Our Report Towards Our Bangladesh

Bangladesh signed onto the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child in 1990.  By signing on, the Government of Bangladesh is committing to improve the child rights situation in the country so that children’s rights under the Convention are realised.

Part of the obligations of signing onto the Convention is the obligation to report every five years to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (known as the Committee) on the progress in attaining the child rights standards.

Once the report is submitted by the Government, the community is allowed to submit its own reports, known as Alternative Reports, to the same Committee.

In this project, Save the Children will write an Alternative Report in 2011 but, with the view that children have the right to express themselves, the report will be written with significant input by children.  It will enable children to express their views on the situation facing children in Bangladesh, and raise what they think are the most important issues, such as child labour, child marriage and child trafficking.

It will also develop networks in all 64 districts of Bangladesh with other children interested in child rights issues.

Listen to Children’s Voices (LCV)

During the last two years, the Listen to Children’s Voices project has worked to build the influence of grassroots children’s organisations and to raise their issues with duty bearers for action and enforcement.  Its aims are to strengthen child rights initiatives at local, district and national levels, and increase government and non-government collaboration on child rights issues.

As part of the project, National Children’s Task Force (NCTF) groups and committees have been formed in all 64 districts.  NCTF members now monitor child rights issues across Bangladesh.  The National Child Parliament, a national level platform of NCTF, plays an active role in raising the consciousness of duty bearers on child rights issues. 

Our program is made up of children from all walks of life and all provinces in Bangladesh, providing a forum to formulate child-friendly policies based on their research. Recently, there have been three major achievements:

• The Ministry of Education banned all forms of corporal punishment in Bangladeshi educational institutions.

• The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education proposed to submit a Bill that will include education as a fundamental right in the Constitution of Bangladesh.

• During Child Rights Week, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh declared a stop to the involvement of children in all political demonstrations. These were all achieved as a result of Child Parliament activities.

"I was proud of the research done, especially on the situation of the socially excluded groups. If those involved in the Child Parliament continue to work with sincerity and dedication, then it is possible to bring about radical change in the child rights situation of Bangladesh," said Monir, Child Parliamentarian from Bangladesh.

9th Child Parliament session held on ‘Health Care and Governance'

The 9th Child parliament session on ‘Health Care and Governance' was held on 18th December 2011 at BIAM Auditorium, Dhaka. Prof. (Dr.) Syed Modasser Ali, Honorable Advisor to the Prime Minister for Health & Family Welfare and Social Welfare Affairs, was present as the Honorable Chief Guest.

Around 80 child parliamentarians including representatives from socially excluded groups of children attended the session. Representatives from NGOs/ CSOs and media were also present in the session. The session was jointly organized by Manusher Jonno Foundation, Plan Bangladesh and Save the Children.

The Child Parliament members raised different issues regarding health care including the variance of fees charged by doctors, unhygienic health care centres, lack of access to quality health services of marginalized children and others. They also presented some recommendations which focused on government having proper guidelines for the fees doctors can charge, ensuring clean and hygienic health centres and providing quality health services for all.

The Honorable Chief Guest gave a patient hearing to the child parliamentarians' issues and recommendations and said that he had learnt a lot by coming to the session. He said that whatever the children were saying were their ‘rights' and not ‘privileges'. He was highly impressed by the evidence-based points the children raised and invited them to the Prime Minister's Office on 19th December 2011 to discuss further with them.