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COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES REPORT OF BANGLADESH
03 June 2009
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Committee on the Rights of the Child
3 June 2009
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Introducing the report, Rokeya Sultana, Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh, said that Bangladesh had been one of the first countries to ratify the Convention. They were striving to create an enabling environment for the full realization and enjoyment of the rights of children as enshrined in the Convention. Despite many constraints, Bangladesh had made considerable progress in its efforts to fully implement the Convention. It was currently implementing the third National Plan of Action (2005-2010) for children, which incorporated the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals and Bangladesh was well poised to achieve most of those: they had already attained a significantly high rate of enrolment in primary and secondary schools; both birth and death rates had gone down; and life expectancy had gone up. They had also made big strides in reducing infant and under-five mortality rates.
The Government placed particular emphasis on education Ms. Sultana said, with the education sector receiving the largest share of the annual budget. They had made primary education free and compulsory for all children. The Government’s immediate objectives were now to address the issue of school dropouts, enhance the quality of education and to introduce a unified system at the primary level. The Government further attached high priority to combating sexual abuse and exploitation of children, as well as early marriage and lack of birth registrations. In the area of juvenile justice, the minimum age of criminal responsibility had been increased to nine years from seven in 2004. The Government was also fully committed to gradually eliminating child labour in all sectors.
In preliminary concluding remarks, Committee Expert Sanphasit Koompraphant, who served as co-Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, said that the Committee had received a lot of information today. It was hoped that the revision of the children’s act would better reflect the provisions of the Convention. The Committee had taken note of the many projects and plans the Government was undertaking on several topics, including on health and nutrition. It was however not clear how children could access all these programmes. A remaining question was what support Bangladesh would need from the international community to implement the Convention.
Other Experts raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, the national human rights commission and how it monitored the implementation of children’s rights countrywide; what Bangladesh was doing to combat corruption so that resources that were allocated for children’s rights and development reached children; whether there were plans for training of professionals on the implementation of the Convention; why the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Bangladesh had been raised only to 9 years rather than 12 years; the increase in the use of drugs and suicides by adolescents, and measures to combat those phenomena; what was being done with regard to the dissemination of information on reproductive health to adolescents; and what the Government was doing to solve the problem of malnutrition
The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 12 June 2009.
The delegation of Bangladesh also included members of the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to Geneva, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
When the Committee reconvenes on 4 June at 10 a.m. it will consider the second periodic report of Niger (CRC/C/NER/2).
Report of Bangladesh
Since Bangladesh’s ratification of the Convention in August 1990, the country has been fulfilling its commitment to establish rights of the child on different fronts, says the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh (CRC/C/BGD/4). Bangladesh prepared three National Plans of Action in 1990, 1999 and 2005 to fulfil its commitment to children. The country has made significant improvements in a number of social indicators, including reduction of under-five mortality rates, infant mortality rates, improvement in school enrolment, iodization of salt, immunization coverage, vitamin A supplementation coverage and safe drinking water supply. Disparity between boys and girls in most indicators has also been eliminated. In spite of successes, many children still remain outside the primary school system, malnutrition is a common problem and access to safe water and sanitation facilities are not adequate. Children still face violence, sexual exploitation and abuse and pollution and environmental damage take a toll on children’s health.
There are a number of laws related to children in Bangladesh and these laws have yet to be revised to establish a unified definition of a child. Each law has specific objective and it is difficult to synchronize ages in different laws. However, a high-powered Committee has been formed to review and harmonize the national laws in line with the Convention. In addition, the legal age of criminal responsibility is a major problem in the administration of juvenile justice. The Convention and the Beijing Rules require States to establish a minimum age below which children cannot be held criminally responsible. In Bangladesh, the minimum age is now only nine years. The absence of an appropriate and effective birth registration system also presents problems in establishing a child’s age, which limits efforts to ensure their protection and enforce their rights. It is further recognized that law enforcement and legislative authorities will need to become more child-friendly.
Presentation of Report
ROKEYA SULTANA, Secretary of the Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs of Bangladesh, said that Bangladesh had had a peaceful transition to democratic rule through free, fair and impartial elections in December 2008. The new Government had laid out a vision called “Vision 2021” to build a poverty-free, liberal and progressive Bangladesh to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its independence. The implementation of that vision would take them a long way in protecting and promoting human rights for all their citizens, including children.
Bangladesh had been one of the first countries to ratify the Convention, Ms. Sultana noted, and they were striving to create an enabling environment for the full realization and enjoyment of the rights of children enshrined in it. Despite many constraints, Bangladesh had made considerable progress in its efforts to fully implement the Convention.
Bangladesh had prepared three National Plans of Actions to fulfil its national and international obligations on child rights. It was currently implementing the third National Plan of Action (2005-2010) for children. That process had facilitated greater awareness about children’s rights. The current plan of action also incorporated the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals, and Ms. Sultana observed that Bangladesh was well poised to achieve most of them. It had already attained a significantly high rate of enrolment in primary and secondary schools, both birth and death rates had gone down and life expectancy had gone up, and Bangladesh had also made big strides in reducing infant and under-five mortality rates.
Education was not only a tool for children’s development but also the most important tool to understand, assert and enjoy human rights, Ms. Sultana said, and the Government therefore placed particular emphasis on education. The education sector received the largest share of Bangladesh's annual budget. They had made primary education free and compulsory for all children. The Government’s immediate objectives were to address the issue of school dropouts, enhance the quality of education and to introduce a unified system at the primary level.
The Government further attached high priority to combating sexual abuse and exploitation of children, as well as early marriage and lack of birth registrations, Ms. Sultana added. In the area of juvenile justice, the minimum age of criminal responsibility had been increased to nine years from seven in 2004. A national task force was also working to release children from prison. The Government was further working to achieve a 100 per cent birth registration by 2011.
Turning to the issue of child labour, Ms. Sultana said that the Government was fully committed to gradually eliminating that phenomenon in all sectors. There was also a global demand to establish a national human rights institute to deal with the whole range of human rights and she was pleased to inform that a human rights commission had been established last year.
Children were becoming more and more involved in Government’s policy formulation and decision-making processes, Ms. Sultana said. Children’s opinions had been invited in the formulation of the national child labour policy and the national plan of action for children. Further, in order to realize children's rights, Government budgetary allocations had been significantly increased over the years and it had allocated substantial resources for the expansion of education, health, nutrition and social welfare sectors.
Ms. Sultana acknowledged that despite all the progress achieved, they had a long way to go towards ensuring the full realization of all the rights of children in Bangladesh. The remaining challenges required sustained action, but they also needed to be realistic in their expectations as those challenges were multifaceted and were surrounded by sensitivities and traditions, which could only be changed over a stretch of time.
Questions by Experts
AGNES AKOSUA AIDOO, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, said that the “Vision 2021” initiative was really creating an opportunity for children. The Committee was further fully aware that Bangladesh faced several challenges, especially pervasive poverty, rapid urbanization, natural disasters and certain political instability in recent years, all of which impacted on opportunities for children to realize their rights.
Ms. Aidoo said that the Committee appreciated the adoption of many legislative measures, including, among others the Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act, which combated violence against girl children and women. However, she noted that she had not found any corresponding protection for violence directed against boy children.
The Committee also acknowledged and welcomed other significant achievements, said Ms. Aidoo, including the establishment of a national human rights commission; the policy for the advancement of women of 2008 that aimed at eradicating gender disparities which seriously affected girl children, and the progress made towards achieving Millennium Development Goals two, three and four.
Turning to questions, Ms. Aidoo asked what the status of the Convention was in the county’s legal system. Could it and had it been invoked by the courts in any cases?
While welcoming the political will and high-level public commitment of the Prime Minster of Bangladesh to children’s issues, the Committee remained concerned about the effective coordination of the implementation of children’s rights, Ms. Aidoo said. Which of the national bodies tasked with children’s affairs was in charge of coordination of the implementation of the Convention? How effective was the coordination among the different sectors concerned and between the different levels of administration?
Turning to the National Human Rights Commission, Ms. Aidoo had a number of questions, including how independent it was; what happened to the reports submitted by the Commission to the President; whether the Commission was accessible to children; whether it had a children’s section; and how the Commission ensured monitoring of children’s rights countrywide? In a related question, she asked why the project to establish the office of the Children’s Ombudsman had been stalled since 2004?
Concerning cooperation with the civil society, Ms. Aidoo wondered what non-governmental organisations’ involvement was in policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation of the Convention. Also, what had been the role of the civil society in the preparation of the report to the Committee?
On resources for children, Ms. Aidoo noted that as much as 44 per cent of the national budget came from donors and external sources. What was Bangladesh doing to increase the Government’s share of the budget? Why were social services, including allocation for women and children, still the seventh priority among the nine priority budget areas? What was Bangladesh doing to combat corruption so that resources that were allocated for children’s rights and development did reach the children? Also, how did the Government monitor to ensure that budgetary allocations from national level reached the local levels that were responsible for providing the services for children?
SANPHASIT KOOMPRAPHANT, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, asked a number of questions, among others, details of the content of the national plan of action for children; whether there were any plans for training of professionals on the implementation of the Convention; and why the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Bangladesh was 9 years rather than 12 years?
On the right not to be subjected to torture, Mr. Koompraphant asked what had been done in terms of preventive measures to stop this type of violence against children, other than the enactment of criminal law?
Other Experts then raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, the status of the Convention with regard to the dual law system prevailing in the country, as both Sharia an Statutory Law were both functioning in Bangladesh. What happened when there was a conflict between those legal systems?
On the National Human Rights Commission, Experts wanted to know how the members were chosen; whether it had a sufficient budget; and whether its reports were publicly available. Regarding the right to life, one Expert noted that Bangladesh lagged behind other Asian States with regard to its infant mortality rate and, further, according to his information, numerous children died yearly due to waterborne diseases and malnutrition. What measures had been put in place to cure that anomaly, he asked?
Experts noted that there were different ages set with regard to marriage, criminal responsibility and for child labour, and asked if there was a definition of a child in terms of age in Bangladesh. Another Expert noted that persons over 16 could be sentenced to the death penalty and asked for more information on that issue. Further, how was the right of the child to be heard at divorce proceedings implemented in the country?
Response by the Delegation
Responding to these questions and others, the delegation said, with regard to the status of the Convention in their legal system, that several Acts and Laws covered most of the provisions of the Convention. The provisions missing in those instruments would be taken care of in informal consultations with the aim of revising them. Regarding the reservations made by Bangladesh to Articles 14 (freedom of thought and religion) and 21 (adoption) of the Convention, the delegation said that they had to consider the sensitivities of their people and they could not, for the moment, remove their reservations
The rights of the child were enshrined in the Constitution even before Bangladesh had ratified the Convention, as it upheld the rights of all citizens. The delegation further indicated that it was the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs that was overseeing children’s rights. There were some coordination difficulties with the other bodies also dealing with children, but they were fully aware of those difficulties and were in the process of removing them.
The delegation explained that they had focal points for children affairs in each ministry to coordinate and disseminate information with regard to what had been undertaken by each party for children’s rights, but acknowledged that the focal points should meet more often.
On the National Human Rights Commission, the delegation indicated that it was a newly formed body, it was independent but it would take some time for it to be fully operational. Children’s rights were not outside of its purview and it would consider in the future whether to create a special children’s section.
Further Questions by Experts
During the second round of questions, the co-Rapporteur for the report asked what mechanism had been set up to reach children in need. What plan did Bangladesh have to provide alternative care? Further, what special protection measures had been launched for children in disasters? On sexual exploitation, did Bangladesh plan to ratify the Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime? Would there be any enactment of specific laws on those matters?
The Rapporteur noted that there were several very important treaties that offered further protection to children, and asked if Bangladesh planned to accede to any of the key conventions and treaties that affected children? On the issue of poverty, she noted that many children were forced to work and live in slums, and asked what concrete measures the Government was undertaking to improve children’s living conditions? Also, most of the time, children were recruited for labour at the request of their parents, she noted. What was being done to prevent parents from sacrificing their children’s future?
Other Experts asked further questions including what measures and policies had been adopted to protect internally displaced and refugee children from Myanmar; how the State protected children from minority groups; what was the quality of education offered at schools and whether teachers were well trained; whether there were any alternatives to corporal punishment in schools; what the hygienic conditions were in the schools; what sort of food was available to children in schools; and whether disabled children had access to education? Another Expert asked a question on violence, in particular if there were any mechanism for children to complain of police violence?
On education, an Expert noted that 5 years of compulsory education was a very short period, as in some countries it went up to 10 years. What was the country planning to do in this regard? Were there any initiatives to help children that had dropped out of school? Was there any telephone number in the country children could call if they needed to talk?
In questions on health, Experts asked about the use of drugs and suicide by adolescents, as both seemed to be on the increase; what was being done with regard to the dissemination of information on reproductive health to adolescents; what the Government was doing to solve the problem of malnutrition; and what the Government’s policy on breastfeeding was.
Turning to issues connected with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Experts asked about the status of the special Bangladesh unit in against child trafficking and whether it still existed; and how the Government worked to prevent and punish the consumption of child pornography via electronic means.
Response by Delegation
Responding to those and other questions, the delegation said, on the cooperation of civil society, that the Government sought to involve civil society and they discussed with civil society the implementation of policies, including those linked to children. On corruption, Bangladesh had a strong anti-corruption commission and also Parliamentary Standing Committees which worked as watchdogs for each ministry.
On birth registrations, this was currently done manually and the delegation noted that they were not yet in a position to do this electronically. However, they had recently started doing an electronic voters register. They hoped to make progress in this area in the near future in order to achieve a “digital Bangladesh”.
All children born after independence were considered as Bangladeshis and the Government did not discriminate persons on any grounds, said the delegation. Also, children born from Bihari people had Bangladeshi nationality, were considered as equal citizens and enjoyed all the same rights as other children in the country.
On the imposition of the death penalty on children, the delegation said that the existing law forbade applying the death penalty to children under 16. The Government was now actively considering revising the Act to raise the age to 18 and bring it fully in line with the provisions of the Convention. However, so long as the existing law was in force there was a possibility that children between 16 and 18 were given the death penalty and no moratorium was planned for the interim period.
Turning to the issue of refugees in the country, the delegation noted that Rohingya refugees were not stateless, as they had the Myanmar nationality. However, every child born after 1971 in Bangladesh was given Bangladeshi nationality. The delegation however noted that Bangladesh was already overwhelmed with trying to provide for its own people and it could not take up all the refugees from Myanmar. That was the problem of the Myanmar people and the issue should be resolved in consultations with the Government of Myanmar. The delegation requested the help of the international community to resolve this issue.
Regarding the quality of education and teacher training, the delegation indicated that there was a lot of discussion currently going on in the country regarding the quality of education and many recognized that a lot needed to be done in order to enhance it. Consultations were ongoing between all stakeholders in that regard. They also had special programmes and special schools for disabled children in the country. They had, however, not made many strides with regard to mentally disabled children.
On the impact of the ongoing financial crisis on Bangladesh, the delegation observed that the Government was trying its best and that for the moment there were not signs of a major impact. Exports were a little bit down, but they expected it to go back to the normal level soon. The Government had taken all sorts of precautionary measures to withstand the crisis.
On education, the delegation agreed that five years of compulsory education was not much and indicated that the Government was working to bring education free up until the tertiary level in the future.
On school dropouts, the delegation said that it was near 50 per cent in primary school . To address this problem, the Government had discussed the problem with many parties and it hoped to get money to introduce scholarships for dropouts starting next year. The Government was also going to launch, next year, night schools in each district for children that worked during the day. On the student-teacher ratio, it varied from area to area; in the country it was 20 children per teacher but in urban areas the average was around 65 children per teacher.
Regarding HIV/AIDS, the delegation said that its prevalence was low in Bangladesh but the Government was aware of its potential dangers and they had good advocacy and awareness campaigns currently ongoing in the country. More generally on health, the Government was encouraging breastfeeding and was working towards raising the awareness of mothers on that issue. Although infant mortality was decreasing, it was still high in Bangladesh and they were currently working towards achieving the goal of having all births be delivered through the help of professionals. Early marriages were still prevalent in the country, and the health issues of teenage girls were considered very important. Programmes were ongoing to raise the awareness of teenage girls.
Concerning malnutrition, the delegation noted that 40 per cent of the people were living below the poverty line, earning less than $1 a day. The Government could not change the situation overnight, but with the eradication of poverty they might be able to eradicate the problem of malnutrition.
On violence against children and adolescents, the delegation indicated that the Department of Social Welfare was running centres for girls and women and there were also so-called safe-centres for women victims of violence, where they could get counselling and health support. The delegation noted that it was very difficult to reintegrate victims of violence into society as they often became depressed.
On the suicide rate of youngsters, the delegation said that the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs was going to implement a programme in this area for adolescent girls that could help lessen the suicide rate in that group.
With regard to combating trafficking in women and children, it was noted that several children were being trafficked to become “Camel Jockeys”. Police, border and coast guards had all received training with regard to trafficking and had been given specific instructions on the arrest of trafficked persons. A task force on trafficking had just been formed last week.
As for capacity-building of local Government officials and elected representatives, the delegation said that they had workshops to raise their capacity on women and children’s issues.
The delegation acknowledged that there were different ages established for criminal responsibility and marriage, and indicated that there was currently a revision of the children’s Act to move the definition of a child’s age from 16 to 18. Specifically on juvenile justice, there were currently three juvenile courts in Bangladesh and a fourth would soon be created.
On the issue of pornography, the delegation said that this was becoming an increasing issue, as mobile phones and computers were becoming more and more available to youth. They did not have any specific pornography law in the country for the moment, but that could be the case in the near future.
The delegation said that they were increasingly judges and police officers were trained on how to protect children. Women police officers were also being recruited more and more as it had been shown that women officers were the best in dealing with children.
The delegation affirmed that corporal punishment of children was prohibited by an executive Government order. Its use was decreasing, although it might still be very much prevalent in rural areas as it was an issue linked to culture and traditions.
With regard to adoption, the delegation said that the adoption of Bangladeshi children by foreigners or nationals within the country was not allowed. While there might be some isolated cases of illegal adoptions, this was not a big issue in Bangladesh, especially given the need to prioritise Bangladesh’s limited resources. On institutionalized children, the delegation said that there a visiting and review system of children’s institutions had been elaborated.
Preliminary Concluding Remarks
SANPHASIT KOOMPRAPHANT, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, in preliminary concluding remarks, observed that the Committee had received a lot of information from Bangladesh today. The Committee hoped that the revision of the children’s act would better reflect the provisions of the Convention. It had taken note of the many projects and plans the Government was undertaking on several topics, including on health and nutrition. It was, however, not clear to the Committee how children could access all those programmes. One question which remained was what support Bangladesh would need from the international community to implement the Convention.
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For use of the information media; not an official record
3 June 2009
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Introducing the report, Rokeya Sultana, Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh, said that Bangladesh had been one of the first countries to ratify the Convention. They were striving to create an enabling environment for the full realization and enjoyment of the rights of children as enshrined in the Convention. Despite many constraints, Bangladesh had made considerable progress in its efforts to fully implement the Convention. It was currently implementing the third National Plan of Action (2005-2010) for children, which incorporated the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals and Bangladesh was well poised to achieve most of those: they had already attained a significantly high rate of enrolment in primary and secondary schools; both birth and death rates had gone down; and life expectancy had gone up. They had also made big strides in reducing infant and under-five mortality rates.
The Government placed particular emphasis on education Ms. Sultana said, with the education sector receiving the largest share of the annual budget. They had made primary education free and compulsory for all children. The Government’s immediate objectives were now to address the issue of school dropouts, enhance the quality of education and to introduce a unified system at the primary level. The Government further attached high priority to combating sexual abuse and exploitation of children, as well as early marriage and lack of birth registrations. In the area of juvenile justice, the minimum age of criminal responsibility had been increased to nine years from seven in 2004. The Government was also fully committed to gradually eliminating child labour in all sectors.
In preliminary concluding remarks, Committee Expert Sanphasit Koompraphant, who served as co-Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, said that the Committee had received a lot of information today. It was hoped that the revision of the children’s act would better reflect the provisions of the Convention. The Committee had taken note of the many projects and plans the Government was undertaking on several topics, including on health and nutrition. It was however not clear how children could access all these programmes. A remaining question was what support Bangladesh would need from the international community to implement the Convention.
Other Experts raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, the national human rights commission and how it monitored the implementation of children’s rights countrywide; what Bangladesh was doing to combat corruption so that resources that were allocated for children’s rights and development reached children; whether there were plans for training of professionals on the implementation of the Convention; why the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Bangladesh had been raised only to 9 years rather than 12 years; the increase in the use of drugs and suicides by adolescents, and measures to combat those phenomena; what was being done with regard to the dissemination of information on reproductive health to adolescents; and what the Government was doing to solve the problem of malnutrition
The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 12 June 2009.
The delegation of Bangladesh also included members of the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to Geneva, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
When the Committee reconvenes on 4 June at 10 a.m. it will consider the second periodic report of Niger (CRC/C/NER/2).
Report of Bangladesh
Since Bangladesh’s ratification of the Convention in August 1990, the country has been fulfilling its commitment to establish rights of the child on different fronts, says the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh (CRC/C/BGD/4). Bangladesh prepared three National Plans of Action in 1990, 1999 and 2005 to fulfil its commitment to children. The country has made significant improvements in a number of social indicators, including reduction of under-five mortality rates, infant mortality rates, improvement in school enrolment, iodization of salt, immunization coverage, vitamin A supplementation coverage and safe drinking water supply. Disparity between boys and girls in most indicators has also been eliminated. In spite of successes, many children still remain outside the primary school system, malnutrition is a common problem and access to safe water and sanitation facilities are not adequate. Children still face violence, sexual exploitation and abuse and pollution and environmental damage take a toll on children’s health.
There are a number of laws related to children in Bangladesh and these laws have yet to be revised to establish a unified definition of a child. Each law has specific objective and it is difficult to synchronize ages in different laws. However, a high-powered Committee has been formed to review and harmonize the national laws in line with the Convention. In addition, the legal age of criminal responsibility is a major problem in the administration of juvenile justice. The Convention and the Beijing Rules require States to establish a minimum age below which children cannot be held criminally responsible. In Bangladesh, the minimum age is now only nine years. The absence of an appropriate and effective birth registration system also presents problems in establishing a child’s age, which limits efforts to ensure their protection and enforce their rights. It is further recognized that law enforcement and legislative authorities will need to become more child-friendly.
Presentation of Report
ROKEYA SULTANA, Secretary of the Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs of Bangladesh, said that Bangladesh had had a peaceful transition to democratic rule through free, fair and impartial elections in December 2008. The new Government had laid out a vision called “Vision 2021” to build a poverty-free, liberal and progressive Bangladesh to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its independence. The implementation of that vision would take them a long way in protecting and promoting human rights for all their citizens, including children.
Bangladesh had been one of the first countries to ratify the Convention, Ms. Sultana noted, and they were striving to create an enabling environment for the full realization and enjoyment of the rights of children enshrined in it. Despite many constraints, Bangladesh had made considerable progress in its efforts to fully implement the Convention.
Bangladesh had prepared three National Plans of Actions to fulfil its national and international obligations on child rights. It was currently implementing the third National Plan of Action (2005-2010) for children. That process had facilitated greater awareness about children’s rights. The current plan of action also incorporated the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals, and Ms. Sultana observed that Bangladesh was well poised to achieve most of them. It had already attained a significantly high rate of enrolment in primary and secondary schools, both birth and death rates had gone down and life expectancy had gone up, and Bangladesh had also made big strides in reducing infant and under-five mortality rates.
Education was not only a tool for children’s development but also the most important tool to understand, assert and enjoy human rights, Ms. Sultana said, and the Government therefore placed particular emphasis on education. The education sector received the largest share of Bangladesh's annual budget. They had made primary education free and compulsory for all children. The Government’s immediate objectives were to address the issue of school dropouts, enhance the quality of education and to introduce a unified system at the primary level.
The Government further attached high priority to combating sexual abuse and exploitation of children, as well as early marriage and lack of birth registrations, Ms. Sultana added. In the area of juvenile justice, the minimum age of criminal responsibility had been increased to nine years from seven in 2004. A national task force was also working to release children from prison. The Government was further working to achieve a 100 per cent birth registration by 2011.
Turning to the issue of child labour, Ms. Sultana said that the Government was fully committed to gradually eliminating that phenomenon in all sectors. There was also a global demand to establish a national human rights institute to deal with the whole range of human rights and she was pleased to inform that a human rights commission had been established last year.
Children were becoming more and more involved in Government’s policy formulation and decision-making processes, Ms. Sultana said. Children’s opinions had been invited in the formulation of the national child labour policy and the national plan of action for children. Further, in order to realize children's rights, Government budgetary allocations had been significantly increased over the years and it had allocated substantial resources for the expansion of education, health, nutrition and social welfare sectors.
Ms. Sultana acknowledged that despite all the progress achieved, they had a long way to go towards ensuring the full realization of all the rights of children in Bangladesh. The remaining challenges required sustained action, but they also needed to be realistic in their expectations as those challenges were multifaceted and were surrounded by sensitivities and traditions, which could only be changed over a stretch of time.
Questions by Experts
AGNES AKOSUA AIDOO, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, said that the “Vision 2021” initiative was really creating an opportunity for children. The Committee was further fully aware that Bangladesh faced several challenges, especially pervasive poverty, rapid urbanization, natural disasters and certain political instability in recent years, all of which impacted on opportunities for children to realize their rights.
Ms. Aidoo said that the Committee appreciated the adoption of many legislative measures, including, among others the Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act, which combated violence against girl children and women. However, she noted that she had not found any corresponding protection for violence directed against boy children.
The Committee also acknowledged and welcomed other significant achievements, said Ms. Aidoo, including the establishment of a national human rights commission; the policy for the advancement of women of 2008 that aimed at eradicating gender disparities which seriously affected girl children, and the progress made towards achieving Millennium Development Goals two, three and four.
Turning to questions, Ms. Aidoo asked what the status of the Convention was in the county’s legal system. Could it and had it been invoked by the courts in any cases?
While welcoming the political will and high-level public commitment of the Prime Minster of Bangladesh to children’s issues, the Committee remained concerned about the effective coordination of the implementation of children’s rights, Ms. Aidoo said. Which of the national bodies tasked with children’s affairs was in charge of coordination of the implementation of the Convention? How effective was the coordination among the different sectors concerned and between the different levels of administration?
Turning to the National Human Rights Commission, Ms. Aidoo had a number of questions, including how independent it was; what happened to the reports submitted by the Commission to the President; whether the Commission was accessible to children; whether it had a children’s section; and how the Commission ensured monitoring of children’s rights countrywide? In a related question, she asked why the project to establish the office of the Children’s Ombudsman had been stalled since 2004?
Concerning cooperation with the civil society, Ms. Aidoo wondered what non-governmental organisations’ involvement was in policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation of the Convention. Also, what had been the role of the civil society in the preparation of the report to the Committee?
On resources for children, Ms. Aidoo noted that as much as 44 per cent of the national budget came from donors and external sources. What was Bangladesh doing to increase the Government’s share of the budget? Why were social services, including allocation for women and children, still the seventh priority among the nine priority budget areas? What was Bangladesh doing to combat corruption so that resources that were allocated for children’s rights and development did reach the children? Also, how did the Government monitor to ensure that budgetary allocations from national level reached the local levels that were responsible for providing the services for children?
SANPHASIT KOOMPRAPHANT, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, asked a number of questions, among others, details of the content of the national plan of action for children; whether there were any plans for training of professionals on the implementation of the Convention; and why the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Bangladesh was 9 years rather than 12 years?
On the right not to be subjected to torture, Mr. Koompraphant asked what had been done in terms of preventive measures to stop this type of violence against children, other than the enactment of criminal law?
Other Experts then raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, the status of the Convention with regard to the dual law system prevailing in the country, as both Sharia an Statutory Law were both functioning in Bangladesh. What happened when there was a conflict between those legal systems?
On the National Human Rights Commission, Experts wanted to know how the members were chosen; whether it had a sufficient budget; and whether its reports were publicly available. Regarding the right to life, one Expert noted that Bangladesh lagged behind other Asian States with regard to its infant mortality rate and, further, according to his information, numerous children died yearly due to waterborne diseases and malnutrition. What measures had been put in place to cure that anomaly, he asked?
Experts noted that there were different ages set with regard to marriage, criminal responsibility and for child labour, and asked if there was a definition of a child in terms of age in Bangladesh. Another Expert noted that persons over 16 could be sentenced to the death penalty and asked for more information on that issue. Further, how was the right of the child to be heard at divorce proceedings implemented in the country?
Response by the Delegation
Responding to these questions and others, the delegation said, with regard to the status of the Convention in their legal system, that several Acts and Laws covered most of the provisions of the Convention. The provisions missing in those instruments would be taken care of in informal consultations with the aim of revising them. Regarding the reservations made by Bangladesh to Articles 14 (freedom of thought and religion) and 21 (adoption) of the Convention, the delegation said that they had to consider the sensitivities of their people and they could not, for the moment, remove their reservations
The rights of the child were enshrined in the Constitution even before Bangladesh had ratified the Convention, as it upheld the rights of all citizens. The delegation further indicated that it was the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs that was overseeing children’s rights. There were some coordination difficulties with the other bodies also dealing with children, but they were fully aware of those difficulties and were in the process of removing them.
The delegation explained that they had focal points for children affairs in each ministry to coordinate and disseminate information with regard to what had been undertaken by each party for children’s rights, but acknowledged that the focal points should meet more often.
On the National Human Rights Commission, the delegation indicated that it was a newly formed body, it was independent but it would take some time for it to be fully operational. Children’s rights were not outside of its purview and it would consider in the future whether to create a special children’s section.
Further Questions by Experts
During the second round of questions, the co-Rapporteur for the report asked what mechanism had been set up to reach children in need. What plan did Bangladesh have to provide alternative care? Further, what special protection measures had been launched for children in disasters? On sexual exploitation, did Bangladesh plan to ratify the Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime? Would there be any enactment of specific laws on those matters?
The Rapporteur noted that there were several very important treaties that offered further protection to children, and asked if Bangladesh planned to accede to any of the key conventions and treaties that affected children? On the issue of poverty, she noted that many children were forced to work and live in slums, and asked what concrete measures the Government was undertaking to improve children’s living conditions? Also, most of the time, children were recruited for labour at the request of their parents, she noted. What was being done to prevent parents from sacrificing their children’s future?
Other Experts asked further questions including what measures and policies had been adopted to protect internally displaced and refugee children from Myanmar; how the State protected children from minority groups; what was the quality of education offered at schools and whether teachers were well trained; whether there were any alternatives to corporal punishment in schools; what the hygienic conditions were in the schools; what sort of food was available to children in schools; and whether disabled children had access to education? Another Expert asked a question on violence, in particular if there were any mechanism for children to complain of police violence?
On education, an Expert noted that 5 years of compulsory education was a very short period, as in some countries it went up to 10 years. What was the country planning to do in this regard? Were there any initiatives to help children that had dropped out of school? Was there any telephone number in the country children could call if they needed to talk?
In questions on health, Experts asked about the use of drugs and suicide by adolescents, as both seemed to be on the increase; what was being done with regard to the dissemination of information on reproductive health to adolescents; what the Government was doing to solve the problem of malnutrition; and what the Government’s policy on breastfeeding was.
Turning to issues connected with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Experts asked about the status of the special Bangladesh unit in against child trafficking and whether it still existed; and how the Government worked to prevent and punish the consumption of child pornography via electronic means.
Response by Delegation
Responding to those and other questions, the delegation said, on the cooperation of civil society, that the Government sought to involve civil society and they discussed with civil society the implementation of policies, including those linked to children. On corruption, Bangladesh had a strong anti-corruption commission and also Parliamentary Standing Committees which worked as watchdogs for each ministry.
On birth registrations, this was currently done manually and the delegation noted that they were not yet in a position to do this electronically. However, they had recently started doing an electronic voters register. They hoped to make progress in this area in the near future in order to achieve a “digital Bangladesh”.
All children born after independence were considered as Bangladeshis and the Government did not discriminate persons on any grounds, said the delegation. Also, children born from Bihari people had Bangladeshi nationality, were considered as equal citizens and enjoyed all the same rights as other children in the country.
On the imposition of the death penalty on children, the delegation said that the existing law forbade applying the death penalty to children under 16. The Government was now actively considering revising the Act to raise the age to 18 and bring it fully in line with the provisions of the Convention. However, so long as the existing law was in force there was a possibility that children between 16 and 18 were given the death penalty and no moratorium was planned for the interim period.
Turning to the issue of refugees in the country, the delegation noted that Rohingya refugees were not stateless, as they had the Myanmar nationality. However, every child born after 1971 in Bangladesh was given Bangladeshi nationality. The delegation however noted that Bangladesh was already overwhelmed with trying to provide for its own people and it could not take up all the refugees from Myanmar. That was the problem of the Myanmar people and the issue should be resolved in consultations with the Government of Myanmar. The delegation requested the help of the international community to resolve this issue.
Regarding the quality of education and teacher training, the delegation indicated that there was a lot of discussion currently going on in the country regarding the quality of education and many recognized that a lot needed to be done in order to enhance it. Consultations were ongoing between all stakeholders in that regard. They also had special programmes and special schools for disabled children in the country. They had, however, not made many strides with regard to mentally disabled children.
On the impact of the ongoing financial crisis on Bangladesh, the delegation observed that the Government was trying its best and that for the moment there were not signs of a major impact. Exports were a little bit down, but they expected it to go back to the normal level soon. The Government had taken all sorts of precautionary measures to withstand the crisis.
On education, the delegation agreed that five years of compulsory education was not much and indicated that the Government was working to bring education free up until the tertiary level in the future.
On school dropouts, the delegation said that it was near 50 per cent in primary school . To address this problem, the Government had discussed the problem with many parties and it hoped to get money to introduce scholarships for dropouts starting next year. The Government was also going to launch, next year, night schools in each district for children that worked during the day. On the student-teacher ratio, it varied from area to area; in the country it was 20 children per teacher but in urban areas the average was around 65 children per teacher.
Regarding HIV/AIDS, the delegation said that its prevalence was low in Bangladesh but the Government was aware of its potential dangers and they had good advocacy and awareness campaigns currently ongoing in the country. More generally on health, the Government was encouraging breastfeeding and was working towards raising the awareness of mothers on that issue. Although infant mortality was decreasing, it was still high in Bangladesh and they were currently working towards achieving the goal of having all births be delivered through the help of professionals. Early marriages were still prevalent in the country, and the health issues of teenage girls were considered very important. Programmes were ongoing to raise the awareness of teenage girls.
Concerning malnutrition, the delegation noted that 40 per cent of the people were living below the poverty line, earning less than $1 a day. The Government could not change the situation overnight, but with the eradication of poverty they might be able to eradicate the problem of malnutrition.
On violence against children and adolescents, the delegation indicated that the Department of Social Welfare was running centres for girls and women and there were also so-called safe-centres for women victims of violence, where they could get counselling and health support. The delegation noted that it was very difficult to reintegrate victims of violence into society as they often became depressed.
On the suicide rate of youngsters, the delegation said that the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs was going to implement a programme in this area for adolescent girls that could help lessen the suicide rate in that group.
With regard to combating trafficking in women and children, it was noted that several children were being trafficked to become “Camel Jockeys”. Police, border and coast guards had all received training with regard to trafficking and had been given specific instructions on the arrest of trafficked persons. A task force on trafficking had just been formed last week.
As for capacity-building of local Government officials and elected representatives, the delegation said that they had workshops to raise their capacity on women and children’s issues.
The delegation acknowledged that there were different ages established for criminal responsibility and marriage, and indicated that there was currently a revision of the children’s Act to move the definition of a child’s age from 16 to 18. Specifically on juvenile justice, there were currently three juvenile courts in Bangladesh and a fourth would soon be created.
On the issue of pornography, the delegation said that this was becoming an increasing issue, as mobile phones and computers were becoming more and more available to youth. They did not have any specific pornography law in the country for the moment, but that could be the case in the near future.
The delegation said that they were increasingly judges and police officers were trained on how to protect children. Women police officers were also being recruited more and more as it had been shown that women officers were the best in dealing with children.
The delegation affirmed that corporal punishment of children was prohibited by an executive Government order. Its use was decreasing, although it might still be very much prevalent in rural areas as it was an issue linked to culture and traditions.
With regard to adoption, the delegation said that the adoption of Bangladeshi children by foreigners or nationals within the country was not allowed. While there might be some isolated cases of illegal adoptions, this was not a big issue in Bangladesh, especially given the need to prioritise Bangladesh’s limited resources. On institutionalized children, the delegation said that there a visiting and review system of children’s institutions had been elaborated.
Preliminary Concluding Remarks
SANPHASIT KOOMPRAPHANT, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, in preliminary concluding remarks, observed that the Committee had received a lot of information from Bangladesh today. The Committee hoped that the revision of the children’s act would better reflect the provisions of the Convention. It had taken note of the many projects and plans the Government was undertaking on several topics, including on health and nutrition. It was, however, not clear to the Committee how children could access all those programmes. One question which remained was what support Bangladesh would need from the international community to implement the Convention.
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For use of the information media; not an official record
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