Sunday, December 24, 2006
Is it Poltical Commitment
Speakers in a conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh stressed on poltical commitment of the Government to stop child trafficking. Daily Star reports on December 21, 2006 that "a total of 71 people have been punished since the year 2004 due to their involvement in child trafficking and 394 have been arrested". This number seems low as a lot of trafficking cases go unreported to the Authority.
Read more!
Domestic Violance in Bangladesh
Children are at risk when they face domestic violence. In Bangladesh, we still ignore domestic violence as a social problem. Read this article at Daily Star journal on domestic violence. The author, a law student in Bangladesh, writes in his article, "Almost all of civil and criminal laws of Bangladesh deal with violence against women committed within general community by strangers with few exceptions e.g. dissolution of marriage, dowry related violence, dower, maintenance, guardianship and custody. Present laws are ignorant about issues of sexual abuse e.g. marital rape, verbal or psychological or economic abuse caused by domestic violence and also fail to provide adequate remedy. High probability of non-conviction of accused under existing laws lowers rate of filing cases comparing total incidents of domestic violence". Definitely, we've to go a long way to counter domestic violence.
Read more!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Smile for a child, then end poverty
This is a very powerful video presented in the youtube. Watch this documentary to enroll yourself to fight world poverty.
Read more!
Read more!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
US Responses to fight human trafficking in Bangladesh
United States is offiering huge technical and financial resources in Bangladesh to fight human trafficking. There are a lot of technical reports that put in place by US initiative. As a child welfare professional, I'm really grateful to US respone. If you'd like to go through all the resources, please go to USAid Bangladesh page.
Read more!
Saturday, July 8, 2006
State of Human Trafficking in Bangladesh
In the recent years, Bangladesh has shown tremendous progress in combatting human trafficking. Even though, we need to take a lot of active measure to fight human trafficking in Bangladesh. Please review the annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2006 the US State Department. I've copied the Bangladesh section of the Report for readers:
"Bangladesh is a source and transit country for men, women, and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, child camel jockeying, and debt bondage. Women and children from Bangladesh are trafficked to India and Pakistan for sexual exploitation. Bangladeshi women migrate legally to Gulf states--Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the U.A.E., and Saudi Arabia--for work as domestic servants, but often find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude. In addition, Bangladeshi boys are trafficked to the Gulf to serve as camel jockeys and internally as bonded laborers in the fishing industry. Women and girls from rural areas are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Burmese women trafficked to India for sexual exploitation transit Bangladesh.
The Government of Bangladesh does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Bangladesh continued to make progress on efforts initiated two years ago. The government repatriated 166 child camel jockeys from the U.A.E., rescued 160 children from bonded labor in the fishing industry, launched a broad public awareness campaign, and provided anti-trafficking training to border guards and diplomats. Despite these achievements, Bangladesh continues to face a significant internal and international trafficking problem. Bangladesh should assign greater priority and resources to its law enforcement response to trafficking. It should also institute programs to protect witnesses.
Prosecution The Government of Bangladesh sustained efforts to punish traffickers in 2005, prosecuting 87 cases and convicting 36 traffickers -- 27 of whom received life sentences. Although the number of prosecutions increased over 2004, the number of convictions declined. Police also arrested 150 alleged traffickers. Notably, Bangladesh began prosecutions against child camel jockey traffickers. Although a lack of resources hinders investigations, Bangladesh expanded anti-trafficking police units to every district to encourage victims to testify against their traffickers and to compile data on trafficking. In response to inadequately trained police and prosecutors, the government worked with legal experts to provide specialized training to prosecutors and with IOM to develop a trafficking course for the National Police Academy. Despite persistent reports of security personnel complicity in trafficking, the government has investigated only three such cases since June 2004, charging eight officials with trafficking complicity.
Protection The Government of Bangladesh continued to provide an inadequate level of protection to victims of trafficking over the reporting period. With limited resources, the government supported crisis centers in hospitals that are open to trafficking victims, but it also relied heavily on NGOs to provide legal, medical, and psychological care to victims. Of the 166 child camel jockeys repatriated from the U.A.E., 144 have returned to their families, 16 are preparing for reunification, and authorities are searching for relatives of the remaining six. Bangladesh should institute a system to protect witnesses from retribution and to encourage more to testify at trials against traffickers.
Prevention Bangladesh made significant progress in its trafficking prevention efforts throughout the year through broad public awareness campaigns and specialized training. A campaign of public service announcements aired 3,152 television spots and 305 radio announcements warning the public of the dangers of trafficking. The Ministry of Social Welfare also provided anti-trafficking information to micro-credit borrowers, reaching over 400,000 at-risk women. Bangladesh noticeably improved its training efforts, providing entry-level diplomats and over 20,000 border guards with specialized anti-trafficking training. Over 2,100 imams received training on the risks, threats, and modalities of trafficking and 100 imams received training as trainers. As a result, 2,667 imams delivered specific anti-trafficking messages during Friday prayer services in 2005, reaching millions of people". Read more!
"Bangladesh is a source and transit country for men, women, and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, child camel jockeying, and debt bondage. Women and children from Bangladesh are trafficked to India and Pakistan for sexual exploitation. Bangladeshi women migrate legally to Gulf states--Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the U.A.E., and Saudi Arabia--for work as domestic servants, but often find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude. In addition, Bangladeshi boys are trafficked to the Gulf to serve as camel jockeys and internally as bonded laborers in the fishing industry. Women and girls from rural areas are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Burmese women trafficked to India for sexual exploitation transit Bangladesh.
The Government of Bangladesh does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Bangladesh continued to make progress on efforts initiated two years ago. The government repatriated 166 child camel jockeys from the U.A.E., rescued 160 children from bonded labor in the fishing industry, launched a broad public awareness campaign, and provided anti-trafficking training to border guards and diplomats. Despite these achievements, Bangladesh continues to face a significant internal and international trafficking problem. Bangladesh should assign greater priority and resources to its law enforcement response to trafficking. It should also institute programs to protect witnesses.
Prosecution The Government of Bangladesh sustained efforts to punish traffickers in 2005, prosecuting 87 cases and convicting 36 traffickers -- 27 of whom received life sentences. Although the number of prosecutions increased over 2004, the number of convictions declined. Police also arrested 150 alleged traffickers. Notably, Bangladesh began prosecutions against child camel jockey traffickers. Although a lack of resources hinders investigations, Bangladesh expanded anti-trafficking police units to every district to encourage victims to testify against their traffickers and to compile data on trafficking. In response to inadequately trained police and prosecutors, the government worked with legal experts to provide specialized training to prosecutors and with IOM to develop a trafficking course for the National Police Academy. Despite persistent reports of security personnel complicity in trafficking, the government has investigated only three such cases since June 2004, charging eight officials with trafficking complicity.
Protection The Government of Bangladesh continued to provide an inadequate level of protection to victims of trafficking over the reporting period. With limited resources, the government supported crisis centers in hospitals that are open to trafficking victims, but it also relied heavily on NGOs to provide legal, medical, and psychological care to victims. Of the 166 child camel jockeys repatriated from the U.A.E., 144 have returned to their families, 16 are preparing for reunification, and authorities are searching for relatives of the remaining six. Bangladesh should institute a system to protect witnesses from retribution and to encourage more to testify at trials against traffickers.
Prevention Bangladesh made significant progress in its trafficking prevention efforts throughout the year through broad public awareness campaigns and specialized training. A campaign of public service announcements aired 3,152 television spots and 305 radio announcements warning the public of the dangers of trafficking. The Ministry of Social Welfare also provided anti-trafficking information to micro-credit borrowers, reaching over 400,000 at-risk women. Bangladesh noticeably improved its training efforts, providing entry-level diplomats and over 20,000 border guards with specialized anti-trafficking training. Over 2,100 imams received training on the risks, threats, and modalities of trafficking and 100 imams received training as trainers. As a result, 2,667 imams delivered specific anti-trafficking messages during Friday prayer services in 2005, reaching millions of people". Read more!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Glimpses of Poverty
Do you know what is poverty? Is it hungry face? Is it empty stomach? Is it crying baby for milk? Is it frail body? Isn't it shameful that our prosperity can not eliminate poverty? See this video:
Read more!
Read more!
Friday, June 9, 2006
Child Trafficking Review in 2004
Somini Sengupta’s article on Child Traffickers Prey on Bangladesh was published in the New York Times on April 29, 2002. Her article surfaced a 10 year old boy Nuru Mia’s story. Nuru played as a camel jockey in the Dubai desert. His image shows the suffering of children as camel jockeys who are trafficked by criminals and their underworld networks and exploited by their rich patrons in the Middle East. BBC News featured story of some of these children repatriation to Bangladesh and the vivid image of their painful suffering. According to United Nations Children’s Funds (Unicef), about 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. Thousands of boys as young as five years are trafficked from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates each year to work as camel jockeys
The economy of child trafficking goes beyond any supply and demand analysis or economic gains for parents. Case study of a poor ten year old girl from a Bangladesh village represents the horror of sexual exploitation. She is one of the 13,000 children who were trafficked out of Bangladesh in the last five years. Earlier this year in a seminar, it was referred that up to 20,000 women and children are smuggled out of Bangladesh annually (Daily Star, January 21, 2004). We share a global concern of child trafficking, as its extent and portrait are found to be very elusive. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report (2003) on human trafficking problem by countries is a comprehensive document for public awareness.
Tragically, children have become an easy prey of an emerging exploitative immigration practice. Thousands of children are sold and smuggled out of Bangladesh for physical and sexual exploitation in the recent years. We don’t know their names or addresses, they are simply lost in numbers, in unofficial estimates, or sometimes a few of them are caught in law enforcement actions. Child trafficking has attracted immaculate news headlines and further research interests. It is not incidental in Bangladesh context; its extent reflects absence of a structured social protection response for children, deterioration of social cohesiveness along with poor enforcement of criminal justice system. Child trafficking is a breach of human rights and children’s rights that deserves national attention for preventive and rehabilitative strategies. We need to look at child welfare advocacy resources that are active in Bangladesh for child protection.
Every child smuggled out of the country is simply one more number to the estimated calculation of thousands of children. Real pictures of their suffering, painful living and deprivation are mostly untold, unknown and tragically unnoticed. Children are stolen, their innocence is lost, their dreams are shattered, and more over, they are severely betrayed by our ambivalence and lack of social protection. They live and survive in a disgraceful life. Their smugglers and traders are stone hearted criminals who have allured them and their families. These young children even don’t know what their fault is. Their scars remain fresh, their tears don’t dry up, and our words can hardly describe their suffering.
Our ambivalence and indifference about child trafficking are very painful. It is a fundamental human rights challenge and the worst form of oppression of our time. We urge you to come forward to combat child trafficking. It could be a letter writing campaign and/or fund raising effort for helping children to repatriate and rehabilitate. We need your ideas and thoughts, as they are powerful for meaningful action. Our empathy should not evaporate with a silent sigh. All we have to do is to: “break the heart of stone”, and there is “No need to waste the foolish tear, or heave the windy sigh” as Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) portrayed a century ago. Read more!
The economy of child trafficking goes beyond any supply and demand analysis or economic gains for parents. Case study of a poor ten year old girl from a Bangladesh village represents the horror of sexual exploitation. She is one of the 13,000 children who were trafficked out of Bangladesh in the last five years. Earlier this year in a seminar, it was referred that up to 20,000 women and children are smuggled out of Bangladesh annually (Daily Star, January 21, 2004). We share a global concern of child trafficking, as its extent and portrait are found to be very elusive. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report (2003) on human trafficking problem by countries is a comprehensive document for public awareness.
Tragically, children have become an easy prey of an emerging exploitative immigration practice. Thousands of children are sold and smuggled out of Bangladesh for physical and sexual exploitation in the recent years. We don’t know their names or addresses, they are simply lost in numbers, in unofficial estimates, or sometimes a few of them are caught in law enforcement actions. Child trafficking has attracted immaculate news headlines and further research interests. It is not incidental in Bangladesh context; its extent reflects absence of a structured social protection response for children, deterioration of social cohesiveness along with poor enforcement of criminal justice system. Child trafficking is a breach of human rights and children’s rights that deserves national attention for preventive and rehabilitative strategies. We need to look at child welfare advocacy resources that are active in Bangladesh for child protection.
Every child smuggled out of the country is simply one more number to the estimated calculation of thousands of children. Real pictures of their suffering, painful living and deprivation are mostly untold, unknown and tragically unnoticed. Children are stolen, their innocence is lost, their dreams are shattered, and more over, they are severely betrayed by our ambivalence and lack of social protection. They live and survive in a disgraceful life. Their smugglers and traders are stone hearted criminals who have allured them and their families. These young children even don’t know what their fault is. Their scars remain fresh, their tears don’t dry up, and our words can hardly describe their suffering.
Our ambivalence and indifference about child trafficking are very painful. It is a fundamental human rights challenge and the worst form of oppression of our time. We urge you to come forward to combat child trafficking. It could be a letter writing campaign and/or fund raising effort for helping children to repatriate and rehabilitate. We need your ideas and thoughts, as they are powerful for meaningful action. Our empathy should not evaporate with a silent sigh. All we have to do is to: “break the heart of stone”, and there is “No need to waste the foolish tear, or heave the windy sigh” as Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) portrayed a century ago. Read more!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Child Protection in the USA
Child Protective Service is the cornerstone of child welfare services. It is designed to protect children from physical, sexual, mental abuse, neglect and maltreatment by the family or caretaker. Child Protective services in each jurisdiction ensures that children are living in a safe, loving and caring environment. Public child welfare agencies in the Washington, DC metro are mandated to ensure that children are safe from any abuse and neglect and they are cared appropriately by their families. If you need more information about saving children from any unsafe environment or suspect that children have become victim of abuse and neglect, you need to contact your public child welfare agency where they live.
Child Protective Service responds to any child abuse and neglect incidents and reports. Most of the physical abuse indicators constitute non-accidental injuries such as assults, burns, fractures, bruises, unexplained physical injuries and severe beatings. Sexual abuse incidents occur when children are exploited for gratification by older children or adults. Most of the neglect incidents happen when children are deprived of basic food and clothing, supervision, and education. Most of the neglected children are deprived of care and love and they live in dangerous and unhealthy living environment. Children�s Bureau provides a chart of legal definitions of child abuse and neglect used across the United States.
By law, Medical Doctors, Nurses, Day Care Workers, Teachers, Shcool Officials, Social Workers, Mental Health Professionals, Police Officers, Psychologists are mandated reporters. Apart from mandated reporters, any person who is concerned about a child�s well-being is required to call Child Protective Services in his/her local jurisdiction. It is simply a moral and civic responsiblity to save a child from danger. When you call, you may give your name or stay annonymous. If you choose, your name will be kept confidential. Followings are the list of different jurisdictions in Washington, DC Metro area:
Alexandria City, Virginia:
Arlington County, Virginia:
Fairfax County, Virginia:
Montgomery County, Maryland:
Prince George's County, Maryland:
Washington, District of Columbia:
Children's Bureau:
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: Read more!
Child Protective Service responds to any child abuse and neglect incidents and reports. Most of the physical abuse indicators constitute non-accidental injuries such as assults, burns, fractures, bruises, unexplained physical injuries and severe beatings. Sexual abuse incidents occur when children are exploited for gratification by older children or adults. Most of the neglect incidents happen when children are deprived of basic food and clothing, supervision, and education. Most of the neglected children are deprived of care and love and they live in dangerous and unhealthy living environment. Children�s Bureau provides a chart of legal definitions of child abuse and neglect used across the United States.
By law, Medical Doctors, Nurses, Day Care Workers, Teachers, Shcool Officials, Social Workers, Mental Health Professionals, Police Officers, Psychologists are mandated reporters. Apart from mandated reporters, any person who is concerned about a child�s well-being is required to call Child Protective Services in his/her local jurisdiction. It is simply a moral and civic responsiblity to save a child from danger. When you call, you may give your name or stay annonymous. If you choose, your name will be kept confidential. Followings are the list of different jurisdictions in Washington, DC Metro area:
Alexandria City, Virginia:
Arlington County, Virginia:
Fairfax County, Virginia:
Montgomery County, Maryland:
Prince George's County, Maryland:
Washington, District of Columbia:
Children's Bureau:
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: Read more!
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Child Protection in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, child protection is integrated into social servcies and community development programs that are mainly offered by non-governmental agencies. "Shako" will present different child welfare agencies who are diligently working for children's right and protection, and providing services to this disadvantaged population. Apart from limited government social welfare agencies' involvement, extended family members mostly take care of children when they are vulnerable or need care. There is no foster care services present in the country. Children are protected by families from abuse where family values are still strong and dominant. Usually, family members come forward to care for their loved ones irrespective of their socio-economic status. Therefore, we need to look at socio-economic structures, institutions and values that ensure and promote children's well-being and safety in the Bangladesh setting.
- ACSR
- ATSEC
- Bangladesh Council for Child Welfare
- Children Trust
- Families for Children
- Odhikar
- Save the Children UK
- SOS Children's Village
Thursday, March 16, 2006
What is Child Welfare
Children need love, care and protection. They need help when families can not meet their needs. Child welfare is the most human response to the needs of the most distressed and vulnerable population of the society i.e.children. Therefore, child welfare is designed to protect children from harm and danger, prevent abuse and neglect, intervene when they need help and support families to grow for children. Today's child welfare has transformed to family focused services that ensure safety, well-being, and permanency. Child Welfare is no longer limited in a geogrpahic location, its mission and scope go beyond any border and geographic boundary. It provides a spectrum of services which is subject to socio-political and economic contexts that shape its delivery to the community. Shako's journey will simultaneously feature key child welfare services both in Washington, DC metro area and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Two different and unrelated scenarios will bring us together to envision a universal worldview about children's issues. Shako will present:
- Child Protection Services
- Foster Care Services
- Adoption Services
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Why Shako?
"Shako" is a Bangla word that means small bridge. "Shako" emerges here as an e-bridge to raise awareness about children's issues and services in the United States of America and Bangladesh. I am committed to present a portrait of child welfare services in a simple format that will benefit children, parents, students, teachers, researchers, social workers, child welfare professionals and all concerned community members.
The world of children is full of suffering, deprivation, and poverty who are supposed to be cared and loved in order to grow. Shako reminds us caring children with love and protecting them are our shared responsiblity. Therefore, if our efforts help or touch at least one parent, one child, one community- right here or back there, what else we need. If Shako has already enlightened you, are you ready to help a child? Look at the resources, and get involved. After all, you should be proud as you are the one who is going to make difference today for a child. Read more!
The world of children is full of suffering, deprivation, and poverty who are supposed to be cared and loved in order to grow. Shako reminds us caring children with love and protecting them are our shared responsiblity. Therefore, if our efforts help or touch at least one parent, one child, one community- right here or back there, what else we need. If Shako has already enlightened you, are you ready to help a child? Look at the resources, and get involved. After all, you should be proud as you are the one who is going to make difference today for a child. Read more!
Friday, January 27, 2006
Bangladesh beats India
Bangladesh beats India in child welfare filed. Times of India reports on December 12, 2003: "Bangladesh and Sri Lanka look after their children better than India does. Unicef’s State of the World’s Children Report 2004, released on Thursday, says they are way ahead of India and Pakistan in providing health care and education to children. Among the 160 countries covered, India fares a little better than the sub-Saharan African countries in terms of infant mortality. Net primary school enrolment is as high as 96 per cent in Bangladesh and 97 per cent in Sri Lanka. In India it is 76 per cent and in Pakistan, 56 per cent..."
Read more!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Welcome to Shako
"Shako" invites everyone to come forward to help children and their families. Let's shower smile for every child. Let's make every child happy and safe. Let them grow for tomorrow. In order to raise children, we need you, your family, your neighborhood, your city and your country to come together. After all, it's our collective human responsibility. Just ask yourself, what have you done today to make a child happy and safe? Shako invites you to join hands for children to disseminate information, diffuse knowledge, break walls of ignorance and indifference, and put words into action. This following excerpt from Tagore's Gitanjali will enlighten you. Almost a century ago bengali poet Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in his Gitanjali eloquently wrote this lyric:
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth...
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening
Thought and action ----
Into that heaven of freedom, my father,
let my country awake" Read more!
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth...
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening
Thought and action ----
Into that heaven of freedom, my father,
let my country awake" Read more!
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