Violence against children alarming in 2017: BSOF reports

Staff Correspondent

Violence against children, especially child killing and rape, increased alarmingly in the past year in comparison with the year before, said a report on ‘state of child rights in Bangladesh’ published by Bangladesh Shishu Odhikar Forum (BSOF) on Monday.

The organisation published the report, a review of reports on child issues published in 10 national dailies throughout the year, at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the capital.

Reading out the report, the Forum director, AS Mahmood, said that the country witnessed an average of 28 child killings and 49 child rapes a month in 2017 amid a ‘culture of impunity and delay in justice system’. ‘A total of 3,845 children were victims of violence and oppression and, of them, 1,710 were victims of different types of unnatural deaths while 894 faced sexual violence in 2017,’ he said.

In 2016, he said, a total of 3,589 children were victims of violence and oppression and, of them, 1,441 were victims of different types of unnatural deaths and 686 faced sexual violence in 2017,’ he said.

He said that a total of 339 children were killed and 593 were raped in 2017, an increase by 28 per cent and 33 per cent respectively than those in 2016. The report showed that incidents of gang-rape, rape of disabled children, attack by stalkers and making obscene videos of children and uploading them on social media increased in 2017.

In 2017, different courts announced verdicts of 44 child killing cases, 32 child rape cases and six child abduction cases but, barring four or five, all the incidents happened between 2010 and 2014 or before, the report said.

It said that 213 children committed suicide in 2017, up by 43 per cent than 2016.

Four children were killed in political violence in 2017. The number was six in 2016, the report said.

According to the report, 70 children were gang-raped, 44 disabled children were raped, 22 children were killed after rape, 7 children committed suicide after being raped, 90 children were sexually harassed, 62 were injured in attacks by stalkers and 26 children were victims of pornography in 2017, all increased in number than the previous year. The highest 67 child rapes were committed in Dhaka, followed by 28 in Gazipur and 24 in Narayanganj, the report showed.

In 2017, a total of 17 unidentified abandoned newborns were found while 24 unidentified abandoned newborns were found dead as per the report of the forum, a network of 269 non-governmental organisations.

The report suggested speedy trial of the cases related to violence against children, exemplary punishment of the perpetrators, early execution of the verdicts, ensuring safety of the plaintiffs, victims and the prosecution witnesses for improving the child rights situation.

Addressing the programme, National Human Rights Commission chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque said that the oppressors seldom fear the law as their punishment could not be ensured and that they knew that they would enjoy impunity after committing an offence. 

He stressed the need for formulating rules of Child Act 2013 for its implementation. Reazul urged strict monitoring by Election Commission so that no political party could use children in political programmes.

• Courtesy: New Age, Jan 09 2018