COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD REVIEWS SECOND PERIODIC REPORT OF BANGLADESH

30 September 2003

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the second periodic report of Bangladesh on how that country was implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Presenting the report, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, said that the Government had been working to prioritise, mainstream and implement children’s rights despite the many challenges faced by the country. Children were now higher on the public and political agenda than ever before.
Mr. Siddiqui said that since the initial report of State, more progress had been made on the children of Bangladesh than in any other comparable period. A movement around children and with children was being reflected in the inclusion of children’s rights in policies and programmes. Despite the positive steps, challenges in implementing the Convention in the country still remained.
Lothar Friedrich Krappmann, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, said there were a number of constraints that impeded the full implementation of the provisions of the Convention in Bangladesh, among which were natural disasters and scarcity of resources.
Mr. Krappmann said that although the Committee noted the positive trends with high appreciation, it could not disregard that many unfavourable aspects concerning children persisted. The health state of too many children was far from satisfactory; about half of the children demonstrated nutritional deficits; illiteracy rates were still far too high; and the number of sexual assaults against girls was absolutely unacceptable, he added.
In preliminary remarks, Mr. Krappmann said the Government had made massive efforts to improve the living conditions of children, but the efforts should not demand only monitoring, coordinating and enacting laws but also changing attitudes and societal patterns against children.
Also representing Bangladesh were Toufiq Ali, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Md. Asaduzzaman, Secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs; Ferdous Ara Begum, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs; Altaf Hossain, Deputy Chief, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education; Rabab Fatima, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh, Geneva; and Hamidul Haque, Chairman, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (Child Rights Forum).
As one of the 192 States parties to the Convention, Bangladesh must provide the Committee with periodic reports on how it is implementing the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 1 October, it is scheduled to review the second periodic report of Georgia (CRC/C/104/Add. 1).
Report of Bangladesh
The second periodic report of Bangladesh (CRC/C/65/Add.22) provides information on the State party’s efforts since the Committee considered its initial report in 1997. It notes that the process of monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Bangladesh has led directly to the introduction of some important new programmes. Serious lacunae highlighted by the Committee in its concluding observations on Bangladesh’s initial report prompted the Government to develop and launch new interventions in the field of birth registration, juvenile justice and child rights awareness.
The report further notes that in the area of health, increases have been achieved immunization coverage and vitamin A supplementation along with an improvement in children’s nutritional status, while child mortality rates, diarrhoeal diseases and fertility rates have been reduced. In education, the main success was a substantial increase in primary school net enrolment among girls and boys, due in large part to the increased budgetary allocation to the education sector over recent years.
The report says that a National Plan of Action for Children has been adopted to run in parallel with the Government’s Fifth Five-Year Plan of 1997 to 2002. The framework for the Plan is provided by a series of commitments for children made by the Government at the international, regional and national levels.
Presentation of Report
KAMAL UDDIN SIDDIQUI, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, said that by ratifying the Convention as early as 1990, his Government had been among the first countries to express its commitment to the promotion and protection of children’s rights. Since acceding to the treaty, the Government, with the support of UN agencies, civil society, children and development partners, had been working to prioritise, mainstream and implement children’s rights despite the many challenges facing the country. Children were now higher on the public and political agenda than ever before.
In its commitment to take appropriate measures to reduce poverty, the Government had worked with its development partners and civil society to prepare the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Mr. Siddiqui said. The Paper had reiterated the Government’s commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and had enabled it to receive continued assistance from the multilateral organizations. The next National Plan of Action for Children would also be prepared in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
Mr. Siddiqui said the Government had repealed the much-criticised anti-human rights Public Safety Act and a new law on the speedy trial of major offences had been enacted in November 2002. In the area of protecting the rights of a child to survival, the State was still confronted with challenges: the infant mortality rate had decreased slightly over the last few years. The under-5 mortality rate had fallen from 92 per thousand in 1998 to 82 per thousand in 2001. Despite those improvements, every year over 360,000 children died before they reached the age of five. Neonatal deaths still made up about two thirds of the infant mortality rate. The leading causes of neonatal deaths in the country were low birth weight and pre-term delivery.
A survey in 2001 had revealed major gaps in the knowledge and practices of early childhood care and development, particularly relevant for psycho-social development of the child. Despite definite improvements over the years, about one-third of parents and guardians interviewed reported using physical punishment as a means to discipline their children. More effort was required to ensure that parents developed loving and caring skills, created a stimulating environment, and promoted children’s self-esteem and confidence, particularly among girls.
Until recently, adolescence was not widely recognized in Bangladesh as a distinct phase of life, Mr. Siddiqui continued. That was especially true in relation to girls, for whom early marriage remained a critical concern, despite the existence of a law preventing marriage of girls before 18 years of age. About 5 per cent of girls aged 10 to 14 years and 48 per cent of girls aged 15 to 19 years were currently married. The Statewide girls stipend programme was now having a positive impact in that regard. Domestic violence remained a problem for the security of adolescent girls and women. Acid throwing, kidnapping, sexual coercion, and induced suicide and rape were also concerns.
Mr. Siddiqui said since the initial report of the State, more progress had been made for the children of Bangladesh than in any other comparable period. A movement around children and with children was being reflected in the inclusion of children’s rights in policies and programmes: the participation of children in the decisions affecting their lives; the campaign on birth registration; the development of a National Plan of Action to improve the situation of children; and the countless initiatives to enhance the national capacity and involve communities and families in identifying and addressing major problems affecting children’s lives. Despite those positive steps, challenges in implementing the Convention in the country still remained. There was still a long way to go before the values of equity, solidarity, social justice and non-discrimination were fully upheld, before all decisions were fully guided by the best interest of the child, and before children stopped being abused and exploited.
Discussion
LOTHAR FRIEDRICH KRAPPMANN, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, welcomed the delegation and expressed his gratitude for the well-written and most instructive report. He admired the frank way in which the report addressed the abundance of problems. He said that there were a number of constraints that impeded the full implementation of the provisions of the Convention, among which were natural disasters, scarcity of resources, ecological calamities, and the negative consequences of missing international agreements on fair trade regulations.
Mr. Krappmann said education was compulsory and tuition-free for the five years of primary school. Yet, not all children under the obligation to attend school went to school. However, it was noted that the net enrolment rate in primary school increased from 64 per cent in 1990 to 82 per cent in 2001, and also clearly increased in secondary education. Concerning nutrition, the number of underweight infants had fallen from 72 per cent in 1985 to 51 per cent in 2000, and the number of infants with stunted growth had decreased from 69 per cent to 49 per cent in the same period. Also, infant and mother mortality had been reduced.
Although the Committee noted the positive trends with high appreciation, it could not disregard that many unfavourable aspects regarding children persisted, Mr. Krappmann said. The health state of too many children was far from satisfactory; about half of the children demonstrated nutritional deficits; illiteracy rates were still far too high; and the number of sexual assaults against girls was absolutely unacceptable.
SAISUREE CHUTIKUL, the Committee Expert who acted as country co-rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, asked who was monitoring the implementation of the provisions of the Convention? Was the National Plan of Action a comprehensive rights-based programme? Why did the society consider children as objects instead of subjects of rights? Children and women ate last, which resulted in nutritional deficiency due to inadequacy of food. With regard to education, the maximum age for compulsory education was set at 10, which was very low.
Other Committee Experts also raised a number of queries under the main subjects of general measures of implementation; definition of the child; and general principles. They asked, among other things, about the composition of the population, including the situation of ethnic and minority groups; the use of Bangladeshi children as camel jockeys in the Gulf countries; acts of coercion of girl children into prostitution; the extent of child labour; the status of children born out of wedlock; discrimination between men and women in transmitting their nationality to their children; lack of data on indigenous children; the State’s relationship with non-governmental organizations; the budgetary allocation for child rights; and the progress made on the State party’s reservations.
Responding, the members of the delegation said the State party had made two reservations on the Convention, on the freedom of religion and adoption. The reservation on adoption was made because of the Islamic practices of guardianship, which served the interest of children. The Government would like to follow the form of adoption admitted by Islam – guardianship. With regard to the freedom of religion, since children were expected to follow the religion of their parents, it had been necessary for the State to make reservations on the issue. The reservations were made on article 14, paragraph 1 on freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and on article 21 on adoption.
In the preparation of the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, the amount of budgetary allocation for children had been considered, the delegation said. The Government was also making efforts to convert the Paper into a full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper focusing on child rights.
There was discrimination against Bangladeshi mothers who could not transmit their nationality to their children from foreign fathers, the delegation said. Many such cases had been referred to the Supreme Court, which had redressed the situation.
There were no distinctions among the Bangladeshi people, the delegation said, adding that there was no such thing as “indigenous” Bangladeshis which had a discriminatory connotation. All the people had equal rights and obligations. There were many different groups living in the mountain areas and they were treated equally with the rest of the population. The Government had implemented the tribal educational system in the languages of each individual group.
Non-governmental organizations contributed in the State party’s efforts to promote and protect the rights of the child, the delegation said. In programmes in which children participated, NGOs were always present and assisted in their implementation. A nation-wide programme on the issue of child labour had been launched with the participation of NGOs.
Committee Experts continued to raise questions under the main issues of civil rights and freedoms; family environment and alternative care; basic health and welfare; education, leisure and cultural activities; and special protection measures. Questions were asked about raising the maximum age of compulsory education; the prohibition of corporal punishment; police brutality against street children; sexual abuse of children; birth registration; the outcome of the conference on camel jockeys held in Bangladesh; the situation of HIV/AIDS; the norms for religious schools; child labour in the informal sector; and the rate of dropouts and suicide among the youth, among other things.
Responding, the Bangladeshi delegation said that the country maintained good relations with Myanmar and that the refugees from that country had been treated according to the convention relating to refugees. In the past, many of them had returned to their country on a voluntary basis. Concerning refugees claiming to be Pakistanis, the Government had not taken any measures affecting their well-being. No harm had come to those who desired to remain in Bangladesh, and they were integrated through work and marriage with nationals.
In order to raise the mortality rates, the Government had expanded clinics and other medical centres to provide services to the community, the delegation said. Further resources had been allocated to sustain health care services.
Concerning cases of child drowning, the delegation said that they were due to incidents involving water transportation when boats capsized in rivers or the sea. Drowning of travellers, mainly of them children, was caused by storms and hurricanes that capsized sailing boats.
The campaign for birth registration had been successful, the delegation said. As of today, over 5 million children between 1 to 5 years of age had had their birth registered at a very low cost. New enabling and demand-generating legislation would soon go to the parliament, and the campaign strategy in that regard would also be strengthened.
The Government had carried out positive discrimination in favour of tribal people, the delegation said. All measures concerning the tribal people were aimed at protecting and promoting their rights as Bangladeshi citizen.
Responding to a question on why the number of HIV/AIDS victims was so low in comparison to other countries, the delegation said that the use of condoms by individuals and the high level of consciousness of the virus within the society had reduced the rate of infection.
The Government had taken a series of measures against the culture of domestic and societal violence concerning girl children and women, the delegation said. The authorities were attempting to create a situation of zero-tolerance through the implementation of different measures. Awareness increasing programmes had been launched against violence; and victims had been rehabilitated while perpetrators had been punished.
A Ministry had been established to coordinate migration and to monitor situations in which persons became victims of trafficking, the delegation said. With regard to camel jockeys, the Government had taken measures to control the situation through the Ministry of Migration.
With the help of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Government had developed a social policy paper for children deprived of liberty which would be sent to Parliament for approval, the delegation said. Under the justice system, a legal fund had been established to rehabilitate detained children.
Education had been made compulsory for children aged between 6 and 10 in 1990, the delegation said. The Government had been surveying the quality of education in order to raise the age limit. A number of schools were under construction in view of admitting more students, with the help of international assistance. No school fees were paid in the primary and secondary schools. Textbooks were supplied free of charge until fifth grade.
The number of school dropouts was high both in the primary and secondary schools, the delegation said. The Government was providing financial incentives to parents to send their children to school.
There were 440,000 street children in Bangladesh, the delegation said, adding that both the Government and non-governmental organizations had been providing health care services to them. They were also included in programmes aimed at rehabilitating them. As in many developing countries, police officers were not kind to street children. Police officers were being educated on how to treat citizens, particularly street children. Former police officers were helping to educate their serving counterparts.
The law on the establishment of the office of the Ombudsman had already been approved by the parliament, and its legal framework would be completed soon, the delegation said.
Asked about legal measures against parents who abandoned their children, the delegation said there was no criminal provision on child abandonment and that even if it existed, the issue of implementation would be difficult. Many good laws still remained on the shelves without effective measures being taken to implement them.
The law on vagrancy had been aimed at preventing people from coming from rural into urban areas, the delegation said, adding that it was enacted in the 1940s by the colonial authorities. The Bangladeshi Government had now repealed the law.
The religious schools were being modernized in a way similar to the steps taken by Indonesia where the madrassas were being reformed to include normal and secular educational programmes, the delegation said. The authorities were making efforts to inject the educational curriculum with vocational training that would enable the children to integrate in the society later on.
All police stations were instructed not to detain children with adults, the delegation said. Additional funds were made available to create three categories of detention: for men, women and children. In many prisons, children had been segregated from adult inmates and within the coming years, further measures would be undertaken concerning children. At present, there were 11,000 child prisoners in the country, and the Government would do all it could to free all child prisoners from the country’s prisons.
Preliminary Remarks
LOTHAR FRIEDRICH KRAPPMAN, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Bangladesh, thanked the delegation for the good and substantive report. Many frank, open and competent answers had been provided by the delegation as well. The Committee was now well equipped with knowledge about the children of Bangladesh. The Committee was encouraged by the measure to distribute stipends to motivate students to remain in school.
Mr. Krappmann said there were still serious problems concerning child and mother mortality rates, rape, and crimes of violence against the girl child. The number of children working in the informal sector was also a concern. The Government had made massive efforts to improve the living conditions of children. The efforts did not demand only monitoring, coordinating and enacting laws but also changing attitudes and societal patterns against children.
Delegation’s Remarks
KAMAL UDDIN SIDDIQUI (Bangladesh) thanked the members of the Committee for their warm hospitality and frank discussion about his country’s situation concerning children. His delegation had learnt a great deal from the Committee. Upon their return, the members of the delegation would encourage all concerned authorities to take concrete measures in order to continue giving effect to the provisions of the Convention in collaboration with the UN agencies.