Bangladesh
aged 10 to 14, over 6.8 million are working children. Forty-one percent of this group is
girls. Children are engaged in over 300 different types of work activities of which 49
are considered harmful to their physical and/or mental well being. Intolerable forms of
child labor, as categorized by the International Labor Organization (ILO, 2006), are
domestic service, slavery or near slavery, hazardous occupations, and sexual
exploitation. All of these forms are practiced in Bangladesh.

In practice, child labor laws in Bangladesh do not protect working children. Employers
prefer children as they are cheap, productive and obedient. Children working in the
industrial sector have no contract of employment and so find it difficult to stand up for
themselves and fight for their rights. The demand by factories for child laborers is
increasing all the time. The govt. formulates many acts and laws against violation of
children’s right. All these laws prohibit the employment of children below 14 years of
age. In spite of these laws, children can be found working in garment factories, hotels,
brick making, biri factories, mechanical workshops, match factories, agricultural work,
domestic work, and as garbage collectors and touts on buses and tempos. Child labor is
a visible part of everyday life in Bangladesh: young children serve at roadside tea stalls,
and weave between cars selling goods to motorists. Other children work in jobs that are

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hidden from view, such as domestic work, which makes monitoring and regulation
difficult. On average, children work 28 hours a week and earn 222 taka (3.3 USD) a
week. Many of the jobs that children in Bangladesh perform are considered
„hazardous‟, and put their physical and mental development at risk. In 2002/03, the
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) conducted the second National Child Labor
Survey (NCLS).1 this survey has been designed and conducted in the context of the
commitments made by the Government of Bangladesh, following the ratification of the
International Labor Organization (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (No.
182) 1999. According to the survey, there are 4.9 million working children 14.2 per cent
of the total 35.06 million children in the age group of 5-14 years. The total working
child population between 5 and 17 years old is estimated at 7.9 million. Sometimes it
makes a worse situation and much painful situation.

1.2. Objectives of the study

 To evaluate the poor people and their hazard situation

 To impact of the child on the economy and actual situation of Bangladesh.
 To know the child right and motivate for changing people’s attitudes.
 To make an idea that which is the most reasonable causes of child labor and how
to reduces from Bangladesh.

1.3. Scope of the study

On the child right and violation of child right, there are many laws has made by the
legislator, but in Bangladesh, it is not effectively use, so in these case effective applying
procedure can be study in further. The violation of child right is increasing day by day,
what is the future situation, it must be known and find out it reducing procedure may be
future study.

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1.4 Methodology of the study

It follows aggregation of information from different sources like publications, books, e-

books and different articles. Those are studied well and gathered knowledge. Also vast
data have collected from internet. All these data are analyzed in different way for
finding different relevant things. Then I went to the different research institution and
different places for adjusting. I also mind mapping the study then start writing to follow
the specific instruction for writing. All these data are secondary data.

1.4. Limitation of the study

There was much opportunity to enrich the paper because the library of BPATC was
richer with various books and relevant work papers. But I could not go through every
winding of the every book and research papers. Sometimes, I have to go through with
a bird’s eye view to. I have to accomplish this work by doing many tasks bi-laterally.
So, I could not prepare the paper 100% earnestly as I keep in my mind. I can add
something with this paper, but I have to set aside those for want of time. Interviewing
by assessing the local people’s opinions about the issues and how they think about cope
up the different. Information about relevant things is not more satisfactory.

1.5 Definition of Child

Law makes a distinction between a child and an adult. This distinction is based primarily
on the age of the child and the purpose of a particular law. Thus a person is child who
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is under 16 years of age (The Children Act 1974)4. The Majority Act of 1875 describes
a person to be a child below 18 years5. According to Vagrancy Act 1943 a person below
the age of 14 is a child6. The Bengal Children Act 1922 (repealed) defined a child as a
person who is below 14 years. In India the Orphanages and other Charitable Homes
(Supervision and Control) Act 1960 gives a definition of a child. For this law child
means a boy or girl who has not completed the age of 18 years. Again a child is
differently described in the Children Act 1960 in India. According to this act a child
means a boy who has not attained the age of 16 and a girl who has not attained the age
of 18 years. In defining child in addition to age, gender is also taken into consideration7.
According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 a child is a person below the age
of 21 in the case of a male while it is 18 for a female8. Under Muslim law a child obtains
majority when he attains puberty. A child is assumed to have attained puberty on the
completion of 15 years9. According to Hindu law, now in existence in Bangladesh a
child attains majority after the completion of 15 years. The most agreed upon definition
of a child based on age can be found in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Children 1989.10
All persons below the age of 18 are unequivocally designated as children in this U.N.
Convention of Children which is a ‘Magna Carta’ for the children.
1.6 Who is a Child?

According to Article 1 of UNCRC a child means every human being below the age of
eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
The Convention defines a ‘child’ as a person below the age of 18, unless the laws of a
particular country set the legal age for adulthood even less. The Committee on the
Rights of the Child, the monitoring body for the Convention, has encouraged States to
review the age of majority if it is set below 18 and to increase the level of protection for
all children under 18. Bangladesh has modified Children Act 2013 that defines “child
as a person below the age of 18 years”.

4
The Children Act, 1974.
5 5
The Majority Act, 1875.
6 6
The Vagrancy Act, 1943.
7 7
The Indian Children Act, 1960.
8 8
The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929. S.2(a)
9 9
A.A.A Fyzee, Outlines of Mohammadam Law, 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005) p.153
10 10
United Nation Convention on the rights of Children, 1989.
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1.7 Child Rights
All rights spelled out by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The Convention
on the Rights of the Child deals with the special circumstances and needs of children
and now their rights must thus be protected. The United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political,
economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The UN General Assembly
adopted the Convention and opened it for signature on 20 November 1989 (the 30th
anniversary of its Declaration of the Rights of the Child).[6] It came into force on 2
September 1990, after it was ratified by the required number of nations. Currently, 196
countries are party to it, including every member of the United Nations except.

1.8 Historic definitions of children's rights

Sir William Blackstone (1765-9) recognized three parental duties to the child:
maintenance, protection, and education. In modern language, the child has a right to
receive these from the parent.

The League of Nations adopted the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the
Child (1924), which enunciated the child's right to receive the requirements for normal
development, the right of the hungry child to be fed, the right of the sick child to receive
health care, the right of the backward child to be reclaimed, the right of orphans to
shelter, and the right to protection from exploitation.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) in Article 25(2)
recognized the need of motherhood and childhood to "special protection and assistance"
and the right of all children to "social protection."

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration of the
Rights of the Child (1959), which enunciated ten principles for the protection of
children's rights, including the universality of rights, the right to special protection, and
the right to protection from discrimination, among other rights.

Consensus on defining children's rights has become clearer in the last fifty years.[14] A
1973 publication by Hillary Clinton (then an attorney) stated that children's rights were
a "slogan in need of a definition".[15]According to some researchers, the notion of
children’s rights is still not well defined, with at least one proposing that there is no
singularly accepted definition or theory of the rights held by children.
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Children’s rights law is defined as the point where the law intersects with a child's life.
That includes juvenile delinquency, due process for children involved in the criminal
justice system, appropriate representation, and effective rehabilitative services; care and
protection for children in state care; ensuring education for all children regardless of
their race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national
origin, religion, disability, color, ethnicity, or other characteristics, and; health care and
advocacy.

1.9 Categories of Child

Children are categorized in different ways in law. A victimized child is one against
whom an offence has been committed. When parents or guardians cannot control a child
he is known as an uncontrollable child. There is also a category of child who is referred
to as youthful offender i.e., child under 16 years of age found guilty of an offence. The
neglected and destitute children are other categories found in children’s laws. The
meaning of neglect is culture specific. However the neglect is the failure to exercise the
care that the circumstances justly demand. It embraces willful as well as unintentional
disregard of duty. It is not a term of fixed and measured meaning. It takes its context
always from specific circumstances and its meaning varies as the Context surrounding
circumstances change. The reference to destitute child along with neglect is not much
seen in child welfare Laws.11 It is found in the Children Act, 1974 in Bangladesh. It
may merely mean a child having no fixed abode, no resource to survive, no one to
maintain and lacks supervision by responsible persons or authorities. The terms ‘child
abuse’ hardly occur in Bangladesh laws relating to children. The concept is latent in the
laws relating to children. The rights of abused child are yet to be recognized in
Bangladesh laws in precise terms because its nature and meaning is hardly known to
the people12. Most of the families raise a number of children whom they cannot support
properly. However in social policy literature the concept of child abuse is found. It

11 11
Scott Elisabeth, The Legal Construction of Childhood, University of Virginia School of Law Research project, working paper No. 00-

18, 2000, p. 15.

1212
Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan and Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, Protection of Children in Conflict with the Law in Bangladesh, 1st ed.
(Dhaka:
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consists of treatment that is harmful to the health and safety of the child. An abandoned
child is a child who is deserted, unclaimed or born out of wedlock13 .

Chapter 2

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN BANGLADESH

3.1 Children’s rights and Laws in Bangladesh

Children have rights as members of society. This has been recognized by international
community in recent times. As a signatory to U.N. Declaration on the Rights of the
Child in 1990, there is an upsurge of awareness of rights of children in Bangladesh that
has been reflected in its laws and social programs.

13 13
Ibid.

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 In Bangladesh, it has been observed, that state action through legislation
concerning children has been evolved from protection oriented to right oriented laws.
At present laws embodying social policy towards children embrace many aspects of
their lives. These laws in turn mirror society’s views on children14.

3.2 Social Attitude towards Children

Children’s social status has changed overtime. Noticeable Osophical and legal points of
view regarding them found currency in times. The traditional view regards parents as a
natural proctor of their children. Parents were considered to act in the interest child.
Children have little rights of their own. The protective holds that society has regulatory
and interceptive role to protect children in situations where parental care is inadequate.
State’s protective role with children found its origin in the English common law doctrine
of parens patriae. This doctrine authorized English courts to see the guardianship of
minors in property. The English courts gradually enlarged its jurisdiction in other areas
of children’s interest coming in conflict with the law15.

14 14
Abdul Halim, Constitution, Constitutional Law & Politics Bangladesh Perspective, 3rd ed. (Dhaka: CCB Foundation 2006), p. 53.

15 15
Children and minor Delinquents: 39 (199), British Joarnal of Criminology, 240, at p.241.

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Thus Juvenile Courts emerged in the protective role of children leading to a separate
judicial mechanism in the criminal justice system. This view regards that children have
independent legal rights and does not rely on parents or guardians or the state to act in
their interest. Again there appears another view that emphasized stronger role for
parents in caring children. It is described as a nontraditional view. It showed the
resurgence of neo-traditional thinking challenging the desirability of state’s protective
role and children’s rights movement. At present there is a view that children have rights
of their own against authorities and parents that has found international acceptance. The
idea of state protection of children combined with children’s right appears to be a proper
description of the social policy towards children in Bangladesh16.

3.3 Children’s right to care and protection

The rights of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental,
spiritual, moral, and social development” 17
1n our country the family attends to care
and protection of the children. In the extended family, the duties and responsibilities of
parents are shared by other members of the family. The well-being and welfare of the
children is a matter of general concern. The child gets love, affection, security and sense
of belonging in the framework of the family. While the extended family systems are
still prevalent in rural areas to some extent, it is weakening and disintegrating in urban
areas and even in rural areas under the pressure of changes. Everything needed by the
child could be provided by the family or the local community which was integrated. But
with urbanization, industrialization, progress in communication, changes in the
economic, political and educational arenas, the families as well as the community
became unable in respect of resources, knowledge and experience to give all that a child
needs for proper growth and development. Life has become more complex and strains
on the family have become more severe today18. The family is surrendering many of its
child-rearing functions to other institution.

16 16
Ibid

17 17
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, Art. 27.
18 18
The Daily Star (1st March, 2010).

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It is the birth right of a child to be born to parents who love and care for him, to live
with his family in a home that protects him and provides for his growth and
development. Parents have also the right and responsibility to provide care, protection
arid guidance to children. Family plays the key role in sharing the environment in such
a way that the child utilizes all the available opportunities for realizing his latent
potentialities through guidance, regulation, selection and inhibition. It is the family
which protects him from the outside evil by manipulating the environment. The family
feeds the child, provides him with shelter, clothes, and schooling. Home is the child’s
first school. There is no substitute for the child’s own house. So, institutional care is not
a substitute but is desirable only in the absence of home and normal family. Institutional
care is prescribed for children who are deprived of normal home care because of
divorce, death of parents, desertion or extreme cruelty. The main objective of the
orphanage is to give educative treatment for development of healthy personality and
adjustment. It offers a setting which combines social control, protection, reeducation
and rehabilitation. It is to be remembered that the orphan has come to this institution
not by choice, but under compulsion. But he needs to have a feeling of belonging, love,
affection and acceptance. The service of an institution has to be developed in the lights
of the needs of the children19.
The care and protection of the destitute children in orphanages dates back the
great holocaust of this country the Bengal famine of 1943 which necessitated the
passage of Orphanages and Widow’s Homes Act, 1944. The Act was a reflection of the
social situation that prevailed during the post famine period. The Act was enacted for
the purpose of supervision and control of the functions of the Orphanages, widow’s
home and marriage bureaus that came into existence following that famine. The
necessity for bringing this Act into existence was expressed in the words of a
distinguished Woman member of then Bengal Legislative Assembly: “For some time

19 18
The Daily Star (1st March, 2010).

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there had been some public agitation regarding traffic in destitute women and girls as a
result of the famine.
There are in existence a good number of institutions which carry on clandestine
traffic in women and girls. They manage to evade detection as their nefarious activities
are conducted under the cover of institutions so camouflaged as to give an appearance
of social and philanthropic establishment”.20
According to this Act no person can open or carry on an orphanage, a widows’
home or marriage bureau without license. An orphanage, under this Act, refers to an
institution where orphans are kept or intended to be kept and an orphan designates a
boy or girl less than 18 years of age who has lost his or her father or has been abandoned
by his or her parents or guardians. The District Magistrate (Deputy Commissioner) on
an application in a prescribed form may grant a license for the opening of 01 carrying
on an orphanage21.

3.4 Right to health care

“The rights of the children are to enjoy of the highest standard of health”22 . Child health
is the mirror of the health status of a nation. One can easily see the health status of a
country through the child health of that country. In fact our child health status is almost
similar to that of other developing countries of South Asia, Overpopulation, poverty,
illiteracy; unemployment and superstition of the people are creating obstacles in the
way to achieve desirable child health status of our country. A significant percentage
survived with residual morbidity but we had no facilities for continuing care. There was
obviously a need to take the health services nearer to the people and away from the
teaching and general hospitals, whose atmosphere tended to alienate ordinary citizens.
Bangladesh is an overpopulated country with about 52 percent of the population
below 16 years of age and about 18 percent bellow 5 years. Most of our child population

20
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, Art. 24.

21
Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan and Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, ibid, p. 63

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grows up in the midst of the scourges mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. Under-
S mortality constitutes about half of all deaths in the country22.

The important causes of neonatal mortality are birth asphyxia, birth trauma, low birth
weight, neonatal tetanus and neonatal septicemia. The neonatal mortality accounts for
60 percent of deaths in infancy. Most of the delivery is conducted by traditional dais.
About 30-50 percent of newborn babies is low birth weight reflecting poor maternal
nutrition and heath care status of the country. In fact, low birth weight is the best
indicator of malnutrition. Birth weight below 2.5 kg. are found to be closely
associated with poverty not only during infancy but also throughout childhood. It -
indicates that the infant was malnourished in the mother’s womb or the mother was
malnourished during her own infancy. Furthermore, analysis of data sets collected
through the Nutritional Surveillance Programme (NSP) reveals new dimensions in
gender disparity. The same assertions could also be made with regard to the child
health status of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh child malnutrition, morbidity and mortality
can be attributed to unsafe water, poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions24.
According to Article 24 of the convention on the Rights of the child, state parties
recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest standard of heath and to
facilitate the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health25. The Article emphasizes
that state parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and in particular shall
take appropriate measures, among others, to combat disease and malnutrition including
the framework of primary health care, and to ensure that all segments of society, in
particular parents and children, have access to education and are supported in the use of
knowledge or child health and nutrition, the advantages of breast feeding, hygiene and
environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents26.
3.5 Children’s rights to be literate
Right of the child to education the provision of basic education for the children has been
a major concern for this country.

22
Ibid

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The progress and prosperity of a nation rests first and foremost upon a literate
manpower. Unless the intrinsic potentialities and capabilities of a literate manpower are
employed the country can not develop socio-economically A literate people are an
economic capital to the entire nation but if they remain unlettered, they become a sheer
liability. That is the reason why Mahatma Gandhi considered mass illiteracy as a
national shame and advocated for its complete eradication on war footing. So in order
to build a better Bangladesh the primary task must be to build its huge human resource
base through improving children’s education and literacy skills.
In view of the national importance of literacy, we have given weight age to the
development of primary education in our constitution as one of the fundamental
principles of state policy (Article 17)23. It has been stated in the Constitution that the
state shall adopt effective measures for the purpose of establishing a uniform, mass-
oriented and universal system of education and extending free and compulsory
education to all children irrespective of caste, creed and religion to such stage as may
be determined by law, relating education to the needs of society and providing properly
trained and motivated citizens to serve those needs and removing illiteracy within such
time as may be determined by law.
A parent often gains the impression that the child, over a period of one or more
years, seems to be learning nothing. That is the stage when a less motivated parent
accepts withdrawal. Scant teacher attention, more reprimands than encouragement, lack
of learning material and original recreation and poor physical facilities may be
considered as push factors in dropout24. On the other hand, if the schooling was good
and parents discover that the child is learning to read and pick up interesting things,
many of the parents would be prepared to undergo further sacrifices (including work
adjustment) to retain him there. According to Article 28 of the Convention on the Right
of the Child, state parties, in recognition of the right of the child to be literate25,

23
Abdul Halim, ibid, p. 153.
24
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989

25
The Constitution of People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 1972.
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Have agreed to provide at least all available facilities of free and compulsory basic
elementary education to all children irrespective of caste, creed and religion and to
remove illiteracy ‘from their societies. The UNICEF’s ‘First Call’ for children
designates the child’s right to be literate as development rights which includes the right
to education, play and leisure, cultural activities as well as access to information, and
freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It is also provided in our constitution in
Article 27 and 2826.

3.6 Rights of the child labor

Child labor is in fact a reality of our time. They work for their own survival and also for
offering assistance to their families that are kind to be living in abject poverty. The
issues relating to child labour have socio-economic causes that are by and large identical
in all developing countries. Child labour is a tragic and silent emergency of our time.
Like many other problems, child labour emerged out of the socio-economic conditions
prevailing in our country. The low per capita income keeps the heads of families under
stress. In such a situation parents in poor families normally avoid sending their children
to schools. Instead, they engage them in different works in the home-based or in family
farms. Most children (with their mothers) have always worked. Children in rural areas
who worked usually did so on family land where fathers were small farmers or
sharecroppers or where they came from artisan families, at family looms and potters
wheels and so on. It was a hard life but at least it was in the context of a settled home
environment. But with a rapidly growing population and increasing landlessness, the
situation is changing for the worse18. To the extent that families are being pushed off
their land the situation of their children will deteriorate unless alternatives can be
found.Reports released in late 1996 by UNICEF and the International Labor
Organization (ILO) draw attention to child prostitution as “one of the most intolerable
forms of child labor. In its most extreme manifestation,

19 26
Dr. Khaleda Salahuddin, Child Labour in Bangladesh, 2nd ed. (Dhaka: Palok Publisher & Bangladesh Women Writers Association, 2001), p. 253.

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children are forced into sexual work through the practice of debt bondage, wherein a.
young girl’s labor in a brothel is promised by an impoverished family for an unspecified
amount of time in exchange for cash or credit. While the arrangement is allegedly
intended to last only until the debt is paid, repayment is frequently impossible, given
the typically limited earning potential of debtors and the illicit and often deceptive
practices of lenders (such as excessively high interest rates and additional charges and
fines for work-related expenses).27
The country is one of the poorest in the world with more than 50 percent of its
population may be considered absolute poor. Because of rural poverty, landlessness,
unemployment, natural calamities and lack of job opportunities a large number of rural
poor continue to migrate to urban areas leading to the creation of slums in cities and
shanty towns, among one-fourth to one-half of the urban population live in inhuman
conditions. Many of them live in overcrowded areas with ill-repaired and neglected
structures having little or no service facilities. Many live on pavements. In Dhaka city
there were 2525 slums and squatter settlements and many residents of these slums either
use authorized or unauthorized electric connections, get supply of water from municipal
tapes and their toilet facilities are unhygienic28.
Where children are inducted to activities that are not only exploitative and illegal
but also are of criminal nature, Prostitution is obviously in this category. Also in a
different category are those types of work which are not suited to children. Employers
of these types of work manipulate the market of underage children to maximize profit
paying them substantially less than would be paid an adult worker and gain a cheap,
biddable, easily replaceable labor force. Of course strategies and policies to deal with
these types of exploitation have marginal impact on the elimination of poverty which is
a contributory factor to increasing vulnerability of poor children who are more likely to
be abducted or kidnapped or sold into prostitution by desperate parents.

27
Report on Child Rights by UNICEF, p. 7.
28
Ibid
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3.7 Handicapped children and their rights
Disabled persons “have the same fundamental rights as their fellow citizens of the same
age, which implies first and foremost the right to enjoy a decent life, as normal and full
as possible”29 . The problems of the handicapped children and persons have not been
properly understood. There are social and psychological problems of the handicapped
children and their understanding would help in providing necessary help and assistance
in protecting their rights. A handicapped child is just like’ other normal children, except
that he suffers from a particular handicap. He is capable of performing all the necessary
functions which a normal child is expected to do. If not properly taken care of, trained
and rehabilitated in order to earn his independent living, a handicapped child would
grow up as a handicapped person and continue to remain a burden on the society. They
have always been a subject of pity and have been living on others charity. Therefore,
the society has to help the handicapped child to develop his latent potentialities so that
he can grow up as independent self-earning individual and can live with respect and
dignity like other normal human beings. It is now recognized that a handicapped child
has a right to live and enjoy life like other human beings. The international community
has enacted a series of instruments and human rights declaration to protect their right to
life and living. The main international instruments addressing the disabled are The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), The International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on the Civil and Political Rights (1966), the
Declaration on the Rights of the Mentally Retarded Persons (1971), the Declaration of
Rights of the Disabled Persons (1975), and The Principles for Protection of Persons
with Mental Illness and for The Improvement of Mental Health Care (1991). ‘Disabled
persons shall enjoy all the rights set forth in this Declaration. These rights shall be
granted to all disabled persons without any exception and without distinction or
discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinions, national or social origin, state of health, 30

29 34
The Declaration of the Rights of the Disabled persons, 1975. Art. 3.

30
Ibid,Art. 2.
19 | P a g e
Birth or any other situation applying either to the disabled person himself or to his or
her family. Disabled persons “have the same fundamental rights as their fellow citizens
of the same age, which implies first and foremost the right to enjoy a decent life, as
normal and lull as possible31”. “They are entitled to measures designed to enable them
to become self-reliant as possible”32. “They have the right, according to their
capabilities to secure and retain employment or to engage in a useful, productive and
remunerative occupation and to join trade unions”. “Disabled persons shall be:
protected against all-exploitation, all regulations and all treatments of a discriminatory,
abusive or degrading nature33.

3.8 The Blind

“A person is blind who cannot count the fingers of a hand held up at a yard’s distance”.
He is unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential. Totally blind are those
who cannot count fmgers from a distance of one foot and partially blind, oh the other
hand, cannot do the same counting by stretching their hands out. Because of lack of
proper medical facilities in the country the incidence of blindness is not controlled.
Advanced countries have a system of registration of all their blind persons. We need
also to develop similar system.
A blind person does not need pity. What he needs is understanding and
encouragement so that it is possible to live as nonnal a life as possible. With the advent
of Braille system, it is possible to give them some education. In the western countries a
blind person is able to earn as much as a sighted person in certain avocations with
needed training. There are today 3 kinds of institutions working for the blind: (i)
residential education, (ii) day-schools and (iii) integrated schools. While some people
believe in the institutionalization of a blind child away from the family, a second school
believes that blind child should remain in the family 1 A third group advocates the
efficacy of integrated schools.

31
Ibid, Art. 3.
32
Ibid, Art. 5
33
Ibid, Art. 10.
20 | P a g e
The blind child should study along with sighted children with arrangement of special
coaching teacher knowing Braille. Moreover, the nursery education for the blind child
should also receive due consideration as it will prepare him to adjust himself to his
handicap before he attains school-age. At this stage he should be given love and
affection, opportunities for learning by doing, freedom to manipulate objectives,
freedom to move about and to ask question, thereby a healthy relationship develops
between the blind child and his parents. The second age-group for the purpose of
educating the blind child may be from 6 to 12 years when he should be able to
sufficiently ‘master Braille and the subjects may include physical training, nature study,
cooking for girls, history, geography, simple crafts, hobbies, southing, etc. In the third
stage the blind child should be given systematic education. From 16 onwards the child
should be classified on the basis of his performances in studies, his aptitude and ability.
Others could be given training in certain vocations for sheltered employment or for
employment in the open employment opportunities34.

3.9 Deaf and Dumb Children

Deafness is severe handicap, although it is not. Visible. The deaf are those in whom the
sense of hearing is non-functional for the ordinary purposes of life. The deaf do not
develop speech and are called dumb. The causes of deafness are
(i) otitis media
(ii) acute infectious diseases
(iii) septic tonsils
(iv) Mumps
(v) Chronic Rhinitis
(vi) Malnutrition
(vii) eruptive fever
(viii) Congenital syphilis

34 40
M. Shawkat Alam, ‘Protection of Children Rights: National and Global Approach” Dhaka University Studies
Part-F Journal of Law, Vol. 7. No. 1 (June 1996).

21 | P a g e
 (ix) High fever
(x) Diphtheria
(xi) Whooping cough.

Deafness is of three kinds:

(i) When a child is born deaf,
(ii) When he becomes deaf at an early age when there are possibilities
of training and
(iii) When he becomes deaf in later years when remedial, measures are
not very effective. The Education Act of 1944 made it obligatory
for the local authority to provide education to the deaf children.
We should remember the fact that education and training of deaf
children should start at a very early age so that it is possible to train
child’s organs not only to take care of family but that he may be
able to use the instructions properly. A high degree of excellence
is required in the school for the deaf. The deaf can do almost all
types of jobs except those where use of hearing and speaking is
required. They can be trained in such trades as cane-work,
carpentry, weaving, tailoring, wood curving, clay modeling,
dyeing, printing etc. Sheltered workshop for the deaf could be
started preferably independent of schools. A deaf child is
not accepted by his family, community and the employer. A social
work agency has not only to change the attitude of the people
towards the deaf but also to choose certain operations in industry,
trades and handicrafts which the deaf can do without much
difficulty35.

35
Ibid, p. 59

22 | P a g e
3.10 Crippled Children
The crippled are those who have orthopedic disabilities that affect the upper and_lower
limbs, bone joints and muscles. Some neurological cases are also classified as cerebral
palsy or spastic cases. It has been observed all over the world that the crippled can lead
normal lives if they are given proper education and training. So our attitude towards the
crippled has to change. In olden days the crippled had no right to live. Rehabilitation
services began to develop for war-veterans in many countries after the Second World
War. Increasingly free primary education is being made available to all children. The
aim is to give the crippled child every facility to approach normalcy and to be segregated
as little as possible. Crippled children need recreation like a normal child. Recreation
can be used as a therapy. Therefore, recreation should be purposeful and organized
under the guidance of recreation therapist. The crippled need not live on charity but he
can be trained for certain jobs whereby he can earn his livelihood. Training in a
particular vocation or craft is necessary for a handicapped. It is, therefore, possible to
make a useless person into a happy citizen and it needs imagination, enthusiasm and
interest in the rehabilitation of the crippled
3.11 Mentally Retarded Children
Mental retardation means incomplete mental development. A mentally retarded child is
not able to learn as much as other children. He is unable to use his judgment. Mental
retardation is of different type’s idiocy, imbecilic, feeble- mindedness and moral
defectiveness. It can occur before birth, after birth and during childhood.
In our country the family and the community looked at the handicapped with pity
and they have been living on others’ charity. It is now recognized that with suitable
education and training, the handicapped can begin to lead almost normal lives
independently. The International Community has also enacted a number of declarations
as regards the rights of the handicapped to live and enjoy normal lives. A few national
voluntary organizations and their district branches are doing commendable jobs in

23 | P a g e
educating, training and rehabilitating the blind36deaf and dumb, crippled and mentally
retarded children and helping them lead as normal and independent lives as possible.

3.12 Rights of the children in conflict with and in mortal danger

The term ‘social defense’ has come into wider usage because ‘social defense’ measures
are being increasingly used in all societies to protect themselves from social evils arising
out of individuals who come in conflict with law. There are two areas of operation of
the social defense programmes the first being the apprehension of individuals who come
in conflict with law and the second areas of social defense is concerned with correction
and reformation of such individuals. Thus social problems such as juvenile
delinquency’, immoral trafficking of women and children’ unmarried mothers and adult
offenders are covered under the broad term ‘social defense. As a result of development
of social sciences and social research, the scope of social defense has been widened and
intensified now. The emphasis today is not on punishment but on correction and
rehabilitation. Instead of merely punishing a delinquent, efforts are made to first find
out the reasons for his committing acts of delinquency by studying and understanding
the individual in his environment. Efforts are undertaken to understand the
environments which are responsible for bringing individuals in conflict with law and
society37.
3.13 Constitutionally Protected Rights:
The Constitution of Bangladesh contains explicit guarantees of a wide range of civil
and political rights considering those as Fundamental Rights. It secures the right of
remedy for the violation of these rights by way of a constitutional petition before the
Supreme Court. These rights include equality before law, equal protection of the law,
non-discrimination on grounds of race, religion, caste, sex, or place of birth, special
measures for women, children and ‘backward sections of citizens’, equality of
opportunity in public employment, protection of the rights to life and personal liberty,

36 42
Ibid, p. 61.
37
Sheik Hafizur Rahman Karzon, Theoretical and Applied Criminology, 1st ed. (Dhaka: Palal Prokashoni,
2008), p. 221. Md. Altaf Hosen, Penal Code, 7th ed. (Dhaka:City Law Books, 2007
24 | P a g e
the right to be treated in accordance with law, safeguards as to arrest and detention,
prohibition of forced labor, protection in respect of trial and punishment, freedom of
assembly, freedom of association, freedom of thought and conscience, freedom of
expression freedom of profession and occupation, freedom of religion, the right to
property and the right to protection of the home and correspondence.
The Constitution also sets out the fundamental principles of state policy, which mandate
the state to ensure, among others, women’s participation in national life, free and
compulsory education, public health, equality of opportunity, work as a right and duty,
rural development and promotion of local government institutions, as well as respect
for international law.
Although traditionally considered to be non-justiciable, these fundamental principles
have been applied in aa number of cases by the Supreme Court, in order to protect
economic and social rights.
3.14 Domestic application of international law:
International treaty obligations must be incorporated into national law before they can
be directly enforceable.Such incorporation has not taken place with respect to most
treaty provisions (with the exception of parts of the Genocide Convention). However,
international human rights norms have been judicially applied in order to interpret
expansively the scope of constitutionally guaranteed rights in a number of significant
cases.

25 | P a g e
 Chapter 3
CAUSES AND VIOLATION OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN BANGLADESH

4.1 Lack of awareness about child rights among adults and children
Although children are very welcome in our personal and family life, most adult do not
have adequate knowledge about the rights of the children. As a result, in most cases,
adults, behavior towards children is not always supportive of the welfare and overall
development of the children. Children are also unable to protest against the violation of
their rights as they are not full empowered to do the same.

4.2 Adults negative attitude towards children

Adults do not usually see children as responsible opinionated human beings. Rather
they consider children as fully dependent on others. It is easy for adults to forget the
potential that children a have and their special needs as children.

4.3 Lack of proper implementation of the laws relating to children

The children of Bangladesh seem to be lucky in the sense that a special law for them,
the Children Act, was enacted in 1974 which was quite early in comparison with the
emergence of the UNCRC in 1990. The Children Act 1974 provides almost all
necessary rules and regulation in order to protect the rights of the children of
Bangladesh. However, it is really unfortunate that all those things are yet to be fully
materialized. There is a strong link between violence against children and proper
implementation of the laws that are supposed to protect their of the children. It has been
observed that in most cases, the perpetrators easily escape the judicial procedure. As
most of the child victims belong to the poor section of the society, they cannot afford
the cost (in terms of time and money) of the long process of justice.

26 | P a g e
4.4 Non-availability of children’s own organisations
There is no strong and effective children’s organisation, especially in the rural areas,
through which children could mobilise themselves in order to protest against violent
activities. The is also a lack of coordination among the existing children’s organisations.

4.5 Juvenile Justice Act, 2000

Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 provides punishment for cruelty to juvenile or child.
Whoever, having the actual charge of or control over, a juvenile or the child, assaults,
abandons, exposes or willfully neglects the juvenile or causes or procures him to be
assaulted, abandoned, exposed or neglected in a manner likely to cause such juvenile or
the child unnecessarily mental or physical suffering shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or fine, or with both 38. This
section has no exceptions to exempt parents or teachers. Though it is intended to punish
cruelty by those in authority, it equally applies to parents and teachers also. The whole
purpose of the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 is to translate the objectives and rights
enshrined in Convention on Child Rights which include separation of juveniles in
conflict with law from ordinary judicial proceedings to avoid corporal punishment.
Juvenile Justice Act of India and Bangladesh Children’s Act 1974 created an
offence of cruelty to children, which covers parents and guardians and teachers also.
Juvenile Justice Act does not authorize corporate punishment including whipping, while
Bangladesh Act permitted whipping male child offender.

4.6 Child Delinquent

According to the Bangladesh Penal Code of 1860 a child below seven years of age is
presumed to be innocent, because he cannot be deemed to be guilty of criminal offence.

38
The Juvenile Act, 2000.

27 | P a g e
The Penal Code categorically states, “Nothing is an offence which is done by a child
under seven years of age (sec. 82). The same Code further provides that if a child
between seven and twelve commits an offence without attaining maturity to understand
and judge the consequences of his action, he cannot be found guilty46. In the UN
Convention on the Rights of The Child (1989) a child is defined as a person under the
age of 18, unless national laws determine an earlier age of majority. In the Bangladesh
Children Act, 1974 a boy or girl below the age of sixteen is defined as a child. A boy or
girl under sixteen years of age indulging in any unlawful acts will be considered as
youthful offenders under the Children Act (1974) and necessary steps will be taken
against him or her in accordance with the provisions of this Act. The juvenile
delinquents are identified by observing the abnormal behavior, nonadaptive personality,
dissatisfied life, frustrated feeling, hostile attitude towards the norms of group life,
antagonistic habit of breaking existing laws, etc. In our country juvenile delinquency is
generally associated with theft, murder, pick- pocketing, fraud, truancy, fighting, sexual
offence, etc. They are found to indulge in street fighting on the street corners, at the
cinema halls and recreation centre, insulting the passerby and teasing the policemen,
crowding at cross-roads and loitering, gazing at girls, teasing them by uttering filthy
words, absenting themselves from home till late at night, rush driving of motor cycles
and violating traffic rules and other abnormal behaviors. The problem of juvenile
delinquency may be due to a number of socio-economic conditions: negligence by
parents and depriving children of parental care, love and protection; inability to meet
the minimum basic needs; family conflicts and the evil influences’ of family
environment; economic deprivation or affluence; bad companionship; lack of
recreational facilities for the juveniles; lack of proper educational environment in
educational institutions;
affluence of obscene literature; increase in urban centre and slums; political and social
instability; erosion of religious values; lack of proper supervision; defective
socialization; etc.
4.7 Child Trafficking

28 | P a g e
Trafficking in women and children is a contemporaot form of slavery and is a grave
violation of human rights. It is an international Problem connected to political, socio-
economic and gender inequalities.

4.8 Drug Addiction

Almost all primitive and modern people seem to have used some method of modifying
drug even if it was alcohol or opium. The use of dependence producing drug in most
countries has a long traditional and social moorings31. Modern world may very well be
termed drug age or drug culture since the majority of young people use some kind of
stimulant, drug, tranquillizer or other chemical substances to be able to confront the
vicissitudes of modern life48. Drug abusers are found today in almost all cultures of the
world. In fact, drug addiction has emerged as an international problem. This problem
has produced health hazards and a formidable social scourge. For a long time its use or
abuse was limited to affluent countries of the west but it has made its way into the
developing world affecting all levels of society. Two reasons have been advanced
behind the pervasive prevalence of drug; (i) radical expansion of the field of chemistry
and chemical technology and (ii) improved communication has rendered its easy
smuggling all over the globe.

Drug abuse is now not limited to the cities only, it has also infiltrated the rural areas.
Drug use was once thought to be connected with remedy of diseases but at present it
has emerged as a fatal threat to the psycho-physiological integrity of human beings
leading to its addiction by thousands of Bangladesh young people with whom Indian
hemp (ganja) has become popular. During mid-eighties a powerful interlocking
substance known as heroin has engulfed the young generation all over the country on a
scale undreamt of a few decades ago. This was possible primarily because Bangladesh
is being used as a mute of drug smugglers.The concept of social defense is assuming
significance now-a-days because it advocates the protection of the rights of the juvenile
delinquents and the trafficked children by emphasizing correction and rehabilitation
rather than punishment.

29 | P a g e
Violation of child right

In Bangladesh a large number of children are deprived of their basic human rights due
to unacceptable health, nutrition and education as well as social conditions. In addition,
children are exposed to severe forms of physical and mental violence at home, in the
work place, in institutions and other public places. The nature and extent of violence
against children irrespective of age, sex and class has been increasing day by day. On
the whole, our children are not safe despite efforts made by government and non-
government organizations in ensuring the rights of the children. Broadly,

Violence against children can be defined to include physical, emotional or

psychological violence or threat of violence against children perpetuated by individuals,
as well as by institutions or society at large. Depriving children of basic necessities of
life, health care and education, so much widespread in a developing country like
Bangladesh, are encompassed by this holistic definition. In order to discuss the situation
of children in jail in Bangladesh, it is first necessary to understand the position of
children in society and the violence many faces, both within the home and outside. A
lot of this violence and abuse ultimately causes them to end up in prisons or correction
homes. A lot of violence also occurs within these institutions as well.

4.9.1. Acts of Violence against Children in 2001

Children in Bangladesh are subjected to violence in the forms of sexual and physical
abuse in many aspects of their lives. In 2001, there were 7 young domestic workers
injured by their employees, 3 were raped and 4 killed. Eight year old Zahirul of
Khagrachari was beaten by his employer for eating a piece of cucumber without
permission. A fifteen year old girl accidentally let her employer’s child fall off her lap.
She was punished with hot oil being poured over her. Then there are types of gross
physical and sexual abuse which are reserved almost exclusively for girls. These include
physical torture, rape and dowry-related violence and sometimes heinous attacks with
acid and other corrosive substances. 14 year old Poppy in Narshingdhi was a victim

30 | P a g e
when her husband threw acid on her over dowry demands. Not only is she scarred for
life, she is a victim of child marriage, illegal in Bangladesh.

Sexual abuse of children and adolescent girls is a growing problem, but this remains
largely hidden due to the stigma attached to the victims of such offences. Newspaper
reports of such incidents show that girl children are lured away by the promise of
chocolates, biscuits, to play games, watch television or they are ambushed and raped
while going to or coming from school or the lavatory. In 2001, a total of 356 cases of
rape were documented from the newspapers where the victims were under 16 years of
age.4 Acid attacks, in which acid is thrown at the face or body of the victim, is a
particularly devastating form of violence. The most common circumstances of acid
violence are where a girl has been harassed by a boy with proposals of romance or
marriage which she has turned down, or in connection with demands for dowry. In the
majority of cases the boy or husband aims the acid at the girl’s face, seemingly by way
of revenge and in order to destroy her future marriage prospects. Acid throwing is
committed both within and outside the family. In 2001, 66 reported cases of acid-
affected children were recorded from 9 daily newspapers.

The majority of the victims are girls, many below the age of 18 years, who rejected
sexual advances and marriage proposals.5 Children are victims of trafficking and sold
to brothels and to be trained as camel jockeys. On 24 May, 2001, Akhtar Mia (4) and
Sarkar (5) were rescued from Pripal village near the Bangladesh – India border. They
were being trafficked by agents to be trained as camel jockeys in the Middle East. They
both hail from Mymensingh.6 The underlying causes of trafficking in women and
children, range from the expansion of global market forces and a growing materialism
perpetuated by the media, to rapid social transformation and the erosion of social values.

Moreover, the problem of unemployment, under employment and abject poverty has
led to the increase of international trafficking and labor migration of women and
children in recent years.

31 | P a g e
They also include continuing cultural attitudes which place a low value on girls. As they
are mostly the lowest strata of the society and in their search for alternate opportunities,
they fall into more critically vulnerable situations. These factors, together with the help
of unscrupulous exploiters such as pimps, procurers, brother owners, traffickers and
agents, trap young girls into sexual exploitation. Trafficking in children is considered
an invisible problem as none of the official sources refer to it. In most cases, known
persons are the procurers. Once they gain confidence, they can easily entice or lure
young girls and children to leave home for better jobs and marriage. Although
Bangladesh has ratified the international convention prohibiting slavery and
prostitution, it has been unable to curtail exploitative practices involving children,
particularly young girls.

There is a general lack of enforcement of legislation against trafficking and prostitution.

In the absence of adequate interventions by the government, families themselves try and
trace out their children. The process of repatriation, however, is drawn-out and often
results in the child being held in ‘safe-custody’ only to be released on bail, which their
families can scarcely afford.

Table 5. Acts of Violence against Children in 2001

Months Killed Raped Victims Arrested Suicide Abducted Trafficked

of Acid

January 18 29 1 1 5 10 0

February 7 36 1 0 3 2 0

March 13 37 6 1 3 10 1

April 16 39 8 0 4 3 0

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 May 17 34 2 0 1 7 2

June 22 52 13 1 10 20 4

July 32 25 9 6 3 14 0

August 17 16 9 0 6 14 0

September 11 9 3 3 2 3 5

October 14 31 5 0 1 6 0

November 22 27 4 1 7 10 0

December 21 21 5 1 4 12 1

Total 210 356 66 14 49 111 13

Source: Violence Against Children: The Scenario in Bangladesh, Odhikar, Dhaka,

undated, available at: http://www.odhikar.org/

Child Marriage

Many Bangladeshi girls are married soon after puberty, partly to free their parents from
an economic burden and partly to protect the girls’ sexual purity. Where a girl’s family
is very poor or she has lost her parents, she may be married as a third or fourth wife to
a much older man, to fulfil the role of sexual and domestic servant

33 | P a g e
Jesmine Akter who got early marriage, when she’s in class nine her father got her
marriage , she like to continue her study, but her husband did not get that because of
this things her husband cut out her right hand, this a extreme violation, only causes of
child marriage ( Daily Pothom alo Newspaper 2012,hit news)

Table 6. Married Adolescents and married age of child.

Percentage of Women Aged 25-29 Married Adolescents :Percentage of 15-

Married before Age 18 19 year-olds married

Sub-Saharan Africa boys girls

Guatemala 39 Dem. Rep. of Congo 5 74

Latin
America Dominican 38 Niger 4 70
Republic
24 Congo 12 56
Paraguay
Uganda 11 50
South Bangladesh 81
Central Mali 5 50
Nepal 68
Asia
and
Pakistan 37
Southeast Afghanistan 9 54
Asia Indonesia 34
Bangladesh 5 51

Nepal 14 42
Sub-Saharan Niger 77
Africa
Middle East
Mali 70
Iraq 15 28

34 | P a g e
 Burkina Faso 62
Syria 4 25
Mozambique 57
Yemen 5 24
Malawi 55
Latin America and

Cote d’Ivoire 44 Caribbean

7 30
Honduras
Cameroon 43
7 29
Cuba
Benin 40
8 24
Middle East Yemen 64 Guatemala
and North
Egypt 30
Africa

Source: UN Population Division, Department of Economic

and Social Affairs, World Marriage Patterns 2000

4.9.2 Education

Form the point of view of national policy, the primary strategy for reducing the number
of working children is through enforcement of the universal compulsory education.
According to that philosophy and strategy, “these children should all be in schools and
not in the factories shops and other workplaces”. But this cotetion are not effortful most
of the children are not get the opportunity .it’s always violation in our society, just
shown in the following table or graph

Table 7: Grade level of previous education (608 children who have not been to
school)

35 | P a g e
 Grade Level No. of children Percent

Grade I 125 20.56

Grade II 154 25.33

Grade III 103 16.94

Grade IV 85 13.98

Grade V 78 12.83

Grade VI 29 4.77

Grade VII 22 3.62

Grade VIII 6 0.99

Grade IX 6 0.99

Sourse:Daily Lives of working Children Case Studies from Bangladesh, UNICEF

Bangladesh.1997

4.9.3.Trafficking in children

Human trafficking in Bangladesh is believed to be extensive both within the country

and to India, Pakistan and the Middle East. Many girls are trafficked into sexual
exploitation or bonded servitude. Many boys have also been trafficked to the Middle
East to become camel racing jockeys. Children involved in camel racing (CICR) are
often injured in the course of their work, are vulnerable to abuse from their employers

36 | P a g e
and there are reports of employers deliberately keeping the children’s weights low by
not feeding them enough. Many children are taken with their parents’ consent, having
been duped by stories of well-paid jobs or marriages. Reintegration into mainstream
society is a huge issue for trafficked children, especially for girls with the stigma and
taboo associated with it. If they return with a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) or
HIV positive, it becomes more challenging for the family and community to accept
them. For children involved in camel racing, many can no longer remember their own
language. They become strangers in their own land.

4.9.4. Garments sector

Garment is one of the greatest sector of Bangladesh. Its gives us huge amount of
remittance but here vast child is being serving. Most of them are female. One of the
statistics are given below:

Sex: Male: 11,00,000 – Female: 22,00,000

In textile sector – total workers: approx- 0.3 million

In clothing sector – total workers: approx-2.5 million

In leather sector – total workers (including shoe & tannery): approx-0.5 million

No. of companies in textile & clothing (garment): about 180+4321=4501

No. of companies in leather (including small, medium & big size industries): 1750

Source: aishawelfaretrust.org/childinbangladesh.htm

They work there minimum level of cost because of poverty.

37 | P a g e
4.9 Child works places
4.10.1. Child as Domestic Workers

Child Domestic service is a widespread practice in Bangladesh. The majority of child

domestics tend to be 12 and 1 7 years old. But children as young as 5 or 6 years old can
also be found working. A survey of child domestic workers found that 38 percent were
11 to 13 years old and nearly 24 percent were 5 to 10 years old. Child domestics works
long hours, getting up well before their employers and going to bed long after them. On
50 percent domestic workers work 12- 14 hours a day. Irrespective of their gender,
Child domestic carry out all sorts of household work. Boys often perform tasks like
going to the grocery, cleaning the drain, talking the garbage to roadside

bins, washing the car and sell nuts etc. On the other hand, girls have to iron the cloths,
attend phone calls and serve the guests. The child domestic workers are often the least
paid in the society, their remuneration ranging from 80 taka to 400 taka per month. In
most of the cases, they hand over all their earnings to their parents, leaving nothing for
themselves.

4.10.2 Working Hours and Earnings

Many children work long hours every day of the week. For example, some survey
results show that half of the working children are toiling for nine hours or more per day.
Sometimes, they also work in holidays, especially in the rural communities. A large
majority of youngster toil as unpaid family workers, in the rural areas where working
girls outnumber working boys. More than four in every five children work without pay.
Also, the younger working children the lower the wage payment. In average girls are
working more than boys and they get low money more than boys. Sometimes, many
children work during the evenings or night as well. Children do not get overtime money.
In one major survey, close to two-thirds of the child labor force in the agriculture are
found to be working during these periods-three quarters of the

boys and more than two-fifths of the girls. A large number of the girls working as
housemaid are often obliged to spend the night in their employer’s household there by
also exposing themselves to various abuses. For girls and boys the payment for domestic
help ranges from taka 200-1300 per month in dhaka area. But in other district, they get
low money from Dhaka.

4. 10.3. Hazardous works

What the children considered to be hazardous varied. Some activities like wiping floor,
fetching water, hawking. For most it meant where they could hurt themselves such as
working near a fire, working with sharp objects, grating spices, breaking bricks etc.
There are also hard works like carrying weights, pulling carts and welding. Generally
38 | P a g e
children feel that, it is up to them to avoid getting hurt or injured. The protection
measures that they mentioned were mainly being more careful and attentive, so as not
get hurt.

Some of the children seemed to have knowledge about protective measures such as
gloves or protective goggles. Girls who are brick chipping, they feel this work is
hazardous for their health and well being. They were exposed to people on the street
and mastans. This type of girls said, they do not talk when they are working.

4. 10.4. Industrial works

Many children work in industry that is most risky but they are bound to do that. Such
as Jainal works in silver cooking pot factory. He is 11 years old. He has been working
in this factory for three years. His work starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. For his work
he gets 700 taka (10 USD) for a month. His parents are so poor that they can not afford
to send him to school. According to the factory owner, the parents do not care for their
children; they send their kids to work for money and allegedly don’t feel sorry for these
small kids. Dhaka 2008

A young laborer making metal components at a factory. Dhaka. Bangladesh

13-year-old Liyakot Ali works in a silver cooking pot factory in Old Dhaka. The
children work 10 hour days in hazardous conditions, for a weekly wage of 200 taka (3
USD). Dhaka. Bangladesh . June 2008

7-year-old Jasmine collects rubbish from a steaming rubbish heap on a cold winter
morning. She earns money to support her family by scavenging for items on the Kajla
rubbish dump. It is one of three landfill sites in a city of 12 million people. Around
5,000 tons of garbage are dumped here each day and more than 1,000 people work
among the rubbish, sorting through the waste and collecting items to sell to retailers for
recycling.

Hands of 8-year-old Munna while working in a rickshaw parts making factory. He

works 10 hours a day and gets 8 USD for a month. Dhaka 2007.

Ten-year-old Shaifur working in a door lock factory in Old Dhaka. Unlike his colleague,
Shaifur works without a mask.

Eight-year-old Munna works in a rickshaw factory. He earns about 500 taka (7 USD) a
month, working 10 hours a day.. When the production often stops due to lack of
electricity, he has time to play. Dhaka 2007

Children are compelled to work for long working hours with inadequate or no rest
period. Moreover, they are paid with minimum wages and enjoy no job security. Many
people prefer to employ young boys to maximize services for those minimum wages.
Dhaka 2006. 17.5 percent of children in the aged 5 are engaged in economic activities.
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Many of these children are engaged in various hazardous occupations in manufacturing
factories. Dhaka, 2006.

4. 10.5. Garments sector Tailoring

Child work is a crime. But for poverty and different reasons, children are working in
garments. They are not allowed to working in garments. But some of few garments
owner give those works to do, because they are hard worker. Many workers are woman.
When foreign buyers enter the factory, many small ages child are scared and hidden
under the table, been locked up in the toilet for few hours. Also, in garments sector they
have physical, social, job safety, not clear in self identity, not access information, life
option and planning. They are hopeless. I talked one of children workers. She said, she
works for her family. They are so poor. She stay with her aunt’s house. She earns money
2500 taka in a month. After taking her salary, at first she give some money to the aunty
for the house rent and fooding cost. Then, she saved few for her and sends very few
money to her family. Then she said, it’s not sufficient money for her living. But she
works for her living. In garments sector minimum wages is fixed around 950 taka.
Sometimes, many garments owner give not their salary on time. For this reasons they
faces money problem. In garments, many people of ages and uneducated people
works.They uses many bad languages. After hearing this, many children learned and
sometimes they do crime. Also, in garments sector many girls are not comfort for their
work. Because many bad people tease them.

4. 10.6. Earlier marriage

The earlier marriage is well known to everyone. The most victim of earlier marriage are
female. The below chart express this situation, here the percentage of girls marriage is
51 and that why many victim belongs to girl.

4. 10.9. Invisible Yet Everywhere

There are hundreds of millions of children and young people in the world imprisoned
not in remind home but in physical labor more permanents than steel bars and iron locks
alone could create. These are children and young people. These activities harm their
bodies, minds, spirits and above all a good and prosperous future. Working children
have become an integral part of Bangladeshi society. A child worker considered another
cheap and easily controlled worker in the labor force. Poverty, illiteracy and Child labor
go hand in hand. Child earnings have become a necessity for those families which are
struggling to make ends up. The child has no alternative. The lack of quality education
and the pitiable conditions of available schools is no incentive for a child to quit work
and join school. In addition, children become the victim’s violence, exploiting and
abuse they can result in physical and physiological disabilities. Also children become a
prisoner twice. The child is caught in the conflict between right to life and the fight to
earn versus the acceptable norms of survival.

4. 10.10.. Ship breaking child labor

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Ship breaking carries a very real risk to life. It is a dirty and dangerous occupation. It is
a very hard and difficult works for every kind of ages people. children also works in
this occupation. The children work mainly as gas cutters assistants and move small iron
pieces from one place to another. They also do the night shift. On average they got 50-
60 taka per day for their efforts. There are no educational facilities. In 20 years about
400 workers have been killed and seriously injured 6000 people according to
Bangladeshi media. On average, one workers dies in the yards a week and everyday a
worker is injured. It is a replaceable works. If anyone lost his job in this site, six is
waiting to replace him due to the lack of work. Ship breaking is in two categories. One
is intoxication by dangerous substances and accidents on the plots. Explosions of
leftover and fumes in the tanks are the prime cause of accidents of the yards. Another
accident is falling from the ship. Other accidents is crushed by falling steel beams and
plates and electric shocks. In this job workers do not get money properly, use of child
labor, less than minimum wages, lack of job security etc.

4. 10.11. Street child beggar

Child labor is a crime. But in Bangladesh, peoples are so poor. They cannot live easily.
For this reason, poor people’s children do begging on the street. These children work
on the streets every day and their number is increasing. They collect money from the
people. Also, they sell stuff like books, flowers, newspaper, water etc. Sometimes, the
adult beggar rent for begging like infant or different kind of diseases children .Also,
they searches food from door to door. They think, its better for their to beg .Now,
children beggars are found in villages, towns and cities. Some children’s starts begging,
when their member go to work outside. Street children cannot get food properly. They
earn money 50 taka in a day. Actually the little street children struggle to live being a
children.

4. 10.12 Child beggar of child labor

Now a days, child baggers are doing different kind of crime. In some area street beggars
are proved cheaters. Some able bodies are found pretending lame, dump or blind. Some,
of these children do crime in a day or night. They stealing different things or hijecking
to the people. Some are addicted in drugs like heroine, ciggarte, gaja etc. In the picture,
one child is inhaling from the plastic bag. it is one kind of drugs. They doing crime only
for their poverty

4. 10.14. Tokai

Bangladesh, we see different kind of boys and girls, who are collects different kinds of
garbage in their sack and they sell it vagary shop (shop that buy any kind of waste
product).They are so poor and are called “Tokai”. It is a one kind of child labor.
Majority of the tokai’s belong to the age group 7-15 years but aged tokai also found.
Basically tokai’s workplace is mainly public places, bus, train launch terminals,
shopping area, streets, residential areas, dustbin etc. They work daily 8-10 hours and
also average income per day less 70 taka. They have no skills. Sometimes, they work
41 | P a g e
under a group or independently. NGOs have taken different programmes for the welfare
of the Tokai. They are hopeless. They have no identity. Some are houseless.

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 Chapter 4

INTERNATIONAL LAW REGARDING CHILDREN

5.1 Meaning of the Convention on the Rights of the Children

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international treaty that recognizes the
human rights of children, defined as persons up to the age of 18 years. In 41 substantive
articles, it establishes in international law that States Parties must ensure that all children
- without discrimination in any form - benefit from special protection measures and
assistance; have access to services such as education and health care; can develop their
personalities, abilities and talents to the fullest potential; grow up in an environment of
happiness, love and understanding; and are informed about and participate in, achieving
their rights in an accessible and active manner39 .

5.2 Protection of rights by the convention

The implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998, interest in the concept of children’s
rights has grown significantly since the first edition of this work was published. Now in
its second edition, Children’s Rights and the Developing Law explores the way
developing law and policy in England and Wales are simultaneously promoting and
undermining the rights of children. It reflects on the extent to which these developments
take account of children’s interests, using a range of current research on children’s
needs as a template against which to assess their value. A critical approach is maintained
throughout the work,
Particularly when assessing the extent to which the concept of children’s rights is
being developed by the domestic courts and the degree to which the UK is complying
with its obligations to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Wide
reaching in its scope, the work starts with the theoretical perspectives of the concept

39
Convention on the Child Rights, 1989.
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of children’s rights and the extent to which international activity in the field of human
rights can be utilized to inform domestic law40.

5.3 UNICEF and the Convention

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has called for the mainstreaming of human
rights in all areas of UN operations - for example, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its mandate for refugee children, or the
International Labor Organization (ILO) in its commitment to eliminate child labor. In
the case of UNICEF, the Convention has become more than just a reference, but a
systematic guide to the work of the organization. As expressed in its Mission Statement,
UNICEF is mandated to “advocate for the protection of children’s rights” and it “strives
to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards
of behavior towards children.” UNICEF promotes the principles and provisions of the
Convention and the mainstreaming of children’s rights in a systematic manner, in its
advocacy, programming, monitoring and evaluation activities. The Convention on the
Rights of the Child provides UNICEF with guidance as to the areas to be assessed and
addressed, and it is a tool against which UNICEF measures the progress achieved in
those areas. Integrating a human rights approach in all UNICEF’s work is an ongoing
learning process that includes broadening the framework for UNICEF’s development
agenda. In addition to maintaining a focus on child survival and development, UNICEF
must consider the situation of all children, better analyze the economic and social
environment, develop partnerships to strengthen the response (including the
participation of children

themselves), and support interventions on the basis of nondiscrimination and act in the
best interests of the child.
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of the
Child encourage government to undertake steps. Through its reviews of country reports,

40
UNICEF project of Advocacy [www. gogle.com, accessed on 5 th March, 2010]
44 | P a g e
the Committee urges all levels of government to use the Convention as a guide in policy-
making and implementation to:

i. Develop a comprehensive national agenda for children.

ii. Develop permanent bodies or mechanisms to promote coordination,
monitoring and evaluation of activities throughout all sectors of
Government.
iii. Ensure that all legislation is fully compatible with the Convention.
iv. Make children visible in policy development processes throughout
government by introducing child impact assessments.
v. Carry out adequate budget analysis to determine the portion of public
funds spent on children and to ensure that these resources are being used
effectively.
vi. Ensure that sufficient data are collected and used to improve the plight of
all children in each jurisdiction.
vii. Raise awareness and disseminate information on the Convention by
providing training to all those involved in government policy-making and
working with or for children.
viii. Involve civil society - including children themselves - in the process of
implementing and raising awareness of child rights.
ix. Set up independent statutory offices - ombudspersons, commissions and
other institutions - to promote children’s rights.
UNICEF assists governments in promoting children’s rights in country program.
UNICEF’s work involves advocacy, cooperation and technical assistance.
UNICEF undertakes advocacy through publications, awareness campaigns and
participation in major international conferences and in public statements - and works
with those responsible for the development and implementation of legislation and
public policy. UNICEF cooperates with both donor governments and governments in
the developing world. UNICEF-assisted programmers seek to ensure the social and
economic rights of children by delivering essential services such as health and education

45 | P a g e
and improving access to good nutrition and to care. UNICEF also focuses attention on
national budget spending, encouraging governments to allocate 20 per cent of budgets
to basic services. Further, UNICEF supports efforts to redress inequitable practices and
discrimination, which are direct and underlying causes of children’s and women’s
deprivation. UNICEF cooperates with other international organizations - particularly
those within the UN system, as the United Nations Development Assistance Framework
(UNDAF) process illustrates - and international financial institutions. UNICEF works
to build partnerships with civil society organizations, involving children, families and
other members of communities. UNICEF provides technical support and assistance to
the Committee on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF focuses on sustainable results and
encourages ongoing monitoring and evaluation of programmers41.

41
CRC Committee on the Rights of the Children, 2005.
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 Chapter 5

UN AND DIFFERENT ORGANIZATION

6.1 Role of NGOs and UN

Firstly, the rights of children, as elaborated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child, will also be followed. It has been mentioned in the beginning that the voluntary
organizations occupy a unique position in the social-cultural fabric of our society.
Philanthropic approaches related to our religious beliefs might have played a major part
in bringing these organizations into existence. The motive to help and assist distressed
neighbors can be said to be inherent in the belief of the people. Furthermore, the Holy
Quran enjoins upon the adherents of Islam the sacred responsibility of providing
comfort to those in distress. From this point of view, voluntary organizations can be
considered as the natural outgrowth of the people’s altruistic motive to do some good
to helpless ones and as such they are never imposed from above by anybody. So the
efforts of these organizations can be termed as unostentatious attempt to meet any
welfare need. Many such organizations have been in existence for years and providing
some welfare services even on a limited scale without any financial or technical
assistance from either the government or from any outside agency42 .
Secondly, many of these organizations have been functioning ostensibly to serve
any client group without knowing that they are also protecting their human rights. The
proliferation of the ideas and concepts of human rights make it possible for these
voluntary organizations to visualize today that by taking care
The study would, therefore, try to identify those local level voluntary organizations
which are specifically devoting their resources to protecting the different rights of the
children as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the child and other relevant
international covenants and declarations. The study sought to:

42
Development perspectives on Juvenile Justice, Chicago, 2000 and protection of the educational, health and
other specialized needs of the different categories of the needy people in society, they are at the same time
protecting their human rights as well.
.
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 a) Identify the types of voluntary organizations which are employing efforts and
resources to protect the different rights of the children at the grassroots;
b) Analyze the role of the identified voluntary organizations in the following
areas of their operations: care and protection of the chiding in distress; serving the health
and educational rights of the children; exploitation of the child laborer and the
protection of their rights; care, protection and rehabilitation of the socially, physically
and mentally handicapped children; and care, protection and rehabilitation of the
juvenile delinquents and the drug addicts;
(c) Analyze the content of the various activities and services related to the
protection of human rights of the above mentioned vulnerable groups of children;
(d) Find out the weaknesses in their areas of operations and suggest effective
and pragmatic measures of overcoming them;
(e) Explore the possibility of how to effectively utilize these voluntary
organizations to defend human rights of children.
Finally, the nature of the exploratory study necessitated the preparation of an
elaborate interview-cum-observation guide and all relevant areas related to the
protection of children’s human rights had to be incorporated in the guide. The guide
contained open-ended questions so that unexplored information and clues could be
recorded. All the items in the interview-cum-observation guide were thoroughly
discussed with the investigators in several sessions in order to help them understand
each item unambiguously.

After the initial orientation of the investigators, who were all social science master
degree holders, was done, the interview-cum-observation guide was pretested. On the
basis of the experiences gained in the pretesting, some of the items in the guide were
modified and a few items added to make the guide comprehensive. As the information
to be collected through the guide were considered vital for the study, the research
directors took all possible steps to provide on the spot guidance and field supervision
during the data collection phase43 .

43
Ibid
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6.2 Importance
Most of the scholars from different spheres some times say that children are the
miniature of the adults. But in fact this cant be possible because every child doesn’t
follow exactly his or her parents with same knowledge and reputation. So in civil
society, it’s a duty of the people to save and nurture child rights. If this is ensured in the
world then no child will be deprived from flourishing themselves with the light of
education.
6.3 Protection of rights by voluntary organization in Bangladesh
A voluntary organization is to be registered under the above mentioned Ordinance of
1961 with either the Department of Social Services under the Ministry of Social Welfare
or the Department of Women’s and Children’s Affairs. These organizations are
recognized under the law to submit the accounts of their funds and annual activities.
The delinquent voluntary organizations can be prosecuted on the basis of written
complaints of the Department of Social Services. It may be mentioned here that the
authors of the 1961 Ordinance failed to visualize any foreign donations to these
voluntary organizations from abroad primarily to regulate the receipts and expenditure
of foreign donations for the voluntary activities in the country. A number of
organizations are working in the prevention of blindness, treatment of the blind and the
rehabilitation of the blind children. Societies like the Assistance for Blind Children,
National Federation of the blind, etc.are functioning for the training and rehabilitation
of the blind adults and children. A few voluntary organizations are working for the
vocational training of the blind. Bangladesh Deaf and Dumb Association have been
running deaf and dumb schools throughout the country. Bangladesh Society for the
Mentally Retarded Children has been treating and training mentally retarded children.
A few organizations are also working for the correction and rehabilitation of the juvenile
delinquents. From the above discussion it can be asserted that a good number of
voluntary organizations are conducting variegated welfare programs to protect the
rights and interest of our children. Bangladesh is committed to honor and implement all
UN Declarations, Covenants and Conventions on human rights. Constitution seeks to
ensure the protection and enforcement of all types of human rights for all categories of

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persons5. Similarly, Chapter two especially contains the fundamental Principles of State
Policy which are meant to preserve human rights and fundamental freedoms44 .
A voluntary organization has been defined in the Voluntary Social Welfare
Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance. 1961 as an organization, association or
undertaking established by persons of their own free will for the purpose of providing
welfare services in any field mentioned in the schedule of the relevant social legislation
and depending for its resources on public subscription, donation or Government aid.
The schedule of activities mentions as many as fifteen spheres of activities for
mitigating the suffering of the different categories of needy people such as the poor and
the indigent, child, youth, women, physically, socially and mentally handicapped,
released prisoners, juvenile delinquents the aged, the infirm and the destitute. A child
has the inherent rights to life and the State Patties shall ensure the survival and
development of the child. A child shall not be separated from his or her parents against
his or her will. States shall take measures to combat illegal transfer of children abroad.
The child has the right to freedom of speech, thought, conscience, religion, association
and peaceful assembly45.
The child refugee shall receive appropriate protection. A mentally or physically
disabled will have the right to enjoy a decent life. State parties recognize the right of
every child to a standard of life which is adequate for his or her physical, mental and
social development. A child has the right to education which is directed to develop his
or her personality, talent, and mental) physical abilities. A child has the right to rest and
recreational activities. They have the right to be protected from economic exploitation.
They shall be protected from armed conflict. Encompassing the whole range of human
rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural the Convention recognize that their
enjoyment of a given right cannot be separated from the enjoyment of others. It
demonstrates that the freedom a child needs to develop his or her intellectual, moral and

44
The Constitution of People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 1972, Art. 26-46.
45
Voluntary Social welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961.

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spiritual capacities is dependent on a healthy and safe environment, access to care and
minimum standards of food, clothing and shelter among other things46.

46
Ibid

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 Chapter 6
CONCLUSION

7.1 Recommendations
In the light of above discussion, namely actions to be taken immediately

a. Governmental commitment of fulfilling protection rights

Government interest in, recognition of and commitment to child protection is an
essential element for child protection, for example, for programmes to combat child
labour. It also includes political leaders being proactive in raising protection on the
agenda and acting as advocates for protection.
b. Attitudes, traditions, behaviors and practices
In societies where attitudes or traditions facilitate abuse for example, regarding sex with
minors, the appropriateness of harmful traditional practices of differences in the
perceived status and value of boys and girls the environmental will not be protective. In
societies where all forms of violence against children are taboo, and where the rights of
children are broadly respected by custom and tradition, children are more likely to be
protected.
c.Open discussion of and engagement with, child protection issues
All the most basic level, children need to be free to speak up about child protection
concerns affecting them of other children. At the national level, both media attention to
and civil society engagement with child protection issue contribute child protection.
d. Legislation and enforcement
An adequate legislative framework, its consistent implementation, accountability and a
lack of impunity are essential elements of a protective environment.

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e. Children’s life skill, knowledge and participation
If children are aware of their right not be abused, of are not warned of the dangers of,
for example, trafficking, they are more vulnerable to abuse. Children also need to be
provided with safe and protective channels for participation and self expression. Where
children have no opportunities for participation, they are more likely to become
involved in crime of other dangerous or harmful activities.
f. Monitoring and reporting
A protective environment for children requires an effective monitoring system that
records the incidence and nature of child protection abuse and allows for informed and
strategic responses. Such systems can be more effective where they are participatory
and locally based. It is a responsibility of government to make sure that every country
knows the situation of children with regard to violence, abuse and exploitation.
7.2 Concluding remarks
Every child is precious and has the inherent right to life. Everyone such as parents, care
givers, government, NGO, civil society, the media and even the man on the street has
the responsibility to ensure that every child survives. And they should be protected by
law. Bangladesh law comply with the convention. But unfortunately, their objectives
are often Unclear of weakened by partial and inexpedient implementation. For the
proper implementation we need to examine our legislation systematically concerning
children and the methods of their implementation. However, legislation is not the only
solution although they have direct impact on the status and general welfare of children.
We need to have changed outlook to the upbringing of children in the family, to create
a healthier social environment.

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