World Street Children News :: Bangladesh Streetkid News

Concern over sexual exploitation of street children

Child rights activists yesterday expressed concern over the sexual exploitation of street children, saying that vested quarters are using them in pornographic movies.

There is an alarming rise in the victimisation of street girls aged between 9 and 18 by pornographers, they said and called for combined efforts of the government and NGOs to combat it.

Such movies are available in CDs and sold openly at specific areas in the city, the activists said at a press conference organised by the Incidin Bangladesh, a child rights organisation.

The organisation has taken an initiative to conduct a research on the issue and placed some recommendations to prevent sexual exploitation of children.

AKM Mustaque Ali, executive director of Incidin Bangladesh, said legal reforms and strict enforcement of laws are a must to stop production, import and distribution of child pornography.

Legal action should be taken against the producers under the Prevention of Women and Children Repression Control Act 2002, he said.

The speakers also stressed the need for strengthening the supervision and monitoring system of the law enforcing agencies to curb such activities.

They also called for raising awareness among the community members about the issue and providing support to the victims.

Advocacy Chief of the organisation Nasimul Ahsan, Coordinator of Misplaced Childhood Project Aminul Islam Khan and Coordinator of Childhood Protection Project Musfiqur Rahman were also present at the press conference held at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity auditorium.

Some 674,000 children lead sub-human life on streets

Some 674,000 children still lead sub-human life on the streets across the country although there is a government-run development project for rehabilitating such unfortunate children.

According to a survey by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), there were 674,000 street children across the country till December 2004. BIDS conducted the survey on behalf of the Department of Social Services (DSS).

‘A baseline survey conducted by the DSS in 2000 estimated that there are 429,813 street children in six divisional cities and after five years, the BIDS survey of December’04 shows that the number dropped to 389,000,’ said Shakhawat Ullah Chowdhury, divisional coordinator of the project.

He said that of the 389,000 street children in six divisional cities, 249,200 (58.8 percent) in Dhaka, 55,456 (12.7 percent) in Chittagong, 20,426 (4.7 percent) in Rajshahi, 4,174 (9.5 per cent) in Khulna, 9,771 (2.2 per cent) in Barisal and 13,165 (1.4 per cent) in Sylhet.

Chowdhury said the government officially started the project in 1998, and later in April 2000, involved different NGOs who work on child related issues with the project. The project’s target was set to rehabilitate at least 50,000 children within its first phase (2001-2006), he informed.

He said: ‘We are hundred ten percent successful in achieving the project’s target, as 66,000 street children have been rehabilitated within the 5-year period of the government’s arise project.’

But last month at a press conference Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid told the reporters, ‘According to our statistics there are about 400,000 street children in six metropolitan cities. And under the arise project, we rehabilitated around 48,000 street children of six divisional cities in last four years.’

While asked about the difference between the figures given by the social welfare minister and DSS, Shakhatwat Ullah Chowdhury said the minister referred to the statistics of 2001.

An NGO involved with the project in Dhaka said that 32,000 street children were rehabilitated in Dhaka only during last five years under the ‘Arise Project’.

There are six programmes running in six divisions under the project, the social welfare minister told reporters adding that a number of NGOs are conducting the programmes.

In Dhaka, Aparajeyo Bangla, Padakkhep Manobik Unnayan Sangstha, Samaj Paribartan Kendro and Public Services Training Centre are strongly coordinating the project’s programmes, while Jogajog in Chittagong, ACLAB in Kulna, BOST in Barisal, VARD in Sylhet and ACB in Rajshahi are performing the same task.

The project financed by the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) runs based on 12 components. The components include non-formal education, technical education, employment, legal assistance, dropping centre, community sensitisation, advocacy, awareness raising, networking, market survey, psychological health and counselling, the divisional coordinator of ‘Arise Project’ said.

Besides, he said, the government has some of its own programmes under the project like GOB best practices, innovative research, building awareness about HIV/AIDS as the street children belong to the high risk group of being affected by the deadly disease.

He mentioned that the project declared October 2 as the ‘Socially Disadvantaged Children’s Day’ considering their rights.

"Under the project, we try to teach the street children about their fundamental rights as a child, give them different technical training, arrange jobs for them, help them to go back home and various other things. We even send them to formal schools if we find any local sponsor to bear the responsibilities."

"If you look around, you will experience that children are not moving on streets at a large number as in the past. The number is reducing," the divisional coordinator said. But he cautioned that it could increase at a high rate, "if we fail to fulfil children’s fundamental rights continuously."

The second phase of the project is going to start after the first phase ends in June this year.

The second phase is proposed to be named as ‘Protection and Empowerment of Socially Disadvantaged Group’, he said adding that the second phase would run conjoining government’s ‘Arise Project’ and ‘Capacity Building Project’.

The Capacity Building project works on girls’ sexual exploitation, abuse and trafficking. The cases of the children who are staying in brothels with their mother will also be included in the second phase as a component of the project, Shakhawat Ullah Chowdhury said.

Street children continue to be victims of abuse

April 26, 2006
Mahbuba Zannat

Mita (not real name), a 15-year-old has spent nine years on the streets putting up with incessant sexual harassment by people of different ages in the society.

She had left home at six, when torture by her addicted father was intolerable.

‘Once I left my home in Mirpur 1, I have gone through a horrible nine-year stretch in Karwan Bazar and Farmgate streets, being physically and mentally harassed by males who disturbed me in different ways,’ Mita said.

‘Some would pull my scarf, touch my private parts and whenever I tried to resist them, they, like villains of a movie, would tell me that if I want to live here, I would have to bear their torture,’ she added.

Eleven-year-old Tuni’s experiences are more bitter and harrowing. She was abused by a coolie at the Shadarghat launch terminal in the middle of the night who threatened her to cut off her private parts with sharp blade, when she put up a struggle to stop him.

‘I will never be able to forget that horrible night when a fat, dark-skinned man took me near a bush under the terminal bridge and gagged and left me helpless,’ said the little girl.

This is the picture of two of the many ill-fated girls that live on the streets, living in fear of harassment and torture every night.

These girls are mainly abused by passers-by, shop owners, employees, salesmen and bus-truck drivers, and helpers along footpaths, in rail stations, bus stop or kitchen markets.

Even the boys are not safe in the streets. According to a survey conducted by Incidin Bangladesh on 100 street boys between seven and 12 years at Kamalapur last year, it was found that at least 94 percent children were victims of molestation.

Mita and Tuni have luckily found relief from the harsh reality of their lives thanks to Aparajeyo Bangladesh, an NGO that works with sexually abused street children, and are staying at the Drop in Centre (DIC) of Aparajeyo Bangladesh at Karwan Bazar.

They are going through some vocational training from and learning how to be self-dependent.

Compared to the total number of street children, around 70 are facilitated by the DIC.

According to the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) report in December 2004 a total number of street children in Bangladesh is 6,74,178 who can do nothing but put up with abuse, said Laila Anjum Ara, an official of Aparajeyo Bangladesh.

"Night shelter must be ensured especially for girls on the streets to protect them from sexual harassment," she said.

"Adults take undue advantage of the vulnerability of street children. On the pretext of providing jobs, security and shelter they tend to abuse them," said Director of Incidin Bangladesh Mostaq Ahmed.

Terming ’sexual abuse of street children’ a serious problem, Women and Children Affairs Minister Khurshid Zahan Haque told The Daily Star that it could not be resolved in a short span of time.

She attributed poverty as a reason for children to migrate to urban areas, and lauded the role NGOs are playing in the rehabilitation of sexually abused street children and motivating the community positively.

A pilot project for ‘Chinnomul Shishu Kishore Sangstha’ would be expanded in six divisions within a short period, she said.

The Social Service Department of the Ministry of Social Welfare started a project in 1999 titled Appropriate Resources for Improving Street Children’s Environment (ARISE) with nine NGOs with a view of improving the life style of street children.

But it could accommodate only 986 street children in its 22 night shelters while a total of 22, 336 street children are receiving services from drop in centres during the day, said a high official of the ARISE stressing the need for increasing night shelters for vulnerable children.

Wahida Banu, director (programmes) of Aparajeyo Bangladesh stressed the need for strengthening cooperation from governmental organisations to non-governmental organisations and law enforcers.

Meanwhile, the professional bodies and the community should be more supportive to make sexually abused street children to open up about their nightmarish experiences, she said."

Letter:

Street children

The condition of the street children is deplorable. It has become a grim issue in Bangladesh. They have no family environment. Poverty stricken socio- economic reality has led them to live in the streets. These children live as if they have no hearth and home in practical terms. They have to live under the open sky. They roam around in the city in search of livelihood. They somehow manage a room to sleep somewhere at night. But all often, they pass their rights in the street under the open sky. The streets of Gabtoli, Kamalapur, Syedabad and Sadarghat are their place of residence. They earn their livelihood by working hard. They have to do many hazardous jobs. They are low paid and deprived of education and healthcare and nutrition. They are always exploited and repressed easily. Most of the children have no family identity. They are born and brought up in the streets.

Most of them are forsaken by their parents. Some of them have either father or mother missing. They are deprived of a happy life. They suffer from the lack of education and health, care, safe water, proper food. Rupy, a street boy, who has no family identity, can’t remember about his parents. He is now twelve years old and worka as a porter at a railway station in Kamalapur. When I asked him some question to him about his life; he replied that he has to compete with other adult porters. Sometimes gets beaten up by them, if he is preferred by the passengers for his tender age and gentle looks.

When asked where does he live, he answered; that he lives and sleeps at the railway station with other little boys like him. How many times in a day does he take a meal? He answered they eat all day in one way, whatever they can buy from the money they earn at that moment. They have no fixed meal time, except for breakfast and the night’s supper. He gets paid half the amount paid to the adult porters because he can’t carry heavy baggages. Not only Rupy but there are also many children like him. The concerned authorities need to take proper steps to alleviate their suffering. All of us should also cast our deep attention to street children and think of doing something for their betterment.

Bipul Debnath

Financial Express: "AKTEL donates blankets to street children’s centre

AKTEL, one of the largest cellular service providers in country, has donated blankets to the street children’s centre - ‘Mayer Anchole,’ operated by a France based non-government organisation (NGO) working to provide shelter to innumerous street children of the greater metropolitan area.
AKTEL Managing Director Ahmad Bin Ismail handed over the blankets to Street Children’s Partner Bangladesh Project Manager Valerie Pfister at a function in the city recently.
The blanket donation was made in line with the corporate social responsibility programme of AKTEL.
AKTEL Head of Corporate Affairs Javed Tariq, corporate affairs executives Hasan Mahmud and Shahin Akhter and Local Administrator Nargis Akter Kakoli and Counsellor cum Educator of Mayer Achole Shelter Mahmud Akter were also present on the occasion."

Letter:

Street children

Sir,

In an article published in ‘The Independent’ on Friday, January 27, 2006, on page12 the top left corner, the following statements were made seemingly quoting a Bangladeshi lady referring to unwed mothers, ‘That is where all the street children come from,’ she said. ‘They are illegitimate boys and girls. They will never have a life.’ This is a misconception.

Many persons and agencies are interested in improving the condition of street children. For some time now APON has been blessed to serve street children drug addicts between the ages of 10 and 16. While some street children may come from unwed mothers, many come from what may more correctly be termed dysfunctional families. I believe it is a grave injustice to claim that ‘all the street children are illegitimate boys and girls’. In fact this not only falsely stigmatises street children, but also make the already very difficult life that most street children are living much, more difficult as it plants a pre-conceived notion among those involved with such children that these children have a socially demeaning status.

My observation is that most of the drug-addicted street children who come to APON are wearing everything they own… a filthy, dirty shirt and pants or lungis, but inside those clothes are wonderful youngsters, intelligent, alert and eager to learn and return to school and/or learn a skill in our small workshop. These youngsters are Bangladeshi assets that should not be wasted.

‘They will never have a life.’ I strongly disagree with that, because given the chance, some of the street children have and others will develop to live a good life. Surely more needs to be done for them. I think that more Bangladeshis should come forward not only with financial assistance but also to help street children with the opportunity to study and to learn a skill in order to be prepared to find suitable employment. Besides this, people should volunteer to give something that costs nothing but can fulfil one of the deepest needs of many street children, TLC, that is, Tender Loving Care.

Brother Ronald Drahozal, CSC

Director, APON

Mohammadpur, Dhaka"

Aparajeya Bangladesh trying to empower rootless youngsters

When Pakhi Akhtar was a child of five or six years, she was mercilessly beaten by her ‘Khalamma’ for whom she used to work as domestic help. The reason was that Tk 500 was missing from the house. A daughter of her employer, who was a police officer, also beat her repeatedly for the alleged theft.

She left the house and hit the streets because she had nowhere to go. A commercial female sex worker rescued her from the roads, took her to her shack in the slum, fed her and provided her with a bed. She felt affection for the little girl, treated her like a sister and tried to enable her to lead a normal life.

The kind woman was raped by seven people of her slum after she refused to hand over the little girl to one of her regular customers.

The next morning she took her ‘little sister’ to a club in Arambagh, called “Aparajeya Bangladesh”, which is run by an NGO.

Pakhi is now living a decent life, having being given some education. She works at a data entry firm and earns an adequate amount of money.

“I am confident and believe I can do many things like others who are from the privileged section of the society,” she said.

Her commitment to the betterment of the homeless has made her a social activist. She is a member of a “child brigade’, and she works with the street children to make them aware of sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS and to impart life skills to them.

Another member of the brigade is Nazma Bayati, who has earned a reputation as a painter both nationally and internationally. She won a prize of the Asian Development Bank in 2002 and dreams of setting up of an art school. Now she is receiving training from the YWMCA for establishing herself as a professional painter.

“I was on the streets, but now I am proud of my life,” said Nazma.

Financed by Unicef, Aparajeya Bangladesh has just completed a project for awareness building of the street children by peer educators. The project, which started in December 2002, was limited to Dhaka and Chittagong metropolitan areas.

During the 15-month programme, about 35,000 street children and community people have been contacted to build awareness about HIV/AIDS. A team of 50 trainers, who are called “Child Brigade”, have completed the job successfully.

Aparajeya Bangladesh’s main targets are the street children who are abused by the peers and adults, are forcefully involved in sex with adults, who have a history of sufferings from STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and also those who are at risk of abuse on the streets.

Nazma said during the 15-month programme she had to suffer police harassment and persecution by local hoodlums. “But we have overcome all troubles and finally made them understand the positive outcomes of the programme.”

Mohammed Mamun, another member of the brigade, was teaching his street friends at the Karwan Bazar on Sunday about the risks of HIV/AIDS. He is very popular with his students, who collect vegetables from the kitchen market and sell them to keep body and soul together.

According to him, the street children are dangerously exposed to sexual abuse by adults, especially in the workplace and on the streets.

“I know the real situation as I was on the streets for years. So I know that the risk of spreading HIV among the street children is very high,” he said.

“We have proved that street children are not liabilities, rather they can be made into assets of the society,” said Wahida Banu, director (programmes) of Aparajeya Bangladesh.

She explained to New Age that social backwardness and negative attitudes of the community people create a serious problem in working for the betterment of the street children.

“To address this issue we are trying to involve different communities with our work so that the street children can have a safe environment to live in,” she said. She said they are going to take up a countrywide project very soon with the help of the World Bank.

Project Manager Basudeb Maitra Basu told New Age that continuation of such a project is important so that the ‘created resource’ could not be lost due to lack of support. “We should avoid a project-based approach and take up a long-term institutional approach for better results.”

Bangladesh-children: Disease haunts lonely street children of Bangladesh

Agence France-Presse - March 3, 2003
Nadeem Qadir

DHAKA, March 3 (AFP) - When he was a baby, Khokon was found abandoned by a couple and taken in. When he was 11, they put him on a ferry to Dhaka and told him to earn his own bread.

"I don’t have any family identity. I don’t know what affection or love is," Khokon, now 15, said with a laugh. "But I survive, I’ve learned to survive."

For Dhaka’s massive population of street children, life on their own means they are not only deprived of a family’s love and support, but are at risk to diseases that can kill them or cause permanent damage if not treated.

Khokon is one example.

"I had scabbies all over my body and they bled due to scratching, but I didn’t have any money to go to a doctor," he said.

"I treated it with some cream I bought from a vendor, but it didn’t go away."

But the rashes that once covered him are now gone, after he found help at Street Children Partners-Bangladesh.

The French non-governmental organisation has been trying to address both sides of the trauma for these children, providing them psychological comfort and also treatment for the diseases they face.

The boys and girls are separated in each session, where a doctor shows them pictures of different illnesses they could be suffering.

"Do you know this disease?" he asks. "Does anyone want to be treated?"

The children are often shy about admitting they are sick. But as they gain trust in the doctor, some of them whisper to him that they know too well about the diseases in the pictures.

Marjorie Unal, who heads Street Children Partners-Bangladesh, said the NGO recently organised a week to study street children’s health — and was shocked at what it found.

"Doctors found out that they not only had different types of skin disease, but also some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), she said.

"It’s amazing how children who are yet to reach their teens were infected with STDs."

While UN estimates put the number of HIV-positive Bangladeshis at a relatively minor 13,000, doctors worry that street children are at risk to an array of diseases because of their sexual behaviour.

"The problem with street children is they are exposed to diverse groups of people and thus get infected with different kinds of diseases, some of which can be fatal if untreated," said Mustafa Abdur Rahim, a doctor who works with such children.

Hepatitis and syphillis have already killed street children who did not seek treatment in time, he said.

"These children commonly suffer from scabbies, hepatitis and diarrhoea and have worms," said Harun-ur-Rashid, who works with another NGO, Chinnomool Shishu Kishore Sangstha.

Bangladesh has seen a dramatic increase in the number of street children. >From 2.5 million in 1974, some 6.9 million children between ages five and 14 lived on the street in 2000, according to the International Labour Organisation.

A large part of the problem, experts say, is that street children are out of the usual health net, including immunisation drives.

Every year about 20,000 children die of measles and 8,000 babies die of tetanus, while another 1.8 million children are at risk to other diseases because they had not taken shots, said an official at the government’s primary health care directorate.

NGOs hope they can curb the disease afflicting street children by making them aware of the risks in the lifestyles they have been sucked into.

"If they know how they can stay away from these diseases, it could help a lot," said Unal.