Fundamental Rights for Children - Conteporary Issues

Contemporary Issues

Most of the parents accept without question a range fundamental rights for children. I think, there would be little disagreement, for example, that on the basis of equality of opportunity children have the right to life, to give education, to freedom from discrimination, the right to protection from sexual protection from sexual exploitation, from abduction and from violence and abuse. For this reason, at first we should know what is meant by equal opportunity and how to implement this term in various sectors.

According to Bruce and Meggit (1999), "Equality of opportunity means opening up access for every child and family to full participation in early childhood service." (Bruce, T., Meggit, C, 1999, p.1)

"Why did you come, O girl, When we wished for a boy? Take the jar and fill it from the sea.

May you fall into it and drown." (Bangladeshi ancient folk song)

From her first cry at birth, a girl child has to battle traditional preferences for boys. At the birth of a boy in Muslim household, the parents give azan- a call for prayers. This signifies a kind of joy and thankfulness to the Almighty. For the birth of a girl, no azan is called. And the traditional discrimination takes off from this very moment.

The UN Child Rights Convention (CRC) defines a child as "every person under the age of 18 years." On current figures, this group represents 45 percent of the population of Bangladesh or 56 million children. In accordance with the definition, all laws, policies and practices, which relate to children must apply to persons up to and including the age of 17 years. On the other hand, ILO defines child who has the age limit less than 15 years. In Bangladesh there is no single definition of a child for all purposes. The definition varies between different policies and laws. The National Children Policy of our country, for example, includes persons under the age of 14, and the majority of statues providing protection to children (in relation to work), give such protection up to an age often considerably lower than 17 years, in some cases as low as 11 years. Another factor is the general cultural perception that childhood ends quite earlier than the age of 18. These inconsistencies with the Convention and between the statues and policies mean that many children who should be enjoying protection under the convention have been left out in this spirit of casualness.

Right from her birth, a girl child is the victim of discrimination and neglect in Bangladesh. Parents, relatives, in fact the society as a whole, give more attention and care to a male child. Even the culture of Bangladesh favors the birth of a male child. Parents prefer sons to daughters because the sons are generally thought to be economically more productive than daughters. They are neglected in food sharing, education, work, independent thinking, right to property, choice and matters of decision- making.

There is a close link between poverty and the devaluation of girls. Because many girls marry and leave their families when they are still children, parents often do not consider educating them to be worth the investment. They are not measured or counted in national statistics and thus have no official impact. In truth, this work has enormous value. It gives the opportunity to the father often a mother to work for wages to pay for a boy's education.

Usually births of children are attended by female family members with the help of perhaps an untrained villager or friend. Fewer than 10% of rural births and 45% of urban births are attended by trained persons. Within hors of birth, 12 out of 1,000 children born alive die, eight of them for birth injuries, often caused by untrained attendants, three because of pre-maturity and one for other causes. Low birth weight babies have a high risk of mortality. Approximately, a third to a half of all newborns have a birth weight of less than 2,500 grams which is far below than the standard birth weight. Maternal malnutrition, infections during pregnancy, anaemia and closely spaced pregnancies are contributory factors for this low birth weight.

For the first few months of life, the mortality rate for girls is lower than for boys. This is the norm around the world. But unlike most countries, in Bangladesh, at seven or eight months of age, the growth of the girl begins to falter and her mortality rate becomes higher than that of the boys. There are a number of reasons for this reversal in trend. First, once weaning begins, girl babies are given less food than boys. That put them at a greater risk for malnutrition and disease.

The Bangladeshi government has adopted policies and strategies for implementing an MCH (Mother And Child Health Care) program, giving priority to EPI, ORT and Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) programs for ensuring safe delivery practices.The objectives of the MCH programs are as follows:

* Reduce maternal mortality from 7 to 4.5 per 1000 live births.

* Reduce infant mortality from 110 to 80 per 1000 live births.

* Reduce neonatal mortality from 84 tom 65 per 1000 births.

* Ensure access of women to health care during pregnancy, during delivery to trained persons.

* Reduce mortality, morbidity and disability from early childhood infections diseases through immunizations.

* Reduce mortality and morbidity due to diarrheal diseases and malnutrition.

* Develop self-sufficient MCH care as a part of primary health care and

* increase coverage of comprehensive services to mother and children.

Side by side with Government, the NGOs and private sectors are playing an important role in providing health services, especially to mothers and children. The Government of Bangladesh has acknowledged the importance of government, private and NGO partnership to meet this challenge.

The ILO has become to recognize domestic labor of girls as one of the most widespread and pernicious forms of child labor. Domestic workers are perhaps the largest group of child workers in the world, performing work that hidden, unvalued and uncounted. In Dhaka, almost 300,000 children work as domestic servants. A UNICEF study revealed that their average age is 5-10 years and that they work on an average 16 hours each day. 25% of the employers reported that they beat their child domestics. In a countrywide