Recognizing child maltreatment in Bangladesh

Concern is increasing in Bangladesh over child abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Children from all walks of life are being treated at the Child Development Center (CDC) Dhaka Shishu Hospital for neurodevelopmental problems resulting from abuse and neglect. Efforts to protect children from sexual harassment result in girls being isolated at home or married at an early age. Some young brides are eventually abandoned and forced into prostitution. Early marriage reflects the lack of acknowledgement of a period of adolescence and the belief that puberty is a marker of adulthood. Many girls aged 8-16 are employed as live-in domestic servants, and many suffer sexual as well as emotional abuse. Garment factories, on the other hand, offer girls an escape from extreme poverty, domestic service, and early marriage but are threatened by forces that condemn child labor. Rather than ending such opportunities, employers should be encouraged to provide employees with educational and welfare facilities. The CDC seeks to explore the extent and depth of the problem of child abuse while recognizing the special circumstances at work in Bangladesh. It is also necessary to raise awareness of these issues and of the discrepancies between the law and cultural practices. For example, the legal marriage age of 18 years for a woman and 21 years for a man is often ignored. Additional forms of abuse receiving the attention of women's organizations and human rights groups include the trafficking of children. A network of concerned organizations should be created to work against the child abuse, neglect, and exploitation that Bangladesh has pledged to overcome by signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.