A Study on Child Rights Governance Situation in Bangladesh

A Study on Child Rights Governance Situation in Bangladesh A Study on Child Rights Governance Situation in Bangladesh

House CWN (A)35, Road 43 Gulshan 2, Dhaka, Bangladesh Phone: +88-02-9861690 Fax: +88-02-9886372 Child Rights Governance Analysis (CRGA) Bangladesh 2012 Child Rights Governance Analysis (CRGA) Bangladesh 2012

Research Team Table of Contents

Researcher: Abbreviations VI Dr. Charika Marasinghe International Child Rights Law Consultant, Sri Lanka List of Tables VII Preface X Associate team members: Md. Mokhlesur Rahman Executive Summary 12 Senior officer – Research & Publications Child Rights Governance, Save the Children 1 Introduction 16 Chowdhury Tayub Tazamul (Rana) 1.1 Study on Child Rights Governance Analysis 16 Senior Manager- Civil Society & Governance 1.1.1 Purpose, Objectives and Scope of the Study 16 Child Rights Governance, Save the Children 1.1.2 Methodology 16 Coordinated and supervised by: 1.1.3 Conceptual Framework, Constraints and Limitations 16 Birgit Lundbak Director – Child Rights Governance 2 Child Rights Governance Contextual Framework 17 2.1 Country Context 17 Published: 2.1.1 Demographic Features 17 Child Rights Governance 2.1.2 Birth of a Nation and the Liberation Struggle 18 Save the Children in Bangladesh house – CWN(A) 35, Road- 43, Gulshan-2, Dhaka 1212 2.1.3 National Governance 19 2.1.4 Local Governance 21 Cover design: 2.1.5 Rule of Law and Governance 22 Raihan Ahmed 2.1.6 Socio-Economic Developments 24 Member of Ichchey Meida 2.2 International Human Rights Treaty Obligations 26 2.2.1 International Treaties Ratified or Acceded to by Bangladesh 27 Printing: 2.2.2 Treaty Obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Child Rights of the Child 27 ROOT Marketing Services 2.2.3 Achievements in and Impediments to Realization of Child Rights 28 First edition: 2.3 Child Rights Governance: Theory and Practice 28 December 2012 2.3.1 What is Child Rights Governance? 28 2.3.2 General Measures of Implementation 29 Copy right: 2.3.3 Interpretative Guidance from Good Governance 32 Save the Children 3 Strengthening National Systems 41 ISBN: 3.1 National Laws, Policies and Plans of Action 42 Save the Children in Bangladesh is working with Child Rights Governance with a vision that far more 3.1.1 Enactment/Amendment of Laws 42 children have their rights fulfilled. The programme comprise of child rights monitoring and advocacy, 3.1.2 Law Enforcement 47 strengthening child friendly governance systems and building awareness and capacity of civil society. 3.1.3 Interpretation of the Laws 52 3.1.4 National Strategies, Policies and Action Plans for Children 56 Your comments on child rights governance in general and this report in particularly are very much welcome. Please write to [email protected]. 3.2 Coordination of Implementation of Children’s Rights 60

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1.2.1 Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA) 61 2.6.1 The Anti-corruption Act of 2004 and the Anti-corruption Commission 127 1.2.2 Inter-ministerial CRC Committee (also known as CRC Standing Committee) 63 2.6.2 Other Legislative Measures 128 1.2.3 National Council for Children (NCC) and National Council for Women and 2.6.3 Corruption Index 129 Child Development (NCWCD) 63 2.6.4 Trends in Corruption 130 1.2.4 Coordinating MDG Goals 64 2.6.5 UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and Bangladesh’s International Treaty Obligations 1.2.5 Focal Points within Ministries 64 133 1.2.6 National Children’s Task Force (NCTF) 65 2.7 Data collection 139 1.2.7 Coordination at Sub National Level 65 2.7.1 Institutions Responsible for Data Collection 140 1.3 Local Government Structure and Functions relating to Children 67 1.3.1 Zila Parishad 68 3. Building Awareness and Capacity 143 1.3.2 Upazila Parishad 68 5.1 Civil Society 143 1.3.3 Union Parishad 69 5.1.1 Contribution of Civil Society 143 1.3.4 City Corporations and Paurashavas 70 5.1.2 Politics and Civil Society 144 1.3.5 UNDP and Local Governance 70 5.1.3 Civil Society and Government Partnerships 145 1.4 Economic Governance 73 5.1.4 Civil Society and Child Rights 145 1.4.1 Budgetary Concepts and General Framework of the Budgetary Procedure 74 5.2 Government of Bangladesh 148 1.4.2 Taxation 82 5.3 Children 149 1.5 Birth Registration and Citizenship 88 5.3.1 Fundamentals of Capacity Building 149 1.5.1 Birth Registration 88 5.3.2 Child Participation in Child Rights Governance 149 1.5.2 Citizenship 93 6. Conclusion 153 4. Child Rights Monitoring 99 4.1 International Standard Setting on Independent Child Rights Monitoring Mechanisms 100 Annex 1 155 4.1.1 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 100 Bibliography 156 4.1.2 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action 100 Annex 2 164 4.1.3 Paris Principles 101 4.1.4 Standards for Independent Human Rights Institutions, 101 European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) 4.2 Essential characteristics of an independent child rights monitoring mechanism 101 2.2.1 Legality and Independence 101 2.2.2 Powers and Functions 103 2.3 National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh 106 2.3.1 Legal Framework of the Commission 107 2.3.2 UNDP Capacity Development Project 113 2.4 Right to Information Act 115 2.4.1 Legal Framework of the Act 116 2.4.2 Powers and Functions of the Information Commission 117 2.5 Child-focussed Budget Analyses 120 2.6 Anti-Corruption 126

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Abbreviations List of Tables

ACC Anti-Corruption Commission Table No. Subject ADP Annual Development Programme Table 2.1 Demographic Status of Bangladesh BAC Bureau of Anti-Corruption Table 2.2 Distribution of Children (0-17 years) by Geographic Regions BSA Bangladesh Shishu Academy Table 2.3 National Governance Structure BSAF Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum Table: 2.4 Succession in Political Leadership Since Independence CLU Child Labour Unit Table 2.5 Local Governance Structure CPI Corruption Perceptions Index Table 2.6 Status of Children Against Key MDG Indicators (per cent) CRG Child Rights Governance Table 2.7 Status of MDGs in Bangladesh CSOs Civil Society Organizations Table 2.8 International Treaty Obligations Undertaken by Bangladesh GDP Gross Domestic Product Table 2.9 Rights-Based Approach to Governance ILO International Labour Organization Table 2.10 Child Rights Governance Model INGOs International Non-governmental organizations Table 2.11 Duty Bearers responsible for Governance at National Levels JATI Judicial Administrative Training Institute Table 2.12 Duty Bearers responsible for Governance at Sub National Levels MoE Ministry of Education Table 3.1 Comparison of the Mandate of MoWCA and Ministry of Social Welfare MDG Millennium Development Goals Table 3.2 Functions of Upazila Parishads MoHFW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Table 3.3 Budgetary Time Frame MoLE Ministry of Labour and Employment Table 3.4 Total Revenue and Taxes as Percentage of GDP MoPME Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Table 3.5 Birth Registration of Children under the Age of 5 years: Comparison of 2006 and 2009 MCIS Surveys MoSW Ministry of Social Welfare Table 3.6 Birth Registration by Educational Level of Mothers and Caretakers MoWCA Ministry of Women and Children Table 3.7 Birth Registration by Wealth Index Quintiles NBR National Board of Revenue Table 4.1 Complaints handled by the NHRC NCC National Council for Children Table 4.2 Five-Year Strategic Plan NCTF National Children’s Task Force Table 4.3 Budget Allocation of Child-Related Ministries NCP National Child Parliament Table 4.4 Pattern in Budget Allocation NCC National Council for Children Table 4.5 Allocation in ADP for the Six Selected ministries NCWCD National Council for Women and Child Development Table 4.6 Bangladesh’s Scores in CPI (2001-2011) Table 4.7 CPI: Performance of South Asian Countries 2010-2011 NGOs Non-governmental organizations Table 4.8 National Estimate of Bribery NHRC National Human Rights Commission Table 4.9 Percentage of Households Who Experienced Corruption NPA National Plan of Action Table 4.10 Corruption – bias against poor RTI Right to Information Table 4.11 Key Statistics Child Labour Unit, Ministry of Labour and Employment SSN Social Safety Net Table 5.1 Rise of NGOs Receiving Foreign Funding Since 1990s in Bangladesh UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund Table 5.2 CSO Active at Different Geographic Levels UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Table 5.3 Statistics of Registered CSOs in Bangladesh UNDP United Nations Development Programme Table 5.4 Statistics of CSOs and Total Population of Selected Countries in Asia Table 5.5 Policy interests of civil society organizations Table 5.6 Relationship of CSOs with Ruling Party and Opposition Table 5.7 Presence of the National Children’s Task Force vi vii Child Rights Governance Analysis (CRGA) Bangladesh 2012 Child Rights Governance Analysis (CRGA) Bangladesh 2012

Preface Executive Summary Save the Children is working on Child Rights Governance with the aim of building societies that fulfill children rights. Our long-term vision is that children have their rights fulfilled. This requires: Introduction

• All States to meet their obligations to monitor and implement children’s rights The relational link and the importance of good governance for the promotion and protection of human rights have • A strong civil society, including children, holding States and the international community to account for long been discussed and debated. However, there was little or no reference to the subject of child rights governance children’s rights. until Save the Children International innovated and incorporated the child rights governance into its comprehensive child rights thematic programme areas. The child rights governance programme in its formative and evolving stage In Bangladesh, we are working with the government of Bangladesh and civil society, including children’s own has been unfolding and evolving simultaneously, learning and applying the lessons learned from other thematic areas. organizations, academia, media and the private sector, to reach this vision. Many good steps have been taken to This study aims at contributing to the child rights discourse by enriching and expanding both knowledge and improve governance for children by enacting important new legislation. However more emphasis needs to be given experiential resources that would provide guidance and direction for forging strategic direction in child rights to implementation, resourcing, monitoring and coordination. Governance can be defined in many ways. Perhaps the programme planning, implementation, evaluation and monitoring. Child rights governance is the most important best indication that there is good governance is when even marginalized children have their rights met. underpinning factor that provides a solid foundation upon which all other child rights thematic areas could strategically build their child rights programming work. Securing good governance for children is complex. First of all it requires recognition of children as civil society actors in their own rights. It also requires a whole range of policy areas to be integrated and coordinated, since the Child Rights Governance: theory and practice fulfilment of children’s rights involves almost all sectors. It also requires good laws, implementation, coordination, resourcing. Drawing inspiration and guidance from the UNCRC Committee’s General Comment No.5 on general measures of implementation, the Save the Children International’s own understanding of the concept and the UNDP’s definition To get a better overview of the governance situation for children, Save the Children and the Child Rights of good governance, the study has made a genuine effort of coming up with a definition that would succinctly and Governance Assembly (CRGA), a network of 17 NGOs and children’s networks, jointly commissioned this study. It correctly explain the essential characteristics of the concept of child rights governance. Within this contextual provides an overview of the most important legal frameworks, laws, institutions and actors important for children. understanding and framework the study proposes the following definition of child rights governance: It analyzes the reports made to the UN CRC committee and the concluding observations and analyzes the governance structure at both national and local level. “Execution of law and policy and exercise of economic, political and administrative power, authority, and management of monetary, human and material resources and governance of institutions, systems and processes in a manner Under each section the report brings out a number of recommendations. Here I would like to particularly mention respectful of and responsive to promoting and protecting child rights guaranteed in the United Nations Convention on two of the key recommendations: the Rights of Child.”

1. The need for a single and empowered entity to strengthen the coordination of children’s issues by overseeing Expanding on the definition of child rights governance the study has identified certain substantive and procedural the implementation and coordination of all work related to children. As of today there is not even a separate principles that could be applied as criteria for assessing the existing status of child rights governance and setting directorate for children in the Ministry of Women and Children’s affairs, and the fact that the Ministry is headed benchmarks to enhance the same. The substantive principles identified by the study include best interests of the by a State Minister rather than a Cabinet Minister also gives it a relatively weaker position compared to other child, non-discrimination, child participation, transparency, accountability, sustainability, integrity, impartiality, ministries. efficiency and equity. The procedural principles of child rights governance are classified under the themes: 2. The need for an independent Child rights Commissioner or Childrens Ombudsman who can act as a watch dog Institutional Mandates/Portfolios, Role Profiles/Terms of References, Child-friendly processes, procedures and and independently monitor children’s rights, highlight violations of children’s rights, monitor standards of systems, Compatibility of Laws, Policies and Strategies, Implementation of Laws, Policies and Strategies, service provision and demand accountability of duty bearers, and most importantly start immediate Coordination among and within institutions, Review and Evaluation of Performance, Independent Monitoring, investigation and enforcement measures on behalf of affected children, families and communities to get redress Advocacy and Networking and Capacity Building. and end the culture of impunity for child rights violations. The establishment of a Child Rights Commission is part of the new National Policy on Children (2011). It is also mentioned in the Constitution and it has been Strengthening National Systems repeatedly recommended by the CRC Committee in its Concluding Observations. Save the Children International’s child rights governance thematic area identifies strengthening national systems as We hope this analysis will be useful for all actors in government, civil society and private sector who want to work one of the three pillars on which the thematic area is built upon. The study examines national laws, policies and plans for the best interest of children in Bangladesh. of action to understand the extent to which they conform with the UNCRC treaty obligations. It appears that although new laws, policies and action plans have been adopted and amendments have been made to existing laws, Michael McGrath problems have been encountered in implementing these laws and policies. In interpreting the law, the judiciary has Country Director Bangladesh adopted a progressive approach by addressing the gaps in the laws relating to children and flaws in enforcement. One Save the Children of the major impediments in implementing child rights is the absence of a single body with a powerful portfolio to

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effectively coordinate the multi-faceted powers and functions carried out by multi-sectoral agencies of the process which goes through different stages of planning, preparing proposals, reviewing, allocating, approving and government at national and sub national levels. Also, there is the need for ministerial level coordination work carried finally disbursing funds at national and sub national levels. A comprehensive understanding of this long drawn and out at national and sub national levels relating to children. complex process is essential before moving forward with any interventions addressing the pertinent issues relating to budgetary allocations for children. Assessment of the budgetary requirements would mean working with Economic governance can be considered as one of the most difficult and complex aspects of strengthening national ministries with different cabinet portfolios and a remit on children and also their counterparts at the sub national systems. An in-depth knowledge of the budgetary concepts and the budgetary procedure is required to understand level. at which stages of the economic governance process interventions could be made to promote and protect child rights. The study has extended the economic governance discussion to taxation and examines taxation system Anti-corruption thoroughly to ascertain ways and means of influencing child rights governance to enhance the revenue income contribution to the Annual Development Programme (ADP) which would directly impact on the lives of children. The value of anti-corruption indicators as child rights monitoring methods have been highlighted in the child rights governance thematic area. Adverse impact of corruption drastically undermines the rights of children of today Save the Children International’s child rights governance thematic area recognizes birth registration and citizenship and the generations to come. Corruption abates the country’s resources and weakens its capacity to finance child as part of its endeavours to strengthening national systems. Birth registration legitimises and officially endorses the rights implementation programmes. It also curtails the enjoyment of child rights and discriminatory outcomes existence of a child before the law. It is a kind of licence that qualifies the child to seek, claim and enjoy all the rights derived from corrupt practices deny the child’s right to non-discrimination and equality. Corruption decreases the guaranteed in the UNCRC. Birth registration is also the initial step towards claiming citizenship and nationality. The parents’ and care-givers’ purchasing power to care for the basic needs of children and accessing public services to study has observed the progress the country has made in achieving universal birth registration and avenues for fulfilling children’s needs. When law enforcement institutions and the judiciary succumbed to corrupt practices the interventions for strengthening the system. Special attention was paid to political sensitivity surrounding citizenship rights of children who come into contact with the law as victims, offenders and witnesses get severely impaired. of enclave population, Rohingyas and Biharis in the study. It also emphasizes that child rights governance strategy relating to birth registration and citizenship should acknowledge the work of other actors in the field to avoid Data Collection Systems duplication and forge new collaborative interventions. As an important child rights monitoring indicator, data collection systems provide insightful information not only to Child Rights Monitoring assess, evaluate and review achievements made in any chosen area of child rights but also to identify gaps and impediments in implementing child rights and initiate remedial action for rectification. Through statistical data International standard setting especially the UNCRC General Comment No.2 on Independent Monitoring analyses, the national and regional disparities in terms of geographical, socio-economic, gender - and age-based Mechanisms, Paris Principles and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action provides valuable interpretative information and trends relating to fulfilment of child rights can be elicited. guidance in defining child rights monitoring within a child rights governance framework. In light of these international standards the study examines the powers and functions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Building Awareness and Capacity how effectively it could exercise its present powers and functions to engage in child rights monitoring work. The NHRC has dealt with child rights issues during its brief period of existence and also its five-year strategic plan has Improving the child rights governance situation in the country is a phenomenal task that needs the active specifically identified child rights and child labour as strategic focus areas. The mandate and profile of the NHRC set participation and contribution of multiple stakeholders – the government, the civil society organizations and the an ideal stage for promoting child rights governance. children themselves. The civil society resource pool in Bangladesh is a giant force if utilized appropriately and effectively, it would pay great dividends to the child rights governance thematic area. Six different types of civil The Right to Information Act is another resourceful tool for child rights governance, more specifically for monitoring society organizations that could play a catalytic role in the child rights governance discourse have been identified in child rights violations. It is a law with the potential of being used even by children especially to acquaint themselves the study. of their entitlements, to access public services and facilities, to receive protection of the law, to track and detect corrupt institutions, corrupt officials and corrupt practices, to strengthen the service delivery mechanisms and to Given the politically sensitive nature of the issues in child rights governance, building awareness and capacity of the enhance the capacity of institutions. However, prior to any involvement of children in using the provisions of the civil society organizations on child rights governance is a priority. Furthermore, unlike good governance, child rights Right to Information Act, the child-friendly procedures for such interventions should be in place and also children governance is a recent phenomenon still in an infant phase. Hence the need for a precise understanding of the subject should be given a special training in applying the Act for child rights work to ensure that children possess accurate prior to getting actively involved in the child rights governance landscape. knowledge of the legitimate use of the Act.

Child-focussed Budget Analyses

Influencing the budgetary process with the aim of making it more child-centred is an important dimension of child rights governance. A recent study on child-centred budgeting by Save the Children International has revealed that the key ministries with a substantial portfolio relating to children such as Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Social Welfare, and Ministry of Labour and Employment have not attracted even one fifth of the total budget. Resourcing for children is a highly technical

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effectively coordinate the multi-faceted powers and functions carried out by multi-sectoral agencies of the government at national and sub national levels. Also, there is the need for ministerial level coordination work carried out at national and sub national levels relating to children.

Economic governance can be considered as one of the most difficult and complex aspects of strengthening national systems. An in-depth knowledge of the budgetary concepts and the budgetary procedure is required to understand at which stages of the economic governance process interventions could be made to promote and protect child rights. The study has extended the economic governance discussion to taxation and examines taxation system thoroughly to ascertain ways and means of influencing child rights governance to enhance the revenue income contribution to the Annual Development Programme (ADP) which would directly impact on the lives of children.

Save the Children International’s child rights governance thematic area recognizes birth registration and citizenship as part of its endeavours to strengthening national systems. Birth registration legitimises and officially endorses the existence of a child before the law. It is a kind of licence that qualifies the child to seek, claim and enjoy all the rights guaranteed in the UNCRC. Birth registration is also the initial step towards claiming citizenship and nationality. The study has observed the progress the country has made in achieving universal birth registration and avenues for interventions for strengthening the system. Special attention was paid to political sensitivity surrounding citizenship of enclave population, Rohingyas and Biharis in the study. It also emphasizes that child rights governance strategy relating to birth registration and citizenship should acknowledge the work of other actors in the field to avoid duplication and forge new collaborative interventions.

Child Rights Monitoring

International standard setting especially the UNCRC General Comment No.2 on Independent Monitoring Mechanisms, Paris Principles and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action provides valuable interpretative guidance in defining child rights monitoring within a child rights governance framework. In light of these international standards the study examines the powers and functions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and how effectively it could exercise its present powers and functions to engage in child rights monitoring work. The NHRC has dealt with child rights issues during its brief period of existence and also its five-year strategic plan has specifically identified child rights and child labour as strategic focus areas. The mandate and profile of the NHRC set an ideal stage for promoting child rights governance.

The Right to Information Act is another resourceful tool for child rights governance, more specifically for monitoring child rights violations. It is a law with the potential of being used even by children especially to acquaint themselves of their entitlements, to access public services and facilities, to receive protection of the law, to track and detect corrupt institutions, corrupt officials and corrupt practices, to strengthen the service delivery mechanisms and to enhance the capacity of institutions. However, prior to any involvement of children in using the provisions of the Right to Information Act, the child-friendly procedures for such interventions should be in place and also children should be given a special training in applying the Act for child rights work to ensure that children possess accurate knowledge of the legitimate use of the Act.

Child-focussed Budget Analyses

x Introduction Child Rights Governance Analysis (CRGA) Bangladesh 2012 1

Introduction

Effective from October 1 2011, Save the Children in Bangladesh was restructured as one organization amalgamating US, UK, Australia and Sweden-Denmark programmes under the title ‘Save the Children International’. When the two organizations functioned as two separate entities, Save the Children Australia focussed on Children's Participation through a national children's platform, NCTF, Child Parliament and national Child rights monitoring and whereas Save the Children Sweden-Denmark emphasized on civil society, media, budget analysis, capacity building, CRC in academia, media etc.

Introduction The newly formed CRG-team envisages developing a Child Rights Governance Programme in line with the Child Rights Governance theme of the Save the Children International Global Strategy.

1.1 Study on Child Rights Governance Analysis

1.1.1 Purpose, Objectives and Scope of the Study

• To provide an updated status on the Child rights governance situation in Bangladesh to be shared with partners, government and other stakeholders as a basis for developing strategies and action plans • To assist the CRG theme to sharpen the design of the CRG programme • To serve as a baseline to measure future improvements • To assist in developing an advocacy and policy strategy • To explore the present status of child rights governance in key selected areas. • To provide recommendation for Save the Children’s CRG programme both for programming and advocacy.

1.1.2 Methodology

A desk review of key documents on the situation of children and child rights in Bangladesh and also documentation relating to the UNCRC formed the basis of the Study. The desk review was supplemented by in depth interviews with different stakeholders in the government sector institutions and civil society 1 organizations that provided valuable insights into the on-going dialogue relating to Child Rights Governance.

1.1.3 Conceptual Framework, Constraints and Limitations

The conceptual framework for the study is based on three areas: first, the understanding of the concept of child rights governance in light of the provisions of the UNCRC and standard setting and practice of the UNCRC Committee; second, the definition and interpretation of Save the Children International on the concept of Child Rights Governance; third, the availability of primary and secondary literature sources and information gathered during stakeholder interviews. In the absence of reliable and sufficient written documentation on the local situation, the analysis could not cover each and every dimension of the child rights governance situation in Bangladesh.

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Child Rights Governance Contextual Framework

2.1 Country Context

2.1.1 Demographic Features

Table 2.1 Demographic Status of Bangladesh

Child Bangladesh in extent 55,598 Sq. Miles Demographic Status of Bangladesh (143,998 sq. Kilometres), located in the North Eastern part of South Asia is • Population : 150 million bounded by India on the West, East and • Population under 15 years of age : 36 percent the North, Myanmar on the East and Rights • Population under 5 years of age : 12 percent Bay of Bengal on the South. Bangladesh • Childhood Mortality(age 1-5) : 1 of every fifteen with a population of 150 million • Child Mortality(before first birthday) : 1 of every nineteen (Population: 158,570,535 (July 2011 • Childhood Vaccination Coverage : 82 est.) is the seventh in the world Governance (Source: Bangladesh Health and Demographic Survey, 2007) population chart with a child population of 61 million which is 45% of the total population. The country has an urban population of 27% of total population (2009 est.) and a rural population of 73% in 86,038 villages Contextual in the country. Population pyramid of Bangladesh shows that the majority is under 18 years of age and its demographic data indicates that 1/3 of the population is under 15 year, 63% between 15 and 64 years and 4% above 65 years which gives a fair assumption of the future child population of the country. Despite the rapid fertility decline Framework Bangladesh with its eco effect of high fertility level can expect a population growth of a sizeable nature. Majority of Bangladeshi people about 98.90% of the population represent the Bengali ethno-linguistic group and minority ethnic groups include Meitei, Khasi, Santhals, Chakma, Garo (tribe), Biharis, Oraons, Mundas and Rohingyas. Bangladesh also has a tribal population of approximately 1586141 according to 2011 census.1 2 These tribal communities with Sino-Tibetan descent are mainly found in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and around Mymensingh, Sylhet, and Rajshahi. There are significant differences in the social customs, religion, language and level of development of these tribal groups compared to the rest of the population.2

According to the 2001 census, the religious profile of the population is: Islam 89.7%, Hinduism 9.2%, Buddhism 0.7%, Christianity 0.3% and others 0.1%. The majority of the Muslims are Sunni consisting of 95% of the Muslim population, and the remaining are Shi'a and other sects.3

1 Population and Housing Census 2011, http://www.bbs.gov.bd/PageSecureReport.aspx, accessed on November 14, 2012 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Bangladesh. 3 ibid.

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Table 2.2 Distribution of Children (0-17 years) by geographic regions resulted in achieving an effective and efficient local government system equipped with local knowledge to be responsive to the needs and priorities of the poor and the powerless in rural Bangladesh. Out of 63.2 million children (0.-17 yrs), about 73 percent live in the rural areas and 27 percent In the words of a renowned local government expert live in the urban areas. The majority of the country’s children live in Dhaka Division (31%), “Thus, our elected local government leaders have never had the opportunity to exercise their leadership in solving followed by Rajshahi (23%), Chittagong (21%), local problems through effective participation of the people. Consequently our system of governance has become Khulna (10%), Sylhet (8%), and Barisal (7%) increasingly more centralised over the years.”5 Divisions.4 For administrative purposes the country is divided into Seven administrative divisions, each named after their 2.1.2 Birth of a Nation and the respective divisional headquarters: Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Rangpur. These 6 Liberation Struggle divisions are sub-divided into 64 districts and each further sub-divided into 483 Upazilas (sub-districts) . Each Upazila, except for those in metropolitan areas, is divided into several unions, with each union consisting of For nearly two centuries from 1757-1947 multiple villages. In the metropolitan areas, police stations are divided into wards, which are further divided Bangladesh was part of British Indian provinces into Mahallas. Elected representatives were there in the Upazilas from 1985 to 1991. However, from 1992 to of Bengal and Assam. In 1947 at the end of the 2009, in the Upazila Parishad there were no elected representatives at the Upazila levels, and the Source: National Report, Bangladesh, Global Study on British rule, the Indian subcontinent was administration was composed only of Government officials. Direct elections are held for each union (or Child Poverty and Disparities, p.13, 2009. partitioned into India and Pakistan and ward), which elect a chairperson and a number of members. Bangladesh became part of Pakistan known as East Bengal and later East Pakistan. Bengali people with a distinct language and culture inhabited East Pakistan Table 2.3 National Governance Structure and Pakistani rulers denied Bengali people of their democratic and economic freedoms, rights and aspirations. Since 1948 Bengali people aspired for a separate homeland and the Awami League led by Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman won a landslide victory at the first-ever Parliamentary elections held in Pakistan in 1970 Awami League becoming the party with the largest majority in the whole of Pakistan. Increased political President discontent and cultural nationalism in East Pakistan was attacked by West Pakistan establishment with violent aggressive force. The systematic genocide against Bengali people was launched by Pakistan Military as an attempt to crush the nationalistic movement of East Pakistan. These developments led to the Bangladesh Executive Liberation War supported by India and others friendly nations. Judiciary Legislature (Jatiya Sangsad) The newly independent State, Bangladesh was born on 16 December 1971 consequent to a liberation struggle of nine months against Pakistan resulting in the worst form of genocide since the World War II with 3 million Prime people killed, some 278,000 women raped and 10 million seeking refuge in neighbouring India. Minister

2.1.3 National Governance Supreme Court Council of The newly founded nation was governed by a Parliamentary form of government till 1974 and later by Ministers Presidential System of Government until the year 1991. A Parliamentary System of Government with Prime Minister as the Chief Executive of the country and the cabinet was established in August 1991 abolishing the High Appellate Presidential system. Although the government was founded on democratic principles, the post- independence Court Division Ministry/ Bangladesh for almost forty years has been embroiled in political upheavals, political assassinations and Division Division military coups.

The governance structure throughout this period was based on the unitary model despite the country’s vast Source: Local Government in Bangladesh, Kamal Siddiqui (edt.) (2005). Annex XVIII p.528 land area with geographically inaccessible and isolated regions. Further the density and diversity of the population with a large percentage in rural sector have added complexity to the country’s situation. Though numerous changes were effected by successive governments, there was no decentralization of power that

5 Majumdar Alam Badiul , Local Governance and Political Reform Keys to Poverty Reduction, p.15, (2010). 4 National Report Bangladesh, GLOBAL STUDY ON CHILD POVERTY AND DISPARITIES 2009, p.13 6 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, p.8 (2011)

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Table 2.4 Succession in Political Leadership Since Independence TableTa b l e 22.5.5 Local Governance StructuStructurere

1971 - 1975 Sheikh Mujiber Rahaman (Awami League) Special Affairs Ministry of LGRD 1975 - 1981 Ziaur Rahaman (BNP) Division & Cooperatives 1981 - 1982 Justice Sattar (BNP) 1982 - 1991 Hossain Mohammad Ershad 1991 - 1996 Begum Khaleda Zia (BNP) Rural Urban 1996 - 2001 Sheikh Hasina (Awami League) 2001 - 2006 Begum Khaleda Zia (BNP) 2007 - 2009 Care Taker Government Zila 2009 - present Sheikh Hasina (Awami League) Parishad 61 The founder of the country, the Prime Minister- Sheikh Mujiber Rahman was assassinated in 1975 about a year after he became President of the country. General Ziaur Rahaman, founder of the Bangladesh National Party Hill District Upazila City Local Government Parishad Cooperation (BNP), took over power and became President in 1978. He was assassinated in 1981. Parishad 3 482 (6)

The army chief, General Hossain Mohammad Ershad, became his successor in 1982. However, he could not Union Paurashava legitimize his status through elections and kept political activity in banned till 1985, conducted a Presidential Parishad 298 election declaring himself President. A state of emergency was announced by General Ershad for three years 4489 due to political violence. He surrendered power to a neutral interim government in December 1990.

Free elections were held in February 1991, when Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP, won the elections Source: Local Government in Bangladesh, Kamal Siddiqui (edt.) (2005). Annex XVIII p.528 and became Prime Minister. From 1991 onwards, regular elections were held in Bangladesh. The 1996 Elections are the initial access to democracy. This privilege was denied to people of Bangladesh. Local elections were won by allies of the Awami League while the BNP and its allies won the 2001 elections. Bangla- government elections were not held regularly. Though hard to believe, it is a fact that in the last 38 years Zila desh yet experienced political instability. Once again in 2007 the army took over presumably with the hope Parishad did not have elections except three hilly districts. Until 2009, the only functional local government of stopping the violence between the two leading political parties. There was a caretaker government until the body was Union Parishad with no elected representatives at the divisional or district and the administration ninth general Election in 2008, following which Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League, became Prime comprised only government officials. Minister in 2009.

Each new regime civil or military came up with new models of local government. All these regimes either 2.1.4 Local Governance amended or repealed the existing local government laws even going to the extent of abolishing local Decentralized local government structure is divided into two: rural and urban. The local government struc- government bodies etc. These were all superficial changes devoid of any attempt to remedy the many ills of ture in the rural sector comprises 3 tiers. At the highest level are Zila Parishad, then Upazila Parishad and the system or to make improvements to increase their efficacy. Abolition of Upazila Parishad system in 1991 Union Parishad. The 483 Upazilas (or sub-districts) play a vitally important role throughout Bangladesh as a by the then elected government and re-establishing Upazila Parishads after 2009 January elections is a good strategic service delivery point. Rural local governments, known in Bangladesh as Union Parishads (UPs), have example of the constant changes made to the local governance landscape. been functioning as the lowest tier of local government units since the 1870s. The urban local governance structure is divided as City Corporation and Paurashava (Municipality). 2.1.5 Rule of Law and Governance

Decentralised system of governance has been adversely affected by bureaucratization of the system with a On 16th January 2007 the military backed caretaker government of Bangladesh declared separation of Dhaka centred power base. City Corporation and Paurashava have also been made the extended arms of the subordinate judiciary from the executive. The civil society organizations and the lawyers welcomed the central government. The political history of the country is filled with numerous instances of appointed amendments of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act on 1st November 2007 guaranteeing independent officials yielding power in the local government institutions. Adopting a centralised system of governance from judiciary by empowering the Supreme Court to appoint lower courts judges and judicial magistrates. The the center, the colonial rulers appointed officials with overriding powers to the local government bodies. After earlier system had the Prime Minister as Head of the Ministry of Establishment with powers to make separation the Pakistani rulers too continued this trend. As a result the appointed members could overrule appointments of judges leading to political control over lower courts. the elected members in the governing bodies. Democracy Watch reports that there are frequent clashes between Upazila Parishad Councils and appointed government officials. Another obstacle faced by local Political influence debars judges from giving impartial judgments. The government decision to send two judges government elected bodies is the dominant role played by the local members of Parliament in the affairs of on retirement on 30th July 2009 using Section 9(2) of the Public Servants (Retirement) Act of 1974 is an the local government institutions. example where law was politically used to punish judges who are unwilling to listen to the executive.8

8 Asian Human Rights Commission, "Bangladesh: Judicial Independence," press release, August 5, 2009, 7 ibid p.15. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0908/S00070.htm.

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Efforts seeking remedies towards independent judiciary becomes non-functional when the President in 1980s to 1.39% by 2010 is another factor that contributed in sustaining the economic growth.17 In the consultation with the Prime Minister appoints judges, specially the Supreme Court judges. Serious questions education front the gross primary enrolment showed a promising progress from 72% in 1980 to 93.5% in were asked when President Zillur Rahnman appointed Justice A.B.M. Khairul Haque from Appellate Division 201018 and in the field of health the child mortality rate has come down significantly from 239 per thousand as the Chief Justice of Bangladesh on 26th September 2010 ignoring two senior judges of the Appellate live births in 1970 to 65 per 1000 in 2010 which has been recognized by a UN Award.19 Division. Lack of clarity of article 95 of the Constitution which empowers the President to appoint Chief Justice, the most prestigious position in the country allows room for political manipulation. The Supreme However, on many fronts the country needs to overcome challenges and address major drawbacks to Court Bar Association (SCBA) which is headed by opposition parties condemned the act while pro President continue the progress made during the last two decades. Inadequacy of child-specific data, policy reviews and Lawyers expressed jubilation.9 programme evaluations make it difficult to accurately measure the actual progress made by Bangladesh on the child-related indicators. Two newly appointed additional judges to the High Court Division created sensation when the Chief Justice refused to administer oath to advocates Rahul Quddus and M. Khasruzzam.10 Political based appointments With the intention of reducing fiscal and external deficits Bangladesh government implemented policies for are a threat to the independence of judiciary.11 macro stabilization and structural adjustment in 1980s. Fiscal measures were: (a) Reduction/elimination of food subsidies, (b) Introduction of value added tax (VAT) in 1990s, (c) Curtailing government investment in The long standing tradition of appointing party loyalists as Public Prosecutors continued even after the productive sectors and (d) Re-defining government role in investment relating to people – education, health democratically elected government in 2008. The governing party immediately replaced the entire group of care, public utilities and physical infrastructure.20 public prosecutors with party loyalists. According to a report by the Asian Human Rights Commission the political appointees serve the government to the maximum and ‘perverts the course of justice’.12 With the introduction of a large tax payer unit and a central intelligence unit to monitor and strengthen customs administration aimed at including non-tax payers government hopes to improve its revenue base. It A national household survey conducted from June 2009 to May 2010 revealed that the most corrupt service also intends to develop the professional skills of National Board of Revenue Officials.21 was found in judiciary. It is reported that 88% of the people who turned to judiciary became victims due to wide spread corruption and that justice was denied to people as they did not have access to independent The revenue-GDP ratio has increased in 1990s but it has failed to reach the standard of other developing counsel and fair trial.13 countries. There is an increase in education sector and decrease in health sector expenditure during this period mainly due to the decline in foreign aid. With the increase of government’s reliance on domestic 2.1.6 Socio-Economic Developments borrowing it had to face the risk of rising inflation and crowding the private sector out of credit market.22

A number of socio-economic indicators show that the country has achieved impressive progress since It appears that sufficient attention has not been paid to planning the future of the children although they are independence. From about 1990s it has been maintaining a pace of 5-6% economic growth (in GDP). At a time 45% of the total population among whom 46% fall into below upper poverty line lacking basic needs. In when other countries were struggling to sail through the tidal waves of the global financial crisis, Bangladesh Bangladesh about 26.5 million children of the 63 million child population live below the national poverty line has managed to sustain closer to 6 percent GDP growth.14 and also 51% of all households with children are considered as poor applying the international poverty line below $1 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) threshold. It is revealed that increase in the number of children in a The increase of the country’s human development index (HDI) rating from 0.365 in 1980 to 0.566 in 2011 is household raises the poverty situation in the household. In its vision and mission towards future prosperity an example of this upward trend in the economic sphere.15 According to the Multi-dimensional Poverty Bangladesh needs investing in children. indicator 26.2% of the Bangladesh population are in severe poverty which is lower than the poverty levels of Pakistan (28.6%), India and Nepal (37.1%)16 The decrease in the population growth from 2.5% per annum in It is desirable to understand the causal link between MDG goals and good governance. According to UNDP Bangladesh out of the 52 MDG targets, the country is on track on 19 of them and 14 of them need attention.23 The MDG Progress Report of the Government has concluded that different levels of progress 9 M. Abdul Latif Mondal, "Averting Controversy in Appointment of Chief Justice," Daily Star, October 10, 2010, have been achieved in different goals: (i) some goals have been achieved or nearly achieved; (ii) progress is on http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=157772. 10 M. Anwar Hossain, "Appointment of the Judiciary Branch," My Open Voice (blog), April 28, 2010, http://www.myopenvoice.net/2010/04/awami-league-corruption_28.html. 17 Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh Demographic Data Sheet: 11 Dr. M. Saidul Islam, "The State of Judiciary in Bangladesh," Weekly Holiday, March 25, 2011, http://www.indexmundi.com/bangladesh/population_growth_rate.html http://www.weeklyholiday.net/2011/250311/edit.html. 18 Directorate of Primary Education, 12 Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), The State of Human Rights in Bangladesh 2009 (AHRC, 2009): 23-24, http://www.banbeis.gov.bd/webnew/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=342:gross- http://material.ahrchk.net/hrreport/2009/AHRC-SPR-001-2009-Bangladesh-HRReport2009.pdf. and-net-enrolmentrate-in-primary-education&catid=61:primary-education-2010&Itemid=180 13 TIB Findings Must Have Shaken People's Faith in Judiciary," New Age, December 25, 2010, 19 Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh Demographic Data Sheet, http://www.bdinn.com/articles/tib-findings-must-have-shaken-people%E2%80%99s-faith-in-judiciary/. http://www.dgfp.gov.bd/data%20sheet.htm. 14 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, http://www.bbs.gov.bd/na_wing/GDP_2008_09.pdf 20 Policy Study on Financing Growth and Poverty Reduction: Policy Challenges and Options in Bangladesh, UNDP, Bangladesh 2009, p.19. 15 UNDP, Human Development Report 2011: http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Complete.pdf 21 ibid. 16 The Multidimensional Poverty Index is introduced by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative 22 ibid. http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index/mpi-data-methodology/ 23 http://www.undp.org.bd/mdgs.php.

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track in case of some goals; they can be achieved with present level of efforts; and (iii) some goals can be Table 2.7 Status of MDGs in Bangladesh achieved with enhanced effort. Improving Governance has been cited as the first the intervention in achieving MDGs. It states that the policy framework and the programmes and projects required for achieving the Indicator Current Status Target MDGs need to be implemented as weak capacity of government and corruption undermine all efforts for Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger attainment of MDGs.24 1.1 Proportion of population below the national Upper-poverty line % 38.7 (2008) 29 Table 2.6 Status of Children against Key MDG Indicators (per cent) 1.2 Poverty Gap Ratio % 9.0 (2005) 8 Figure1.8: Status of children against key MDG indicatiors (per cent) 1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age % 45.0 (2009) 33 39.1 1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary Underweight children (0-5years) 37.8 energy consumption % 19.5 (2005) 14 79.1 Enrolled in primary education (6-11 years) 83.5 Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education 41.4 2.1 Net Enrolment Ratio in Primary Education % 91.9 (2008) 100 Completed primary education by proper age 52.1 88.4 2.2 Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5 % 54.9 (2008) 100 Immunized against measles (1 year) 86.5 2.3 Literacy rate of 15-24 years old population % 58.3 (2007) --- 97.5 Children with sustainable access to an improved water 97.6 Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality & Empower Women 39.1 3.1a Ratio of girls to boys in primary education 1.01 (2008) 1.0 Children with access to improved sanitation 39.3 3.1b Ratio of girls to boys in secondary education 1.20 (2008) 1.0 Girls Boys 3.1c Ratio of girls to boys in tertiary education 0.32 (2006) 1.0 Source: National Report, Bangladesh, Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities, p.14, 2009. Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality 4.1 Under-five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 53.8 (2008) 48 The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II (FY 2009-2011) acknowledges the links between 4.2 Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 41.3 (2008) 31 poverty and children’s rights. It recognizes that “the survival and development of many Bangladeshi children is still threatened by malnutrition, disease, poverty, illiteracy, abuse, exploitation and natural disaster.” In the 4.3 Proportion of 1 year-old children immunized against measles % 82.3 (2009) 100 context of reducing poverty, it addresses children’s health and nutrition, food security, education, early Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health childhood education, sports and cultural activities, protection from abuse, exploitation, and violence, access to clean water and sanitation, and child participation.25 5.1: Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100000 live births) 348 (2008) 144 Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases 6.1: HIV prevalence among population (per 100,000 population) 0.1 Halting Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability 7.1: Proportion of land area covered by forest (%) (tree cover) 19.2 (2007) 20.0 Tree density > Tree density > 10% 70% Source: UNDP 2009

24 The Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh Progress Report 2009, p.139. 25 The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II (FY 2009-2011).

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2.2 International Human Rights Treaty Obligations 2.2.2 Treaty Obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Child Rights of the Child Under each programme area, the present situation of Bangladesh relating to Child Rights Governance will be analysed in light of the UNCRC Concluding Observations, by identifying the duty bearers and the measures While ratifying the UNCRC Bangladesh deposited reservations in relation to Articles 21 and 14(1) stating 26 adopted by them to implement the UNCRC, gaps in the implementation process and the strategy that Save that “the article would apply subject to the existing laws and practices in Bangladesh.” Pursuant to the the Children could adopt in strengthening the Child Rights Governance procedure. UNCRC treaty obligations Bangladesh submitted to the UN Child Rights Committee the initial report in 1995, the second in 2000 and third and fourth combined periodic period reports in 2007 respectively. 2.2.1 International Treaties Ratified or Acceded to by Bangladesh In 2003 the Committee expressed its remained deep concern about the reservations to articles 14, paragraphs 1 and 21 of the Convention, which might impede the full implementation of the Convention, but Table 2.8 Table 2.2 Distribution of Children (0-17 years) by geographic regions welcomed the information from the delegation that Bangladesh is willing to continue to review those reservations with a view to withdrawing them. Date of Ratification (r) & Treaty In 2009 the UNCRC Committee encouraged Bangladesh to accelerate its reviewing process regarding the Accession (a) withdrawal of their reservations to articles 14, paragraph 1, and 21 of the Convention, in accordance with the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993. Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 Exercising the mandate given under Article 45(1) of the UNCRC to NGOs to monitor the implementation International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 6 Sep 2000 (a) of the Convention, 19 leading NGOs of Bangladesh together submitted the alternative report entitled “A 16 December 1966 Critical Analysis of CRC Reporting Trends and Implementation Status in Bangladesh”.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 5 Oct 1998 (a) 2.2.3 Achievements in and Impediments to Realization of Child Rights 16 December 1966 In 2003 the UNCRC Committee recognized with appreciation that Bangladesh has made clear and visible Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 6 Nov 1984 (a) progress, in the fields of child nutrition, health, education and labour. Similarly in 2009 the UNCRC against Women (CEDAW), 18 December 1979 Committee recognized the progress made by Bangladesh towards achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2, 3, and 4 with a significant reduction in child mortality, an increase in enrolment in primary school Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All 6 Sep 2000 and the attainment of gender parity at the primary and lower secondary levels. Forms of Discrimination against Women, 6 October 1999 The UNCRC Committee identified the following as Impediments for realising child rights in Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or 5 Oct 1998 (a) Bangladesh: Degrading Treatment or Punishment10 December 1984 • a large percentage of young population • a large percentage of people who live below the poverty line International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All 24 Aug 2011 • natural disasters Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 18 December • structural adjustment 1990 • persistence of certain traditional practices and customs. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989 August 3 1990 2.3 Child Rights Governance: Theory and Practice Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Children 6 Sep 2000 2.3.1 What is Child Rights Governance? the Involvement of Children in armed conflict, 25 May 2000

Child Rights Governance is a thematic programme area for Save the Children. It aims at building societies that Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 6 Sep 2000 the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography 25 fulfil child rights by establishing and strengthening the infrastructure necessary for states to effectively May 2000 implement the UNCRC and other child rights obligations. It is an attempt to synchronise the child rights and governance agenda. It is about developing a vibrant civil society pushing children up the political agenda and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 12 March2001 holding states to account for what they have or haven’t done to realize children’s rights. It is an effective strategy for impacting on millions of children’s lives at scale, resulting in structural and therefore lasting change. Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 22 June 1972

26 http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en.

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Save the Children has identified the following three sub themes under its Child Rights Programming thematic The general measures of implementation identified by the Committee and described in the general comment area: are intended to promote the full enjoyment of all rights in the Convention by all children, through legislation, coordinating and monitoring bodies - governmental and independent - comprehensive data collection, (i) Child rights monitoring: awareness-raising and training and the development and implementation of appropriate policies, services and Save the Children will support better data collection on children’s lives; studies and research, including analysis programmes. of national and sub-national budgets for children’s issues; the establishment of independent child rights monitoring institutions; the preparation of child-informed supplementary reports to the UN Committee on While some of these developments may seem largely cosmetic, their emergence at the least indicates a the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Council. change in the perception of the child’s place in society, a willingness to give higher political priority to children and an increasing sensitivity to the impact of governance on children and their human rights. (ii) Strengthening national systems: Save the Children will push for the amendment of national legislation to comply with the UNCRC; influence The Committee has emphasized that, in the context of the Convention, States must see their role as fulfilling law reform; push for resourced strategies and action plans for children; support public administrations and clear legal obligations to each and every child. Implementation of the human rights of children must not be services to become child-friendly and take the best interests of children into account; support the effective seen as a charitable process, bestowing favours on children. coordination of all the ministries and agencies dealing with children’s issues. Save the Children will work at all The development of a children’s rights perspective throughout Government, parliament and the judiciary is levels of government and administration. required for effective implementation of the whole Convention and, in particular, in light of the articles in the (iii) Building awareness and capacity on child rights governance: Convention identified by the Committee as general principles. Save the Children will facilitate child rights education for children and their communities, build capacity to (a) Principle of non-discrimination respect children’s rights among service providers and other professionals in regular and close contact with children; build organisational capacity of civil society organizations enabling them to promote and advocate The UNCRC Committee has emphasized the need to understand and interpret the general measures of for children’s rights to be respected and to claim accountability from those responsible; support children to implementation in conjunction with the general principles of the UNCRC especially the principle of organise and build their capacity to promote their rights. non-discrimination which obliges States to respect and ensure the rights set forth in the Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind. This non-discrimination obligation requires 2.3.2 General Measures of Implementation States to actively identify individual children and groups of children the recognition and realization of whose rights may demand special measures. For example, the Committee has highlighted, in particular, the need for 2.3.2.1 UN Child Rights Committee data collection to be disaggregated to enable discrimination or potential discrimination to be identified. Effective implementation of the rights guaranteed in the UNCRC depends on the extent to which States Addressing discrimination may require changes in legislation, administration and resource allocation, as well parties uphold the principles of good governance. as educational measures to change attitudes. It should be emphasized that the application of the The Article in the UNCRC that directly relates to child rights governance is Article 4 which stipulates that non-discrimination principle of equal access to rights does not mean identical treatment. A general comment States parties take “all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures” for implementation of the by the Human Rights Committee has underlined the importance of taking special measures in order to 28 rights contained therein. diminish or eliminate conditions that cause discrimination. The UNCRC’s General Measures of Implementation have been identified as concrete steps that need be (b) Article 12: the child’s right to express his or her views freely in “all matters affecting the adopted by States parties towards establishing the systems and mechanisms that are necessary to ensure that child”, those views being given due weight. rights are delivered for all children. The UN Committee’s General Comment 5 provides an in depth reading on Article 4 of the UNCRC and should be considered a key point of reference for the process. This principle, which highlights the role of the child as an active participant in the promotion, protection and While it is the State which takes on obligations under the Convention, its task of implementation - of making monitoring of his or her rights, applies equally to all measures adopted by States to implement the reality of the human rights of children - needs to engage all sectors of society and, of course, children Convention. Opening government decision-making processes to children is a positive challenge which the themselves. Ensuring that all domestic legislation is fully compatible with the Convention and that the Committee finds States are increasingly responding to. Given that few States as yet have reduced the voting Convention’s principles and provisions can be directly applied and appropriately enforced is fundamental. In age below 18, there is all the more reason to ensure respect for the views of disenfranchised children in addition, the UNCRC Committee has identified a wide range of measures that are needed for effective Government and parliament. If consultation is to be meaningful, documents as well as processes need to be implementation, including the development of special structures and monitoring, training and other activities made accessible. But appearing to “listen” to children is relatively unchallenging; giving due weight to their in Government, parliament and the judiciary at all levels.27 views requires real change. Listening to children should not be seen as an end in itself, but rather as a means by which States make their interactions with children and their actions on behalf of children ever more sensitive to the implementation of children’s rights.29 27 In 1999, the Committee on the Rights of the Child held a two-day workshop to commemorate the tenth anniversary of adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly. The workshop focused on general measures of implementation following which the Committee adopted detailed conclusions and 28 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 18 (1989), HRI/GEN/1/Rev.6, pp. 147 et seq. recommendations (see CRC/C/90, para. 291). 29 UNCRC Committee General Comment 5 (2003), CRC/GC/2003/5, 0310.2003.

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2.3.2.2 Save the Children and Child Rights Governance 2.3.3 Interpretative Guidance from Good Governance

Save the Children’s Child Rights Governance work follows the General Measures of Implementation as set In the human rights discourse good governance is identified as an essential pre requisite for promoting and out in Article 4 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and interpreted by the United protecting human rights. The rights-based approach to development recognizes four types of core obligations Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. for duty-bearers:

The UNCRC provisions and the UN Committee’s discussions encompass the following: • Respect rights, i.e. do not interfere with their enjoyment by everyone. • Protect rights from abuse by others, i.e. do not allow others to interfere with these rights. • National agenda - does the State have a national agenda for children? • Facilitate the fulfilment of rights, i.e. create an enabling and supportive environment. • Legislation - Is the UNCRC reflected in national laws? • Fulfil rights, i.e. support and assist those who cannot meet their own needs. • Budget -are sufficient resources allocated to children’s rights? • Coordination -How are child rights issues coordinated across state structures? Table 2.9 Rights-Based Approach to Governance • Impact assessment -Does the government carry out impact assessments of policy, law and budget decisions as to their impact on children? Strenthen the accountability Duty-bearers Fulfil their obligations Change: • Data -Is there reliable, publicly available disaggregated data on children? of duty bearers towards rights-holders • Institutional and legal • Information and training -Do children, their caregivers and professionals in contact with children • Environmental have information about and training on child rights? • Economical / technical • Participation -Are children’s civil and political rights being respected? • Social / cultural • Civil society-Does the government engage in an on-going and inclusive dialogue with civil society? • Ombudsman - Are there any independent mechanisms in place that support and protect children’s rights? Rights-based rights- holders demoand their organisation Support rights-holders Changes in However, the Child Rights Governance thematic area will look beyond the general measures of rights from demanding their rights implementation and explore other factors that strongly influence realization of child rights for example duty-bearers people’s lives transparency in budget formulation, taxation, decentralization, privatization, international aid prioritisation etc. Source: Applying A Rights-based Approach An Inspirational guide for Civil Society, Jakob Kirrkemann Boesen & Tomas Martin (2007) Focus of Child Rights Programming United Nations Development Programme defines governance as "the exercise of economic, political, and Save the Children’s Child Rights Governance programming has identified three focus areas: administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels and the means by which states promote • The UNCRC’s General Measures of Implementation; which are the concrete steps as set out by the social cohesion and integration, and ensure the well-being of their populations. It embraces all methods used UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) for the state to establish the systems to distribute power and manage public resources, and the organizations that shape government and the and mechanisms that are necessary to ensure that rights are delivered for all children. The UN execution of policy. It encompasses the mechanisms, processes and institutions, through which citizens and Committee’s General Comment 5 provides in depth reading and should be considered a key point groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and resolve their of reference for the process. differences."30 • The political, economic, social and cultural factors at all levels that help or hinder state and the society at large in the implementation of these measures. It has decided to focus on issues of According to this definition, "good governance therefore depends on public participation to ensure that citizenship and economic governance. CRG analysis therefore will identify key factors in those areas political, social and economic priorities are based on a broad societal consensus and that the poorest and depending on the country context. most vulnerable populations can directly influence political decision making, particularly with respect to the • Achieving quality interaction between key stakeholders to deliver rights including non-state actors allocation of development resources. Good governance is also effective and equitable, and promotes the rule (the private sector, media, civil society, academia), children and the state. Child Rights Governance is of law and the transparency of institutions, officials, and transactions".31 not just about building systems and mechanisms it is about improving the quality of relationships and interaction. CRG aims to increase accountability for child rights through dialogue, regulation, In brief, good governance refers to a high quality in processes by which decisions affecting public affairs are accountability and increased transparency. reached and implemented.

Meeting these strategic objectives requires the generation of political will and support, social mobilisation, the 30 United Nations Development Programme, Governance for sustainable human development, UNDP policy document, New York creation of new systems and institutions, and innovations and shifts in social norms. 1997; UNDP AND GOVERNANCE Experiences and Lessons Learned, Management Development and Governance Division, Lessons-Learned Series No. 1; Definition of basic concepts and terminologies in governance and public administration, Note by the Secretariat, UN Economic and Social Council, Committee of Experts on Public Administration Fifth session New York, 27-31 March 2006. 31 ibid.

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Good governance ensures that all, including the poor and other disadvantaged groups, are included and have the means Child rights governance involves observance of certain substantive and procedural principles since the (a) to influence the direction of development in particular as far as it affects their lives, ultimate goal of child rights governance is to forge a strong link between child rights and the governance (b) to make contributions to development and have these recognized, and agenda of a country thereby making governments accountable to children and civil society. As the key (c) to share in the benefits of development and improve their lives and livelihoods. Good governance challenge is to mainstream child rights, a set of substantive and procedural principles would provide valuable helps to ensure that all people have adequate access to basic services. guidance and direction in addition to formulating a framework for the assessment of child rights governance status within the State machinery. The following have been identified as principles of good governance:32 • Participation - All men and women should have a voice in decision-making, either directly or through 2.3.3.2 Substantive Principles of Child Rights Governance legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation is built on Best Interests of the Child: Promoting and protecting the principle of best interests of the child in all freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively. decisions and actions affecting children • Rule of law - Legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially, particularly the laws on human rights. • Transparency - Transparency is built on the free flow of information. Processes, institutions and informa- Non-discrimination: Ensuring that laws and policies are implemented and services are delivered on the tion are directly accessible to those concerned with them, and enough information is provided to under- basis of non-discrimination stand and monitor them. Child Participation: Facilitating opportunities for children who are capable of forming their opinions to • Responsiveness - Institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders. participate in decisions and actions affecting them • Consensus orientation - Good governance mediates differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interests of the group and, where possible, on policies and procedures. Transparency: Ensuring that the rules, standards and procedures for decision-making, allocating and distrib- • Equity - All men and women have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being. uting resources and delivering of services are open, clear, verifiable and predictable • Effectiveness and efficiency - Processes and institutions produce results that meet needs while making Accountability: Making institutions and officials responsible for their decisions and actions by availing opportu- the best use of resources. nities for them to explain and justify their decisions and actions, their implementation and the results • Accountability - Decision-makers in government, the private sector and civil society organisations are achieved. accountable to the public, as well as to institutional stakeholders. This accountability differs depending on the organisation and whether the decision is internal or external to an organisation. Sustainability: Ensuring uninterrupted and continuous delivery of services for children by facilitating • Strategic vision - Leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance sustainable institutions, processes and systems at national and sub national levels and human development, along with a sense of what is needed for such development. There is also an Integrity: Inspiring and linking child rights promoters, defenders and activists to maintain integrity, conviction understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded. and ethical coherence in child rights work 2.3.3.1 Evolving a Definition and Principles of Child Rights Governance Impartiality: Guaranteeing impartiality at every level without nepotism, prejudice, partisanship and partiality and discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, caste and place of birth. Drawing inspiration and guidance from the definition of Good Governance, Child Rights Governance could be interpreted as Efficiency: Enhancing the efficiency of child rights governance at national and subnational levels through accountable, result-oriented and clearly identifiable processes and goals “Execution of law and policy and exercise of economic, political and administrative power and authority, and management of monetary, human and material resources and governance of institutions, systems and Equity: Ensuring equitable allocation and distribution of resources for institutions working for and with processes in a manner respectful of and responsive to promoting and protecting child rights guaranteed in children the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child.” 2.3.3.3 Procedural Principles of Child Rights Governance

Table 2.10 Child Rights Governance Model Institutional Mandates/Portfolios: Promoting and facilitating formulation of child rights - oriented mandates and portfolios for institutions working for and with children at national and subnational levels Strengthening National Systems Role Profiles/Terms of References: Promoting and facilitating formulation of child rights-based role Awareness & Capacity Building profiles and terms of references of officials working for and with children Power Authority Resources Child Rights Realised (Children, Civil Society, Government) Child-friendly processes, procedures and systems: Promoting, facilitating and strengthening child- friendly processes, procedures and systems within the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Child Rights Monitoring government at national and subnational levels Compatibility of Laws, Policies and Strategies: Harmonizing laws, policies and strategies relating to children with the rights, principles and standards recognized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of 32 ibid. the Child

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Implementation of Laws, Policies and Strategies: Strengthening institutional and human resource (f) Social Protection, Social Safety Nets, Social Welfare: Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, capacity necessary for effective implementation of laws, policies and strategies Department of Social Services Coordination among and within institutions: Designing pragmatic, viable, workable and sustainable All the above mentioned Ministries responsible for different thematic areas have to work closely with two mechanisms for efficient coordination within and among multi-sectoral institutions working for and with Ministries namely, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs that are children at national and sub national levels responsible for law making, law enforcement and adjudication of justice and the Ministry of Women and Review and Evaluation of Performance: Introducing methodologies and techniques to constantly review Children Affairs which is the key Ministry responsible for coordinating all affairs relating to children. and evaluate the performance of institutions and officials Independent Monitoring: Introducing and facilitating independent monitoring of implementation of the Table 2.11 Duty Bearers responsible for Governance at National Levels United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at national and sub national levels Advocacy and Networking: Promoting and advocating child rights governance through children’s and civil Subject Institution Officials/ Unit society initiatives and networks Child Protection including Ministry of Social Welfare, Probation Officers Capacity Building: Enhancing the capacity of children and adults working for and with children to equip child-care institutions Department of Social Services themselves with knowledge and skills for promoting and ensuring child rights governance. (Children Act 1974) Children in Conflict with the Ministry of Social Welfare, 2.3.3.4 Mapping of Duty Bearers within a Thematic Child Rights Governance Structure Law (Children Act - 1974) Department of Social Services, Ministry of Law, Justice and Comprehensive mapping of various duty bearers (institutions as well as officials) responsible for the promo- Parliamentary Affairs/ tion and protection of child rights in different sectors and at national and subnational levels would help Supreme Court identify where interventions are essential to strengthen institutions, systems and human resources. At present no such mapping has been done with a view to assessing the capacities of institutions and officials and the Education (eg. Corporal Ministry of Primary and Department of Primary Education- strengths and weaknesses of the systems. Information relating to the level of acquaintance of public officials punishment, Primary Mass Education Ministry of Compulsory Primary Education on child rights issues and also the extent to which issues relating to children are perceived within a child Education (Compulsory) Education Implementation, Cell/Unit, rights framework are not available. The general opinion is that the capacity building of institutions and person- Act 1990: Primary and Mass Education nel had been carried out on an ad hoc basis as opposed to a systematic manner and also more with the aim Division, Compulsory Primary of “sensitizing” them on child rights than educating them on how child rights could be interpreted and Education Implementation integrated into their work. Monitoring Unit Child-rights being a cross-cutting and multi-sectoral issue involving multiple stakeholders, any analysis of child Child Labour Ministry of Labour and Directorate of Labour-Child rights governance also requires examination of the mandate and performance of a whole range of govern- Employment Labour Unit ment agencies at national and sub national levels responsible for implementing the UNCRC. Linking child Enactment of Laws/ Ministry of Law, Justice and rights governance programming to specific child rights thematic areas will help Save the Children to clearly Amendment of Laws Parliamentary Affairs, Law identify areas for its interventions and setting achievable targets relating to child rights governance. In this Commission Parliament connection six thematic areas may be identified: Law Enforcement Ministry of Home Affairs Police Officers

(a) Child Protection: Child victims of Violence, Abuse, Exploitation (sexual, economic), children in care, Administration of Justice Ministry of Home Affairs Courts of Law and Judges street children, child marriages Ministry of Law, Justice Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice: Police and Courts and Parliamentary Affairs Victim Protection and care: Department of Social Services, Probation Officers, Care-givers in child-care institutions Social Protection. Social Ministry of Food Department of Food Department Victims of economic exploitation: Ministry of Labour in addition to the above mentioned institutions Welfare and Social Safety Ministry of Disaster Management of Relief and Rehabilitation Nets Ministry of Women and Department of Social Services (b) Education: formal and informal education; compulsory education; school dropouts Children Affairs (c) Health: Nutrition, immunisation, Ministry of Social Welfare (d) Juvenile Justice (e) Civil and Political Rights: Birth Registration, Citizenship, Adaptation, Opinion and Participation

32 ibid.

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Table 2.12 Duty Bearers responsible for Governance at Sub National Levels At Sub National Level The following functions (these have direct bearing on children) are transferred to the Upazila Parishad from 1 How has the Ministry decentralised its power to the sub national level – Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad the different departments: and Union Parishad levels? 2 What are the key agencies responsible at the Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad levels Name of Ministry/Department List of Transferred Subject or Department implementing the Ministry mandate ? Ministry of Health and Family Planning Health and Family Planning including Upazila 3 What is the mandate of the said government agencies at the Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad and Union Health Complex, MCH and all Population Parishad levels relating to child related issues? Control Services 4 Is there any reference to child rights in the mandate of the said government agencies at the Zila Parishad, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Women’s Department (Upazila Women Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad levels? Affairs Officer and staff and their activities) 5 Who are the officials responsible at Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad levels concerning child related issues? Primary Education Division Department of Primary Education (Upazila 6 What are the role profiles and terms of reference of the said officials? Is there any reference to child rights Primary Education Officer and staff and their in their role profiles or terms of reference? activities) 7 What governing mechanisms are in place linking the national level with the Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad Ministry of Disaster and Relief Relief and Rehabilitation Department and Union Parishad levels? (Upazila PIO and staff and their activities) 8 Are there any mechanisms including data collection for reviewing and evaluating the performance of the subnational level agencies and their officials? Ministry of Social Welfare Department of Social Welfare (Upazila Social 9. What are the guiding principles governing allocation and disbursement of resources? Welfare Officer and staff and their activities) 10. What mechanisms are in place for connecting the agencies working for children at Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad levels with children, civil society organizations and communities? During the consultation process Mrs Irene Khan, proposed that Save the Children adopt an index or indica- 11. What are the responsibilities/roles/functions of the elected members at the Upazila Parishad and Union tors similar to the MDGs to measure the progress made by the government in ensuring good governance in Parishad levels in relation to children’s issues? the field of child rights. In developing an index or indicators attention may be drawn under each thematic area 12. What is the level of acquaintance/knowledge of officials and elected members on child rights and the UNCRC? to the following issues pertaining to child rights governance: Analysis Under each thematic area it is important to address At National Level Without any indicators or an index it would not be feasible to assess the strengths, weaknesses and gaps in 1 What is the mandate of the Ministry regarding the Child Rights related thematic issues? Is there any refer- the existing governance structure at the national and sub national levels especially for service delivery and ence to child rights in the mandate? budgetary disbursements 2 What are the laws and regulations that empower the Ministry with the powers relating to the child rights • Usefulness of coming up with an index (something similar to MDG goals) to assess the progress of child related thematic issues? rights governance was suggested during the stakeholder interview process. 3 What are the units and Departments within the Ministry at the national level that are responsible for • Vastness of the country in terms of population and geographical area demands systematic indicators or implementing the mandate? indexes to set benchmarks and measure the progress. 4 Who are the key officials at the Ministry at national level responsible for implementing the Ministry • The substantive and procedural principles of child rights governance can be used as metaphors to track Mandate relating to child rights? the progress made in improving the status of governance in respective government agencies. 5 What are the role profiles and terms of reference of the concerned officials? Are there any references to child rights? Recommendations 6 What are the internal administrative and management systems, procedures and processes for implement- • Develop an Index or an Indicator to review Child Rights Governance. (The substantive and procedural ing the mandate and coordinating the work? principles may provide some guidance). 7 What are the mechanisms adopted by the Ministry and all units and departments within the Ministry • Identify two specific thematic areas to implement a Child Rights Governance Baseline Study Project. It concerning children’s issues to review and monitor the child related work at the national level? would be feasible and pragmatic to identify one broad area such as child protection and one narrow area 8 What are the other Ministries and government agencies that the Ministry liaises with at the national level? for example birth registration. If so what working arrangements are there to maintain efficiency? • Tracking the child rights governance structure from national level to Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad and 9 Are there any permanent mechanisms to obtain the input of civil society organizations and children in the Union Parishad levels. Selecting one set of Parishad representing a relatively developed region with high work of the said Ministry? performance on the MDGs and another set of Parishads from a under developed region with relatively 10 What are the guiding principles and procedures for deciding on resource allocation and disbursment of low performance on MDGs would help compare and contrast the situation and understand regional disparities relating to child rights governance. resources for child related work? • Tracking the child rights governance structure needs to identify the key institutions and officials respon- 12. What is the level of acquaintance/knowledge of officials on child rights and the UNCRC? sible at each level of the governance structure from national to subnational levels.

32 ibid.

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Strengthening National Systems

The institutions and processes that are vested with power and authority and the decision making processes exert primordial influence over the country’s ability to promote and protect child rights. Hence, a solidly grounded child rights governance structure that is effective, efficient and a strong national system is crucial for the realization of child rights for the 45% of Bangladesh’s child population. Strengthening transparency and accountability of public officials are equally essential in ensuring child rights governance. Strengthening 3.1 National Laws, Policies and Plans of Action In a democratic system of governance, the power and authority to govern are derived from laws and policies. Allocation and distribution of State resources are also prescribed by laws and policies of the government. Hence, the need to review the government’s law and policy reform process and ascertain whether they are National in conformity with the international standards applicable to child rights. 3.1.1 Enactment/Amendment of Laws Upon ratification of the UNCRC and its Optional Protocols the States parties have an obligation to bring their domestic laws in conformity with the Principles and standards set by the UNCRC and the Protocols. Systems This obligation can be fulfilled either by amending the existing laws or enacting new laws. In addition to the findings of law reviews carried out by UNICEF and Save the Children, the UNCRC Committee’s concluding observations clearly demonstrate that national laws of Bangladesh are yet to conform with the principles and rights enshrined in the UNCRC. It has been clearly established that certain national laws and policies especially those relating to age and gender equality are inconsistent with the UNCRC and even the laws and policies that are consistent with the UNCRC appear to be inactive and inoperative because of the weaknesses in the law enforcement mechanisms.34 Concluding Observations of the UNCRC Committee, Initial Report of Bangladesh to the UNCRC (1995) Positive developments

Legislative Measures (1997) A plan of action was proposed for the creation of task forces on law reform, juvenile justice and girl child. In 3 1995 Repression against Women and Children (Special Act) was adopted. Also, there was occasion for UNCRC to appreciate Bangladesh’ active participation in the SAARC Conference on Decade of the Girl Child. UNCRC Committee’s Concerns (1997) The domestic legal framework does not give a clear picture of Convention’s status and there appears to be inadequacy in the steps taken to bring legislature into full conformity with the Convention in the areas such as non-discrimination (art 2) best interests of the child (art. 3), right to life, survival and development (art. 6) and respect for the views of the child (art. 12). The current legislative provisions such as age limits set by the law, lack of definition of the child, the age of criminal responsibility which is set at too young an age, the possibility of imposing death penalty and/ or imprisonment of children in ordinary prisons (1997) too fall short of those expected by the Convention.

34 Situation Assessment and Analysis of Children And Women in Bangladesh, UNICEF, 2009, p.23-24; see also Protection of Children in Conflict with the Law in Bangladesh: Dr Borhan Uddin Khan, Mohammad Mahbudur Rahman (2008) Save the Children UK; Tracing the Missing Cord: A Study on the Children Act, 1974, A study conducted by Professor Mizanur Rahman, Ph.D. & Team For Save the Children - UK Dhaka.

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Furthermore, lives of most of the children are governed by family customs and religious practices rather than proposing the new Children Act. Although the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs is the lead Ministry for the law of the country which are inadequately applied. Children it lacks the capacity to spearhead legal reform initiatives and processes.

Second Periodic Report of Bangladesh (2003) (i) Children Act 1974 Positive developments The two most important laws and rules concerning children are the Children Act of 1974 and the Children It is an encouraging factor that there are positive developments such as Suppression of Violence against Rules of 1976. Most of the colonial laws applicable to children were repealed by these two laws. Women and Children Act (2000), Acid Control Act (2002), Acid Crimes Prevention Act (2002), Law safeguarding the speedy progress of trials (2002) and Withdrawal of the Public Safety Act (2002). In 2008 UNICEF undertook a review of the Children Act 1974 which is the principle law relating to children in response to a request found in the National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction of FY 2005-2008 Third and Fourth Combined Periodic Report of Bangladesh (2007) to identify legal provisions which are inconsistent with the UNCRC. In this connection legal reform need to address issues.

Positive developments As the Act preceded the UNCRC, it does not incorporate many of the provisions, principles and standards Since submitting the second periodic report, it is noticed that positive developments are continued in of the UNCRC. However, according to a senior official in the Ministry of Social Welfare the proposed draft of Bangladesh. Specific laws such as laws on birth registration and citizenship have been either adopted or the Children Act adopts the UNCRC as the framework and basis for reform. A high level Committee is amended. For instance, the Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance 2008 grants children born to Bangladeshi reported to have been appointed to review the definition of the child and the minimum ages of children under women married to non-Bangladeshi men, the citizenship right. The Bangladeshi Labour Law (2006) prohibits different circumstances. The Children Act is supposedly proposing 18 years as the upper limit of childhood. hazardous work for children under 18 years of age and also, the Birth and Deaths Registration Act (2004) is However, if and when this law comes into force various other laws need to be amended to ensure uniformity linked to birth registration providing access to social services which naturally stimulates and increases the and consistency in the legal framework. number of beneficiaries. The Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act (2000) (amended in 2003), gives protection to women and children against violence. Acid Crimes Prevention Act (2002) is The newly drafted Children Act is said to have been approved by the Cabinet and it is expected to be another positive step. submitted for President’s concurrence prior to tabling it before the Parliament. The New Children Act is likely to be enacted within the next 6 months or so. UNCRC Committee’s Concerns The Principal Ministry responsible for implementing the Children Act of 1974 is the Ministry of Social Welfare. Some aspects of domestic legislation continue to be in conflict with the principles and provisions of the The forty five full-time Probation Officers affiliated to the Ministry are responsible for implementing the Act Convention and the UNCRC Committee has regretted that there is no comprehensive law to incorporate in 64 districts in the country. Moreover, all Upazila Social Welfare Officers are vested with the power of the Convention into domestic legislation. In particular, the Committee was also concerned that the 1974 Probation of Officer. Children’s Act has not been revised in line with the Convention. The Children Act of 1974 applies to three categories of children: namely children in need of protection and UNCRC Committee’s Recommendations care, child victims and children in conflict with the law. The Act is aimed at achieving two goals: first, formulate The principles and provisions of the Convention should be incorporated into the domestic legislation and the appropriate normative and legal procedure for proper custody protection and treatment of children; individuals and judges at all levels of administration and judicial proceedings are able to base their judgments second, the Act provides for a mechanism for the trial and punishment of such children who may come into to be in harmony with the principles and provisions of the Convention. Also, revise the 1974 Children’s Act conflict with the law.35 The Act provides for custody, protection and treatment of children who come into comprehensively and subsequently carry out an impact assessment to ascertain the viability of the new laws contact with the law and also make specific provision applicable to children who come into conflict with the in relation to the enjoyment of child rights. Include in the domestic legislation the principles and provisions law. The Act defines a 'child' and 'youthful offender' as a person under the age of 16. of the Convention in the areas of minimum ages of criminal responsibility, marriage, child labour and harmful traditional practices affecting children. According to a Study the provisions of the Act are breached and abused throughout the administration of justice process namely pre, during and post-trial stages.36 More specifically this relates to determination of There should be a continuous process and not a one-off exercise and reviews should be conducted on the age of the child (Section 66), establishment of the juvenile court, sitting of the court (section 7), court existing legislation as well. While it is important that this review process be included in the government procedure (Sections 15, 18 etc), punishment (sections 51, 52), detention (section 55) etc.37 machinery it is also desirable that independent reviews be conducted, for example by parliamentary committees and hearings, national human rights institutions, NGOs, academics, affected children and young According to the study, the main reasons for non-implementation of the Children Act 1974 are as follows:38 people and other interested parties. All laws pertaining to sectors such as education, health, justice etc. should • Failure to establish a separate trial system also conform to the standards of the Convention.

35 States Practice Protection of Children in Conflict with the Law in Bangladesh: Dr Borhan Uddin Khan, Mohammad Mahbudur Rahman (2008) A single government agency solely responsible for adopting all legislative measures to harmonise the Save the Children UK. 36 Tracing the Missing Cord : A Study on the Children Act, 1974, A study conducted by Professor Mizanur Rahman, Ph.D. & Team domestic laws in conformity with the UNCRC by proposing amendments to existing laws and enacting new For Save the Children - UK Dhaka. laws does not exist. For example, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has been instrumental in amending 37 ibid. the laws relating to child labour and the Ministry of Social Welfare is the key line Ministry involved in 38 ibid.

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• Overuse of deprivation of liberty It is yet to be seen whether the weaknesses of the Act highlighted in the above study have been addressed • Criminalizing nature of the correctional institutes and suggestions have been incorporated into the new Children Act. • Anti-child attitude of the Magistrates and the police (ii) Children’s Commissioner (Ombudsman) Draft Law of 2006 • Lack of proper administrative and other coordination • Resource constraints A Children’s Commissioner (Ombudsman) Law was drafted in 2006 and it was later reviewed by and agreed to in principle by the Cabinet. Recommendation for implementation of the Children Act 1974 Analysis In order to ensure proper implementation of the 1974 act the following recommendations have been • The legislative reform process has been lagging behind in the absence of an identified entity responsible prescribed in the study: for overseeing the legal reform process • Fully-fledged application of the Children Act, 1974 • As legislative reform involves multi-sectoral government agencies there has not been any attempt to • Establishment of a juvenile court in every district. The Sessions Court may be assigned with the additional adopt a coordinated approach of initiating and implementing legislative reforms relevant to all concerned responsibility of functioning as a juvenile court on a regular basis at least for a number of days per week. government agencies However, if it does not become possible in the short run section 4 of the Children Act should be strictly • The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has not been able to coordinate or expedite the legislative followed reform process • Formation of coordinating and supervisory committee Recommendations • Determination of the age of the child needs to be ensured and definite mechanism to be evolved for the purpose • In light of the Concluding Observations of the Committee identify the subjects for law reform and the relevant government agencies that need to initiate the law reform process • Appointment of trained, child sensitive police officers • As child rights is a cross-cutting issue involving multi-sectoral government agencies a focal point in each • Appointment of adequate number of Probation Officers Ministry responsible for child related issues would help initiate legislative reforms pertaining to the • Prohibition of use of children by political parties subject matter concerning the relevant Ministry • During the stakeholder interview process it was revealed that setting up focal points at Ministerial level • Community involvement in the correction of the juveniles has helped to achieve considerable progress in mainstreaming the rights of disabled persons and also • Recourse to diversions. Particularly, community based diversions to be the ultimate goal of a “New Child women’s rights issues.40 Centered Justice Policy”. Properly staffed and sufficiently funded this programme will rehabilitate children • Strengthen MOWCA as the responsible for coordinating with all relevant Ministries and overseeing and in contact with law with less expense, more humanly, more protective of public safety and at least as ensuring the continuity of the legislative reform process. effective as a punitive system, if not better, in reducing recidivism of cases of juvenile delinquency. Thus • Establish a unit within the Legislative Drafting and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Ministry of Law, Justice diversions are indispensable and Parliamentary Affairs responsible for constantly reviewing the existing laws in light of the UNCRC • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as diversion programme should be practised as far as possible and treaty obligations and initiate legislative reforms in coordination and assistance with relevant subject line which has been in practice by limited number of courts in Bangladesh. Ministries. • Involve academics in the field of law and child psychology to advocate the urgency of expediting the Recommendation for amendment of the Children Act, 1974 implementing process. It is further suggested in the study that proper implementation of the Children Act 1974 necessitates some • Set concrete time-bound deadlines to bring about relevant legislative measures to comply with the long amendments to the Act itself as mentioned below:39 outstanding Concluding Observations of the Committee. • Sections 4 and 5 (3) to be amended and all cases involving a child must be brought exclusively under the • When considering amendments to existing laws to pay attention to independent reviews, studies and jurisdiction of the juvenile courts researches carried out by academics and institutions on the efficacy of those laws. • As overhauling of the Children Act of 1974 is desperately needed and a strong advocacy campaign to • A schedule of offences classified on the basis of nature and gravity of crimes may be annexed to the Act lobby for the enactment of the new Children Act be launched. • More juvenile courts with trained female judges to be established • Before new Children Act is enacted three important factors need be considered: first, whether the law is • Discrepancies as regards age limit of criminal responsibility to be removed in conformity with the principles and standards of the CRC; second, the impact of the new law on existing laws; third, the new law needs to be child-friendly. • Age determination modalities to be adopted • Different enactments dealing with the same issue should be brought together in a single piece of • Specific provision to be inserted in the Code of Criminal Procedure to the effect that the trial of every legislation thus avoiding confusion and ensuring clarity. child below 16 should be held under the Children Act 1974 • When proposals to enact new laws and amend existing laws concerning children are made, information and • Section 51 of the act as regards imprisonment of a child to be amended.

39 ibid. 40 Mr Khandaker Jahurui Alam, Executive Director, Centre for Services and Information on Disability.

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data need be shared with civil society organizations working with and for children to obtain their input thus meet the policing needs of the country and undermines the ability of the police force to perform effectively.46 ensuring that new laws and amendments are aligned with the principles and provisions of the CRC. Conditions of service and facilities, low salary scales of officers in the subordinate ranks, bureaucratic inefficiency, political influence or bribes in the promotion process and premature transfers have lowered the 3.1.2 Law Enforcement organizational efficacy and morale of the officers.47

Insufficient human resources is also a problem encountered in probation and child care. To quote one In its General Comment No: 5 the UNCRC Committee has emphasized that, for rights to have meaning, 48 effective remedies must be available to redress violations. This requirement is implicit in the Convention. example, there are only 45 Probation Officers for the whole country with a child population of 61 million. Children’s special and dependent status creates real difficulties for them in pursuing remedies for breaches of Furthermore lack of resources and inadequate trained police personnel and prosecutors has also hindered the law enforcement work. International Organization of Migration (IOM) and UNDP have offered assistance their rights. So States need to give particular attention to ensuring that there are effective, child-sensitive 49 procedures are available to children and their representatives.41 to train police personnel. Political manipulation: Political and bureaucratic influences are the most significant impediment to law States Practice - Bangladesh enforcement leading to violations of human rights including child rights. Successive governments have used Enforcement of Penal Laws protecting children against all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation is vested the police force to crush political enemies and achieve their political agendas.50 with the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry of Social Welfare is the government agency responsible for providing institutional care and other services to children who come into contact with the law and also Centralised system of governance: The present top-down planning and implementing process allocates rehabilitation and reintegration of children who come into conflict with the law.42 staff, supplies, and services to the local levels with limited local input on needs and capacities for service In order to gauge the country situation and obtain an overview of the challenges in the law enforcement delivery planning often smallest decisions are taken in Dhaka. Lack of authority vested in local government system the following areas have been identified: institutions is a common obstacle in child rights governance. As a remedial measure, in the health sector a new system has been introduced enabling planning processes to start at the Upazila level with the districts Violation of laws by law enforcement officers: The laws and policies applicable to situations of child compiling plans for the Ministry.51 labour, physical punishment, violence against women, sexual exploitation, imprisonment of children with adults, trafficking, child marriage, and other aspects of child protection are constantly violated. Sometimes this Delivering child care services: Identifying and supporting socially disadvantaged and at risk people is because of lack of awareness of the laws but more often they are being just ignored. The very people who including children is the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Welfare and its Department of Social Services are responsible for enforcing them also violate the law. Especially street children, child sex workers and the (DSS). The strength of the Ministry and the DSS is its comprehensive network of social workers at the union children are subjected to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, sexual exploitation from police, mastaans level. Limited managerial and technical capacity, limited financial and human resources and the sheer (hoodlums). Also there are instances where children had been subjected to physical abuse during arrest and magnitude of their work are some of the major constraints encountered by the Ministry and the DSS. They interrogation. Street children are often reported to be abused by the police and are subjected to arbitrary have focussed their activities more on curative and reactive responses with a strong emphasis on arrest and detention.43 institutionalization than concentrating on preventive measures or the integration and rehabilitation of children at risk.52 Child-friendly complaint procedures: Save the Children has been piloting a child friendly complaints mechanism in a number of unions with an ambition of scaling this up in future. There are currently various The training of officials is not carried out in a systematic manner. The top-down approach of planning and telephone based child-help line services operated by MOWCA and NGOs. allocating resources and developing programmes is highly ‘Dhaka centred’ with little or no input from the field level. It should be emphasized that the mandate of the DSS is not limited to children but all socially Corruption: corruption is identified as one of the biggest obstacles in effectively implementing laws and disadvantaged and at risk people. Therefore the DSS implements a plethora of programmes with separate 44 45 policies. Reports relating to street children bribing of traffic police can be cited as an example. management arrangements for different programme components. It has been observed that many DSS Capacity to monitor: The Government does not possess sufficient human resources and capacity to programmes have overlapping mandates or target groups. The institutions for children operated by DSS monitor law enforcement effectively. include orphanages (shishu paribar), baby homes, Kishory Unnayan Kendras(KUKs), and vagrant homes. Majority of these institutions suffer from poor infrastructure, vacant posts, untrained staff, and poor quality of Resource constraints: Financial and human resource constraints faced by almost all social sector care. The DSS is in the process of developing minimum standards of care to substitute the disparate and institutions in enforcing laws and policies are common to all. According to a study besides being understaffed, inadequate rules and regulations applicable to institutions at present. Although NGOs provide some police are severely under-resourced. The $420 million annual police budget is said to be simply insufficient to specialized services in the institutions, the DSS is the key agency with full responsibility for service delivery.53

48 ibid p.14. 41 General Comment No.5 (2003), UNCRC Committee, CRC/GC/2003/5, 27 November 2003, para.24. 49 CEACR: Individual Observation concerning Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) Bangladesh (ratification: 42 See Situation Assessment and Analysis of Children and Women in Bangladesh, UNICEF, 2009, p.144-145. 2001) Published: 2008 http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/pdconv.pl?host=status01&textbase=iloeng&document=10381& 43 See ibid. chapter=6&query=Bangladesh%40ref&highlight=&querytype=bool. 44 See Transparency International Bangladesh National Household Survey 2007-2010. 50 Situation Assessment And Analysis Of Children And Women In Bangladesh, UNICEF, 2009, p.145. 45 Situation Assessment and Analysis of Children and Women in Bangladesh, UNICEF, 2009, p.133. 51 ibid p.145. 46 BANGLADESH: GETTING POLICE REFORM ON TRACK Asia Report N°182 – 11 December 2009, International Crisis Group working 52 ibid p..145. to prevent conflict worldwide, p.15. 53 ibid p.145-146. 47 ibid.

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Treatment of children: Another serious issue relating to enforcement of the laws is the treatment of child The Child Marriage Restraint Act which sets the minimum ages of marriage for men and women at 21 and 18 victims and child witnesses in the same manner as the children who are in conflict with the law. Furthermore years respectively is often ignored, and enforcement of the law is literally non-existent. Recognizing two children accused or convicted of crimes are often detained with adult prisoners. Effective enforcement of the different minimum age limits for men and women contravenes international standard setting. Universal birth laws depends largely on attitudes, awareness and willingness to implement them by the law enforcement registration can be considered as the more effective way of preventing child marriages.60 officers. Analysis Birth Registration: The lack of birth registration to a significant percentage of the child population has been • Laws and policies would become redundant and meaningless in the absence of effective and efficient law one of the contributory factors for violating laws and policies applicable to children. Birth registration enforcement governance structure. Present weaknesses in the law enforcement governance structure provides the child with a name, identity, age and nationality and protect children from child marriages, child sexual exploitation, child trafficking, child labour entitle them to the right to receive age appropriate have resulted in inefficient and ineffective law enforcement mechanisms and a law enforcement cadre that treatment when they come into conflict with the law and facilitate the recovery and reintegration when they is far behind the required capacity to respond to remedying child rights violations. The flaws in the are separated from their parents/guardians and/or become victims of crime.54 current law enforcement governance structure would inevitably result in violation of rights of children both child victims and child offenders. A law enforcement system that is not fully equipped to arrest Child Labour: The enforcement of child labour laws has mainly concentrated on child labour in the formal violence against children would also encourage the perpetrators of crimes against children to evade sector and the vast majority of child labour occurs in the informal sector. Although there is some reference justice with impunity and continue perpetuating such crimes. to child domestic work in the Child Labour Elimination Policy of 2010 domestic child workers are outside the • Crimes committed against children currently are of a complex nature that require forging law purview of child labour laws and therefore denied protection.55 enforcement governance strategically and meticulously in order to curb them effectively. The existing law enforcement system lacks the professional capacity, sufficient human and financial resources and Trafficking: The Ministry of Home Affairs is the key Ministry vested with power and authority for well-structured processes to effectively work with multi-sectoral stakeholders at national and sub counter-trafficking, including activities for rescue, repatriation, recovery and reintegration. Although the national levels. Ministry possesses expertise in the areas of rescue, repatriation and recovery, it has limited capacity in the areas of victim protection and prevention of internal trafficking. The Ministry of Social Welfare would be more Recommendations equipped to provide specialized services for rescued trafficking victims, their families and communities.56 To strengthen law enforcement against trafficking Bangladesh launched an investigation unit in 2008 under the • Mapping out the law enforcement governance structure: Law enforcement governance from child rights Criminal Investigation Department aimed at combating human trafficking. This unit was expected to focus on governance perspective should be given a broad connotation to include all mechanisms that are essential areas including development of national strategy to prevent human trafficking building policing capacity to to implement laws and policies relating to implementing children’s rights more specifically those relating analyse trafficking networks and operations, improving investigative capacity and prosecution, promotion of to child protection, birth registration, right to compulsory education, child labour, child marriage etc. as effective victim support mechanisms and building community-police partnership.57 The inter-ministerial these subjects are closely intertwined. Key government agencies and officials at the national and sub committee on trafficking headed by the Ministry of Home Affairs is holding monthly meetings. The national levels and their powers and functions in relation to enforcement of the laws and policies in government has also formed monitoring committees at district, Upazila, municipality and union levels and connection with the above should be clearly defined as they need to liaise with each other for mutual anti-trafficking police units have been established in all 64 districts headed by Deputy Commissioners. These coordination and assistance. units are expected to deal with cases of human trafficking to ensure effective investigations and interception • Developing institutional protocols: The law enforcement agencies responsible for implementing laws and of trafficking in human beings and transmit daily progress reports to Dhaka on arrests, convictions, acquittals, policies should develop protocols that would guide their officials when dealing with issues such as child and repatriation of trafficked victims.58 protection, birth registration, right to compulsory education, child labour, compulsory education, child Child marriages: When girls are born into the family they are considered a financial burden and they are marriages etc. These protocols should spell out laws and procedures and also liaise with other state and often discriminated against boys when providing for their education, care and health. Under-age children are non-governmental agencies in enforcing the laws and policies. Clearly defined processes and practices given away in marriage with the expectation of reducing dowry payments and fears of sexual harassment and would enhance the efficacy of the system. stalking. Cultural factors have also forced children to marry. For example if a girl child is not married by 15, • Enhancing the capacity of law enforcement officials: Capacity building training should be provided to make the girl and the family are subjected to gossip that the girl is undesirable and to avoid shame parents force law enforcement officials knowledgeable about the laws and procedures to handle cases involving children to marry. Also according to religious norms onset of puberty is recognized as the competent age for children who come into contact with law enforcement agencies as child victims and child offenders. marriage. Proportion of women aged 15-49 who were married before age 15 is 3% and the proportion of Liaising with organizations such as IOM and UNDP which are already working with the government women aged 20-49 who were married before age 18 is 73%.59 would be advantageous. • Allocating adequate human and financial resources: Lobbying for a properly trained police cadre 54 ibid, p.140. especially women officers at police stations to handle child related complaints and enhanced budget 55 ibid p.144. allocation for enforcement of child related laws through child-centred budget tracking could go a long 56 ibid p.23-24. way in improving the law enforcement situation in the country. 57 The New Age National, June 18 2008, http://www.prp.org.bd/Media/18June08.pdf. 58 2008 Human Rights Report: Bangladesh http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/sca/119132.htm.; Situation Assessment and Analysis of Children and Women in Bangladesh, UNICEF, 2009, p.145. 59 UNICEF and BBS, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2006, Bangladesh 2007; Women and girls in Bangladesh, UNICEF Bangladesh. 60 ibid p. 146.

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3.1.3 Interpretation of the Laws courts are often not consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court and there is often lack of uniformity in the decisions of the High Court Division.66 The higher courts in the country have adopted a progressive and proactive approach to promoting and protecting the rights of children who come into contact with or conflict with the law. The highest judicial body Third, even when there is awareness of the beneficial provisions for children, the lack of coordination 67 of the country, the Supreme Court (High Court Division and Appellate Court Division) has provided between responsible professional groups results in poor service delivery and in justice to children. authoritative guidance in a vast number of case law on the interpretation and implementation of the Children Act. During the recent past the High Court Division in particular has dealt with a large number of cases Examples of judicial activism on child rights concerning children in conflict with the law. In addition to considering the cases on their own merits, the High Court Division had the opportunity of providing clarification on various provisions of the Children Act, Each Police Station should have two officers to handle cases relating to children practical issues in the implementation of the provisions, the duties and responsibilities of the professionals A High Court bench of Justice Md Imman Ali and Justice Md Fazlur Rahman in a verdict on September 3, 2009 working with children in conflict with the law, the relationship between the Children Act and International said, ‘Each police station shall have at least two officers, of whom one shall be a female, to deal with cases 61 Law relating to children etc. In State v Metropolitan Police Commissioner the Court extensively discussed involving children in contact with the law. That officer shall be designated as a focal point for children in about implementing the UNCRC at the domestic level. After discussing the beneficial provisions of the conflict/contact with the law who shall deal with all cases relating to children as far as practicable.’ In the same UNCRC, the Court in the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s case made the following recommendation: court decision the High Court has also requested the government to amend the Children Act 1974 or to enact a new comprehensive law to protect the children rights in conformity with the UNCRC and also to “The Legislature should consider amending the Children Act or formulating new laws giving effect to the provisions update the National Children Policy and the juvenile justice system in accordance with the UNCRC.68 of the UNCRC, as is the mandate of that Convention upon the signatories.”62 Children detained in jail to be transferred to safe homes According to the common law tradition that Bangladesh adheres to, the precedents of the higher courts are required to be followed by all judges of the lower courts. Article 111 of the Constitution of Bangladesh In October 2010 the High Court ordered immediate transfer of 145 minors detained in jails across stipulates that the law declared by the Appellate Division shall be binding on the High Court Division and the Bangladesh to safe homes. This order was issued by a bench comprising justice M Imman Ali and Obaidul law declared by either division of the Supreme Court shall be on all courts subordinate to it.63 Hasan on a suo motto rule or an order it had issued on its own without any petition. To quote the ruling “keeping child in jail either in the name of safe custody or in a criminal case is completely illegal and prisons Justice M Imman Ali who is a great promoter of child rights states that in practice most of the provisions of cannot be a safe place for children.”The court order further stipulated that courts should where possible the Children Act and the judgments pronounced by the High Court division are not implemented or applied grant bail to all children. “If it is found that the children, for any reason, may not be enlarged on bail, then resulting in children receiving the same treatment as adults. While acknowledging that some of the provisions immediate steps must be taken to remove all children from prisons with the assistance of the department of require allocation of additional human and financial resources Justice Imman is of the view that many of the social welfare, to the nearest safe custody as prescribed by the Children Act.’69 Furthermore the Court has provisions can be implemented straightaway without any additional resources and would lead to a huge reprimanded the government for keeping the National Task Force on Juvenile Justice inactive and ordered its benefit for the child.64 immediate reactivation to protect child rights.

Justice Imman has identified the following reasons for non-implementation of the provisions: Banning corporal punishment in schools First, the general tendency of the public as well as professionals to view deviant child behaviour in the same In January 2011 the High Court Division of Bangladesh banned all corporal punishment in schools in light as adult criminal activities. The emphasis is on punishing children by showing more vengeance with a view Bangladesh. The Court has observed that caning, beating, chaining, forced haircuts and confinement are used to deter others from offending, rather than ensuring that the offending child does not re-offend.65 to impose punishment on children in primary and secondary schools and in Islamic religious schools.

Second, lack of implementation of the beneficial provisions of the law including case-law in many cases is due Children should be tried in Juvenile courts to lack of knowledge or proper appreciation of them by judges, lawyers, police officers and probation officers. They are often not aware of the existence or content of the Children Act or of the existing body of case-law. On 9 July 2006 the High Court Division of Bangladesh gave a ruling to the effect that all children must be tried In most cases, failure to disseminate the Act and case-law and lack of training, have prevented them from in Juvenile courts and that trial of children in criminal court such as the Nari Shishu Nirjaton Adalot is in acquiring this knowledge. Thus the greatest difficulty of the subordinate judiciary is that they do not have complete contravention of the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 28(4) of the Constitution of access to all the law reports containing the decisions of the higher courts. As a result, decisions of the lower Bangladesh. The Court stated that “when the accused is a child under the Children Act 1974, irrespective of the offence alleged, that child must be tried by a juvenile court and not by any other court”.70 61 60 D.L.R. 660. 62 ibid. 63 Justice M. Imman Ali, Towards a Justice Delivery System for Children in Bangladesh, A Guide and Case Law on Children in Conflict with the Law, p,4. (2011). 64 ibid p.5. 68 The New Age. http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-03-17&nid=4238. 65 ibid p.6. 69 ibid. 66 ibid. 70 Child Rights International Network, http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9159. 67 ibid.

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During consultation process, Justice Imman expressed the view that children have no strength and they have 3.1.4 National Strategies, Policies and Action Plans for Children to share everything (eg. children are tried in adult courts) and that nobody is working cohesively with children. He suggested that the government and other organizations such as Save the Children, UNICEF and The UNCRC States parties are expected to develop comprehensive national strategies rooted in the ILO work collectively and cohesively with and for children and also sensitise parents and teachers to change Convention. The UNCRC Committee believes that if a Government as a whole and at all levels is to promote their chauvinistic attitude towards children. and respect the rights of the child, it needs to work on the basis of a unified, comprehensive and rights-based national strategy, rooted in the Convention.72

The latest initiative to strengthening the judiciary is entitled ‘Judicial Strengthening (JUST)’ which is a joint The features that should be included in a National Strategy or a National Plan of Action for Children:73 project of the Bangladesh government and the UNDP launched in February 2012. The project document states that it is aimed at improving the case management system and implementing better administration of • Introduce a sustainable process for realizing the rights of children throughout the State. courts, which will ultimately reduce the existing backlog of cases in the Higher and Lower Judiciary and thus • Go beyond statements of policy and principle, to set real and achievable targets in relation to the full increase access to timely and affordable justice for the people of Bangladesh, particularly vulnerable groups.71 range of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights for all children. • Elaborate sectoral national plans of action - for example for education and health - setting out specific Analysis goals, targeted implementation measures and allocation of financial and human resources. • Set priorities, without neglecting or diluting in any way the detailed obligations which States parties have • The administration of justice system often continues to treat children who come into contact with the accepted under the Convention. system in the same way as it treats adults. Gaps in the laws such as Children Act 1974 and absence of • Provide adequately resourced, in human and financial terms to implement the strategy. child-friendly processes have adversely affected child victims, child witnesses and child perpetrators violating their rights. The long-drawn law reviewing and law reforming process is yet to produce any The UNCRC Committee has reiterated to the States parties that the national strategies should not be a concrete results to impact on children’s lives in a significant way. one-off task and the strategy should be widely disseminated within the government and among the public • The judges, lawyers, police officers and probation officers lack knowledge of the laws relating to children including children and that arrangements should be made to monitor and continuously review and update the and their rights. Very often when dealing with cases involving children officials responsible for Parliament and the public about the progress made.74 administration of justice neither respect the laws applicable to children nor recognize children as right holders. States Practice: Policies and Action Plans for Children of Bangladesh • Unprecedented delay in the reforms to the Children Act has also aggravated the predicament of children (i) National Policy for Children 1994 who come into contact with the administration of justice system. These delays have impeded the process of introducing a child-centred and child-friendly administration of justice system. The first National Policy for Children was adopted in 1994 and the same year the National Children’s Council • In an attempt to address the gaps and remedy the flaws in the system the judiciary has played an activist was set up. In 2003 the National Plan of Action was revised. The NPA was aimed at achieving the relevant food role and pronounced several judgments with the hope of remedying the flaws in the system. Even these and nutrition related MDG goals and targets (Targets 2, 4 and 5). Goals set by the NPA to be achieved by 2010 judicial pronouncements have not been taken seriously by the law and policy makers and implementers. are to: increase food security of food insecure households; reduce the prevalence of low birth weight; reduce This reflects a rather chauvinistic attitude towards children. the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies (including vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorders and iron deficiency anaemia amongst children, adolescent girls, and women of childbearing age); reduce the Recommendations prevalence of malnutrition among children under the age of five, with a particular focus on children under two; improve infant and child feeding practices, including the initiation of breastfeeding immediately after • Examining the provisions in the proposed Children Act that would strengthen the status of children delivery and exclusive breastfeeding for six months. before the law and the courts and identifying areas that require institutional, structural and procedural changes. UNCRC Committee’s Concerns (1997) • Compiling user-friendly guidelines and protocols, Rules outlining the substantive and procedural legal aspects of the new Children Act within an overall child rights framework for the use of judges, It has expressed concern, in this regard, that the National Policy for Children only covers children up to the prosecutors and lawyers. These guidelines and protocols could be developed under different thematic age of 14. areas such as child victim care and protection, administration of juvenile justice, orphaned and destitute children in need of protection and care, child witnesses of crimes etc. The content of these guidelines and UNCRC Committee (2003) protocols should match the role profiles, responsibilities and duties of judges, prosecutors and lawyers. The UNCRC Committee welcomed the commitment of Bangladesh to formulate by the end of 2003 a • Developing comprehensive training manuals for judges, prosecutors and lawyers for them to introduce national plan of action based on the Convention, to be monitored by the National Children Council and the the newly proposed Children Act, the above mentioned protocols and guidelines which includes the Ministry for Women and Children Affairs. principles and provisions of the UNCRC. • Facilitating the training of judges, prosecutors and lawyers in collaboration with the JATI, Bar Council and the Attorney-General’s Office • Exploring the possibility of partnering with UNDP’s newly launched ‘JUST’ project in implementing the above. 72 General Comment No.5 (2003), CRC/GC/2003/5, 27 November 2003, para.29. 73 ibid para.33. 71 http://www.undp.org.bd/library/FactSheet2/FINAL%20LIC%20factsheet%20Mar%202011.pdf. 74 ibid para.34.

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(ii) National Plan of Action The National Child Policy 2011

The UNCRC Committee’s Recommendations: By 2003 draft of the national plan of action was due to This is the latest policy to be added to the long list of national policies of Bangladesh. be completed. Civil Society and children to be involved in the formulation and implementation of the NPA which would include the rights enshrined in the Convention and MDGs. The content of the “A World Fit for The National Child Policy 2011 defines individuals under the age of 18 as children, irrespective of their castes, Children” of the General Assembly special session on children too should be taken into account. Funds should religions, communities, and social status. The new definition will render 45 percent of the country's total be provided to the National Children Council for monitoring progresses of the national plan of action and population as children, heavily burdened with implications of child labour, social safety net, education, and also create an executive committee within the National Children Council. health policies. It aims to stop using children in politics, rehabilitate ultra-poor and homeless children, and gradually eradicate child labour. (iii) States Practice - Bangladesh The key features of the policy are as follows: During the past three decades Bangladesh has adopted three National Plans of Action for Children and two • Formation of a national level committee to ensure the rights, security, and development of mothers and National Policies for Children. children. • Prohibition of children under 14 years of age as fulltime workers. Employers are required to allow The first National Action Plan covered 1992-1997 and the government formulated the second NPAC for the domestic child workers to meet their parents at least once a month. period 1997-2002 and third NPAC was for the period 2005-2010. However, these National Plans of Action • Emphasis on issues such as child autism, disabilities, homelessness, welfare during and after natural for Children adopt a children’s “needs” based approach than a “rights” oriented approach. Although the third disasters, and sanitation in schools. NPAC envisages in setting up a Children’s Directorate and an independent Child Rights Commission these • Setting up playgrounds in all schools have not been implemented as yet.75 • Day care centres in all jails • Child-friendly health services in all hospitals The NPAC has not been used widely as a policy document. The lack of knowledge and awareness about the • Education in mother languages for ethnic minority children NPAC at all tiers of the administration and the lack of guidelines for the implementation of the plan have • Appointment of an ombudsman for children to ensure implementation of the United Nations slowed down the implementation process. Although some describe it as a ‘guiding’ document, it has not been Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). referred to and adapted for planning and implementation purposes. Also the NPCA has got lost in the vast • Establishment of a national level committee to ensure the rights, security, and development of mothers ocean of policies, plans and actions and similar documents. and children.

The following shortcomings have been identified in the plan and its implementation: (iv) Other policies and plans concerning children • In formulating the NPAC incorporating new ideas and experiences instead of logically following National • National Plan of Action to combat sexual abuse and exploitation, including trafficking of 2002 Children Policy of 1994. • Policy of 2008 for the Advancement of Women, aimed at eradicating gender disparities which seriously • The exhaustive list of strategies and tasks expected from government agencies, civil society organizations affect girls and communities posed major challenges in coordinating and implementing the NPAC • Inputs of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs for The Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-2015) • Mismatch between the roles and responsibilities of key implementing agencies/officials and their • The Education for All National Plan of Action (2003-2015) capacities. • National Education Policy of 2010 • Absence of specific reference to the quantum and source of financial resources required for • National Child Labour Elimination Policy of 2010 implementation • Absence of a monitoring mechanism Analysis • Lack of a framework for the assessment and evaluation of the NPAC • It appears that the National Child Policies and the National Plans of Action for Children have been • Lack of coordination among government agencies 76 • Inadequate technical capacities for data collection and analysis symbolic documents and the ambitious goals set out in the documents have not been achieved. • Limited capacities of the MOWCA as the agency responsible for implementing the NPAC Absence of a powerful ministerial portfolio responsible for implementing policies and national plans has resulted in not being able to achieving the goals set out in these documents. All the shortcomings stems from a crucial governance issue. These shortcomings have been dealt with in • Successive governments have not adopted any concrete measures to disseminate the policies among the depth later in this section and also under coordination, economic governance, data collection etc. A policy duty-bearers and also monitor and continuously review how it has been put into practice. document of such magnitude should have been reinforced by a strong and powerful implementing mechanism. • There has not been any regular updating to the Parliament or the public about the progress achieved in The MoWCA has failed to give the strong impetus that is desperately needed to translate theory into action. implementing the policy.

76 In the opinion of Justice Imman the only visible achievement in the National Children Policy is the progress made in 75 Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, National Plan of Action for Children, 2005-2010, p.79. connection with child mortality.

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• Lack of continuity and consistency in the documents and the mechanisms established under these policy be expedited. Also it stated that the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and the Directorate within this documents for coordination have hampered the effective implementation of the policies Ministry should be given a clear mandate. • Failure in allocating sufficient resources and enhancing the capacity of the institutions and officials responsible for implementing the policies has seriously impeded the implementation process UNCRC Committee’s Concerns (2003) UNCRC Committee remained concerned that policies, and the bodies implementing them, may be Recommendations insufficiently coordinated. (2003)

• The latest National Child Policy (NPA) of 2011 is a good entry point to assess the child rights governance UNCRC Committee (2009) capacity of the institutions responsible for implementation of the policy. The challenge is to make the new Positive developments (2009) policy a living document across the child rights governance landscape. The Committee welcomed the strong political will to address children’s issues and notes • Explore the possibility of recommending that MOWCA and other Ministries be the joint implementers the information shared by the delegation on the newly established National Council for Women and Child of the NPA so that the problems emanating could be solved. Development (NCWCD) as an oversight mechanism. • A critical appraisal of the National Child Policy of 2011 need be carried out to ascertain to what extent the policy has incorporated the UNCRC rights, principles and standards. UNCRC Committee’s Concerns (2009) • Identifying the institutions responsible for implementing the NPA at national and sub national level to be The Committee remained concerned that coordination and monitoring are not up to the required level in carried out through a mapping exercise. particular due to the relatively low empowerment of the coordinating body (Ministry of Women and • Critical assessment of the constraints placed in implementing National Plan of Action should be carried Children’s Affairs (MoWCA) vis-à-vis other ministries, sectors, and levels of administration involved in the out prior to drafting a National Plan of Action for Children based on the new National Child Policy 2011. implementation of the rights of the child. Furthermore, the Committee noted with concern the risk of • Due consideration to be paid to the recommendations of the Committee and the action already taken overlapping and duplication between the NCWCD, MoWCA and Department for Children, expected to be by the relevant government agencies to give effect to those recommendations. established under the MoWCA.

UNCRC Committee’s Recommendations (2009) 3.2 Coordination of Implementation of Children’s Rights Adequate human and financial resources to enhance the capacity of MoWCA which would help strengthen its coordinating role at multi-sector, national, divisional and district levels should be provided. In order to avoid duplication and use limited resources effectively, the roles and mandates of the NCWCA, MOWCA and In examining States parties’ reports the Committee has found it necessary to encourage further coordination Department of Children should be clearly defined. of government to ensure better implementation. Many States parties have with advantage developed a specific department or unit close to the heart of the Government, in some cases in the President’s, Prime Minister’s 3.2.1 Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA) or Cabinet office, presumably with the intention of achieving quick and better results. The Ministry is headed by one State Minister. It is responsible for children’s and women’s affairs and UNCRC Committee Concluding Observations (2003)77 coordination of activities relating to women and children with other Ministries and organizations, liaising with UNICEF and other foreign agencies dealing with child development and enter into treaties and agreements.78 (a) Positive developments The MOWCA lacks the capacity of an implementing Ministry and widely considered as a coordinating body. The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs established in 1994 was given the mandate to coordinate the Comparatively the MOWCA holds a weaker position than other ministries because of it is headed by a State activities carried out by the various bodies and ensure that such activities conform to the standards of the Minister. Insufficient human resources also contributed to it. This leads to overlapping and duplicating of Convention. The inter-ministerial committee which include civil society representations, responsible for coordination functions with other Ministries and Departments. Various components of child rights coordinating the work of ministries that deal with the matters connected with the convention has been implemented by a number of ministries differ in scope, mandate and functions. Therefore, MOWCA has to re-activated. The Committee commended the endeavours of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs depend on other ministries for back up support and implementation.79 introduced a separate Directorate for children’s affairs, inter alia, for promotion and coordination of activities and ensure that the implementation conforms to the standards of the Convention. The overlapping in the functions between the MOWCA and the Ministry of Social Welfare is quite visible. While revision of the NCP has been led by the MOWCA, the process of reviewing of the Children Act is UNCRC Committee Recommendations (2003) spearheaded by the Ministry of Social Welfare.

Adopt the required measures to improve national and local level coordination among various bodies responsible for implementing activities and ensure that such implementation is in conformity with the Convention. The Committee reiterated that the establishment of the Directorate for Children’s Rights should 78 Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Rules of Business 1996 (Revised up to August 2000) with allocation of business among the different ministries and divisions (revised up to August 2000) and warrant of precedence, 1986, Dhaka, Bangladesh: Cabinet Division. 77 CRC/C/15/Add.221, 27 October 2003, paras.14-15. 79 Review of the progress of implementation of the National Plan of Action for Children 2005-2010),MoWCA p.27.

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Table 3.1 Comparison of the Mandate of MoWCA and Ministry of Social Welfare work of the child rights focal points in the Ministries have contributed to the situation. The quarterly meetings of the Committee have not been held as stipulated.80 Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Ministry of Social Welfare Apart from the UNCRC Inter-Ministerial Committee there are other ministerial committees aimed at • Matters relating to Supreme Council for mother • Child welfare and coordination of activities of improving coordination among various ministries dealing with children’s issues. For example the National and children other Ministries, Division and organizations in Steering Committee in the Ministry of Labour and Employment overlook the implementation of the • National Council for Children’s Affairs connection with social welfare International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC). A clear organic relationship • National Children’s Day on the 17th March and • Administration of Voluntary Social Welfare between other ministerial committees and the UNCRC Inter-Ministerial Committee has not been forged. National Awards for Children Agencies(Registration and Control) Ordinance of • Matters relating to Bangladesh Shishu Academy 1961 and Children Act 1974 3.2.3 National Council for Children (NCC) and National Council for Women and Child • Children’s affairs and coordination of such activities • UNICEF and other concerned international with other Ministries and organizations Liaising bodies/foreign agencies dealing with welfare of the Development (NCWCD) with UNICEF and other concerned international handicapped and under privileged In 1995 The National Council for Children (NCC) was established by the government as the agency bodies/foreign agencies dealing with child • Liaison with international organizations and responsible for providing guidance in formation of overall policies and implementing the National Child Policy. development matters relating to treaties, agreements with other The Council is headed by the Minister of MOWCA and consists of 25 members representing government • Liaison with international organizations and countries and world bodies relating to subjects entering into treaties and agreements with other allotted to this Ministry bodies and civil society organizations. The Council has not made a significant contribution in implementing the 81 countries and world bodies relating to subjects • Inquiries and Statistics on any of the subjects National Child Policy. allotted allotted to this Ministry • Inquiries and Statistics on any of the subjects • All laws on subjects allotted to this Ministry February 2009 witnessed another notable change in the child rights governance structure. By a notification of allotted to this Ministry the Cabinet Division under President’s Order the National Women Development Council (NWDC) and the • All laws on subjects allotted to this Ministry National Children Council (NCC) were amalgamated and a new body named “the National Council for Women and Child Development” (NCWCD) headed by the Hon Prime Minister was formed. The new body Source: Review of the progress of implementation of the National Plan of Action for Children 2005-2010), MoWCA, p.27. has also combined the functions of the National Children’s Council (NCC) and the National Standing Committee on Child Rights. Basically the NCWCD brings women’s and children’s issues under one entity. The proposal in the National Plan of Action to establish a Department for Children within MoWCA has not With the emergence of the NCWCD the NCC as well as the CRC Standing Committee had more or less been implemented. During the stakeholder interview process it was informed by the Secretary to the become defunct.82 MOWCA that the Ministry did not have any plans to establish a Directorate for Children and that they believed the Bangladesh Shishu Academy could undertake the coordination function. The mandate of the Presently the NCWCD is the highest policy and oversight body for children’s rights and responsible for Bangladesh Shishu Academy is quite different from the expected functions of a child rights coordinating body. adopting the policies to protect child rights, welfare and interests of children, introduction of new legislation Since its inception in 1976 Bangladesh Shishu Academy has been engaged mainly in cultural and aesthetic and regulations, and recommendation of amendments and changes to existing laws, oversight, monitoring and related events and enhancing leadership skills. It would be quite a task for the Bangladesh Shishu Academy to evaluation of the UNCRC. The NCWCD gets secretarial support from MOWCA and is required to meet transform its present character of the institution to a coordinating body because over three decades children every six months.83 and the ordinary public have known the institution as a body dedicated to improving talents and skills of children. 3.2.4 Coordinating MDG Goals

It appears that there has been effective coordination among ministries in implementing the MDG goals. For Majority of persons who were consulted during the interview process were of the view that MoWCA does example according to the UNICEF Report on Child Poverty and Disparities the Ministry of Health and Family not possess the power, authority, capacity and recognition to be the lead governing Ministry to coordinate Welfare and the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs work hand in hand on health, and especially on child child rights related functions carried out by various government agencies. It transpired during the interview health and well-being. Although these two Government Ministries have different mandates and distinct process that there is a strong movement towards advocating a separate Cabinet Ministry for Women’s Affairs. functions and responsibilities, they have a common goal under the MDG - to achieve improvements in infant Those who shared this information thought it would be worthwhile to explore the possibility of setting up a and child health and well-being.84 focal point for children within the proposed Ministry of Women’ Affairs.

3.2.2 Inter-ministerial CRC Committee (also known as CRC Standing Committee)

This Committee chaired by the Secretary of MOWCA consisting of about 18 ministries dealing with various aspects of child rights is responsible for reviewing the reports from various ministries about their current and 80 See ibid p.28. planned work concerning children. The coordinating and reviewing function expected from the Committee 81 ibid p.26-27. has not been achieved. The distinct mandate of the respective Ministries and the lack of effectiveness of the 82 ibid. 83 ibid. 84 National Report Bangladesh; GLOBAL STUDY ON CHILD POVERTY AND DISPARITIES, UNICEF 2009, p.52.

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3.2.5 Focal Points within Ministries The ‘Social Welfare Department’ attached to the city corporation is also meant to deal with development issues concerning children and women. Defining the mandate and strengthening its capacity of this Attempts have been made to set up focal points for children within Ministries. It is understood that the department could benefit child rights governance at city corporation level. Department of Social Services within the Ministry of Social Welfare is the focal point for all the activities

relating to children although children are only one of the target groups of their services. A dedicated focal Analysis point for children titled Child Labour Unit (CLU) was formed within the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2009. The main responsibility of this unit headed by the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Labour is to • The MOWCA does not possess the required resources and capacity to function as a coordinating body ensure that all child labour policies and interventions are planned and executed in an integrated and as it occupies a lower status within the informal hierarchy of ministries. coordinated manner. The responsibilities discharged by the unit to eliminate child labour embody some of the • However, the MOWCA being the key ministry for children’s issues there is an urgent need for it to key elements of a child rights governance model: mainstream child rights through the existing functions of the MoWCA. • It will take a long time to campaign and advocate for a fully-fledged cabinet portfolio for children owing • Promoting, strengthening and coordinating partnership to the lack of a strong child rights movement in Bangladesh similar to the women’s rights movement in • Developing an integrated Child Labour Management Information System the country. • Facilitating finalization of the List of Hazardous Work or Occupations; • Collaborating and monitoring with partner ministries, institutions, and concerned stakeholders the Recommendations projects and programmes on the elimination of child labour through Child Labour Management • Coordination is an effective medium of mainstreaming child rights governance. In this context Information System (CLMIS); coordination in terms of child rights governance has two dimensions; • Intervening in issues concerning child labour; • First-central coordination: there is a need for one single entity responsible for overseeing the • Facilitating the formulation of the National Plan of Action for Implementation of the National Child implementation and coordination of work relating to children under different line Ministries Labour Elimination Policy, 2010 • Second- ministerial coordination: there is also the need for coordination within a ministry of the work • Organizing the national awareness campaign including the World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) on relating to children carried out at national and subnational levels 12 June. • If central coordination is to be effective it has to be carried out by a Ministry headed by a fully-fledged • The Child Labour Unit is implementing an Action Programme for Enhancing the Capacity of the Child cabinet Minister and with a broader and distinct mandate to implement activities concerning children. It Labour Unit of MoLE. This Action Programme is technically and financially supported by the International is clear that the MOWCA with a State Minister and not being an implementing agency is placed in a Labour Organization (ILO)-executed Urban Informal Economy (UIE) Project of Support to the Time disadvantageous position to be vested with a central coordinating function. Bound Programme towards the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Bangladesh, which is • If central coordination on child rights to be effective there needs to be proper coordination of child financed by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. rights related work within each ministry. Therefore, while exploring the avenues of setting up a central 3.2.6 National Children’s Task Force (NCTF) coordinating body, it would be helpful to strengthen the coordination work within ministries working for and with children. This could be initiated by setting up child rights focal points in key ministries concerned The proposal of the NPAC to form a National Children’s Task Force under the auspices of the MOWCA has with child rights related subjects. The central coordinating body could organically link to the child rights not been implemented. However, the National Children’s Task Force (NCTF) which was created by civil focal points in different Ministries society organizations under the leadership of Save the Children Australia has been successfully used at the • MOWCA as the key line Ministry responsible for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the NCTF platform to promote children’s rights and children’s participation. The NCTF has a presence in all 64 CRC and NPA could also have a focal point for coordinating the work relating to the NPA. districts and has been conducting local level forums and higher level consultations and advocating child rights • It is important to introduce a viable working mechanism for the focal points with clearly defined areas of at policy making levels, with media and contributing to researches on important issues relating to children. authority in order to share information and coordinate work easily. • Ensure a clear distinction of roles and responsibilities between MOWCA and the Ministry of Social 3.2.7 Coordination at Sub National Level Welfare. While strengthening coordination at national level it is important to explore modalities of introducing, • National Children’s Task Force and civil society organizations should advocate for ensuring continuity of sustaining and strengthening coordinating mechanisms at sub national level. government service delivery mechanisms, and, as far as possible, lobby with the government to abstain The Women and Children Welfare Standing Committee at the Union Parishad level is one platform which from constantly effecting changes in the portfolios of Ministries, relevant departments and executive could be used to promote child rights. However, it should be acknowledged that “Women and Children positions. If the need for change is felt, it should be done after careful scrutiny causing no damage to the Welfare Standing Committees” of Union Parishad are not formed in all places and where they are formed services provided. they do not function well. One of the strategies of the child rights governance programme is to resuscitate • When defining roles, responsibilities and functions of various government agencies at national and sub the structures that are dysfunctional for the purposes of implementing and coordinating child rights related national levels avoid creating duplication of parallel mechanisms with similar mandates. work. The standing of the Women and Children Welfare Standing Committee is not adequately present in the local government structure and a fund to work on women’s and children’s issues at the local government level is not available. There is a belief that if higher level authority of the local government shows interests in children’s issues the union parishads and municipalities will automatically get activated.

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3.3 Local Government Structure and Functions relating to Children functions on subjects affecting children. Using the existing mechanisms by reactivating and strengthening them would be a practical way of introducing child rights into the system. During the interview process Democracy The UNCRC Committee has found it necessary to emphasize to many States that decentralization of power, Watch informed that they are closely working with these Committees and local government councils at through devolution and delegation, does not in any way reduce their direct responsibility to fulfil their Upazila and Union levels to promote governance issues such as budget tracking, anti-corruption, distribution obligations to all children within their jurisdiction, regardless of the State structure. It has also reiterated that of VGD and VGF cards, food distribution etc. According to Democracy Watch often local government State parties are responsible for ensuring the full implementation of the UNCRC throughout its territorial members and Chairmen are unaware of their powers and functions. jurisdiction. It further states that in any process of devolution, States parties have to ensure that the local 3.3.1 Zila Parishad authorities have the necessary financial, human and other resources to effectively to discharge responsibilities under the UNCRC.85 Zila Parishad Act 1988 empowers Zila Parishads to discharge functions mostly relating to development and infrastructure. The only function that has direct connection to children is the power to award grants to Local governance is an integral and decisive component of child rights governance especially in view of the schools and colleges and no other specific functions relating to children or women are spelled out in the Act. 73% child population living in rural Bangladesh. More importantly, the government services such as water and sanitation, birth registration etc which have a direct bearing on child rights are delivered to the communities 3.3.2 Upazila Parishad through local government institutions. Among the functions designated to Upazila Parishad Act 1998 the following have direct or indirect In a decentralised structure local government institutions are the closest to the communities and thus relationship to children89 possessing first- hand knowledge of the needs and aspirations of people. Therefore they are best placed to • Prepare Upazila five-year plan and other development plans ensure that the service providers perform their services in the best interest of children. Local government • Supervise and coordinate the various government department activities which were handed over to the UZP elected officials monitor the accountability of service providers in the performance of their services. The • Provide public health, nutrition-related and family planning services; elected members are the ideal link between the service delivery mechanism and people. However, the current • Motivate people with regard to extension of education and provide assistance for the same highly centralised government structure with a long overdue proper decentralized system has created many • Supervise and monitor secondary and madrasa education obstacles in taking the government service delivery mechanism within the reach of the impoverished • Encourage the activities of cooperative societies and NGOs and coordinate the same communities. Lately the elected members tend to maintain a passive role as there are limited avenues for • Cooperate with relevant authorities and implement programmes for the development of children and participatory local decision-making.86 Less than two per cent of total public spending flows towards the women, and promote sports and cultural activities delivery of local services and the local government institutions are severely handicapped by human and • Review the law and order situation and activities of the police at the local level and submit reports to the financial resources to discharge the legal responsibilities vested in them by various laws. This clearly explains concerned authorities why rural areas in Bangladesh often lag behind the rest of the country in development indicators and MDG • Create public awareness and take preventive measures against cruelty to women and children. achievement.87 The following functions having direct bearing on children are transferred to Upazila Parishads Sub-national institutions constitute one of the most important avenues for all citizens including children to from different departments:90 participate in the development of their communities and influence the decision-making processes that are directly relevant to their lives. Top-down planning processes, inadequate mechanism to monitor and evaluate the service deliveries and also lack of knowledge of child rights have impaired the ability of the local Table 3.2 Functions of Upazila Parishads government institutions to contribute in a substantial way to the realization of child rights. Name of Ministry/Department List of Transferred Subject or Department According to the experience of Democracy Watch that works closely with Upazila Parishad and Union Ministry of Health and Family Planning Health and Family Planning including Upazila Health Complex, Parishads, the dominant role played by the local members of Parliament often over shadow the powers and MCH and all Population Control Services functions of the elected members. They have also experienced that the local government institution chairmen Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Women’s Department (Upazila Women Affairs Officer and and members are ignorant of their powers and functions. Bureaucratic interference vis a vis central staff and their activities) government and Upazila Parishads and Upazila Parishad and Union Parishads are also observed. Governance for Democracy’s campaigns at Upazila and District level involves budget tracking, anti-corruption, national Primary Education Division Primary Education Department: (Upazila Primary Education Officer budget awareness (how national budget is allocated to local government bodies), citizen led monitoring, and staff and their activities) employing accountability tools to weigh the demand and supply of service delivery mechanisms etc.88 Ministry of Disaster and Relief Relief and Rehabilitation Department (Upazila PIO and staff and their activities) It is important to ascertain whether the existing functions and governance mechanisms in Zla Parishads, Ministry of Social Welfare Social Welfare Department (Upazila Social Welfare Officer and staff Upazila Parishads, Union Parishads, City Corporations and Paurashavas entrust them with powers and and their activities)

85 General Comment No.5 (2003), CRC/GC/2003/%, 27 November 2003, para.41. 86 ibid p.17. 89 Siddiqui, Kamal (edt), Local Government in Bangladesh, (2005) p.166-167. 87 Situation Assessment and Analysis of Children and Women in Bangladesh, UNICEF, 2009, p.31. 90 ibid p.168. 88 Ms Taleya Rehman, Founder Executive Director, Democracy Watch.

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Pursuant to a circular issued by the Local Government Division in 1989 a committee was formed in each UP 3.3.5 UNDP and Local Governance of the country to resist oppression of women. The functions of this Committee are as follows:91 UNDP Local Governance Programme aims to provide improved, participatory local governance for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation through • To entertain complaints regarding oppression of women and take necessary measures on a priority basis • Delivery of sustainable basic infrastructure and services. to combat such oppression. Where the committee is unable to solve the problem, the matter is referred • Building capacity of local government bodies to plan, finance and manage basic development activities in in writing to the Upazila Women’s Affairs Officer. a responsive and accountable manner • to take all necessary steps to combat the oppression of women • Drawing lessons on improved local government practices with wider relevance in Bangladesh.95 • to publicise problems faced by women on the UP bulletin board so that the oppressed women can easily know where to knock for help It aims to pilot systems and processes that would contribute to strengthening local governance through • to hold meetings at least once a month and submit a report to the Upazila Women’s Affairs Officer every greater fiscal devolution, participatory planning and implementation and improved management and month on its activities accountability of services in Bangladesh.96

3.3.3 Union Parishad The importance of local governance and local government reform as policy issues have moved to centre stage in Bangladesh recently and it is closely linked to the current poverty-reduction strategy debate. Recognizing Among the functions recognized in the Union Parishad Act of 1983, the following have a direct bearing on the importance of the fact, UNDP's Local Governance Cluster is, in consultation with Government, already children.92 committed to addressing these policy issues.97 • Maintenance of law and order and rendering of assistance to the administration in the maintenance of law and order through village police (i) Local Governance at Union Parishad Level • Adoption and implementation of development schemes including in the fields of education and health • Review of development activities undertaken by different agencies at the union level and submission of From 2000 to 2006, UNDP and UNCEF supported the Local Government Division to implement the Sirajganj recommendation to Upazila Parishad regarding the activities of those agencies Local Governance Development Fund Project, a pilot project which applied innovative techniques to develop • Registration of births, deaths, blind people, beggars and destitute people UP capacity for providing effective and efficient services. Based on the lessons learned from the project, in • Conducting census of all kinds 2004 the Government of Bangladesh adopted a new policy, channelling direct unconditional block grants to all 4,498 UPs in Bangladesh under the Local Governance Support Project. In addition to the above functions Union Parishads were also assigned with the planning exercise. With the Local Governance Support Project- Learning and Innovation Component (LGSP-LIC) (effective from emergence of the Upazila system in 1982-1983 as the leading actor in preparing and executing the five-year April 2007 to December 2011) plans and the annual development plans covering the entire Upazila. This change diminished the importance of UP in the formulation and implementation of the five-year plans. Nevertheless, with abolition of the Upazila This project which was effective from April 2007 to December 2011 focussed on the following:98 system in 1991, the UPs regained its importance in the local government power as it was recognized as the focal point of rural development.93 The scenario has changed once again with the enactment of the Upazila • Increasing the financial resources available to UPs in equitable and appropriate ways • Improving and institutionalising effective and transparent public expenditure systems for UPs Parishad Act of 2009 and the re-establishment of Upazila Parishad after the Upazila Parishad elections in 2009. • Enhancing mechanisms of local accountability • Establishing more effective frameworks for capacity development 3.3.4 City Corporations and Paurashavas • Enhancing policy development that is informed by lessons from on-the-ground experience.

The functions of City Corporations and Paurashavas are more or less the same. Among the compulsory The project worked with local government institutions to enhance participatory planning and service delivery functions registration of births, deaths is listed and under optional functions maintenance of educational and financial management capacities by piloting a performance-based grants to elected UPs. The participatory institutions and provisions of stipends to meritorious students and establishment of welfare homes and approaches that LGSP-LIC employed have had many positive impacts on the communities in which it worked orphanages, and prevention of beggary. The City Corporation is required to constitute standing committees with. Techniques such as open meetings held at various levels of local administration on planning and inter alia for dealing with education, health and social welfare. Similarly Paurashavas are also required to budgeting improved transparency in local development efforts and increased the accountability of local constitute as many committees and sub committees as they consider necessary.94 officials. LGSP-LIC worked primarily with UPs, but also with other local institutions to ensure quality standards in local development projects, and organize community participation in development monitoring and supervision.98

91 ibid p. 163. 95 http://www.undp.org.bd/cluster.php?d=3. 92 ibid p.154-155. 96 ibid. 93 ibid p.156. 97 ibid. 94 Siddiqui Kamal, Local Government in Bangladesh, p.177-179, 183,185 (2005). 98 http://www.undp.org.bd/library/FactSheet2/FINAL%20LIC%20factsheet%20Mar%202011.pdf.

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The introduction of Participatory Planning Meetings at the ward and para levels (the lowest geographical governance has become one of the core subjects discussed and debated in poverty alleviation strategies. units) has also strengthened the communities by enhancing their citizen awareness of their role in local Already other actors in the field such as the UNDP have launched projects to work towards governance, and their rights in relation to UPs. A survey conducted in early 2010 has shown that strengthening the local governance structure. These initiatives have also compelled the government to approximately 70% of communities in LGSP-LIC areas recorded an increased awareness of their roles and make strategic moves towards expanding and strengthening the decentralised governance from centre to rights within local governance.100 the periphery. • The skeletal system that exists at the local government level to address children’s issues has the potential (ii) Local Governance at Upazila Parishad Level 101 of being revitalised with clear strategic vision and a mission. Upon a request received from the Minister for Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives, from July 2009, UNDP has been supporting Bangladesh to sustain, consolidate and strengthen the Upazila Recommendations Councils which were elected in January 2009. The project is geared towards providing assistance in capacity building, policy support and advocacy activities that would strengthen the capacity of Upazila Parishads to be • Improving child rights governance at the local government level requires four pronged approach; effectively responsive to the needs of local communities. strengthening institutions, processes, duty bearers (eg. appointed officials and elected members) and rights-holders (children and other members of the community) The project includes: • Identifying some specific thematic areas such as child protection, health, child labour, law enforcement, • a capacity development framework for the newly formed Upazila Parishads, with training for all 481 UZP social protection etc as suggested in part 2.2.3.2 of the analysis. chairmen and 962 vice-chairmen/women • Discerning the duty-bearers and existing mechanisms in the chosen thematic areas and identifying the • community outreach through communication and advocacy, on roles and functions of UZPs; the strengths and weaknesses of the officials and the system. jurisdiction of UZPs; policy research and advocacy at local, regional and national levels; and a network of • Empowering the duty-bearers both the elected members and appointed officials by obtaining their active local government leaders to carry forward policy advocacy participation in the process of strengthening the child rights governance using their current powers and • support to Government policy planners by inputs generated through pilot research, quick appraisal, functions. studies, dialogues and debates. • Obtaining the services of civil society organizations already working with the concerned duty bearers. • Involving the membership of the Child Parliament and the National Children’s Task Force to infuse the Impact of the Project 102 child-centric approach to the entire process. • Training support for all 481 Upazila Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen as well as UNO’s helping to reduce • Ensuring the involvement of other rights-holders such as women and other responsible members of the political tension across UZP’s community. • Basic curriculum development in consortium by key institutions: NILG, BARD and RDA, with three core • Evolving informal advocacy tools that would help the child rights governance debate a live at the local expert teams formed in the 3 institutions government level. • additional basic training modules developed covering planning, office management, good governance, • Forging partnerships with other actors such as UNDP involved with empowering local government infrastructure, social safety and economic development interventions, and cross cutting themes (including institutions on good governance. gender, disaster management, environment) • Handout materials to be consolidated in a trainee’s handbook 3.4 Economic Governance • Rules of UZP to complement the UZP Act 2009 drafted and 6 have been approved and rest are now in In the child rights governance discourse economic governance occupies a critical place as it provides the the process of approval by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives impetus required to implement any child rights governance strategy. Identification and analysis of resources for children in national and other budgets have been one of the key priority areas highlighted in UNCRC Analysis Committee’s guidelines and in considering States party reports. The UNCRC Committee is of the view that • Local governance structure revolves around appointed officials, elected members and the communities States cannot say that they are fulfilling children’s economic, social and cultural rights to the maximum extent that the former serve. of available resources unless they can identify the proportion of the national and other budgets allocated to • Law confers on local government institutions a wide range of responsibilities to deliver services that are the social sector and within the allocation for children. The Committee has strongly emphasized that it needs crucial to the health, education, welfare and well-being of children. For many years the centralized system to know what steps are taken at all levels of the Government to ensure that economic and social planning of governance had debarred these local government institutions in discharging their responsibilities and decision-making and budgetary decisions are made in the best interests of children as a primary effectively and efficiently. consideration and that children are protected from the adverse effects of economic policies or financial • In the backdrop of elected Upazila Parishads Councils and the UP Councils an opportune time has been downturns, structural adjustment policies and transition to a market economy.103 created to strengthen the local government structure to make it more responsive to child rights. Local In the above comment the UNCRC Committee has stated succinctly that it envisages States parties to ensure that the children are visible throughout the entire process beginning from the financial resources planning 99 ibid. stage to actual disbursement stage. Hence economic governance encompasses a broad arena that includes the 100 ibid. 101 Project Fact Sheet, Strengthening Upazila Parishads, UNDP Bangladesh. budgetary process, taxation and also anti-corruption measures. 102 ibid. 103 General Comment No.5 (2003), CRC/GC/2003/5, 27 November 2003, para. 52.

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UN Child Rights Committee Revenue, while Non Taxes include land revenue, narcotic duties, stamp duties, vehicle tax and foreign aid such as grants, loans, food and commodities received from foreign countries and donor agencies.106 Positive Developments (1997) Since the ratification of the Convention Bangladesh has increased the allocation for social expenditure in the (ii) Expenditure areas of developing a primary healthcare network, provision of safe drinking water, sanitation and disease Expenditure is divided into two under the budget, the development budget and the non-development budget control. A significant drop in the child mortality rate over the last decade is observed. More children were covering expenditure on salaries and allowances, supplies and services repairs and maintenance, interest provided access to basic education and positive steps were adopted in the area of family planning. Budgetary payments, subsidies and other transfer payments, miscellaneous investments, food purchases and debt allocations to the social sector such as education, health, family and social welfare have been increased. servicing and the like. Preparation of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) with children’s concerns and rights included was also noted as a positive move. 3.4.1.2 Budgetary Time Frame UNCRC Committee’s Concerns (2003) Table below explains the time frame for submission of the budget as required by the Ministry of Finance.107 It was observed that a situation of insufficient funds existed affecting the implementation of the activities in accordance with article 4 of the Convention, especially in the areas relating to economic, social and cultural Table 3.3 Budgetary Time Frame rights of children. Year Particulars Last date UNCRC Committee Recommendations (2003) 1. Printing of departmental estimates 31 July Expedite the establishment of the Directorate for Children’s Affairs and provide adequate funds and human resources to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and the Directorate within it for the purpose of 2. Printing and distribution of budget (estimating officers forms and controlling officers forms) 31 August carrying out coordination work. Prioritise budgetary allocations to ensure preservation of economic, social and cultural rights of children, particularly the children belonging to geographically disadvantageous groups, 3. Preparation, printing and supply of budget forms to the accounts officer concerned 30 September tribal children, maximize obtaining resources at national and local levels and endeavour to obtain funds at 4. Submission of estimates by the estimating officers 10 October international level while integrating the national plan of action of children into the PRSP. In this regard conformity with article 4 of the Convention should be maintained. 5. Receipt of estimates in accounts office and Ministry of Finance from the controlling officers with three months actual 31 October

3.4.1 Budgetary Concepts and General Framework of the Budgetary Procedure 6. Receipt of consolidated estimates in the Ministry of Finance with three months actual from the accounts officer 25 November Both for the purpose of assessing the extent to which children are visible from the budget planning to the 7. Completion of examination of budget estimate in the Ministry of Finance 20 January disbursement stage and intervening to make children more visible throughout the process a solid knowledge and sound understanding of the budgetary concepts and the budgetary procedure is imperative. Multiple 8. Receipt of schedule of new expenditure in the Ministry of Finance 22 January State agencies and agents are involved in different capacities and at different stages in the budgetary process. Economic governance relating to child rights would entail thorough assessment of the budgetary concepts 9. Receipt of six months actual from the accounts officer 15 February and procedures prior to making any concrete interventions. 10. Completion of review of the estimates on the basis of six months actual in the Ministry of Finance 28 February 3.4.1.1 Annual Financial Statement 11. Preparation and despatch of the first editions of the budget and schedule of new expenditure Article 87 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh requires that estimated income and to the press. 1 March expenditure of government which is referred to as ‘The Annual Financial Statement’, also known as budget for 12. Receive the first edition of the budget from press and despatch to ministries/divisions 10 March each financial year be placed before the Parliament. Budget contains two parts, receipts and expenditure, the receipts component consists of Consolidated Fund and Public Account of the Republic.104 Under Article 84(1) 13. Forecast of foreign assistance for development programmes 14 March of the Constitution loans and loan repayments come under the consolidated fund and all other revenue 14. Completion of discussion of the estimates with administrative ministries/divisions 28 March received by the government or on behalf of the government falls under the public account of the Republic.105 15. Receipt of final development programme at the Ministry of Planning/Planning Commission 28 March (i) Revenue Revenue is classified into two categories, Tax and Non Tax Revenue. Travel tax, electricity duties, gift tax, 16. Preparation and printing of budget documents 31 May wealth tax, supplementary duties, value added tax (VAT) , customs duties and income tax fall under Tax Source: Education budgeting in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Resource management for prioritization and control UNESCO and International Institute for Educational Planning, 2009.

104 Education budgeting in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Resource management for prioritization and control UNESCO and International Institute for Educational Planning, 2009, p.86. 106 ibid. 105 ibid. 107 ibid p.88.

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3.4.1.3 Non-Development Budget Procedure The five year plan contains information relating to physical requirements during the five year period, and amounts and sources of finance. Depending on the immediate prospect of local and foreign resource Respective line Ministries send the budget proposal to the Ministry of Finance with a request for the availability and after careful examination of the project in its totality, the size of the ADP is decided upon. allocation of necessary funds in favour of the respective directorates/departments. On receiving the proposal, Funds are allocated to individual sectors/sub sectors and individual projects in the ADP and implementation the Ministry of Finance reviews the budget proposal both for receipts and expenditure and prepares the first is supervised and supported by the Administrative Ministry. Depending on the priority, recommendations edition of the budget, which is sent back to the Ministries for further revision if necessary. Thereafter, a budget from the Programming Committee and clearance from the appropriate authority, projects may be included in meeting is held with the Ministry of Finance under the chairmanship of the Finance Secretary, where heads of the ADP before or after the approval. Implementation begins only after a project is included in the ADP. the concerned ministries/directorates/departments participate and they justify Project expenditure is expected to be incurred in terms of the provisions in the ADP. (recruitment of project their requests for funds. After discussion the Ministry of Finance finalizes the budget proposal.108 staff, construction and other project activities)113

3.4.1.4 Development budget (ii) Evaluation techniques for budget lines In order to effectively keep to the estimated figures of a project, it is helpful to study the figures of the Planning activities in Bangladesh are guided by a five year plan which defines the broad objectives of previous year’s actual expenditure. Continuation of growth or decline indicated in the previous years can be development and strategies and the annual plan which is a short term annual operational plan. It is the link applied in all cases of proportionate expenditure in the absence of definite reasons to the contrary. Estimated between the five year plan and the actual situation of the country’s economy and the government’s annual expenditure is divided into two sections, ordinary charges and new expenditure.114 policy objectives.109 (iii) Budget expenditure process serves two purposes: The overall responsibility for plan formulation, preparation, coordination and evaluation lies with the Planning - Preparation of the forecast for the ensuing year facilitates the government to be in readiness to meet the Commission. The ultimate authority, however, is the National Economic Council (NEC), which is the supreme expenditure for the ensuing year. body for approving plans, deciding on policies and sanctioning projects. At the field level, the administrative - When the budget is passed the approved allocations are made available to the concerned offices. Over ministries/ divisions and their agencies/departments/directorates and corporations are involved with the expenditure by one Head results in non-provision of resources to another Head. Under estimation or implementation and operation of development projects in the public sector. Since the national plan is a single omission to include certain expenditure item could be remedied by postponing other items of the entity, the government also exerts, directly and indirectly, considerable influence on financial investment in the approved expenditure private sector.110 It is of paramount importance that great care and attention be given to expenditure estimates and 3.4.1.5 Budget Preparation Process programmes requiring new expenditure prior to forwarding the budget estimates. Similarly, all charges likely to be incurred should be included in the estimates. Bangladesh follows the incremental or line item budget (i) Project preparation and inclusion in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) technique. According to this method certain percentage is added to the items of the previous year or to the The project concept paper (PAP) prepared by the directorates/departments is submitted for examination by total expenditure. Budget preparation in the two education ministries involves data collection, processing and the Ministry’s planning cell and then by the Planning Commission. The Competent Authority has to approve comparison is done by the directorates/departments. Estimates are grouped under the same heads, lines and the project proposal prior to inclusion in the ADP. The Administration Ministry, Planning Ministry or the items every year. Hence, budget estimates are prepared under the lines, items and heads based on the figures executive committee of the National Economic Council approves the project depending on its size.111 of the previous year.115

Implementation of an approved project also depends on the resources available, priority and linkage with (iv) Ministry level budgeting other projects. Actual implementation does not take place until a project is included in the ADP or cleared The overall responsibility of formulating the development and non-development budgets is the responsibility in advance by the Competent Authority for inclusion in the revised ADP. The Revised Annual Programme of line ministries. After internal discussions the ministry submits the draft budget to the Finance Ministry. (RADP) is discussed at a meeting attended by representatives from the Planning Commission, concerned The Finance Ministry invites them and informs them about any cuts to the draft budget. Donor funded administrative ministries/divisions and the Ministry of Finance for the purpose of finalizing budget estimates. projects are added to the budget.116 Particulars such as revenue, capital components and estimated receipts contained in the revised RADP are incorporated into the budget by the Finance Ministry. Similarly, when the ADP is finalized the Planning (v) Behaviour of the actors involved Ministry submits particulars of each development project such as revenue, capital components and receipts The financial year of Bangladesh is from 30th June to 31at July. Budget negotiations between the Ministry of for incorporation into the budget. The Finance Ministry then classifies the projects, code number them and Finance and the Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education take place during October to mid-March. 112 tables the document before parliament. Finance Secretary plays a major role at the discussions which are general and not technical in nature.

108 ibid p.88-89. 113 ibid. 109 ibid p.90. 114 ibid p.94. 110 ibid p.90. 115 ibid p.95. 111 ibid p.91. 116 ibid. 112 ibid p.91.

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However, depending on the necessity higher level technical officials participate in these discussions. The draft Assessment, mobilization and allocation of external assistance appropriately fall within the purview of the proposal is submitted to the Finance Ministry by 31st October. In between meetings are held between the Economic Relations Division. It also is observant about the utilization of aid and involves itself in monitoring two ministries prior to the final negotiation meeting in March. The Secretary of the Administrative Ministry, budget implementation. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promotes international goodwill the Economic Heads of directorates and departments participate in the negotiation meeting. The Ministry of Finance plays Relations Division keen on fostering economic relations with development partners. a pivotal role in the allocation of funds relating to development and non-development expenditure. The ministries prepare their budget estimates according to the needs of the department/institute and submit (viii) Budget approval process:120 them to the Ministry of Finance.117 (a) Budget Speech: The country’s constitution requires the Finance Minister to place the before The Ministry of Finance does not normally allocate the requested funds, but provide funds incrementally, Parliament in June every year the annual budget. When presenting the budget details are explained in the based on the previous year’s expenditure. The present practice prevailed for a long time. If the amount budget speech. This speech is in two parts, one dealing with the overall economic and financial conditions requested corresponds with the ceiling it is incorporated into the total and the Ministry of Finance proceeds in the country and the other explains activities carried out by the government in the economic field with its work. during the past year, the programmes and budgetary allocations. The second part deals with taxation The Finance Ministry does not impose staff reductions, but suggests reductions in the expenditure of the measures. utility service areas. It defends its budget submitted before the parliament or the national assembly. Every year, (b) Cabinet approval: The Cabinet meets in the Assembly building for the purpose of approving the during April, prior to tabling of the national budget before the parliament, the Bangladesh Development budget prior to the commencement of parliamentary sessions. Forum (BDF) with the participation of the Paris Club takes place. Sometimes these meetings are held in (c) Procedure relating to Annual Statement: The Annual Financial Statement relating to expenditure Bangladesh. The development partners review and discuss the performance of the government in the charged on the consolidated fund may be discussed but not submitted to Parliament voting. Other socio-economic sector and after evaluating the performance and making assessments of the situation the expenditure in the Annual Financial Statement is submitted to Parliament in the form of demand for donors make their commitment for grants or loans. grants. Subject to the reduction of the amount specified, Parliament has power to assent or refuse such grants. The demand for grants can only be made on the President’s recommendation. Based on the decision of the donors Bangladesh government assesses the position relating to the foreign aid (d) Bills: Subsequent to the discussion on the budget, the Money Bill, the Appropriation Bill and the component in the Annual Development Programme. During the preparation of the budget the Finance Supplementary Bill are placed before the Parliament. Ministry consults the civil society organizations, journalists, teachers, research institutions and parents. (e) Introduction of a Bill in Parliament: President’s recommendation is required to introduce in Parliament a bill that involves expenditure of public money. (vi) Role of the Resource Committee (f) Money Bill: A money bill deals with one or more of the following items. Before the meetings with other ministries/divisions/departments the Ministry of Finance examines in depth • Impose, regulate, alter, remit or repeal any tax the financial situation and prepares estimates of receipts which forms the basis of allocations. The Resource • Borrow money or provide guarantee by the government or amend any law relating to the financing Committee assisted by the Technical Committee finalizes the receipts estimates. Any disputes relating to obligations of the government budget estimates are resolved by holding discussions between the two ministries, the Finance and the relevant • Custody of the Consolidated Fund, the payment of money, issue or appropriation of money into, or from line Ministry. The country prepares the draft budget on or before 31st October. Parliament is empowered to the Fund amend the finance bill tabled by the Finance Ministry.118 • Impose upon, alter or abolish any charge relating to the Consolidated Fund • Money received into the consolidated fund or the Public Account of the Republic or the custody or issue (vii) Role of the Economic Relations Division (Ministry of Finance) of such money, or the audit of government accounts The Economic Relation Division of the Ministry of Finance is responsible for the following activities:119 • Any other financial matter. • Make assessments relating to foreign exchange requirements based on the 5 year plan and the annual (g) Appropriation Bill: Immediately after the grants are approved by the parliament, appropriation bill has development plan and negotiate for securing foreign aid to be put before the parliament for disbursement of funds to meet the expenditure approved by • Place controls on foreign exchange to benefit development budget and liaise with international parliament and to be charged on the Consolidated Fund. As soon as grants have been made by development agencies Parliament, another bill shall be put before Parliament to provide for appropriation out of the • Control flowing funds and approve operational plans of voluntary organizations consolidated fund of all moneys required to meet the grants so made by Parliament and the expenditure • Examine existing external economic policies and technical cooperation between developed and charged on the consolidated fund. This should be in conformity with the provisions of Article 90(1) of the developing countries, paying special attention to development financing, transfer of resources, external Constitution which states that “no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund except under debt and technology transfer appropriation made by law passed in accordance with the provisions of Article 90(1) of the • Study the activities of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and its Regional and Constitution”. functional commissions. (h) Supplementary Bill: A supplementary bill is permitted to be introduced in respect of any financial year due to the following reasons:

117 ibid p..96-97. 118 ibid p.97. 119 ibid p.98.. 120 ibid p.99-101.

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• The authorized expenditure for the current financial year being insufficient and/or that a new 1.4.2.1 Responsibilities of the National Board of Revenue development has taken place for which no allocation was made in the Annual Financial Statement • Expenditure in excess of the approved amount for the year: President is empowered to authorize • mobilizing domestic resources through collection of import duties and taxes, VAT and income tax for the expenditure from the Consolidated Fund whether it is charged or under the Constitution and a government. supplementary financial statement relating to the excess amount spent is submitted for a supplementary • formulating and continuous re-appraisal of tax-policies and tax-laws in Bangladesh. bill to be introduced. • Negotiating tax treaties with foreign governments • participating in inter-ministerial deliberations on economic issues having a bearing on fiscal policies and (i) Vote on Accounts: tax administration are also NBR's responsibilities. Failure to pass the Appropriation Bill before 30th June is compensated by a Vote on Accounts placed before • Side by side with collection of taxes, facilitation of international trade through quick clearance of import the parliament. Usually two months expenditure is sanctioned by the Vote on Accounts and export cargoes. • administration of matters related to taxes, duties and other revenue related fees/charges and prevention (j) Authorization of expenditure in certain cases: If the parliament has failed to make the grant for a of smuggling. particular financial year, the President may authorize withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund the required expenditure mentioned in the Annual Financial Statement for a period not exceeding 120 days 1.4.2.2 Achievements and Setbacks in Taxation financial year Parliament has failed to make the grant, the President may authorize the withdrawal from the consolidated fund of funds required to meet expenditure mentioned in the Annual Financial During the fiscal year (FY 2010-11), NBR expected to collect Taka 75,600 crore, providing much needed Statement for the year, for a period not exceeding 120 days in that year, pending grant making and the support to the government’s development efforts. Bangladesh’s tax collection has recorded an impressive passing of the law. growth averaging 20% per annum over the last four years. However the gap between tax policy expectation and tax performance is significant. This gap is expected to be far wider in future as the GOB anticipates the Major drawbacks of the budgetary process are summarized as follows:121 three taxes to deliver revenue outturns that would be more than 200% higher than the current tax performance over the next five years. Bangladesh’s tax-GDP ratio at 9.3% remains quite low when compared • The centralized top-down decision-making process with other similarly placed countries in South Asia. • Limitation of the macro-economic models used in the five year plans for medium and long term planning • Lack of discretion of local policy makers As envisaged in the macroeconomic framework underpinning the budget, the Bangladesh economy is • Fragmentation of budget responsibilities expected to grow by 7% in FY 2011-2012. This would mean an enhanced revenue outcome for the • Inconsistencies in the expenditure classification system government to make a greater financial contribution towards the Annual Development Programme. However, • The opacity of the pattern of sectoral allocations the NBR has to overcome several challenges in achieving this goal.123 • Inadequate database and accounting system • Incremental nature of budgeting rather than linking it to performance Despite the significant amount of tax revenue set off against tax incentives, tax evasion continues unabated • The planning remains highly centralized and inhibits participatory decision making with a low percentage of 1% of the population paying income tax. Non-reporting and under-reporting of • Voices of children is not given a status in public resource management taxes are impediments encountered by all three categories of taxes. This is amply reflected in the present tax information gap that exists between what the taxpayer knows and what the three tax departments know 1.4.2 Taxation about their taxpayers. The end result is that the taxes paid are not what the law obliges him/her to pay but what he/she chooses to pay.124 The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is the apex national tax policy and tax collection and tax systems administration agency of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (GOB). The NBR is By curbing tax evasion and dealing with tax incentives 5 percentage points could be added to the tax-GDP responsible for overseeing and supervising over both direct and indirect taxes. These include Income Tax, VAT ratio, potentially adding about 40,000 crore to the revenue collection. Processing of revenue is mostly carried and Customs. out manually. Much work remains to be done in the areas of taxpayer service and taxpayer education.125

Administratively, it is under the Internal Resources Division (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Ministry The current administrative structure has also adversely affected the effective functioning of the NBR. of Finance has 4 Divisions, namely, the Finance Division, the Internal Resources Division (IRD), the Banking Although all two wings of the NBR come under the purview of the same board, the different wings of the Division and the Economic Relations Division (ERD). Each division is headed by a Secretary to the NBR (Income Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) and Customs) operate almost independently providing little Government. Secretary, IRD is the ex-officio Chairman of NBR. Other Members of the Board include support to each other in combating tax evasion and providing a unified front to taxpayers. professional tax and customs cadre officers from the two tax wings under NBR control. Under the overall control of IRD, NBR administers the income-tax and customs and VAT services consisting of 3434 officers of various grades and 10195 supporting staff positions.122 123 Outline of Modernization Plan (2011-2016) National Board of Revenue (NBR), p.5. 121 The Budget and the Poor A Study commissioned by IDPAA, PROSHIKA and conducted by Shamunnay (2000). 124 ibid. 122 http://www.nbr-bd.org/index.html. 125 ibid p. 3.

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Table 3.4 Total Revenue and Taxes as visible this information in real time basis to taxpayers and to all stakeholders including GOB, NBR, tax Percentage of GDP officers, Bangladesh Bank and taxpayers. • Reassignment of tax personnel from non-priority routine work to priority compliance and tax collection work through separation and consolidation of non-priority non-taxpayer facing high volume low Moreover, the NBR faces the problems of acute knowledge, tasks like return receipt and processing, tax accounts, taxpayer registration with TIN/BIN, shortage of trained human resources, finance and record keeping etc. in a remote centralized mass processing center. physical infrastructure. There is an urgent need to • Creating an administrative and legal framework that ensures the collection of sovereign taxes in a review and improve tax management procedures fair/accurate manner while also supporting the competitiveness of Bangladeshi businesses in a and business rules especially the manual and paper transnational global economy. incentive procedures are quite cumbersome. • Strengthening of tax evasion detecting unit like Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) and other intelligence Inadequate accounting procedures are also causing units. leakages of tax revenues even from tax files. These • Increased cooperation and coordination with other government and non-government agencies. lapses and weaknesses of the NBR have an • Human resource development through effective training. negative impact on the community and individual Source: National Report, Bangladesh, Global Study on taxpayers.126 Child Poverty and Disparities, p.19, 2009. (b) Strategic Areas Covered Under the Modernization Plan It covers a period of five years and has well defined goals and sub-goals under nine strategic areas.128 3.4.2.3 Modernization Plan (2011-2016) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR)

Responding to these challenges NBR in March 2011 embarked on far reaching reforms both on tax policy and 1. Tax Policy Reforms tax administration and on automation of its tax processes to improve its efficiency and provide better This covers a new Income Tax Act, a new VAT Act and Customs Tariff rationalization and modernization of the taxpayer service. The NBR took the decision to chart out a comprehensive modernization plan, encompassing Customs Act. all components of NBR reform efforts under one Plan that could be implemented aimed at achieving the intended goals over the next five years. The new modernization plan seeks to put in place an efficient, effective, (i) New Income Tax Act fair and responsive tax regime which is benchmarked against international best practice.127 The NBR is undertaking a comprehensive review and re-casting of the Income Tax Ordinance through a new Income Tax Act which is likely to be signed into law within the next one year. The policy framework for the NBR expects that the modernization plan, when fully implemented, would enable it to proposed Code seeks to simplify and streamline tax laws, reduce opportunities for disputes and litigation, • Reach a tax-GDP ratio of 13% by 2016; correct and check transfer of national tax resources to locations outside the country and move to a • Provide exemplary customer service to all taxpayers through a web enabled tax administration from fully-fledged self-assessment tax regime in line with international best practices. e-registration, e-filing of tax returns to e-payments/refunds by 2016; and • Reduce the tax pendency in the courts by 80% by 2016. (ii) New VAT Act A working draft of the new VAT Act has already been prepared and is under discussion with the key (a) The goals of the Modernization Plan stakeholders. The proposed statute seeks to replace the existing VAT Act and will rationalize the operation of • A sound tax policy in line with the international best practice while being consistent with the local the law as well as facilitate 11 country-wide administration of the VAT regime. The proposed statute will conditions in Bangladesh as well as the higher economic and fiscal policy goals and imperatives of the facilitate electronic interface for taxpayers and a national tax accounting platform for VAT credits and GOB. refunds/adjustments of input/output tax. • Significant growth in revenue performance through widening and deepening of the existing tax base across the three taxes. (iii) Customs Tariffs Restructuring and Rationalization including modernization of Customs Act • Enriched and enhanced taxpayer experience through an array of easily accessible taxpayer services This program will seek to improve the policy content and framework of the Customs Act, 1969 in the context available at multiple remote/ customer facing touch points. of the national vision of Bangladesh as well as the required operational efficiency of the customs interface in • Reducing compliance cost for the taxpayer by reducing unnecessary paper work(s) and contacts between the country. tax administration and taxpayers thereby establishing a regime that makes the relationship between the The modernization program, at the policy level will also factor in the mutation in the role and mandate of the tax departments and the honest and diligent taxpayer incident free. customs authority from being a pure revenue collecting agency in the era of the high tariff walls to a multi-role • Shifting tax compliance management from the traditional subjective audit selection approach to a organization in the current era of borderless movement of goods, services and currency flows. The computer assisted intelligent selection approach based on efficient data mining and revenue risk modernization of the Customs Act also envisages improved risk management techniques, de-congestion and management tools. sharp turn-around cycle times at port facilities for customs clearance, remote centralized pre-arrival • Setting up an efficient, integrated national tax accounting network that will correctly account for, processing of duty payment and customs clearance with intelligent selection methods for full audit and reconcile and record tax payment information at a transactional level for all the three taxes and make verification in high risk cases. The proposals will streamline the tariff structure and bring the customs statute and practice in line with international practices. 126 ibid. 127 ibid p.154-155. 128 ibid p.6-8.

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(iv) New Direct Tax Act 8 Human Resources and Institutional Development Program The policy content of the new Direct Tax Code will put in place an efficient and modern direct tax regime in This component looks at the various resources to successfully manage the implementation of the the country. The design will seek to encourage wide voluntary compliance by the over-whelming majority of Modernization Plan. It includes human resources (HR) management such as performance measurement, taxpayers. This is sought to be achieved by making it simple for the honest taxpayer to meet his/her tax integrity management, developing a research wing within the NBR and upgrading the training infrastructure obligations with minimum inconvenience and with no additional compliance cost. The design will also seek to including the two tax training institutions. increase the cost of non-compliance and make the likelihood of detection of evasion much higher. 9 Infrastructure Development Program 2 Integrated Revenue Management Program – Business Process Reform This component looks at the requirement of the physical infrastructure such as building and furniture as well This component aims at streamlining the business processes across the different taxes for greater efficiency as the IT hardware requirements to support the automation of the tax processes. and better tax compliance. It is also closely dependent on the automation process as well as the reform that Analysis re-organizes the NBR by function and size. Taxation is a highly technical subject involving complex procedures and processes from national to subnational levels. As observed the five-year modernization plan will take off in the very near future with the Though Income-tax, VAT and Customs Departments function under the NBR, there is very little data expectation of overhauling the entire system of taxation. The main link that may be forged between taxation inter-change among the three tax departments and the possible synergy among the three is entirely absent. and children is that any increase in the collection of tax revenues and addition of new tax payers would mean An integrated revenue management program seeks to connect the three departments at transactional level increasing in the tax income that is added to the Annual Development Programme budget which resources by linking the taxpayer identification numbers i.e. TIN and BIN in the data base. The three departments all public services including those for children. Therefore any decrease in the collection of taxes and increase substantially deal with the same client base or sub-sets of the same base. Hence it makes good business sense in tax evasions would directly impact on the reduction of resources available for financing public services to create a data mining facility with modern risk management techniques to enforce better tax compliance. benefitting children. In this context two questions may be raised: as organizations that have a direct remit on 3 Integrated Revenue Management Program – Automation of the Tax Processes children what is best and the most effective strategy in ensuring that taxation income is increased and tax This component includes the automation of the different wings of the NBR. A key part of this is the allotment evasions are minimised. of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Business Identification Number (BIN) for income tax payers and Would liaising with a giant institution like the NBR that will be fully engaged with macro level work in VAT payers respectively. The other major components are the setting up of an NBR Data Center, Centralized implementing the new five-year plan be pragmatic and produce any concrete results? Would initiating a debate Processing for Income Tax and VAT Returns, Tax Information Network and installing an Integrated Tax at the public domain about the revenue lost to children owing to decrease in tax revenue and tax evasion be Administration Software that would help tax officials perform their functions in a computerized environment. a better way of effectively creating a public opinion? or would a strategy combining both be more effective? 4 Redefining the Status and Regulatory Power of the NBR Recommendations This work stream addresses the overarching administrative structure of the NBR. This includes strengthening • Proposing the NBR to highlight in their public awareness campaigns on tax revenue collection, the linkage the Headquarters including autonomy of financial and personnel management, modifying reporting lines for between increase in tax revenue and its impact on services for children by highlighting its contribution greater efficiency and the place of NBR within the executive and its relation with the government to the ADP and the ADP’s allocation for child related services. • Negotiating with the NBR as a means of promoting child rights centred budgeting, to identify a certain 5 Restructuring NBR according to Function and Size percentage of the tax revenue to be invested in services specifically meant for children This component looks at means to improve the efficiency of the tax administration by organizing it to deal • Encouraging current tax payers and potential tax payers to view their tax payments as an investment in with taxpayers by size (The Large Taxpayer Unit, Medium Taxpayer Unit and Small Taxpayer Unit). Efficiency the future of the nation. could also be derived by merging functions (such as tax collection, and filing of tax returns) across the • Producing eye catching public awareness campaigns such as TV slots for emotionalising the issue by different taxes. emphasising the revenue income lost for services dedicated to children owing to tax evasion thereby encouraging the potential tax payers to pay their share required by law. 6 Strategic Communication and Taxpayer Outreach, Education and Assistance • Liaising with Chambers of Commerce to launch awareness raising among the corporate entities to This part includes designing a comprehensive communication strategy for the NBR, devising taxpayer sensitise them how child rights are affected when tax revenue is lost to the State. education modules, supporting taxpayers through direct face-to-face assistance provided in taxpayer service centers and through call centers, and a Web interface that provides comprehensive support to taxpayers. 3.5 Birth Registration and Citizenship 7 Enforcement Improvement Program The child’s right to birth registration and citizenship establish unequivocally the official State recognition of This component focuses at efforts to improve tax compliance through better audits, better investigation the child’s identity and existence before the law that enables him/her to enjoy a whole range of other rights including combating international tax evasion, improving collection of tax arrears and addressing taxpayer such as right to a name, nationality, family relations and more importantly to be entitled to protection rights grievances through quick disposal of tax appeals including alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism. and to other important rights as right to health and education. Enjoyment of all the other rights would become meaningless unless the child’s birth and citizenship is guaranteed. Hence the reason for birth registration and citizenship to be included under strengthening national systems as part of the child rights governance thematic area.

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As an important component of child rights governance birth registration has two significant objectives. First, 3.5.1.1 The Birth and Deaths Registration Act it provides legal evidence about the existence of a child within a family, a community and in a country. Birth registration further enhances the standing of the child before the law as it qualifies the child for citizenship The Birth and Deaths Registration Act of 2004 which came into force on 3 July 2006 helps prevent early and national identity. Second, birth registration has a statistical value as an indicator to evaluate, assess, review marriage by registration of birth, ensures enrolment of children in school upon attaining school going age, and monitor the status and predicament of children especially to ascertain whether their rights are respected protects children below 14 years of age being employed and guarantees special treatment for children who and needs are met. Birth registration is a valuable information source upon which services relating to children come into contact or conflict with the law. could be planned and implemented.129 In terms of the Act, birth certificates serve as proof of age and identity for services such as enrolment in 3.5.1 Birth Registration educational institutions, issuance of passports, and transfer of property. Certificates will be required for voter registration, issuance of driving licences and passports, as well as for employment in government or UNCRC Committee : Positive developments (2003) non-government organizations. The efforts taken by the State party regarding the registration of births was welcomed. The Act makes birth registration mandatory for everyone born in Bangladesh, irrespective of age, race, UNCRC Committee’s Concerns (1997 and 2003) religion or nationality. It is accompanied by five rules that outline the practical procedures of registering births. The Committee expressed concern that the births of most children in the State party are not registered. New born babies must be registered within 45 days of birth, and there are penalties to be imposed on parents Failure to register can have negative consequences on the enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms by who fail to register children within two years of birth. children. (1997) In its concluding observations of the second periodic report the Committee reiterated its concerns at the lack of a functional birth registration system as well as the low public awareness of the 3.5.1.2 Universal Birth Registration Strategy obligations to register children after birth. (2003) Recent government statistics claim that 98.49% of the total population has completed birth registration and UNCRC Committee’s Recommendations (1997 and 2003) a percentage of 4.5% who have not accomplished birth registration belong to socially excluded and Further measures should be undertaken to ensure the registration of the birth of all children, in cooperation marginalized groups.130 The mobile registration system is yet to get mobilised to make universal birth with non-governmental organizations and with the support of international organizations. (1997) registration within the reach of the socially excluded and marginalised groups.

In 2003 once again the Committee urged the State party to continue and strengthen its efforts to ensure a In compliance with 2004 Birth and Death Registration Act, the government's Local Government Division, with coordinated system for registration of all children at birth, covering the whole of the country, including technical and financial assistance from UNICEF Bangladesh, has implemented the Birth Registration Project thorough awareness-raising campaigns, as well as to continue its cooperation in this regard, with, inter alia, countrywide.131 To accelerate the birth registration process cross-sectoral strategies to link birth registration UNICEF and relevant international NGOs. (2003) to immunization and admission to school were adopted.

Birth registration is essential for children to fully enjoy the safeguards afforded to them by law. Without birth The establishment of a functional universal birth registration system in Bangladesh was the expected goal of certificates they cannot enjoy the right to a name and nationality. Lapses in the registration of births have the programme. In addition, the Government of Bangladesh adopted a Universal Birth Registration strategy hindered the realization of child rights by providing loopholes to continue harmful practices such as of providing free birth registration for the first two years after enactment of the Act. The strategies were trafficking, child labour, sexual abuse and exploitation of women and girl children and denial of access to aimed at registering all children by the end of 2008 and ensuring that birth certificates are used as proof of education and health. Birth registration plays a crucial role in providing valuable basic demographic data age for child protection purposes and as a means of children enjoying other relevant rights and accessing essential for national planning, monitoring and strategizing. services. The programme has focused on children below 18 years of age representing 56 per cent of the Due to consistent efforts by the UN and donor agencies in encouraging the government to address this population (78.4 million children), adults and elderly people of all ages.132 Although the original time frame for anomaly since of late a considerable progress is observed in providing the Bangladesh citizens with birth completion of the Universal birth registration project ended at the end of 2008 it was subsequently extended certificates. Recent reports indicate that 98.49 percent of the population had registered their birth by the to 2010. The UNICEF Report has recommended that the Birth Registration Project should be extended end of March 2012, while more than 76 percent had received their certificates. considering its valuable contribution to child protection and welfare.133

The Bangladesh government has also been encouraging adults to obtain identity cards in place of birth certificates. Bangladesh’s Election Commission has already issued such ID cards to more than 80 million voters or 100 percent of the adults and 52 percent of the total population.

130 “ Birth Registration within 45 Days to Protect Child Rights (A Souvenir Published on Birth Registration Day-July 3, 2012), Birth and Deaths Registration Project, Government of Bangladesh. More information can be found at www.http//br.lgd.gov.bd 131 National Report Bangladesh; GLOBAL STUDY ON CHILD POVERTY AND DISPARITIES, UNICEF 2009, p.53. 132 ibid p.54. 133 ibid p. 58. 129 Birth Registration - Right From the Start, Innocenti Digest No. 9 – March 2002.

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Actions identified by UNICEF in support of birth registration include legal and policy reform; civil registry 3.5.1.4 Trends in Birth Registration strategic planning, capacity building and awareness-raising; the integration of birth registration into other services, such as health and education; community-based registration and social mobilization campaigns. The national birth registration rate of children under 5 years of age has been increased from 9.8% in 2006142 UNICEF also adopts innovative approaches such as SMS technology and support to governments to develop to 53.6% in 2009.143 Although no significant gender difference exists among rural and urban population, the online birth registration information systems.134 UNICEF has identified in its Bangladesh, Country rate of registration has increased from 9.6% for girls in 2006 to 53.7% in 2009 and for boys the increase is Programme Document 2012-2016, that “implementing programmes in most of the 64 districts makes from 10.1% in 2006 to 53.4% in 2009. The progress in terms of the area is marked by 53.8% rural and 52.6% monitoring challenging, disperses efforts as well as resources, and creates obstacles for inter-sector urban in 2009 which is a marked improvement from rural 36% and urban 35% in 2006. Among the urban areas complementarities and synergy.”135 It further states that an important step towards synergy is the municipality area has the highest rate of birth registration of 57.2% and city corporation 47.6% and slums convergence strategy, focusing on 20 districts selected by the United Nations Country Team for the UNDAF recorded the slowest rate of 28.6%.144 2012-2016 on the basis of a vulnerability analysis.136 Table 3.5 Birth Registration of Children under the Age of 5 years: Comparison of 2006 and 2009 3.5.1.3 Findings of the Child Parliament Survey MCIS Surveys However, significant variations and At the 8th Children’s Parliament Session on the theme Education-Governance and Birth Registration held in disparities have been found in birth April 2011, the child parliamentarians presented the findings of the surveys they conducted on the theme registration of children below 5 years of age prior to the parliament sessions. The survey findings revealed that among the respondents 87% had across the administrative divisions. Khulna completed birth registration and 8% had not completed and 5% had abstained from responding.137 The survey and Sylhet have recorded the highest birth findings showed that a significant number of respondents had their birth registration between 6-10 years and registration rates of 62.3% and 55.9% only 1-4% of the respondents have completed birth registration between 1-5 years of age. About 3% have had respectively.145 In comparison to 2006 MCIS, their birth registration after 16 years of age.138 birth registration rates in Khulna and Chittagong have improved significantly. Although the majority of the respondents (90%) have done birth registration only once, 10% had been Chittagong which recorded the lowest registered more than once. The reasons for doing birth registration twice were given as to rectify the errors percentage of 28% among all divisions in 2006 has achieved a very high level of progress in birth registration. made in the first instance, losing of birth certificate, registering at school as well as at home and change of residence and enrolling in a new school.139 The level of education of mothers and caretakers has also had a positive impact on birth registration in 2006 and in 2009. Similar to the findings of 2006, 2009 too recorded the highest percentage of birth registration of Child parliamentarians also have found certain gaps in the birth registration system. The case studies showed children of women who had completed secondary school or higher educational level. A stark increase in the that the respondents who received the birth certificates had received hand written certificates and not percentages is observed in birth registration in 2009 compared with the low percentages recorded in 2006. electronically generated certificates.140 These hand written certificates carried spelling mistakes and other errors. Although the government provides birth registration free of charge for children below 2 years, child Table 3.6 Birth Registration by Educational survey found that children are required to pay for birth certificates and the costs involved in the registration Level of Mothers and Caretakers have deterred them from registration. Also it was revealed that parents are unaware of the importance of birth registration. Some people have found the birth registration to be a complicated process and the officials Increase in birth registration with the increase in involved are uncooperative and unfriendly. The time taken to consult the close relatives prior to naming a educational levels is a common trend observed in child and the reluctance to register in the absence of the father are some of the cultural impediments in 2006 and 2009.146 achieving universal birth registration.141

133 ibid p. 58. 134 http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58010.html. 135 UNICEF Country Programme Document 2012-2016, p. 6. 142 Bangladesh, Monitoring the Situation of Children and W, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006, Progotir Pathey, Volume I: 136 ibid p.7. Technical Report, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning p.100. 137 Child Parliament Session 2011, Recommendations; State of Children in Bangladesh (2011) In the Eyes of Children; 143 Bangladesh, Monitoring the Situation of Children and W, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2009, Progotir Pathey, Volume I: Rahman Md. Mokhlesur, Child-led Research and Policy Advocacy: Relevance and Prospects In the Context of Bangladesh, 2012. Technical Report, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning p.119. 138 ibid. 144 ibid p.118. 139 ibid. 145 National Report Bangladesh; GLOBAL STUDY ON CHILD POVERTY AND DISPARITIES, UNICEF 2009, p.53. p.55. 140 Our Story, August, 2011, Save the Children Australia, Bangladesh. P. 11. 146 Bangladesh, Monitoring the Situation of Children and W, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006, Progotir Pathey, Volume I: 141 State of Children in Bangladesh (2011) In the Eyes of Children, p.8. Technical Report, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning p.100.

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14 Table 3.7 Birth Registration by Wealth Index Quintiles residence in Bangladesh for a period of five years (two if married to a Bangladeshi) and (ii) he/she has resided continuously for 12 months in Bangladesh, competent in Bengali language and intending to reside in Bangladesh. The person concerned, after Naturalization should forfeit any other nationalities. Any person who is a citizen of any country which does not allow the privilege of Naturalization to a Bangladeshi citizen The obvious fact that poverty entails is not allowed Naturalization in Bangladesh. (For example citizens of Saudi Arabia)150 powerlessness and ignorance is clearly displayed in the birth registration trends If any person is denied Naturalization, such person can appeal within 30 days against the decision and the recorded according to wealth index appeal will be heard. If Naturalization is conferred withholding certain rights, the person concerned is not quintiles. Poorest is placed at the lowest eligible to appeal. After being conferred Naturalization, the naturalized citizen should take an oath declaring registration level showing a gradual increase allegiance. An alien Naturalized, is not a factor for such alien’s spouse or children to be naturalized. But they in birth registration with the increase in can apply for Naturalization after the alien has taken oath.151 wealth. 3.5.2.4 Issues regarding citizenship

Bangladesh has inherited a number of issues allied to citizenship from the time of its independence. 3.5.2 Citizenship Surrounded by stronger states like India and Myanmar Bangladesh borders have stateless communities resulting from war, political atrocities in the adjacent states as well as peculiarities arising from the According to Bangladesh citizenship law a person whose father or grandfather was born in the territories demarcation of borders. Several pockets of communities remain stateless along the boundaries of the country now comprising Bangladesh and who was a permanent resident of such territories on 25 March 1971 and and the need to address the problem in collaboration with the governments of adjoining countries has been continues to reside there is entitled to be granted with the Bangladesh citizenship. The other category of acknowledged though much success has not been achieved over the years. persons entitled to Bangladesh citizenship are persons who were permanent residents of the territories now comprising Bangladesh on 25 March 1971, and continue to be so resident. The law also describes Bengalis who (i) The Biharis / Stranded Pakistanis were in West Pakistan during the 1971 war and facing obstacles over returning as permanent residents eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship.147 The 1971 War of Liberation led to the abandonment of about half a million people in the Bengali majority state, who traced their ethno-linguistic heritage mostly to the Bihar region of India. In the liberation war with 3.5.2.1 Jus sanguinis Pakistan they had been with Pakistan. After the war they hoped to be allowed to move to Pakistan but only a small percentage were admitted. The rest remained stateless for several decades hoping to be reunited with Primarily Bangladeshi citizenship is acquired jus sanguinis, or through bloodline. The place or the legitimacy of their families. They were denied access to government services, including education, formal employment, birth is immaterial.148 This would mean a person born to a Bangladeshi woman out of wedlock outside property ownership, and driver’s licences. They were granted Bangladesh citizenship by the Citizenship Order Bangladesh would acquire Bangladesh citizenship. However, a person born to non-nationals within Bangladesh 1972. Biharis who maintained that they were Pakistanis, however, were considered non-nationals, as well as will not be eligible to acquire citizenship. those who found their names at the Red Cross list of refugees. Despite official promises, neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh recognized them as citizens, until as late as May 2008, when the High Court conferred jus soli 3.5.2.2 Jus soli citizenship to all Urdu-speaking people born and residing in Bangladeshi territory after 1971. The long period Even in situations where the identity and/or nationality of the parents are unknown citizenship can be of deprivation has left about 94% of them illiterate. Although they were registered to vote in 2009 and despite acquired at birth149. Under such circumstances there is an assumption that the child is born to a Bangladeshi being legally recognized as citizens, they are unable to obtain government jobs, access credit, get passports or national and is granted citizenship upon birth. Jus soli citizenship is also granted to Urdu-speaking people of obtain compensation for property confiscated during the time of war.152 Bangladesh subsequent to a High Court Order pronounced in May 2008. To become full citizens of Bangladesh, they will need public, unequivocal acknowledgement of their citizenship 1.5.2.3 Naturalization status in Bangladesh and robust support for integration into society from the government, civil society, UNHCR, other UN agencies, and donors. Any long term resident is not entitled to the right of Naturalization which is at the sole discretion of the Government of Bangladesh. It may be conferred categorically or by withholding certain other rights and/or privileges. Any adult of good character is qualified to apply for Naturalization, (i)) if such adult has been in

150 Ko Swan Sik, (1990) Nationality and international law in Asian perspective. London: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 147 Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions) Order 1972. 151 ibid. 148 Ko Swan Sik, (1990) Nationality and international law in Asian perspective. London: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 152 Refugees International, Nationality Rights for All: A Progress Report and Global Survey on Statelessness, 11 March 2009, 149 ibid. available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49be193f2.html.

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(ii) Rohingya people sovereign territory of another. In recent months they have escalated their campaign for a land swap that will There is another group of people Bangladesh is hosting, the Rohingya people who fled Myanmar for align their citizenship with cartography.157 Bangladesh including 250,000 in 1978 as a result of the King Dragon operation in Arakan. The Rohingya ethnic minority of Myanmar is one of the most persecuted and at the same time one of the largest stateless groups After independence from Britain in 1947, the territory was divided along religious lines, with Hindu in the world. Stripped of their citizenship by the Myanmar government in 1982 and forced to flee by violent communities going to India's West Bengal State and Muslim pockets joining what is now in Bangladesh.158 military campaigns and sustained persecution since at least the 1940s, over one million Rohingya live in exile. They are the only ethnic group in Burma restricted in marriage, traveling beyond their village or building or But the division was not clean, resulting in 162 land parcels that became part of one country while remaining maintaining religious structures.153 within the borders of the other. Today they form a mostly destitute patchwork of 120 sq km of which 162 villages whose inhabitants are largely neglected by both governments, say locals. They are an archipelago of About 29,000 Rohingya live in official refugee camps in Bangladesh, where they are assisted by UNHCR and villages, known as enclaves, that are technically Bangladeshi territory but sit entirely surrounded by India, stuck NGOs, and are not legally permitted to work or go outside the camps. Another 200,000 Rohingya refugees on the wrong side of the border or vice versa. For decades, neither the Indian nor the Bangladeshi reside in unofficial camps or Bangladeshi villages where there is no legal protection from arrest or abuse and government has taken responsibility for them. Their villages do without basic public services like electricity little to no humanitarian assistance. These unregistered refugees live a hand-to-mouth existence – only and roads. Parents must forge documents to send their children to local schools. They cannot vote.159 marginally worse off than the host population. Humanitarian needs continue to grow for Rohingya refugees. In one unofficial camp, malnutrition rates are twice the emergency threshold. The lack of assistance for both Without identity documents they face arrest and imprisonment as illegal immigrants. Some residents are unregistered refugees and host communities have increased tensions over scarce resources such as water and lobbying for a land swap: transfer Indian enclaves within Bangladesh for Bangladeshi pockets in India. In 1994, firewood, leading to physical and sexual violence against refugees, particularly women and girls. There is little a group formed an enclave exchange committee with representatives from each community.160 security for undocumented refugees and no access to the police or justice system.154 "Both countries are claiming [their enclaves] as sovereign territory, but accessing the enclaves [for In an attempt to counter the Burmese claims that the Rohingyas are Bangladeshis, the Bangladesh government officials] means getting permission from the other country [where the enclave is located], so Government amended the Citizenship Order in 1982 to officially declare all Rohingyas non-nationals. there is no real access," said Diptiman Sengupta, the joint secretary of the enclave exchange committee. Indian citizens in Bangladesh are often forced to provide false information to Bangladeshi officials to conduct The Dhaka government has long been aware of the ethnic tensions in the Rohingya’s native Arakan state on business, send their children to school or receive medical care nearby, said Mizanur Rahman, a 34-year-old western Burma. The junta has actively fostered this situation over the years; for decades, the Rohingya farmer from Dashiar Chara and a father of two. Duplicity is at the core of an enclave-dweller's existence, he community – Muslims in a Buddhist-dominated country – has been denied even the most basic of citizenship said.161 rights. But in the run-up to Myanmar’s national elections last November, evidently in the hopes of garnering votes, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) promised the Rohingya the After decades of indecision the two governments have finally come to an agreement, the 37,334 nominal citizenship rights they crave.155 Indians living inside Bangladesh will become Bangladeshis, if they wish, and the 14,215 Bangladeshis on the Indian side of the border will become Indians. Anyone who wants to move across the border will be Yet as a Rohingya person pointed out the central mosque in their region remains unrepaired While the permitted to do so, but officials on each side say any major movement is unlikely.162 mosque had long ago fallen into disrepair, fixing it had reportedly been forbidden by the government. Birth Registration - Analysis Today the military is busy constructing a 300 km fence between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Like Israel’s wall The birth registration and citizenship are areas where various developments had taken place involving bordering the West Bank, this will be a monument to divided peoples– an electrified fence carrying current different levels of the government with the intervention of UN agencies and other organizations. Over the between two territories where very few houses can boast of electric lights. For the most part, Bangladeshis years many strategies and programmes have been implemented to achieve universal birth registration for seem somewhat bemused by what is taking place across the border. From the Bangladeshi side, Myanmar children of Bangladesh and also to address the issue of citizenship. Therefore, forging the strategy in relation seems a dark and confusing place; but the Myanmar border force, known as Nasaka, is viewed with to birth registration and citizenship would require in depth understanding of the different facets of the 156 trepidation, its fence and security posts ominously overlooking the sleepy Bangladeshi villages. strategies and programmes implemented thus far to avoid duplication and enhance effectiveness of new interventions. (iii) The enclave community Another group of people who have citizenship problems are the thousands of ethnic Bengalis living near the Bangladesh-India border. For decades they have found themselves citizens of one nation but bound within the 157 BANGLADESH: "Enclave" residents campaign for citizenship http://www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=94291. 158 ibid. 153 Joseph Allchin, Why has the Bangladesh government rejected a USD 33 million aid package from the UN? 159 ibid. http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2011/07/why-has-bangladesh-government-rejected.html. 160 ibid. 154 Bangladesh, Current Humanitarian Situation, http://www.refugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/asia/bangladesh. 161 ibid. 155 ibid. 162 At India-Bangladesh Border, Living in Both, and Neither, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/world/asia/at-india- 156 ibid. bangladesh-border-living-in-both-and-neither.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss.

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Birth Registration - Recommendations Citizenship - Recommendations

The Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives is the agency possessing the • As the politically driven attitudes and sentiments make the citizenship issue sensitive, strategies and mandate regarding birth registration. Since 1996 UNICEF has provided assistance and worked in unison with programmes to be carefully and mindfully designed. the Ministry to implement the universal birth registration. UNICEF’s assistance includes establishing a • In view of the politically sensitive nature of the citizenship issue, to work in partnership with UNHCR as low-cost, easy and sustainable birth registration system, introducing an appropriate legal framework (eg. Birth it has been working closely with the government and the related population groups. and Death Registration Act of 2004), building the capacity of various stakeholders, supplying materials, • Liaising with national level NGOs with strong advocacy skills in the field of civil and political rights as the improving inter-agency cooperation, and raising awareness on the importance of birth registration at all levels. interventions relating to citizenship at the national level would entail lobbying with policy makers towards effecting changes in policies and laws on citizenship. • Identify geographical areas so far not covered by UNICEF • Analysing political and sociological commentaries on the citizenship issue to understand different • Perusal of surveys, researches and studies for the purpose of fully comprehending the situation of birth dimensions of the issue registration especially in terms of variations and disparities in different geographical regions, population • Reviewing the interventions made by other organizations on citizenship issues and identify the progress pockets and specific segments of the population made by them and the challenges they encountered • Identify the level at which the government service delivery process where interventions are most needed • Initiating the work on the subject of citizenship specifically targeting the Biharis and the enclave through consultations with relevant government agencies and officials at national and sub national levels population as the citizenship issue pertaining to the former has already been resolved officially and the • At the national level any interventions in birth registration would involve law, policy and practice and at latter to be resolved in the very near future the sub national level interventions would require strengthening the capacity of local government institutions and their officials in putting the provisions of the Birth Registration Act into practice • Evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes relating to birth registration previously implemented and ascertain the challenges encountered and the reasons at the implementation stage of the programme.in implementing them and reasons for the same • Ascertain strategies, programmes, processes and supporting forms and documents relating to birth registration introduced by UNICEF to the Government agencies at national and sub national levels and identify the changes needed. • Conducting peer education programmes for children and sensitization programmes for parents highlighting the importance of birth registration. • Collaborate with NGOs working at national and sub national levels to ensure that the universal birth registration would be a reality in the near future.

Citizenship - Analysis

The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for citizenship related issues. UNHCR is the leading organization working with the government as well as the stateless population in Bangladesh. Unlike the birth registration, the issue of citizenship involves national level institutions and officials, policy and legal framework. Any interventions on the citizenship issue would also mean working with those segments of the population of who are denied of their citizenship rights. As the Bangladesh citizenship is connected to neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Myanmar and India, it has become a politically sensitive issue. Compared to the citizenship issue of Biharis and the population in enclaves, the statelessness of Rohingyas is controversial and politically sensitive because of the 1982 amendment to the Citizenship Act which declares them as non-nationals.

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Child Rights Monitoring

UNCRC Committee, Positive developments

The measures taken by Bangladesh to enact a law introducing the post of Ombudsman and a National Human Rights Commission and an Ombudsperson were welcomed by the Committee.

UNCRC Committee’s Concerns

Child Failure to introduce an independent mechanism empowered to receive and address complaints including those from children, and possessing a mandate for regular monitoring and evaluation of the progress in the implementation of activities in conformity with the Convention has been noticed. Also, a comprehensive monitoring and coordinating mechanism in conformity with the Convention and relating to children has yet Rights to be established. UNCRC Committee Recommendations

Expedite establishment of an effective, independent mechanism adhering to the principles of the national Monitoring institutions for the promotion and protection of Human Rights (Paris principles, General Assembly Resolution 48/134, annexed) and the Committee’s General Comment No.2 the role of Independent Human Rights Institutions: State should ensure that adequate funds and human resources available to the independent human rights institutions and they are accessible to children with a mandate. Also, a process should be put in place for monitoring the implementation of the UNCRC. Provisions should be made available to immediately take action over complaints about child rights violations and when dealing with children child-sensitive attitude should be adopted. Remedial action with regard to child rights violations should conform to the standards of the Convention. It is suggested that technical assistance may be obtained in this regard from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and any other interested party.

4.1 International Standard Setting on Independent Child Rights Monitoring 4 Mechanisms One of the satisfying results of the adoption and almost universal ratification of the Convention has been the development at the national level of a wide variety of new child focused and child-sensitive bodies, structures and activities - children’s rights units at the heart of Government, ministers for children, inter-ministerial committees on children, parliamentary committees, child impact analysis, children’s budgets and “state of children’s rights” reports, NGO coalitions on children’s rights, children’s ombudspersons and children’s rights commissioners and so on.

4.1.1 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges States parties to “undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present

163 Marasinghe Charika, An Independent Child Rights Monitoring Mechanisms for Child Rights, Save the Children in Sri Lanka (2011). http://www.savethechildren.lk/update/images/stories/Final_An_Independent_Monitoring_Mechanisms_Sri_Lanka.pdf 164 UNCRC Committee General Comment No:5.

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Convention”. The UN Child Rights Committee’s General Comment No:2 (2002) is totally dedicated to the 4.2.1 Legality and Independence theme role of independent national human rights institutions in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. The human rights monitoring bodies are expected to operate independently of government and not be subjected to manipulation by the government or political parties and their functions should not be interfered 4.1.2 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action with by government officials.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights, held The word “independence” is described in a relative sense and not in an absolute sense. The IMIC cannot in 1993, reaffirmed “… the important and constructive role played by national institutions for the promotion function without maintaining a close relationship with the government but not to the extent of government and protection of human rights”, and encouraged “… the establishment and strengthening of national determining the agenda of the IMIC. The institutions must possess functional autonomy to forge their own institutions”. The General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights have repeatedly called for the agenda and discharge the functions vested in them by law independently of any individual, organization, establishment of national human rights institutions, underlining the important role NHRIs play in promoting department or authority. and protecting human rights and enhancing public awareness of those rights. In its general guidelines for periodic reports, the Committee requires that States parties furnish information on “any independent body a. Establishment by legislation established to promote and protect the rights of the child …”, hence, it consistently addresses this issue during its dialogue with States parties. The NHRIs if possible should be constitutionally entrenched and must be at least legislatively mandated. The monitoring institutions for child rights in Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Guatemala, Belgium (Flemish 4.1.3 Paris Principles Community) and Hungary can be cited as examples established by Act of Parliament.

Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (known as the Paris Principles) which were adopted The Belgian legislation (Flemish) which established the Commissioner, explicitly states that “the by the UN General Assembly in 1993. These minimum standards provide guidance for the establishment, Commissioner shall be entirely independent in the exercise of his/her functions.” competence, responsibilities, composition, including pluralism, independence, methods of operation, and quasi-judicial activities of such national bodies. b. Appointment Process

4.1.4 Standards for Independent Human Rights Institutions, European Network of The NHRI establishment process should be consultative, inclusive and transparent, initiated and supported at Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) the highest levels of Government and inclusive of all relevant elements of the State, the legislature and civil society. In order to ensure their independence and effective functioning NHRIs should have appropriate and At its fourth annual meeting in Brussels in October 2000, ENOC – the European Network of Children’s transparent appointment procedures, including an open and competitive selection process. Ombudspersons – agreed to develop Standards for independent national human rights institutions for children and the standards were adopted in Paris in October 2001. ENOC believed that the development of Preferably the responsibility of appointing the monitoring body should be vested in a representative body independent statutory institutions to monitor, promote and protect children’s human rights should be such as the Parliament with the involvement of independent bodies including civil society groups working with considered within the context of the broader development of national human rights institutions. ENOC and for children. recognizes that independent human rights for children may be established as separate bodies (Children’s Ombudsman, Children’s Rights Commissioner, Defenseur des Enfants, etc) or as an integral part of a human UN Handbook on National Human Rights Institutions comments that, “Any institution can only ever be as rights commission or general ombudsman. They also endorsed that national and or regional institutions may independent as the individuals of which it is composed.” be established. ENOC believes that in all cases, account must be taken of the special status and needs of children. In its standards the ENOC has specifically reaffirmed the Vienna Declaration and Programme of UN Handbook on National Human Rights Institutions recommends that it is preferable that matters relating Action of 1993 and the Paris Principles of 1993. to appointments are incorporated into legislation including: a) Method of appointment: how appointments will be advertised and who will be involved in the recruitment 4.2 Essential characteristics of an independent child rights monitoring b) Criteria for appointment: nationality, profession, qualifications mechanism c) Duration of appointment and whether key staff may be re-appointed and if so for how many terms

In the context of international standard setting the following characteristics can be identified as essential elements of an independent monitoring mechanism dedicated to child rights. 168 Article 8 UNCRC Committee General Comment No: 2. 169 ibid Article 10; see also Paris Principles on composition and guarantees of independence and pluralism; EONC Standards on composition and independence. 170 UN Centre for Human Rights (1995). National Human Rights Institutions. A Handbook on the establishment and 165 CRC/GC/2002/2, 15th November 2002. strengthening of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, Professional Training series No:4, 166 Article 19 (f) CRC/C/58/Rev.2, 25 November 2010. UN Centre for Human Rights, Geneva. 167 General Assembly Resolution 48/134 of 20 December 1993. 171 ibid.

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d) Who may dismiss key staff, on what basis and for what reason. infrastructure, funding (including specifically for children’s rights, within broad-based institutions), staff, e) Privileges and immunities: such as immunity from prosecution when performing official duties premises, and freedom from all forms of financial control that might affect their independence. c. Financial autonomy 4.2.2 Powers and Functions Even though the funding for human rights monitoring bodies is provided by the government or Parliament, it must not adversely affect the capacity of such institutions to constructively comment on government’s There is a difference between a monitoring body and an implementing body. What is implemented should not inaction or action on matters concerning children with impunity. Therefore, finances of the institution should be monitored by the same body as it would not detect its own shortcomings. On the other hand the be removed from political control especially they must enjoy freedom from all forms of financial control that monitoring body has to be relieved of other duties so that it can perform an impeccable task of monitoring might affect their independence. Incorporating specific provisions in the founding legislation relating to source and also playing the part of a watch dog. and nature of funding of the institution and requiring financial accountability to Parliament could help ensure financial autonomy. In Denmark and Finland public money provides the core budget supported by private Providing remedies for breaches of children’s rights: NHRIs must have the power to consider funding for particular projects. individual complaints and petitions and carry out investigations, including those submitted on behalf of or directly by children. In order to be able to effectively carry out such investigations, they must have the powers d. The mandate to compel and question witnesses, access relevant documentary evidence and access places of detention for inspection. They also have a duty to seek to ensure that children have effective remedies - independent advice, The mandate of the independent body must be sufficiently broad enough for the purpose of monitoring, advocacy and complaints procedures - for any breaches of their rights. In addition independent monitoring promoting and protecting the rights of the child enshrined in the UNCRC and the two Optional Protocols bodies should have powers to conduct inquiries on matters relating to children’s rights. and other international human rights instruments. A broad mandate would effectively encompass the whole range of child rights - children’s protection rights, empowerment rights, development rights survival rights and Mediatory and Conciliatory Role: Where appropriate, NHRIs should undertake mediation and participation rights. conciliation of complaints.

e. Composition Access to Justice: NHRIs should have the power to support children taking cases to court, including the power (a) to take cases concerning children’s issues in the name of the NHRI and (b) to intervene in court The composition of the NHRI should include pluralistic representation of the various elements of civil society cases to inform the court about the human rights issues involved in the case as amicus curiae or intervener.. involved in the promotion and protection of human rights. They should seek inter alia the involvement of human rights, anti-discrimination and child rights NGOS including child and youth-led organizations, trade Accessibility: NHRIs should be geographically and physically accessible to all children. In the spirit of article unions, social and professional organizations (of doctors, lawyers, journalists, scientists, etc.); universities and 2 of the Convention, they should proactively reach out to all groups of children, in particular the most experts, including children’s rights experts. vulnerable and disadvantaged, such as (but not limited to) children in care or detention, children from minority and indigenous groups, children with disabilities, children living in poverty, refugee and migrant The UNCRC Committee in its General Comment No: 2 has emphasized that government departments children, street children and children with special needs in areas such as culture, language, health and should be involved in an advisory capacity only.. education. NHRI legislation should include the right of the institution to have access in conditions of privacy to children in all forms of alternative care and to all institutions that include children. In order to ensure a stable mandate for the members of the institution, without which there can be no real independence, their appointment shall be effected by an official act which shall establish the specific duration Children’s Participation: The work of the monitoring institutions should be directly informed of children’s of the mandate. This mandate may be renewable, provided that the pluralism of the institution’s membership views and the institutions are obligated to ensure that the views of children are reflected in their work. is ensured. NHRIs have a key role to play in promoting respect for the views of children in all matters affecting them, as f. Resources articulated in article 12 of the Convention, by Government and throughout society. This general principle should be applied to the establishment, organization and activities of national human rights institutions. The UNCRC Committee in its General Comment No:2 has acknowledged that this is a very sensitive issue Institutions must ensure that they have direct contact with children and that children are appropriately and that States parties are functioning with varying levels of economic resources. NHRIs must have adequate involved and consulted. Children’s councils, for example, could be created as advisory bodies for NHRIs to facilitate the participation of children in matters of concern to them. 172 Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand. 173 eg. Norway. 174 Independent Institutions – Protecting Children’s Rights, UNICEF, Innocenti Digest No: 8 – June 2001 p.8. 178 Article 10, UNCRC Committee General Comment No: 2; see also Paris Principles and ENOC Standards. 175 Article 8, General Comment No: 2; see also Paris Principles on competence and responsibilities Para 2; Standards for 179 179 UNCRC Committee General Comment No: 2 Article 13 & Article 19(a); Paris Principles and also ENOC Standards. Independent Human Rights Institutions for Children - European Network of Ombudspersons for Children p.4. 180 Article 19 (b) UNCRC General Comment No: 2, CRC/GC/2002/2. 176 Article 12, UNCRC Committee General Comment No:2: see also Paris Principles on composition and guarantees of 181 UNCRC General Comment No: 2 Article 13 and Article 19 (q). independence and pluralism. 182 UNCRC General Comment No: 2 Article 19 (r). 177 Paris Principles. 183 ibid Article 15.

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NHRIs should devise specially tailored consultation programmes and imaginative communication strategies to Compiling and analysing data on children has been one of the key functions of Ombudsman for children. In ensure full compliance with article 12 of the Convention. A range of suitable ways in which children can this regard three potential functions have been identified: communicate with the institution should be established. a) It can analyse existing government statistics to identify gaps or the need for disaggregated data. Data may Following measures could make a monitoring body accessible to children: exist on the overall number of children enrolled in school but not the percentage of girls or children from minority groups. Building confidence and trust among children about the institution that it can protect their rights and b) In instances where there is absence or lack of data about children’s lives it can produce data of its own safeguard their interests by making known to children the presence of the institution, its through commissioned research or urge the government to undertake any research. mandate and how it could be approached by children c) The institution can collate and disseminate existing data to create a wider understanding of the nature of Developing child-friendly non- bureaucratic institutional procedures children’s lives. Preparing information and producing material targeting children of different ages and disseminating such information and material through mediums and channels frequently accessed by children Ratification of international Human Rights Treaties Involving children directly in the running of the institution through advisory groups, representation on the management board and in evaluation and monitoring Encourage ratification of or accession to any relevant international human rights instruments. Establishing structures through which children’s views could be directly and effectively represented to other bodies 4.3 National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh Promoting and disseminating models of good practice The National Human Rights Commission is the only human right monitoring mechanism in the country. It is Right to Report: The NHRIs must have the right to report directly, independently and separately on the important to examine the extent to which the mandate, powers and functions of the NHRC complies with state of children’s rights to the public and to parliamentary bodies. In this respect States parties are required the international standard setting relating to human rights and more specifically its capacity to function as a to hold an annual debate in Parliament to provide an opportunity to talk about the work of the NHRI and child rights monitoring mechanism. State’s compliance with the UNCRC. After two decades of campaigns by civil society and international organizations finally the National Human Publicize Opinions: Prepare and publicize opinions, recommendations and reports, either at the request of Rights Commission of Bangladesh saw the light of day in 2009. The National Human Rights Commission is an national authorities or on their own initiative, on any matter relating to the promotion and protection of independent statutory body appointed under the National Human Rights Commission Act 2009. The present children’s rights. Commission which was appointed on 22 June 2010 is Chaired by a highly renowned Professor of Law, Professor Mizanur Rahman who is well known for his commitment to defending human rights. The Preamble Review Law and Practice: Keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of law and practice relating to the Act read in conjunction with Section 2(h) states that the NHRC is established in order to protect, to the protection of children’s rights. Exercising this function monitoring institutions often provide their promote and foster human rights as envisaged in the Bangladesh Constitution and international instruments. feedback on proposed new legislation at an early stage of the drafting process or else require the government to carry out a ‘child impact assessment’ of the proposed legislation. The Commission is vested with wide powers and functions to address human rights violations through investigation, mediation and conciliation and where necessary through constitutional litigation and also Harmonising Domestic Law and Practice: Promote harmonization of national legislation, regulations through awareness raising. The investigative powers of the Commission extend into allegations of human and practices with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, its Optional Protocols and other international rights violations by armed forces. Professor Mizanur Rhaman is reported to have said that “One of the first human rights instruments relevant to children’s rights and promote their effective implementation, including things I did after being appointed was to meet with the Chief of the Paramilitary Forces and the Chief of through the provision of advice to public and private bodies in construing and applying the Convention. Police in Dhaka and I conveyed to them a very strong message: we are not going to tolerate any violation of Evaluating Economic Policies: Ensure that national economic policy makers take children’s rights into account human rights like extrajudicial killing or enforced disappearances,”. in setting and evaluating national economic and development plans. The Commission has the challenge of meeting the high expectations and sustaining the trust and confidence Review and Report: Review and report on the Government’s implementation and monitoring of the state of placed on it while functioning within considerable limitations in resourcing and infrastructural barriers. The children’s rights, seeking to ensure that statistics are appropriately disaggregated and other information following statement of the Chairman of the NHRC amply demonstrates that the NHRC is yet to function as collected on a regular basis in order to determine what must be done to realize children’s rights. a fully-fledged functional body with a viable infrastructure and adequate facilities and resources:

184 ibid Article 16 and Article 19(j). 185 ibid Article 17. 186 Independent Institutions – Protecting Children’s Rights, UNICEF, Innocenti Digest No: 8 – June 2001 p.8.. 187 UNCRC General Comment No: 2 Article 18. 191 Article 19 (f). 188 Article 19(a); see also Paris Principles for similar activities relating human rights. 192 Article 19 (g). 189 Article 19 (d). 193 supra note 184 p. 6. 190 Article 19 (e); see also Paris Principles. 194 Article 19 (h).

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“Unless we build the NHRC into an efficient and effective institution, we have little hope in achieving the (iv) Functions of the Commission long-term goals we have set for ourselves, let alone our shorter term strategies or meeting the high expectations that the establishment of the NHRC has generated. At present nearly all the staff allocated to the Commission (a) Conduct Inquiries: have administrative or financial roles – we have practically no technical staff. As already noted, our current premises are only temporary and we have received only a nominal budget. These shortcomings have meant that  to inquire, suo-moto or on a petition presented to it by a person affected or any person on his behalf, we have been unable to establish appropriate systems, infrastructure and logistics, let alone make a start on into complaint of violation of human rights or abetment thereof, by a person, state or government agency fulfilling our extensive responsibilities.” or institution or organization.  to inquire, suo-moto or on a petition presented by the person affected or any person on his behalf, into The Commission itself believes that there are some deficiencies in the Act. For example, in respect of any allegation of violation of human rights or abetment thereof or negligence to obstruct violation of violation by law enforcement agencies the Commission has limited jurisdiction that can only demand a report human rights by a public servant. from the government. Furthermore, there is no clear provision elaborating Commission’s further action, in case of non-compliance. Table 4.1 Complaints handled by the NHRC 4.3.1 Legal Framework of the Commission Year 2008 2009 2010 Total 23 72 205 (i) Composition Resolved 22 61 141 Pending 1 11 64 The Commission consists of a Chairman and Members not exceeding six. Only the Chairman and one member of the Commission are full-time members and other Members served on an honorary capacity. The Source: NHRC Annual Report 2010 p.32. Chairman is the Chief Executive of the Commission. Among the Members at least one member should be a woman and one should be from the ethnic group.

(ii) Appointment Practice of the Commission

The President is vested with the power of appointing the Chairman and the members of the Commission Two reports titled, ‘Niom nei tobu 165 shishu karagare’ (Law does not support: Yet 165 children upon recommendation of the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee comprise Speaker of the are in jail) and ‘Niom nei, thana hajote rakha hocche shishuder’ In violation of laws, children are parliament who shall also be its Chairman, Minister, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Minister, kept in thana custody) published in the national daily on March 2010 expressed concerns about Ministry of Home Affairs Chairman, Law Commission, Cabinet Secretary, Cabinet Division, Two Members of the indifference of the law enforcing agencies in complying with child rights laws. Parliament, nominated by the Speaker of the Parliament, out of whom one shall belong to the Treasury Bench and the other from the opposition. The High Court Division of the Supreme Court issued seven directives in 2003 in order to protect the rights of children under custody. The NHRC took notice of the child rights violations. (iii) Finances It wrote a letter to the Inspector General of Police for him to take steps to comply with the apex court’s directives, in particular to arrange separate rooms for child prisoners. The Home Ministry A fund called ‘Human Rights Commission Fund’ has been created under the Act for carrying out purposes was also asked to take the same initiatives and to inform NHRC about the steps taken. In addition, under the Act. Although the Commission has full control over the management and administration of the the Social Welfare Department was asked to take necessary measures to transfer the children as budget, Section 24(4) states that the fund should be sourced by government grant and the grants provided by soon as possible to juvenile correction centres. the local authority. Presently the allocation comes from the national budget but this needs to be ensured by law. On 29th November 2010 the Home Ministry submitted a summary report of the Prison Department in which it was claimed that the report of the Prothom Alo was not completely true/ The Chairman is entitled to get salaries, allowances and other privileges as a Judge of the Appellate Division Yet the Commission has regarded it as a success as that the consciousness of the concerned of the Supreme Court whereas the Permanent Member is entitled to get salaries, allowances and other departments would be fortified at this. privileges as a Judge of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. The Honorary Members are entitled to get Honorarium and allowances for discharging their duties including attending Commission Meeting at the rates as determined by the Commission.

195 Chairman, National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh. 196 Section 7.

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UNCRC Committee, Positive developments On 22 September 2010 the NHRC Chairman made a courtesy call on the Honourable Minister of Education Mediation of the Government. The meeting emphasized the need to introduce human rights education in the curricula at all levels of education.  To enquire and investigate into complaint related to the violation or probability of  violation of human rights and resolve the issue through mediation and consensus. From 13-14 November 2010 the NHRC together with the UNDP hosted a Regional Seminar on National Human Rights Commissions in the Asia Pacific Region where one session was completely dedicated to the (b) Visit Places of Detention: To visit any jail or any other places where persons are detained or lodged theme’ Child Rights, Child Labour and Human Trafficking’. for the purpose of correction, custody, treatment, or such other welfare, and to make recommendation to the government thereon for the development of those places and conditions. [Annual Report 2010]

The Chairman and Commissioners have visited vagrant homes, child development centres, safe homes as well (g) Liaise with NGOs and Institutions as public hospitals, maternity and child welfare centres, orphanages, and government primary and secondary schools. These field visits have revealed not only the deficiencies of public allotments promised but those not  To encourage and coordinate the efforts of Non-Governmental Organizations and institutions working delivered as well. (Annual Report of the NHRC 2010) in the field of human rights  To assist and advise the organizations, institutions and generally the civil society for effective application (c) Review of human rights

 To review the safeguards of human rights provided by the Constitution or any other law currently being (h) Advise the government in force and to make recommendation to the government for their effective implementation.  To review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the safeguards of human rights and to make  To advise and assist the Government by providing necessary legal and administrative directions for recommendations to the Government for their appropriate remedial measures protection and development of human rights  To examine the draft bills and proposals for new legislation for verifying their conformity with  To make recommendation to the Government so that the measures taken through the laws of the land international human rights standards and to make recommendations for amendment to the appropriate in force and administrative programs are of international standard ensuring human rights authority for ensuring their uniformity with the international human rights instruments.

(d) Undertake research Among the specific recommendations made by the Commission to the Government for immediate action the following relate to children  To research or study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and to make recommendation to the government for their effective implementation. Child Homes:  To research into human rights and to take part in their execution in educational and professional institutions;  Given the current market situation, the per capita food value allocated for the children of the child homes are very meagre. The per capita allocation should be increased immediately in line with price and market (e) Advice on International Treaties conditions.  To appoint cooks for ensuring food quality so that children are not required to make and cook their own  To give advice to the Government for ratifying or signing the international human rights instruments and food to ensure their implementation  To maintain consistent food quality and kitchen/eating area cleanliness

(f) Human Rights Education Right to Education

 To publicize human rights literacy among various sections of society and to promote  To ensure human rights-based education in every level of education system  awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of those through publications and other available  To include human rights topics in Madrassah schools means  To arrange research, seminar, symposium, workshop and related activities for increasing public awareness [Annual Report 2010] and to publish and disseminate the research results.

To provide training to the members of the law enforcing agencies regarding protection of human rights.

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(a) Provide Legal Assistance - Submit or cause to submit a petition before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court on behalf of the aggrieved person  To provide legal assistance to the aggrieved person or any other person on behalf of the aggrieved person - recommend to the Government or concerned authority to sanction such amount of temporary grant to lodge a complaint before the Human Rights Commission. to the victim or his family as the Commission may consider appropriate. - provide a copy of the inquiry report to the aggrieved person or his representative. (b) Submit reports to the Supreme Court - send a copy of the inquiry report with recommendations to the Government or to the concerned authority who shall within a period of three months from receiving the report, inform the Commission The Supreme Court may make an application under article 102 of the Constitution, to the Commission for about the action taken or proposed to be taken if the Government or the authority contradicts with submitting report after enquiry. After making an enquiry the Commission shall submit a report to the the Commission, or fails or denies to take decision according to the recommendations of the Supreme Court. Commission, they shall inform the Commission about the reasons of such contradiction, inability or denial within the time frame (i) Subjects excluded from the jurisdiction of the NHRC:  The Commission shall publish the summary of its inquiry report and its decision or recommendation on  Issues relating to the cases being tried before a court the report  Issues being considered by the ombudsman under the ombudsman Act, 1980 (XV of 1980)  any issue relating to the service matters of the public servants of the Republic and any employee engaged 4.3.2 UNDP Capacity Development Project in the service of a statutory government authority which is triable in any Tribunal established under the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1980(VII OF 1981) The government of Bangladesh and the United Nations Development Programme entered into an agreement on May 6th 2010 to implement a Capacity Development Project to strengthen the capacity of the National (ii) Measures in the event of a human rights violation Human Rights Commission. The Project is aimed at building the institutional strength of the Commission, and establishing it as an effective, efficient and credible organization capable of fulfilling this mandate, particularly  take steps to resolve through mediation and arbitration for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Bangladesh. It is focussed on achieving four outcomes:  If it does not succeed recommend to the authority to file a case or take proceedings against the violator Institutional Development; Human Rights Monitoring and Investigation; Human Rights Awareness; Human  Recommend to the authority/person to prevent human rights violations Rights research reporting and policy. The UNDP will contribute seven million dollars over the next five years  Provide an opportunity of hearing to the violator under the project.  Send a copy of the recommendation to the complainant  Require the person/authority to which the recommendation is sent for action to send a follow up report The Five Year Strategic Plan (2010-2015) which was developed with the assistance of UNDP has  If the person/authority fails to submit the follow up report the Commission will send the full description identified the following key strategies: to the President who will then submit a copy of the report to the Parliament.  Cooperate with others in the human rights field – with state agencies and civil society alike (iii) Power to intervene in court proceedings  Add value to what is already being done by stakeholders  Support human rights defenders  The Commission shall have the right to intervene in any proceeding involving allegation of violation of  Focus on systemic change human rights pending before any court or in any legal proceeding.  Identify and resolve road blocks to acting independently – for example, NHRC’s current inability to secure its own budget, recruit staff, etc. (iv) Powers relating to inquiries Pressing Human Rights Issues with Priority Areas for 2011  Summoning and ensuring the attendance of witnesses and examining them;  Summoning for giving written or oral evidence by oath.  Violence by state mechanisms, particularly enforced disappearance, torture and extra-judicial killings  Summoning any person living in Bangladesh to give evidence being present before  Violations of economic, social and cultural rights, including health rights, discrimination against people any meeting of the Commission and to produce any document which remains in his possessions with disabilities  Providing authorization for or against the public participation in an investigation or inquiry.  Situation in CHT and local access to justice  Discrimination against women & gender-based violence (v) Procedure after inquiry  Violations of child rights, trafficking and child labour  Lack of access to justice and/or remedies, particularly for the poor  if the Commission finds the complaint is true, after concluding the inquiry, it may,  Discrimination against indigenous peoples and ethnic and religious minorities - Recommend initiating proceedings for prosecution or take such legal action against the concerned  Discrimination against and abuse of migrant workers person  Ensuring the right to education  Addressing climate change and environmental rights

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Analysis Recommendations

The NHRC has the potential to be an ideal strategic partner for implementation of the child rights  Promoting the idea of establishing a clear representation (eg. Ombudsman for Children or a Child Rights governance programme. The views expressed by the Commission in its Annual Report are a clear indication Unit or appointing a member with a strong child rights background) on the NHRC for children as a that the NHRC is conscious of the causational link between deterioration of good governance and increase justification for its commitment and dedication for safeguarding the rights of 45% child population. in human rights violations. For example the Commission states that human rights, basic freedoms, social equality and democracy guaranteed by Bangladesh Constitution have been curtailed many times by military  Advocating for the establishment of an Ombudsman for Children within the NHRC with the support of force and through illegal amendments to the Constitution. It also emphasizes that “now the State through its civil society organizations and the National Children’s Task Force. This is the most opportune time to various institutions has become involved in human rights abuse whereas protection should have been its first negotiate for an Ombudsman for children as the NHRC is in its formative stage of developing its priority. The reason behind these corrupt activities is the lack of accountability of these state and service infrastructure, facilities, resources and forging its strategic direction provider institutions where voting right(s) has been the only power left to the citizens.” The NHRC believes that the situation can be improved if State institutions and service provider institutions exercise their  Requesting the NHRC to identify an existing Commission member with a strong background with professional accountability and ethical transparency to people. children’s issues and designate him/her as the NHRC’s spokesperson of the Commission for Child Rights until an Ombudsman for Children is established. Creating a focal point within the NHRC at this juncture During its brief period of existence among a plethora of human rights issues, the NHRC has exercised its would go a long way in mainstreaming child rights governance within the State as well as civil society powers and functions to address child rights issues. Even in its Five-year strategic plan it has specifically identified child rights and child labour as a strategic focus area in addition to education rights which is an area  Recommending child-friendly and child-focussed procedures, mechanisms, practices and documents that directly connected to children. The NHRC’s five-year strategic plan combined with its powers and functions could be adopted by the NHRC in exercising its powers and functions in relation to children under the Act provide an ideal fertile ground and a perfect landscape for nurturing the concept of child rights governance and translating it into a practical action plan. Different facets of the child rights governance  Proposing ways in which NHRC could encourage children’s participation in its work concerning child programme could be implemented with the NHRC’s institutional framework and mandate. rights issues, especially the involvement of children’s organizations such as the National Children’s Task Force Complaints and Enquiry: The NHRC’s powers relating to complaints and enquiries may be effectively used to identify child rights governance issues in various government institutions that offer services to  Identifying a specific area of child rights governance which corresponds directly with the NHRC’s children. strategic focus areas and developing and implementing a child rights governance project with the active involvement of the NHRC Mediation: When systemic issues are identified through complaints, mediation may be used to recommend concerned public institutions to adopt proactive measures to address the systemic flaws that obstruct child  Encouraging the NHRC to incorporate the principles of child rights governance into their strategic plan rights governance focus areas concerning child rights Visit Institutions: This is an effective monitoring tool that could detect and identify a number of child rights governance issues of public institutions providing services to children.  Engaging the NHRC and especially the good offices of the Chairman of NHRC for promoting child rights governance within government institutions working for and with children and also among civil society Review: The reviewing function of the Commission may be utilized in efforts to harmonise domestic laws organizations and children and policies with international treaty obligations Undertake research: Initiation of researches and studies relating to child rights governance focussing on the five-year strategy would have more weightage as it also has the power to advise the government based on the research outcomes Human Rights Education: The possibility of mainstreaming child rights governance could be explored through the NHRC’s human rights education agenda Liaise with NGOs and Institutions: NHRC’s network of NGOs may provide a useful platform to promote child rights governance Advise the government: The NHRC will be a powerful voice in introducing changes to structures, procedures, mandates of institutions and role profile of officials that are necessary for promoting and ensuring child rights governance

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4.4 Right to Information Act c) Exceptions to Right to Information: Section 7 provides a( long) list of certain categories of information exempted from being published or provided as a mandatory requirement. Areas of exceptions are Good governance in democracy needs a vigilant and knowledgeable/enlightened society to make it vibrant security threats to Bangladesh, foreign policy disclosure, confidential information from governments, copy and efficient. Although democracy and democratic practices and institutions have been introduced to many rights and intellectual property, income tax and revenue, obstructing law enforcement or inciting any developing countries, true democratic principles and active involvement of the citizens who are the main offence, threats to private life of individuals, endangering security of people, confidential information given partners, beneficiaries and the basic component of a democracy are sadly lacking in these developing by individuals to help law enforcement authorities, courts’ confidential information, specific time related countries. Bangladesh is no exception. Ignorance of the democratic liberties and rights of the citizen has led information, confidential scientific experiments, purchase processes, breach of privilege of national to misuse of power, corruption resulting in usurping of individual liberties by those who have been elected to parliament , confidential information on question papers and marks made available in advance of the power. The need to resurrect true democracy in these countries has focused attention on making them aware event and confidential information on council and cabinet. of the rights and liberties enjoyed by an individual as a citizen. Hence the drive for making the populace aware of its right to information has been accelerated in most south Asian countries. The last five years has seen d) Public Institutions exempted from providing information: Section 32(1) and the schedule stipulate that the many countries bringing about legislation to ensure that people realized the importance of the right to National Security Intelligence (NSI), Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Defence information and used this right democratically to offset corruption and weaknesses in governance. Intelligence Units, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Bangladesh Police, Special Security Force (SSF), Intelligence Cell of the National Board of Revenue, Special Branch, Bangladesh Police and Intelligence Cell of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) are exempted from the Act. Preamble However Section 32(2) states that Section 32(1) will not apply to such information that are pertaining to The Act makes provisions for ensuring free flow of information and people’s right to information. The corruption and violation of human rights in the above mentioned institutions. freedom of thought, conscience and speech is recognised in the Constitution as a fundamental right and the right to information is an alienable part of it. Since all powers of the Republic belong to the people, it is e) Establishment of Information Unit: All offices coming under any department, ministry, division of the necessary to ensure right to information for their empowerment. The right to information shall ensure that government and offices that function under any Authority are empowered to provide information. transparency and accountability in all public, autonomous and statutory organisations and in private organisations run on government or foreign funding shall increase, corruption shall decrease and good f) Institutions responsible for providing information: Section 2 expressly spells out the type of public and governance shall be established. It is expedient and necessary to make provisions for ensuring transparency private institutions required to provide information under the Act. and accountability. Institution, ministry, office or division, statutory body, institution run on government funding, institution maintained from foreign funding, institution having contract with government and institutions that are In Bangladesh the Right to Information Act 2009 was adopted in the first session of the 9th Parliament on 29 gazetted from time to time are responsible for providing information. All these institutions should be May 2009 and consented by the President on 5th April 2009. It came into force on 6th April 2009. Although instituted under the State of Bangladesh. articles 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the UNCRC expressly or implicitly guarantees the child’s right to information, no express reference is made in the newly enacted Act to the child’s right to information. As a 4.4.2 Powers and Functions of the Information Commission signatory to the UNCRC, Bangladesh has undertaken an international treaty obligation to give effect to the child’s right to information at the domestic level. Commentators of the RTI argue that the use of the word Section 13 elaborates the powers and functions of the Information Commission. ‘people’ can be construed as including ‘children’ as a special section of population is an inalienable aspect of freedom of thought and expression. However they maintain that there is an acute need for a specific • Receive, inquire and dispose of complaints, conduct inquiries, summon persons for inquiries, attend to any reference in the Act to children and their right to information. other matter required by the Act and examine information kept in custody • Issue directives relating to information include issuance of directives to authorities, explain application 4.4.1 Legal Framework of the Act procedure, formulate and issue guidelines and make recommendations to the government. • Identify impediments, conduct research, examine similarities between various international instruments a) Right to Information: Section 4 guarantees the right to information from the Authority and the Authority and advise the government. shall on demand from a citizen be bound to provide information. • Conduct research on preservation and implementation of right to information and provide support to educational and professional institutions for their implementation; b) Definition of ‘Information’: According to Section 2 of the Act information means any information relating • To help raise awareness generate and increase awareness and conduct research and organize seminars to an authority’s constitution, structure and official activities. • Advise government to make the necessary laws and support organizations working on the right to information issues. • Provide technical and other support to authorities, establish a web-portal for Bangladesh and oversee the systems set up under any other law on right to information. 197 Shameem Reza, Children and Freedom of Information in Bangladesh: Analysing Reflection of Child Rights in the Right to Information Act, 2009, p.7. 198 ibid.

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Analysis Recommendations

The Right to Information Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation if carefully and effectively used • Preparing a set of proposals based on the Save the Children Study on the RTI Act to be submitted to the could be a valuable tool in promoting and protecting child rights in Bangladesh. More importantly it is indeed Information Commission especially recommending the following: a powerful law that could be of immense importance for addressing the issues that concern child rights governance. This law can be made use of by adults as well as children to receive information pertaining to - Requesting intervention of the Information Commission to pronounce an interpretation or prepare a matters that concern their life such as education, health, social security, housing and protection. Following are protocol on the application of the RTI Act in relation to children and promoting and protection child a few instances where the right to information would be of paramount importance to children: rights • To know their entitlements: Right to information would help children know what they are entitled to - Issuing of directives to government authorities spelling out how information could be maintained in receive from public institutions in terms of scholarship monies, books, uniforms, free food and medicine, relation to children within a child rights framework and directing them to simplify the procedure for social security grants, other material items etc. When children receive this information they could always obtaining information and the formats of documents and forms to make them child-friendly cross check and ascertain whether what they have actually received tallies with what they are entitled to. - Conducting research on the right to information and the UNCRC and recommending to the The information required to ascertain the details of the above entitlements clearly fall within the Government to harmonise the domestic laws with the right to information provisions in the UNCRC definition of information. If children are to benefit from the right to information Act the authorities must - Advising and providing support to the Government to make the necessary laws and administrative keep child-focussed records with information pertaining to entitlements of children. directives for preservation and implementation of the right to information in relation to children - Providing necessary advice and support to organizations and institutions working with and for children • To access public services and facilities: Right to information would help children receive information about on the right to information accessing public service institutions such as public health clinics, hospitals, schools, parks and places for - Including in the agenda of the Information Commission a component relating to research, awareness leisure activities. The information required to ascertain the details of the services and facilities afforded raising and technical support a component on the RTI and child rights to children fall within the definition of information. However, in order to comply with this the authorities need to maintain information from a child-centred perspective. • Designing a special training programme to introduce the RTI Act to children especially advising, directing and guiding children on how to use the RTI responsibly, diligently and to abstain from misusing, • To receive protection of the law: When children become victims of violence and also when they are in misinterpreting, and exploiting the law. A brief ethical guideline for children on the use of the RTI by them conflict with the law right to information could provide valuable information to receive treatment and would be of value. care prescribed by law for child victims and child offenders. Especially there are reports that when street children are arrested they are kept in jails and not in institutions for children as prescribed by law. If right • Reviewing the implementation of the RTI in relation to children through a pilot study. to information can be exercised the circumstances under which street children are being held could be ascertained. However, it should be emphasized that the Right to Information Act has limited application - Carrying out a pilot study with the participation of a group of children who have been especially in this instance as a situation of this nature is directly linked to law enforcement and the court system trained on the RTI Act and the circumstances under which they could seek interventions of the subjects that are exempted from the application of the Act. Also protection of privacy of personal lives Information Commission could also be raised as an objection to the application of the Act. The only provision that might permit - Requesting children to identify public institutions at different levels of the government covering right to information pertaining to a matter involving law enforcement is Section 32(2). This provision national to Upazila levels and the kind of information that they would like to obtain states that section 32(1) which declares inapplicability of the Act will not apply to such information - requesting them to seek the relevant information from the authorities. Children could report back the pertaining to corruption and violation of human rights and child rights inevitably come within human impediments they have encountered in obtaining the required information. This would help to rights discourse. understand the procedural, structural, attitudinal problems faced by children while seeking information. • To track and detect corrupt institutions, corrupt officials and corrupt practices: Right to information is a useful weapon that can be used against fighting corruption especially in arresting corruption at an early • Designing and conducting training programmes for public officials based on the lessons learned from the stage. The right to information relating to the constitution, structure and activities of public institutions Pilot Study would help detect corrupt practices and corrupt officials. Once again Section 32(2) can be used to track corruption even in institutions responsible for State security and intelligence. • Designing child-friendly literature on the RTI Act and child rights

• To strengthen the service delivery mechanisms: The right to information will also be a useful tool to • Obtaining the services of civil society organizations in the training programs for public officials and identify strengths as well as weaknesses and gaps in the service delivery mechanisms and to find remedial children measures to make the mechanisms effective and efficient. • To enhance the capacity of institutions: The Act can also be applied to gather information relating to assessing and reviewing the capacity of institutions providing services for children and accordingly come up with concrete measures to improve the capacity of institutions.

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4.5 Child-focussed Budget Analyses Child related programmes constitute only a fraction of the sectoral allocations. They fall under the categories: education, health and social protection and welfare. The demographic statistics in Bangladesh reveal that about 45% of the total population comprise children under 18 years of age and 46% of the children live below the upper poverty level and severely lack basic needs The number of child-related Programs have declined 29 in FY .2005/6 and 20 in FY 2010/11 But allocation for specific prioritization care and protection. The population under 15 years of age is 1/3rd of the total child education has increased 2010/11 Tk 4169.4 crore being 80.2%of the total ADP allocation and 3.2% of population. Hence its paramount that any national development agenda has to take account of the child the national budget. In many cases line ministries fail to fully utilise their allocations 11 Child-related health population and provide for its needs investing in human development. programmes in FY 2010/11received an allocation of Tk 917.1crores as against 18 programmes in FY 2005/6 receiving Tk 550 crores as allocations. The percentage in relation to the total health sector budget falling from With a considerable segment of the population being children the State is bound to care for the development 28.7% in 2008/09 to 23.4% in 2010/11 is a cause for concern. of children, more so in view of the vulnerability of children and the urgent issues concerning children such as deprivation and disparities in different forms. Although the State has committed itself to a child-centred Revenue earnings have steadily increased almost doubling between the 2005/6 and the 2010/11 cycles. Non development thrust and adopted policies and strategies, enacted a number of laws to assure the children of development expenditures on the other hand have more than doubled over the same period; while the their basic rights, allocated resources for the implementation of pro-child programmes, their effectiveness and increase in ADP spending has been much more tempered. In fact, as a percentage of GDP, the ADP efficiency only would reflect the actual scenario regarding child rights issues. expenditure has reduced over the same period.

Economic development is a vital factor in realising development goals in relation to children and their welfare. The GOB has been continuously supportive of investing in providing basics for children i.e. health and The resource constraints the GoB faces stands between optimum resource allocation and the actual resource education .The cumulative allocation for these ministries show an increase in the course of the last few years allocations made to fulfill child rights. Reducing poverty and providing health and nutrition education and but the ministry wise growth pattern of ADP allocations reveal that the scenario is not equally happy for all social safety nets are some of the strategies adopted by the GoB. Budgetary allocations in these focus areas the ministries. will depict the true nature of the effort made by the government in this direction. Table 4.4 Pattern in Budget Allocation While projects implemented by most of the ministries have some kind of effect on development in relation to children there are six ministries which are implementing projects directly earmarked for children namely Pattern in allocation for six selected child-related ministries (in crore Taka) the Ministry of Women and Child affairs, (MoWCA), Ministry of Mass and Primary Education (MoPE), Ministry of Education (MoE), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), and Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE). These ministries make up 19.58 % of the total allocation for the 35000 year 2011/12. Despite three very important and widespread ministries such as Ministry of mass and Primary Education, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health being included in this group it has not attracted even 30000 one fifth of the total budget. 25000 20000 Table 4.3 Budget Allocation of Child Related Ministries 15000 Total allocation 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 (Revised) 2008-09 (Revised) (Revised) 10000 MOWCA 1236 1193 1215 1215 5000 MOPME 8956 7993 6842 5578 0 MOE 10850 10155 8951 6719 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 MOHFW 8869 7617 6883 6196

MOSW 2039 1772 1283 1011 (Source: Analysis of national budget 2011 - 12 from children perspective Department of Development Studies MOLE 82 67 69 120 University of Dhaka, p.9.) Total 32032 28797 25243 20839 (Source: Analysis of national budget 2011 - 12 from children perspective Department of Development Studies University of Dhaka, p.8)

199 National budget: Are the commitments to the children of Bangladesh being kept? UNICEF Bangladesh June 2011. 201 National budget: Are the commitments to the children of Bangladesh being kept? UNICEF Bangladesh June 2011. 200 National Resource Allocation for Children: FY 2011-2012, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, 2011, 202 ibid. Save the Children – Sweden – Denmark.

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Table 4.5Allocation in ADP for the Six Selected Ministries Nearly half the child population about 33 million children live in poverty. Almost half the children below 5 years are underweight or stunted. It is obvious that they suffer from short-term, acute food deficits (as 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 (Revised) reflected in low weight-for-age) and long-term from chronic under nutrition (manifested in stunting). Other (Revised) (Revised) concerns add to the vulnerability of children. Disparities arising from urban and rural slum dwelling, tendency MOWCA 161 205 157 117 to seek solutions to low family incomes through child-labour and sex trade, the abundance of street children are all issues that need to be addressed through special budget allocation. The GoB has resorted to Social MOPME 3514 3056 2823 2114 Safety Nets (SSNs) and income support measures to address these issues in general. Although there is a dire MOE 2143 1723 1431 986 need for budgetary allocations for specific issues there seems to be a pertinent absence of such allocations MOHFW 3562 2736 2829 2615 in the budgets of the last few years. Despite the fact that the Government of Bangladesh has adopted policy to eliminate child labour, no specific initiatives have been able to find room in the National resource allocation MOSW 262 98 80 90 plan for the year 2011/12. This clearly shows that successive governments have failed to increase the share MOLE 29 17 34 96 of social spending which is crucial for enhancing investment in human development. This is a serious missed Total 9671 7835 7354 6018 opportunity given that its people are potentially the most important asset for Bangladesh.

(Source: Analysis of national budget 2011 - 12 from children perspective Department of Development Studies According to the budget and other documents there are 82 safety net programmes in Bangladesh for the FY University of Dhaka, p.9) 2010/11. Several studies reveal that SSNs have a positive role in reducing children vulnerabilities. The total budgetary allocation for children includes safety net programmes that are carried out from the revenue budget as well as the ADP programmes. These ministries show more or less a similar trend of growth in terms of ADP allocations but the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs show a cut of about 27.31% in the ADP allocation for the year 2011/12 than the In FY 2010/11 4.1 % of the national budget was allocated for safety nets. It was 3.8 % in FY 2008/09 and 4.6 immediate past year. Ministry of Education dealing with education in general maintains an incremental change % in FY 2005/06.It is not clear whether the increase in the number of SSN programmes has increased the rate in relation to development and non-development budget. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare overall impact of the government’s poverty reduction efforts, or whether these have been more populist in responsible for delivering managing and controlling quality health care services in the country as well as nature and have actually led to a dispersion of scarce resources. Although the number of specifically population and nutrition programmes which directly benefit children received a 15% increased total child-related programmes has increased from 19 in FY 2005/06 to 57 in FY 2008/09 and 82 in FY 2010/11 the allocation for FY 2011/12 over FY 2010/11 but the total ADP resources received has been steadily decreasing share has not changed much. from 11.36% in FY 2008/09, 9.92% in FY 2009/10 to 7.73% this year. The Ministry of Social Welfare directly and indirectly involved with children and mothers has an extraordinarily high gap between development and While the number of SSN Programmes has proliferated recently, the amount and proportion of these non-development allocations. The development allocation is only 13% of the total allocation which indicates resources are meager when compared with the number of poor and most vulnerable children. The support that this ministry can implement only a limited number of development projects. is insufficient to meet most of the basic needs of these children and break the generational poverty cycle. The share of social protection for children under SSN in the total allocation (revenue and non-revenue) has A significant part of child-related Programmes are channelled through the ADP from foreign aid. remained dismally low.

FY 2010/11 43.2% of the ADP allocation was from foreign aid while for the FY 2008/09 60.8% of the allocation Education has been the primary focus of successive governments in pro-child budgeting. In the context of comprised foreign aid. Often the inflow does not match expectations and Programmes are implemented facilitating children’s education through SSN measures, policy makers in Bangladesh have been keen to design unsatisfactorily and even after revisions it comprises a significant portion. and adopt new ways of ensuring education for all. The main strategy has been a focus on increasing the enrolment rate at the primary level and emphasizing primary level graduation. The education sector has It is found that there are 105 projects under different agencies in which the children are the direct maintained its position among the top recipients of allocations under the National Budget for several years. beneficiaries. These projects spread over the sectors of social welfare women's affairs and youth development, However, the effectiveness of the education safety net investments must be questioned. education and religion, health nutrition and family planning, labour and employment. These 4 sectors received Tk 9607 crore in 2010/11 equal to the total ADP for the year. Share of these 4 sectors in the ADP has It is unclear whether the key issues and education needs of working children and children living on the street remained more or less the same over the last several years. Although the total size of the ADP gradually are being addressed, given that simply opening schools may not been a sufficient solution for these children. increased and the allocation to these four sectors also increased in absolute terms, the investment per capita has probably not changed much because of population growth. 206 National Resource Allocation for Children: FY 2011-2012, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, 20011, Save the Children – Sweden – Denmark. 207 ibid. 208 203 National Resource Allocation for Children: FY 2011-2012, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, 20011, National budget: Are the commitments to the children of Bangladesh being kept? UNICEF Bangladesh June 2011. 209 Save the Children – Sweden – Denmark. ibid. 210 204 National budget: Are the commitments to the children of Bangladesh being kept? UNICEF Bangladesh June 2011 ibid. 211 205 ibid. ibid.

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The proposed budget for FY 2012 allocates Tk 22556 crore or 13.8% of the total budget for SSNs. Five Analysis ongoing SSNs have been discontinued and two new programmes have been added. A universal pension scheme and the Construction of a sweeper colony. It is expected that children may be benefitted from the Resourcing for children being a highly technical subject that involves complex and long-driven processes, Ghore Fera programme of relocating families from urban slums to rural houses. Increases in allocation and procedures and multi-sectoral institutions, it is essential to have an in depth and comprehensive coverage of various maternity related allowances are also expected to improve conditions of children and the understanding on how the financial system of the country operates before any interventions are made. From new borns. In the case of sexually abused children although specific and harsh laws are in place the situation planning to disbursement stage the Development and Non-development budgetary process goes through has been aggravated as in actual practice the efficacy of the laws have been undermined by poor law many different phases at national and sub national levels (Zila, Upazila, City Corporation, Union Parishad) enforcement agencies, corruption and lack of resources. Further there are no provisions made for trauma through various units, departments and ministries. counselling for victims and reintegration to family and society or life-skill training essential for reintegration to the mainstream society, for both the aggressor and the victim. The rate of suicide has become very high Planning Proposals Review Allocation Approval Disbursement due to the shame and stigma associated with sexual abuse. It is important to ascertain the principles, policies and processes governing financial planning, budget The location of the country has exposed it to the abuse of child and women trafficking. It is estimated that proposals and reviewing, budgetary allocations, approval and disbursement and the mandate of various big numbers of women and children have been trafficked to brothels in India and Pakistan. Bangladeshi boys departments as well as officials at national and sub national level within a particular ministry that are engaged of 4-12 years are reported to be trafficked for camel racing to the Middle Eastern countries. Because of in the entire process from planning to disbursement. unregistered birth it is often difficult to gauge the numbers of lost children. There's no substantial evidence to show that any specific effort has been made to protect children from trafficking. Child protection is one of The child-centred budget analyses so far carried out by UNICEF and Save the Children International have the least attended sections in terms of political commitment or budgetary allocations. Although GoB has concentrated on desk reviews supplemented by consultations on the national budget. In order to influence ensured gendered budget, child budget has neither been promoted nor ensured. Dis aggregating the the national budget to be child focussed many interventions have to be made at different stages and at allocations for children from the national budget has been a hard task for any policy and development different levels of the budgetary process with the concurrence of the Finance Ministry. planners.

Total budget allocated for children including SSN expenditure is a mere 4.1% of the National Budget of 10/11 0.7 % of the GDP. It has been constantly low in the last few years. Recommendations

Regarding rhetoric-action gap successive post-independence governments have made vast social and • Formulating and implementing strategies to incorporate the child-centred budgetary process into the economic progress and the challenge today is how to become more efficient in reducing poverty and macro-level five year plan and ensuring that micro level realities concerning children are connected to upholding rights of citizens particularly children, especially those most vulnerable. The answer points towards macro-level planning reducing inequalities, increasing financial allocations to vulnerable children and establishing greater • Preparing a set of Child-focussed Budgetary Guidelines based on the study relating to child-focussed effectiveness and efficiency in social investments. budgeting • Obtaining the feedback on the guidelines from civil society organizations that have an interest on the Over all allocations have been consistent over the years but they have been far below the actual requirement. subject and also the views of children through children’s network such as the NCTF The absence of measuring and monitoring mechanisms regarding the utilization of resources allocated causes • Identifying a sector that has a substantial remit for children for the purpose of applying the Child-Focussed concern. Budgetary Guidelines as a pilot project • Preparing an Action Plan to implement the Guidelines in the selected sector • Advocating for main streaming child focussed budgeting by sharing the Child-focussed Budgetary Guidelines and the Action Plan with the Ministry of Finance and the line Ministry of the chosen sector and obtaining their views and also approval for implementing a pilot project • Partnering with TIB to address gaps in the budgetary governance mechanism to arrest corruption and minimising opportunities for squandering resources that could be invested for children thereby ensuring smooth flow of resources for the beneficiaries • Consulting the Information Commission and obtaining their advice and guidance in understanding the limitations of using the Right to Information Act to obtain information relating to budgets as disclosure of information relating to budgets is not allowed under the Act • Obtaining the support and assistance of national level NGOs with strong advocacy skills to work together with civil society organizations strong in research agendas and engaging such organizations in advocacy 211 National Resource Allocation for Children: FY 2011-2012, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, 20011, work and other work connected with child-centred budget related matters Save the Children – Sweden – Denmark. 212 ibid. 213 National budget: Are the commitments to the children of Bangladesh being kept? UNICEF Bangladesh June 2011.

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2.6 Anti-Corruption officers from the government or any organization under the authority of the Government without making it obligatory, introduction of rigorous imprisonment for 2-5 years for providing false or motivated information. Corruption which penetrated into every sphere of society in Bangladesh has been identified as the gravest obstacle to economic and social development and political stability in the country. Reduction in investment Political commentators, the international donor community including the EU and the World Bank, are of the and economic growth, weakening of public institutions, undermining democracy and rule of law, impeding view that such political measures to control the ACC will drastically weaken the independence of the democratic governance, decrease in expenditure on education and health are some of the serious institution. The proposals attracted a strong wave of opposition from TIB, media and the public which ramifications precipitated by corruption. According to Transparency International Bangladesh, per capita succeeded in preventing the enactment of the amendments for 19 months. TIB is of the view that the future income of the country has been decreased by 9% solely because of corruption. The World Bank estimates that of anti-corruption movement in Bangladesh depends to a very great extent on what emerges from the 2-3% of GDP growth is lost each year owing to corruption. The country has the potential of doubling the per attempts to undermine the independence and authority of the ACC. capita income if corruption can be effectively curtailed. Mr IftekharZaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, has claimed that the "ACC's 2.6.1 The Anti-corruption Act of 2004 and the Anti-corruption Commission accountability will be affected by political influence if it is made accountable to the president. This is because in parliamentary democracy, the president acts on all the issues in consultation with the Prime Minister." The An Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was set up in November 2004 for the purpose of strengthening the World Bank commented, "Bangladesh government's move to amend the Anti-Corruption Commission Act legal basis for fighting corruption, the Anti-corruption Act of 2004 is a development worth mentioning. But will weaken the independent anti-graft watchdog and undermine its ability to investigate corruption." significant weaknesses and contradictions in the Act remain. According to section 3(2) of Anti-Corruption Commission Act-2004, for instance, the “Commission shall be independent and impartial”, whereas section 30 2.6.2 Other Legislative Measures states that the Commission’s organizational structure and budget will be determined by the Government, which poses limits to the Commission’s independence and it was reportedly under active consideration of Bangladesh has enacted some other laws which could help curb corruption and promote good governance if the Government for necessary amendment. implemented effectively.

In its formative years the ACC suffered due to the lack of a clear strategic vision and direction, division and a) The Money Laundering Prevention Act (MLPA) 2009: difference of opinion relating to powers and responsibilities among the Commissioners, taking over the baggage of inefficiency and lack of integrity of its predecessor the unpopular Bureau of Anti-corruption (BAC). The Act criminalises money laundering and includes 22 predicate offences creating an effective basis for The anti-corruption landscape changed after the military backed caretaker government took over in 2007. addressing and preventing money laundering. An Anti-Money Laundering Unit has been established in the The caretaker government initiated prosecutions against corrupt politicians, high-level government officials, Bangladesh Bank (The Central Bank) for facilitating the effective implementation of the law. including business magnates and launched a massive reform agenda with the objective of making government bureaucracies more efficient, accountable, and transparent. One of the notable measures adopted by the b) The Right to Information Act (RTI) 2009 caretaker government was to empower the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to pursue corrupt organizations, institutions, and individuals and obtain convictions against them. The Right to Information Act is an effective tool to fight against corruption.

Yet another significant change in the ant-corruption landscape took place after the country entered the c) The Public Interest Related Information Disclosure (Protection) Act 2011 democratic electoral process. However, the post-election period witnessed the weakening of ACC than strengthening it. A large number of corruption cases filed by the ACC against the ruling party's senior The law provides safeguards to officials who report information and evidence on corruption. leadership were recommended by the Government withdrawal. d) Ombudsman Act It is reported that, on April 26, 2010 the Cabinet approved a set of proposals for amending the anticorruption law aimed at bringing the ACC under the political control of the government mandating that the ACC will Article 77 of the Constitution provides for the establishment of the institution of Ombudsman. Although now report to the president (who acts almost entirely under the advice of the prime minister) and requiring Ombudsman Act was enacted in 1980 it has remained a symbolic document except for the setting up of the the permission of the government before filing (government) a case against any government official. Also the amendment authorises the government to appoint the Secretary to the ACC. The law proceeds further to stipulate that filing a false corruption case may have the effect of sentencing an official to jail for 5 years which 214 IftekharZaman, Shadhan Kumar Das and ShammiLaila Islam, Transparency International Bangladesh, BANGLADESH, has been viewed as a challenge for initiating and filing a corruption case. Civil Society Organisation Report in Support of the Implementation Review Mechanism of the UNCAC, UNCAC Review Process 1st Year Review of UNCAC Chapters III & IV, p.15. 215 In 2011 there was a further move to enact an amendment to the Anti-corruption Law that required the "Anti-Graft Body to Lose Teeth," Daily Star, May 3, 2010, http://www.savebd.com/news/anti-graft-body-to-lose-teeth/. 216 approval of the government before initiating any action relating to allegations of corruption against judges, Shahiduzzaman Khan, "Move to Amend Anti-Graft Law and relevant Issues," Financial Times, August 22, 2010, http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=109706. magistrates and government officials, vesting the power to appoint the Secretary of the Commission with the 217 IftekharZaman, Shadhan Kumar Das and ShammiLaila Islam, Transparency International Bangladesh, BANGLADESH, government, conferring of power to seek information, reports, expert assistance of one or more relevant Civil Society Organisation Report in Support of the Implementation Review Mechanism of the UNCAC, UNCAC Review Process 1st Year Review of UNCAC Chapters III & IV, p.8.

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Office of the Tax Ombudsman. The Office of the Tax Ombudsman was also abolished by a law that repealed Similar to the performance of Bangladesh, marginally higher score than last year has been achieved by the Tax Ombudsman Act. The rationale behind the Tax Ombudsman Act was to create a regime to promote Afghanistan, Pakistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, while India’s performance has decreased and Nepal and Bhutan transparency and accountability in tax administration. have scored the same as last year.

e) Proposed Civil Service Act Table 4.7 CPI: Performance of South Asian Countries 2010-2011 This Act could also go a long way in strengthening the integrity of public service and public servants. TIB has proposed that the Civil Service Act must include a set of Code of Ethics for Public Servants that would help institutionalise positive and negative incentives against corruption.

2.6.3 Corruption Index

The Annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International Bangladesh is an indicator for analysing the situation of corruption in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been included in CPI in 2001. From 2001 until 2005 for five long successive years Bangladesh occupied a row at the bottom of the CPI.

Table 4.6 Bangladesh’s Scores in CPI (2001-2011)

Source: http://www.ti-bangladesh.org/cpi2011/CPI-2011-011211-2%20(2)%20[Compatibility%20Mode].pdf According to the CPI index a score below that of 3 reflects a situation where corruption is perceived to be of grave concern and score of 5 or more is considered to be the threshold that reflects success in moderately controlling corruption. In this context despite the progress in the performance Bangladesh remains in the lowest category and it has the challenge of sustaining the progress made thus far while improving the performance to reach the level of moderately controlling the corruption level.

As way back as in 2000 the World Bank has estimated that “if Bangladesh could reduce its corruption level to those prevailing in countries with highest reputation for honest dealing it could add between 2.1 and 2.9 percent to annual per capita GDP growth. This would contribute to a sustainable reduction in poverty”. Source: Iftekharuzzaman, Corruption and Anti-corruption in Bangladesh: Primacy of the Political, p.8. (2011). 2.6.4 Trends in Corruption A change in the CPI status has been observed since 2006 when it was ranked at the bottom of the list 3rd followed by 7th in 2007, 10th in 2008, 13th in 2009, and 12th in 2010. In comparison to 2010, Bangladesh has In the absence of data on the cost of grand corruption, the small scale corruption surveys conducted by TIB performed better in 2011. In a scale of 0-10, Bangladesh has in 2011 scored 2.7, which is 0.3 higher than in clearly shows how it has impacted adversely on the economy. According to the National Household Survey 2010, and has occupied 120th place among 183 countries compared to 134th among 178 countries in 2010. conducted by TIB as shown in the graph below, the bribery at the service delivery level had caused a cost of In terms of ranking from below Bangladesh has been placed at number 13 this year, one step higher than last 8.4 percent of the annual budget and 1.4 percent of the annual GDP. TIB has also revealed that based on data year. on the respondents’ experiences and not on perception, the survey has shown that the annual cost of petty corruption to the economy increased from Taka 5,43 crore in 2007 to Taka 9,91 crore in 2010. The analysis of the latest version of the TI index released in December 2011 reveals that in the Asian regional context, Bangladesh has performed better than Afghanistan and Myanmar (1.5), Cambodia (2.1), Nepal and Laos (2.2), Pakistan and Maldives (2.5) and Philippines (2.6), while Bangladesh is behind Vietnam (2.8), 218 Indonesia (3.0), India (3.1), Sri Lanka (3.3), Thailand (3.4), China (3.6) and Bhutan (5.7). Iftekharuzzaman, “Bangladesh in CPI: Can Improvement be Sustained”, The Daily Star, December 2, 2011. 219 The following table amply demonstrates the performance of Bangladesh in the South Asian regional context. The World Bank, Corruption in Bangladesh: Costs and Cures, Dhaka April 7, 2000. 220 See for detailed report on the survey: Transparency International Bangladesh, “National Household Survey on Corruption in Selected Service Delivery Sectors 2010”, http://www.ti-bangladesh.org/research/NHSC2010_TIB.pdf.

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Table 4.8 National Estimate of Bribery Table 4.9 Percentage of Households Who Experienced Corruption

Source: Iftekharuzzaman, Corruption and Anti-corruption in Bangladesh: Primacy of the Political, p.10. (2011). Source: Iftekharuzzaman, Corruption and Anti-corruption in Bangladesh: Primacy of the Political, p.11. (2011).

Table 4.10 Corruption – Bias Against the Poor TIB has further analysed the corruption level according to different sectors. It has revealed that there is an increase in the incidence of corruption in the service delivery sector in 2010 from 84.2 percent of surveyed households in comparison to the 66.7 percent found in 2009. The Judicial services have shown the highest incidence of 88 percent followed by the law enforcement agencies 79.7 percent which highlights the gravity of the rule of law situation in the country.

Source: Iftekharuzzaman, Corruption and Anti-corruption in Bangladesh: Primacy of the Political, p.11.

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Although corruption has ramifications across the population the poor are more vulnerable to corruption the spheres of government, politics, business and civil society and to create a nation with integrity. Bangladesh than people on the upper income strata. Poverty makes the poor powerless at every point where they come is obliged to adopt the following measures at the domestic level to give effect to the provisions of the into contact with the public service delivery or law enforcement mechanism and this in turn increases the UNCAC. vulnerability of the poor to bribery, extortion and intimidation. Corruption adversely affects the poor by means of unauthorised payments, low quality of public services, limiting or even preventing the people’s access (a) Specific Measures for Prevention of Corruption in the Public Sector: to justice and law enforcement. Adopt policies and practices: Develop and implement or maintain effective, coordinated anticorruption TIB’s analysis of disaggregated data based on income categories reflects that the ratio of loss for the policies and establish and promote effective practices aimed at the prevention of corruption. households with relatively higher income categories is less (2.5 percent) than compared to households with lowest income category (less than Taka 72,000 per year) which shows a much higher ratio of 4.11 percent. There is no national integrity strategy (NIS) or anti-corruption policy. Asian Development Bank’s project on developing an NIS has been moving at much slower pace than planned for and its fate remained uncertain. Transparency International has identified the following as the key positive reasons behind the progress: ACC is stipulating to propose enactment of a comprehensive anti-corruption law consisting of all relevant laws. • Strong electoral commitment – reaffirmation • Right to Information Act, Information Commission Establishment of anti-corruption bodies: Ensure the existence of a body or bodies, to prevent • Whistle-blower Protection Act corruption and grant such body or bodies the necessary independence and resources – material and human • Human Rights Commission - to carry out the functions effectively and free from any undue influence. • Citizens Charter in Service Delivery Institutions • Anti-corruption training in Government-funded institutions Public Service safeguards: Merit-based recruitment, codes of ethics and conduct for public officials and • Implementation strategy of the UNCAC disclosure of assets, restrictions on the employment of retired public officials in the private sector. These safeguards also include appropriate legislative and administrative measures to prescribe criteria concerning TIB has attributed the following negative reasons why Bangladesh has not progressed better: candidature for and election to public office, enhance transparency in the funding of candidatures for elected public office and funding of political parties; and to adopt, maintain and strengthen systems that promote • Amendments to the ACC Act though stalled transparency and prevent conflicts of interest. • Parliament, boycott conflict of interests • Non-disclosure of assets by high and mighty Public Procurement: Adopt steps to establish appropriate systems of procurement, based on transparency, • Whitening of black money in the budget competition and objective criteria for decision-making, (that are effective), inter alia, in preventing corruption. • Public procurement amendments These measures should address public distribution of information relating to procurement procedures and • Telecommunications amendment Act contracts including tenders, use of objective and predetermined criteria for public procurement decision, • Influence – peddling by public reps in procurement, land-grabbing, employment affecting rule of law effective system of domestic review, including an effective system of appeal, to ensure legal recourse and • Partisan political influence in administration and other public service remedies when rules or procedures are not followed; measures to regulate matters regarding personnel responsible for procurement, such as declaration of interest in particular public procurements, screening 2.6.5 UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and Bangladesh’s International procedures and training requirements. Treaty Obligations Although significant progress has been made recently towards promoting integrity in public procurement in The United Nations General Assembly has adopted three international instruments that focus on combatting line with the Public Procurement Act of 2006 and prior to that Public Procurement Regulation of 2003, the corruption. They are the UN Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Draft Rules for Public Procurement 2007 following upon the new Act are yet to be approved. Transactions of 1996. The UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime of 2003 and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) of 2003. Public Finance: Promote transparency and accountability in the management of public finances by adopting the following measures: The Convention is the first global legally binding instrument on corruption and a comprehensive document that includes measures on prevention, criminalisation and international cooperation. It emphasizes - Procedures for the adoption of the national budget; prominently on the commitment of the States Parties to promote multi-sectoral institutional, legal and policy - Timely reporting on revenue and expenditure; reforms at respective national levels as well as citizens participation as the keystone to creating a strong and - A system of accounting and auditing standards and related oversight; sustainable basis for controlling corruption. It recognizes the cross-border dimension of corruption and - Effective and efficient systems of risk management and internal control; and affirms that international cooperation is essential to prevent and control the same. - Corrective action in the case of failure to comply with the above requirements. - Take administrative measures as may be necessary, to preserve the integrity in maintaining accounting By ratifying the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) on February 27, 2007 Bangladesh has books, records, financial statements or other documents related to public expenditure and revenue to undertaken an international obligation to promote and establish transparency, integrity and accountability in prevent falsification of such documents.

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Accountability in judiciary: adopt measures to ensure independence and strengthening of integrity to (b) Criminalisation and law enforcement prevent opportunities for corruption among members of the judiciary. Such measures may include a code of ethics to be followed by members of the judiciary. Bangladesh has committed itself to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences, the following acts: bribery of national public officials (Art 15); bribery of foreign Public Reporting: Adopt measures to enhance transparency in public administration regarding organization, public officials and officials of public international organizations (Art 16); embezzlement, misappropriation or functioning and decision-making processes. These measures may include inter alia. other diversion of property by a public official (Art 17); trading in influence (Art 18); abuse of functions (Art 19); Illicit enrichment (Art 20); bribery in the private sector (Art 21); embezzlement of property in the private • Adopting procedures or regulations allowing members of the general public to obtain, where appropriate, sector (Art 22); laundering of proceeds of crime (Art 23); concealment (Art 24); and obstruction of justice information about the organization, functioning and decision-making processes of its public (Art 25). The law should also provide for procedures to deal with public official accused of an offence, witness administration, with due regard towards protecting privacy and personal data, on decisions and legal acts protection and compensation. that concern members of the public; • Simplifying administrative procedures, where appropriate, in order to facilitate public access to the (c) International cooperation competent decision-making authorities; and • Publishing information, which may include periodic reports on the risks of corruption in its public A key aspect of the Convention is that States Parties agree to cooperate with one another in every aspect of administration. the fight against corruption. These include prevention, investigation, and the prosecution of offenders. Bangladesh is entitled under Article 43 to international cooperation and assistance from other States Parties Specific Measures for Prevention of Corruption in the Private Sector: in investigations of and proceedings in civil and administrative matters relating to corruption.

• Enhancing accounting and auditing standards, with adequate penalties for failure to comply. (d) Recovery of Assets • Promoting private sector codes of conduct; obligations of disclosure by corporate entities of the identities of those involved in their business establishment and management Recovery of assets has been recognized as a fundamental principle of the Convention. This is a key issue for • Preventing misuse of procedures regarding subsidies and licences granted by public authorities for many developing countries that experience substantial plundering of resources with the participation or commercial activities. connivance of corrupt officials. • instituting a comprehensive regulatory and supervisory regime in order to detect and deter money laundering. (e) Trend Analysis and Monitoring • Promoting cooperation between law enforcement agencies and relevant private entities; • Promoting transparency among private entities, including measures regarding the identity of legal and Commitment under Art 61 includes analysing trends in corruption as well as the circumstances in which natural persons involved in the establishment and management of corporate entities; corruption offences are committed. • Preventing the misuse of procedures regulating private entities, including procedures on subsidies and licences granted by public authorities for commercial activities Analysis • Preventing conflicts of interest by imposing restrictions, appropriately for a reasonable period of time, on the professional activities of former public officials or on the employment of public officials by the private The future of the ant-corruption movement in Bangladesh depends on the political leadership of the country sector after their resignation or retirement and the institutions of democracy. The cancer of corruption cannot effectively be curtailed only by the Anti-corruption Commission. The success of the anti-corruption strategy and efforts to a great extent Participation of society (Art 13) revolves around the strength, independence and integrity of vital institutions of the national integrity system such as the Parliament, the executive, the law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, public service, media and • Promoting the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, even the private sector are decisive in combatting corruption. non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations, in the prevention of and the fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the The obligation to uphold child rights is vested with all branches of the government the executive, legislature threat posed by corruption. This participation should be strengthened by such measures as: and judiciary and at all levels of the government national, regional and local levels. The State responsibility - Enhancing the transparency of decision making processes and promoting the contribution of the public involves two obligations; first, abstain from actions that may infringe child rights; second, to adopt positive towards such decision-making processes; measures to prevent child rights violations. - Ensuring that the public has effective access to information - Undertaking public information activities that contribute to non-tolerance of corruption, as well as public It can be argued that corruption has a direct impact on the lives of children of today and also has an adverse education programmes, including school and university curricula effect on their future adulthood. High level embezzlement of public funds reduces the economic stability and - Respecting, promoting and protecting the freedom to seek, receive, publish and disseminate information weakens the capabilities of the country in resourcing for implementing child rights and also safeguarding and concerning corruption subject to the restrictions prescribed by law and are necessary for respect of the securing public wealth for the benefit of future generations including future adults. The UN Committee on the rights or reputations of others and the protection of national security or ordre public or of public health or morals.

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Rights of the Child has noted that corruption reduces the resources available to implement the Convention Recommendations on this right. It has suggested that states in which corruption is widespread cannot comply with their obligation to implement the economic, social and cultural rights of children as provided under Article 4 of the • Identifying priority areas for intervention is important in view of the complex and wide scope of the Convention. subject of corruption. Narrowing of the scope of the intervention could be made by identifying a sector/sectors for intervention. In selecting a sector/sectors it may be productive to identify a In the absence of corruption the child rights violations may not occur. The grave repercussions of corruption sector/sectors that have a bearing on other areas of child rights governance. In addition emphasis could may curtail to a very great extent the enjoyment by children the survival and development rights, protection be given to the sectors that have recorded a high incidence of corruption and also that have a direct rights and participation rights. Corruption also takes away from children the right to non-discrimination and responsibility of ensuring child rights. By selecting sectors common to other areas of child rights equality. Unequal and discriminatory outcomes caused by corrupt practices deny children’s right to receive governance a causational link can be discerned between corruption and other issues of child rights equal recognition, enjoyment or exercise of their rights. Corruption also places children who are poor and governance. powerless in a disadvantageous position vis a vis children from privileged backgrounds. • Partnering with Transparency International Bangladesh would benefit the child rights governance The household income otherwise available to fulfil the basic needs of children is lost due to petty corruption programme in many ways. As the leading organization that has been in the forefront in the anti-corruption and when parents/care-givers have to pay bribes to obtain public services such as health, housing, water and movement, TIB possesses the required expertise and skills to assist Save the Children International in education. In effect corruption reduces the purchasing power of parents/care-givers and also accessing public forging and implementing its strategy in relation to anti-corruption and child rights governance. services and public institutions. • Drawing information and guidance from the studies and researches already conducted by TIB and Corruption may directly violate child rights when the State or an agent of the State acts in a manner that identifying specific issues upon which a child rights governance programming on anti-corruption could be prevents children from having access to that right. For example when parents/care-givers have to bribe a developed and implemented. doctor to obtain medical treatment at a public hospital the child’s right to health is infringed. Similarly when parents/care-givers have to bribe a principal or a teacher to obtain admission to a public school the child’s • Implementing the anti-corruption and child rights governance programme in the chosen sector with the right to education is violated. The infringement of right to education may also take place when corrupt involvement of public officials and institutions both at the national level as well as the sub national levels. practices and procedures are adopted to recruit teachers thereby lowering the standard and quality of education. • Developing an anti-corruption education programme for children that would help equip and strengthen their capacity to actively participate in programmes relating to anti-corruption and child rights Corruption may act as an incentive for law enforcement agencies and law enforcement officials to abstain governance. In addition such a programme would also help grooming a new generation of future adults from receiving complaints, arresting the perpetrators, conducting of investigations, recording false statements committed to upholding integrity and contributing to building a nation with integrity. There are advantages or not recording statements basically not enforcing the law legitimately against perpetrators of crimes against of implementing the anti-corruption education programme using schools as the focal points. The schools children and also against children who come to conflict with the law. Corrupting of officials commonly takes that are implementing the programme could be developed as “Integrity Laboratories” where children and place when women or children are trafficked for sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, abduction, sale, teachers learn and practise principles of child rights governance. When the anti-corruption discourse is prostitution and pornography as those responsible turn a blind eye to trafficking activities and also supply false discussed in school it would automatically create an environment conducive to enhancing the integrity of documents for crossing border. Often child labour laws are not being enforced because employers bribe the school, its administrators and teachers. Anti-corruption education programme could also be a good labour inspectors to overlook economic exploitation and abuse of child labourers. Corrupt practices may platform to promote anti-corruption among parents and care-givers. also take place in inter-country adoption especially bribing officials to remove all traces of illegal adoption procedures, to speed up the adoption process, • Identifying NGOs that are already working in the sectors chosen for the anti-corruption and child rights governance programme and obtaining their assistance in promoting anti-corruption and child rights When there is high level of corruption in judicial services it directly affects the enjoyment of the right to a fair governance in the relevant sectors. However, prior to NGOs getting actively involved in the programme, trial by child victims and child offenders who come into contact with the court system. In cases where they need to be sensitized on the principles of anti-corruption and child rights governance. children are involved as victims or offenders the acts of corruption may impair procedural guarantees of due process through manipulating evidence (altering or excluding) and witnesses, applying unequal treatment between litigating parties, altering facts of the case, bribing for a favourable judgment that may lead to a wrongful conviction and wrongful acquittal etc.

221 CRC/C/15/Add.136, para. 5; CRC/C/15/Add.160, para. 9; and CRC/C/15/Add.124, paras 18 and 19.

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4.7 Data collection The comments and recommendations of the UNCRC committee clearly indicate its concerns regarding the flaws in data collection from as far back as 2003. Looking at the picture at present it is obvious that these flaws Data collection is a valuable tool for assessing, reviewing, evaluating and monitoring child rights situation. In have not been remedied. One way of mainstreaming child rights data is to incorporate key child-segregated addition to help identifying gaps, flaws and weaknesses of the systems and services affecting children, data data into the monthly and annual survey. Child centred data collection is yet to be mainstreamed into the collection also provides a valuable source of information for deciding and designing future strategies and plans. Bureau of statistics. As a result lack of disaggregated data concerning children has impaired the analysis of the Developing relevant indicators for proper assessment of various child related subject areas is indeed a child rights situation in the country. challenge because of the problem of unfilled gaps in data collection. Sometimes data collected at the decentralized level is compiled and analysed at centralized level and also mostly unutilized at district level. There seems to be a breakdown in the process of collecting data regularly and reporting monthly and annually. The most recent Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh has been compiled in the year 2004 and the latest UNCRC Committee Monthly Statistical Yearbook, found on the web site is for 2004-2005. Questions arise as to whether it has stopped publishing or that the process of data collection itself has stopped. The challenge now is to explore Positive developments (1997 and 2003) ways and means of mainstreaming and sustaining data collection and analysis, deciding on prioritising data to be collected monthly and annually. The efforts of the government in the collection of data and information on the status of children were recognized by the Committee. (1997) The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has carried out the following Surveys on children:

The annual Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey that allows for the systematic collection of data on a sample of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MCIS) 2006 and 2009 children to analyze their standard of living and to provide national estimates. (2003) • Since 1996 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has been conducting Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) UNCRC Committee’s Concerns (1997 and 2003) which is an international household survey undertaking initiated by UNICEF. Especially the MCIS conducted in 2006 and 2009 provide valuable information about the progress made on the subject of The Committee expressed concern that insufficient attention has been given to establishing an effective birth registration. The last MCIS was conducted in 2009 deriving 23 indicators which have been organized integrated system of data collection covering all children. under five main themes: Health and Nutrition, Education, HIV and AIDS Environment and Child Protection. MCIS provide valuable information on the situation of children and women in Bangladesh and Lack of an adequate data collection mechanism within the State party to allow for the systematic and is often used as a monitoring tool to assess the progress of goals and targets of the MDGs and, Plan of comprehensive collection of disaggregated quantitative and qualitative data with respect to all areas covered Action of World Fit for Children and many other international goals. Over the years, the content and by the Convention and in relation to all groups of children. (2003) coverage of MICS have increased with the expansion of the survey coverage to the district level.

UNCRC Committee’s Recommendations (1997 and 2003) Labour Force Surveys:

The State party must undertake to gather all necessary information on the situation of children in the various • Report on National Sample Survey of Child Labour in Bangladesh, 1995-1996 areas covered by the Convention and in relation to all groups of children. • Report on National Child Labour Survey 2002-2003 • Report on Baseline Survey on Child Workers in Welding Establishments, 2002- 03 The Committee recommended that the State party further develop the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in • Report on Baseline Survey on Working Children in Automobile Establishment, order to gain a deeper insight into the situation of children and their families, strengthen its efforts to • 2002-2003 establish a comprehensive and permanent mechanism to collect data, disaggregated by sex, age, and rural and • Report on the Working Children in Metropolitan Cities of Bangladesh, 2002- urban area, incorporating all the areas covered by the Convention and covering all children below the age of • 2003 18 years, with emphasis on those who are particularly vulnerable, such as minority and tribal children, develop • Report on Baseline Survey on Street Children in Bangladesh, 2002-03 indicators to effectively monitor and evaluate progress achieved in the implementation of the Convention and • Report of the Baseline Survey on Child Workers in Road Transport Sector, 2002-03 assess the impact of policies that affect children, continue and strengthen its collaboration, inter alia, with the • Report of the Baseline Survey on Child Workers in Battery Recharging/Recycling Sector, 2002-03 United Nations statistics Division and UNICEF. • Baseline Survey for Determining Hazardous Child Labour Sectors in Bangladesh, 2005

4.7.1 Institutions Responsible for Data Collection Presumably all child labour surveys done between 2002-2005 were done during an ILO-IPEC project period. Since then little has been done to update the information. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the national statistical organization of the country is the principal agency responsible for conducting censuses and surveys and for disseminating statistics on a wide range of economic, Child Nutrition Survey: social and demographic variables. • Anaemia Prevalence Survey of Urban Bangladesh and Rural Chittagong Hill Tracts, 2003

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Subjects dealt by the Bureau covered population census, agriculture census, economic census, household Table 4.11 Key Statistics - Child Labour income and expenditure survey, consumer price index and statistics, foreign trade statistics, industrial statistics and Poverty Map of Bangladesh. Working children, aged-17 5 7.4 Poverty Map of Bangladesh is a survey that would shed useful information on Child Rights Programming. The million Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the World Bank, in collaboration with the World Food Programme Working children, aged-14 5 4.7 (WFP), updated the Poverty Maps for Bangladesh. Poverty mapping is an important statistical instrument that million can estimate the poverty incidence at Upazila levels. The new generation of poverty maps is based on the Child labourers (aged-17) 5 3.2 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of 2005 and the Population Census of 2001. The updating million exercise was financially supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID). Children engaged in hazardous labour, 1.3 aged 5-17 million Poverty maps enable government, civil society and development partners to identify poorer areas with great 1 accuracy. Recognizing the geographical and regional variations and spatial inequality in growth and poverty Child domestic workers 421,000 allows for more effective targeting of policy interventions and programs based on local conditions. Poverty Percentage of children National Slum Tribal (aged 5-14) engaged in 12.8 19.1 17.6 maps can be constructed to show both poverty rates and extreme poverty rates. Hence, a map of extreme 2 poverty may provide a useful guiding tool for prioritization and programming of policy interventions and child labour (2006) resource allocations. However, poverty maps need regular updates to reflect the gains and inequalities created by the rapid economic growth or the external shocks from natural disaster. Comparing poverty maps with Source: Child Labour Unit, Ministry Labour and Employment, Bangladesh. other maps of educational attainment, natural disasters, and access to markets and infrastructure, is useful to see potential bottlenecks of poor areas. For example, poverty appears to be highly associated with low agricultural wages. Agriculture wage rate in the west is lower than in the east, which may be one of Analysis contributing factors to why the western part of the country lags behind the eastern part in poverty reduction. Over the years the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics as a government institution has acquired considerable The national surveys are more geared towards assessing the progress of millennium development goals and expertise in the field of data collection and analysis. With the support of this background the BBS has been conventional subjects such as health and education. For example the Bangladesh Demographic and Health able to assist government institutions, NGOs, INGOs and UN agencies to strengthen their programmes for Survey 2007 conducted by the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) covers and with children. Collaborating with subject specialized agencies such as UNICEF and ILO has added household population and housing characteristics, Characteristics of Survey Respondents, Fertility, Fertility qualitative value to the survey outcomes. However, it appears that the BBS has been carrying out surveys Regulation, Other Proximate Determinants of Fertility, Fertility Preferences, Infant and Child Mortality, relating to children as and when such surveys are required by various agencies working for and with children. Maternal and New born Health, Child Health, Nutrition of Children and Women, HIV/AIDS-related The BBS is yet to carry out data collection exercises in a systematic and a regular basis on subjects that have knowledge, attitudes, behaviour, Women’s Empowerment and Demographic and Health Outcomes and a direct bearing on children. Often surveys are carried out on an ad hoc basic without a more permanent Domestic Violence. Even the chapter on Domestic Violence covers spousal violence and not violence against systematic mechanism that enables the BBS to receive data regularly from the relevant subject ministries for children. analysis.

Most of the data available on children is based on the surveys, researches initiated by UN agencies and INGOs. Reliable quantitative data on the content of sexual abuse, exploitation and child trafficking in Bangladesh are, by and large not available. UNICEF Report on Child Poverty and Disparities totally rely on Recommendations surveys that were initiated by them in 2005 and 2006. • Identifying a few key child rights thematic areas upon which BBS could collect, analyse data and One of the key responsibilities of the Child Labour Unit of the Ministry of Labour and Employment is the information and disseminate them. development of an integrated Child Labour Management Information System. • Facilitating a dialogue between BBS and the government agencies dealing with child rights thematic areas to identify how they could collaborate with each other to prepare disaggregated data relating to children. • Introducing a system that would enable the BBS to collect, analyse and disseminate vital data relating to children from various government agencies responsible for child related issues. • Raising awareness and building the capacity of the BBS staff on child rights to enhance their skills in developing indicators, conducting surveys and analysing the data within a child rights framework.

222 Breaking the Vicious Cycle Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse, Exploitation and Trafficking Save the Children Sweden and 223 International Labour Organisation (ILO), Baseline Survey on Child Domestic Labour in Bangladesh, 2006. Denmark 2009, p,105. 224 BBS/ UNICEF, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006, October 2007.

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Building Awareness and Capacity

5.1 Civil Society

The civil society in Bangladesh has played a catalytic role in shaping the countries direction in socio-economic and political spheres and more importantly in creating an alternative voice for the oppressed and marginalised people and mainstreaming human rights issues. Bangladesh has been the birth place for micro credit system and world famous NGOs such as Grameen Bank, BRAC, PROSHIKA, ASA. During 1980s and 1990s Building Bangladesh witnessed booming of NGOs. 5.1.1 Contribution of Civil Society

Traditional civil society in Bangladesh has been acclaimed for its glorious contribution towards the Awareness social-political movement for independence and democracy. The modern western modelled NGOs are contributing towards social development and social empowerment by generating social capital. The strong tradition of charity has also nurtured the civil society and religious congregations work closely with the communities. There are also well-structure groups such as professional organizations, trade unions and cooperatives and a vast number of small social groups, voluntary organizations, youth clubs, sports clubs etc. and Capacity A survey has revealed that there are more civil society organizations (CSO) at union/ward level than sub district/municipality, district, national and global levels.

Although civil society organizations have been recognized as service providers and as promoters of good governance and democratization studies have shown that the contribution of civil society from the perspective of politics and democracy is rather insignificant. However it is truism to state that the enactment of the Right to Information Act, the National Human Rights Commission Act and prevention of the enactment of amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act are some of the significant achievements reached through active campaigning and advocacy work of the civil society organizations.

5.1.2 Politics and Civil Society

The civil society has also been described as weak and fragmented, poor and partisan in terms of ensuring pluralism, political participation and democracy The traditional civil society in Bangladesh such as labour 5 unions, chamber of commerce, professional groups, bar association, student groups and even small clubs and recently emerged development NGOs have been accused of partisanship and being engaged in manufacturing and maintaining an elite dominating hegemony rather than advancing the genuine interests of the groups. During the stakeholder interview process similar sentiments surfaced and views were also expressed to the effect that the civil society is polarised, politically divided identifying themselves with one political party or the other.

225 Farhat TASNIM for his Ph.D. Dissertation on “Civil Society in Bangladesh: Vibrant but not Vigilant” (2007)P.25 226 Farhat TASNIM for his Ph.D. Dissertation on “Civil Society in Bangladesh: Vibrant but not Vigilant” (2007) p.25. 227 Vibrant has been referred to as ‘density, collectiveness and activeness’ see ibid p.iii.

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Table 5.6 Relationship of CSOs with Ruling Party and Opposition Over the years civil societies in Bangladesh have become inseparable partners in government delivering service mechanism. For example in 2011 Bangladesh Police and the authorities of 10 NGOs signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) at Police Headquarters in Dhaka on Tuesday, 11 January for smooth functioning of the Victim Support Centres. Under this agreement the partner NGOs will be working with the Victim Support Centres for 2012. The partner NGOs are- Ain O Shalish kendra, Association for Community Development, Association for Correction and Social Reclamation, Aparajeyo Bangladesh, Acid Survivors Foundation, Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers' Association, Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, and Marie Stopes. The Victim Support Centre has provided support to 828 victims since its inception.

5.1.4 Civil Society and Child Rights

A substantial and significant contribution has been made by national and international organizations to uplift the lives of children although not necessarily within a child rights context. The services they render cover a wide range of areas from providing institutional care and support services for street children, orphans, victims of trafficking, children in conflict with the law, satisfying basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, education etc to extending assistance by rescuing children from trafficking, pre-trial detention in police stations, tracing parents/relatives and reuniting them with children, investigating cases of violence against children. There are also organizations that are offering opportunities to enhance leadership qualities and life skills. Source: Farhat TASNIM for his Ph.D. Dissertation on “Civil Society in Bangladesh: Vibrant but not Vigilant” (2007)P.102. (i) Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF)

Undoubtedly entanglement in party politics threatens the autonomy of the civil society by weakening its Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF) is a national network of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) capacity to be a moderate, neutral and independent voice especially in debates revolving around politically actively engaged in child rights work. Subsequent to Bangladesh ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of sensitive issues such as human rights, governance, anti-corruption, democracy etc. It may be the reason why the Child (UNCRC) in 1990 BSAF was formed in the same year with a membership of 18 founder members. the ‘civil society’ has been described as ‘vibrant’ but not ‘vigilant’. It has been observed that civil society must Today the membership stands at 263 local NGOs. be both vibrant and vigilant to be able to contribute to democratic consolidation. BSAF while advocating for a child friendly world is in the forefront promoting child rights, launching 5.1.3 Civil Society and Government Partnerships familiarization programmes at macro level for civil society, law makers and decision makers and works with them to bring about positive changes in the national laws and policies. It conducts collective leadership Ironically the CSOs occupy the space that ought to have been occupied by the government. It has been programmes for its members and provides guidelines for them to interact with the government and influence articulated that the “growth of NGO sector was a response to state failure, but it has also arguably its policies. contributed to the areas of state weakness’’ clearly explains that the space occupied by CSOs is basically that ought to have been of the government. BSAF is engaged in complementing and supplementing the government effort to promote child rights and it has linkages with government organizations, trade unions, media and UN Agencies and works at national, Successive governments have recognized the importance of civil society organizations and consulted them at regional and international levels. It has a data base and provides information about child rights to UN various levels on numerous subjects. However, the boundaries between the State and CSOs have been Headquarters. subjected to constant change sometimes blurring the division between the two with family ties, contracting relationships and apparent overlapping dependence on foreign donors. There were attempts in the 1990s BSAF has been implementing the project titled Advocacy for the Elimination of Hazardous Child Labour in such as forming a Government-NGOO/CSO Consultative Council aimed at establishing better relationships Bangladesh with support from Terre des Hommes - Netherlands. It is the third phase of the 3 year project between the government and NGOs. and it will continue till June 2014. Main areas covered in the project include advocacy and lobbying with Government on CRC implementation, networking with relevant stakeholders on CRC, rapid situation assessments (RSA), research and study on child rights, information dissemination and publications on child 228 Vigilant has been referred to as ‘the interactions of civil society with the state and market, its participation in governance and rights, media advocacy, promote the rights of the child within the contexts of the UN convention, influence strength to monitor state actions See ibid p.iii. public opinion on CRC, provide technical supports and services to the member organizations and capacity 229 David, L (2004), 'On the difficulty of studying “civil society”: NGOs, state and democracy in Bangladesh.' Contributions to Indian Building of Member NGOs. Sociology 38, no.3; David, L. (2004), '"Old" and "new" civil societies in Bangladesh.' In Exploring civil society: political and cultural contexts, (eds) Glasius, M.; Lewis, D.; Seckinelgin, H. Routledge. 230 See Rahman. Md Mokhlesur, (2009), Women’s Political Consciousness And Civil Society Organizations: A Case Study of two Organizations In Kishoregonj, Bangladesh, Institute of Social Studies, Graduate School of Development Studies, The Netherlands.

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(ii) Child Rights Governance Assembly Recommendations The most significant achievement among civil society organizations, the government and children in promoting and protecting child rights in Bangladesh is the active involvement of local NGOs and the • Designing a criterion for selecting civil society organizations for the child rights governance programme Bangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA) in supporting the Dialogues on Child Rights organized by the National • Formulating an ethical guideline or a Memorandum of Understanding incorporating the principles of good Children’s Task Force (NCTF) and Save the Children across Bangladesh. governance which will be accepted by civil society organizations before getting involved in child rights governance work The recently established Child Rights Governance Assembly (CRGA) is the latest common civil society • Identifying a manageable number of civil society organizations to begin with for each main subject area of advocacy network of 17 development organizations (including children and youth organizations) with a the child rights governance programme dedicated mandate for promoting child rights governance. The main objective of the network is to ensure that • Organising a programme on child rights for organizations who have no past experience in the field of child the civil society effectively and meaningfully participates in child rights related monitoring, reporting and rights advocacy initiatives directed towards promoting child rights. The CRGA has also set specific objectives of • Conducing a child rights governance training programme for all selected partner organizations engaging the civil society actors including children and youth to increasingly hold the Government of • Preparing a detailed operational document spelling out the roles and responsibilities of partner Bangladesh accountable for the obligations under the UNCRC. organization in implementing the child rights governance strategy • Grooming and nurturing a civil society led child rights movement country wide based on the experience of the child rights governance programme Analysis • Strengthening the grassroots-level community based civil society organizations including religious organizations to participate in child rights governance at community level Implementation of any programmes on child rights governance is not feasible without the active involvement and participation of civil society organizations. However, considerable efforts have to be made in identifying a group of civil society organizations from the massive reservoir of civil society organizations in Bangladesh. 5.2 Government of Bangladesh What are the parameters that need to be applied in identifying potential partners to implement a child rights governance programmes. First, the integrity of the partner organization as a non-partisan and independent Ratification of the UNCRC by the Government of Bangladesh in 1990 has culminated in a whole range of organization is of paramount importance. Second, it should have legal standing before the law and practising government initiatives from enactment of laws, policies, action plans to setting up various bodies such as the essential characteristics of good governance within the organization. Third, it should have a strong MoWCA to implement the provisions of the UNCRC at the domestic level. Strengthening and consolidating presence, representation and acceptance within the community at national or sub national level or both. the three pillars of the child rights governance structure mainly concerns State institutions at national and sub Fourth, it should possess past experience working with children or on child rights issues. Fifth, it should have national levels and also government agents who are an integral part of that governance structure. Awareness a direct remit on areas covered under child rights governance theme. Sixth, organizations that are already raising and enhancing the capacity of government officials on the UNCRC is of vital importance in order to working with State agencies at national and sub national levels would be advantageous. make them accountable for the commitments under the UNCRC. Throughout the study many references are made to the strategy that should be adopted to make the government officials more responsive to child The civil society organizations that are identified by applying the above criteria could further be divided into rights. three categories: first organizations which have a national or subnational presence or both; second organizations already working with children but not within a child rights framework; third organizations already working on child rights issues; fourth organizations not working on child right issues but have a strong portfolio on issues relating to child rights governance such as research or advocacy experience on national Recommendations budgeting, anti-corruption, right to information act, local governance etc. The study has identified some key ministries with a dedicated or substantial mandate on children’s issues. Unlike other child rights thematic areas child rights governance may portray as a politically sensitive issue and These institutions have carried out majority of their work relating to children not necessarily from a child hence the need to identify and forge clear guidelines for the involvement of civil society organizations in order rights perspective or within a child rights framework. Some are totally ignorant about the existence of the to avoid getting the child rights governance being hijacked to serve political agendas. UNCRC or its obligations and there are others who do not acknowledge children as rights-holders. The challenge is to effect a change in the governance structure in such a way that a system would be put in place which will necessitate the government officials to adhere to child rights standards and principles recognized in the UNCRC. This would be a two pronged approach one leading to a systemic change in the institutional governance structure to make it more responsive to child rights and the other directly connected in transforming the attitudes and perceptions of government officials towards children and their rights.

231 Listen to Me, Save the Children, (2009). 232 Child Rights Governance Assembly (CRGA), Save Children, p.6-7. 233 Child Rights Governance, Programme Thematic Document, p.8. (2010).

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Force (NCTF). The knowledge and experience acquired by children over the years through these two Recommendations initiatives provide a solid foundation and valuable resource for involving children in the child rights governance thematic work. • Planning the awareness raising and capacity building of government officials from the Ministries that represent the specific thematic areas selected for the child rights governance programme to ensure that 5.3.2.1 National Child Parliament (NCP) the national systems in relation to the particular thematic area is strengthened from all fronts. • Mapping out and identifying the key officials responsible for dealing with child rights issues in the particular The Child Parliament sets the stage for children to exercise their right to express views individually and ministry at national and sub national levels and ascertain their level of knowledge about child rights and collectively on all issues affecting them, and to have their views taken into account. exposure to child rights training. • Designing the training programme content in a manner that clearly makes the connection between the In the aftermath of the United Nations Special Session on Children in May 2002, the Child Parliament was specific child rights and the ministerial mandate and the role profile of the official. born in May 2002 with a vision to create an enabling environment for children to effectively contribute to • Advocating with the relevant line ministries to recognize participation in child rights capacity training as national development through active participation in social and democratic processes. The Child Parliament one of the requirements for promotion of officials. This will be an added incentive to the officials for them has created a unique platform for children to identify their needs by themselves; create a forum from which to take child rights training seriously. children can make recommendations to relevant national bodies and hold duty-bearers accountable for • Exploring the possibility of introducing child rights as a subject of the regular orientation and training formulating pro-child national policies increasing budget allocation for children. programmes (such as Foundation Course of BCS Officers, Judicial Officer and Police Officers etc.) of given to new recruits and also existing officials. The NCP comprise 128 members belonging to 13-16 age group with a gender balance 50% girls and a district representation of 2 representatives (a girl and a boy) per district and 20 from socially excluded groups. The membership is renewed once in every 2 years. The Core Committee of the NCP is constituted of 5 members 5.3 Children namely, the Speaker, Deputy Speakers (one male and one female) and 2 Advisers. The Steering Committee consists of 14 members who represent all 6 administrative divisions of Bangladesh and also ethnic minorities 5.3.1 Fundamentals of Capacity Building and vulnerable groups in the community.

Engaging children in child rights governance is a process that needs to be carried out responsibly and Since its inception the Child Parliament has had 11 sessions on the themes “Children need education, health cautiously especially in the highly polarised political atmosphere complemented by an influential patriarchal and recreation’ (Session 1 – 2003), ‘Quality education and need for children’ (Session 2 – 2003), ‘Budget ideological and societal fabric that do not always recognize children as rights-holders. Especially this is in view allocation for children in sectors of child protection, health, education and recreation’ (Session 3 – 2004), of the fact that child rights governance thematic area revolves around issues such as power, authority and ‘Invest in health and education for children’ (Session 4 – 2005), ‘Quality education and access to health function of government institutions and government officials and State’s resources, all of which were services for children’s development.” (Session 5 – 2006), ‘Stop exploitation of children in political activities’ conventionally considered as subjects that concerned adults. The patriarchal attitudes of adult duty bearers (Session 6 -2008), ‘Education and Governance’ (Session 7 – 2010) and ‘Education and Governance and Birth were experienced by children during National Children’s Task Force programmes. For example, giving less Registration’ (Session 8 - 2011). The national sessions of the Child Parliament are chaired by high-level importance to child rights, poor attendance and lack of sincerity of the duty bearers have been noticed by ministers or state ministers of the government. children. The success stories of the NCP’s 8 Parliamentary sessions speaks of the potential of children as influential One of the fundamental principles in ensuring child participation is to respect the age, maturity and evolving change makers in the field of child rights governance. For example, the NCP’s recommendations have found capacities of the child. The children who have been involved in these initiatives belong to the 12-18 year age expression in the election manifestos of the two leading political parties Awami League and Bangladesh group which is a transformative phase where he/she goes through early adolescence (12-14 years), middle National Party. The NCP’s recommendations as way back as in 2006 and the advocacy work of other NGOs adolescence 14-16 years) and late adolescence (16-18 years) with different mental, emotional and physical paved the way for a high court ruling banning corporal punishment in schools followed by a government needs and aspirations. Article 12 (1) of the UNCRC specifically states that ‘the child who is capable of forming circular to that effect. Banning of mobile phones during classroom sessions is another example of the impact his or her own views’ has the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting him/her. The growing of NCP’s recommendations. and evolving adolescent personality necessitates that child participation ensure that it has a positive impact on the child’s evolving personality while impacting on the child rights governance discourse. 5.3.2.2 National Children’s Task Force (NCTF)

5.3.2 Child Participation in Child Rights Governance This children led organization was established in 2004 with the assistance of Bangladesh government, Save the Children, Plan Bangladesh, BRAC and other NGOs for the purpose of developing a process to monitor the For nearly a decade children’s voices have been amplified in mainstream child rights debates of Bangladesh culminating in two major initiatives: the National Child Parliament (NCP) and the National Children’s Task 235 National Child Parliament – At a Glance, Save the Children, Australia. 236 ibid. 237 ibid. 234 Listen to Me, Save the Children, (2009) p. 14. 238 Child Parliament, We Speak about Children of Bangladesh, Save the Children.

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child rights situation in Bangladesh. The membership of the NCTF comprises children between 12 to 18 years Analysis of age belonging to all social strata while respecting gender equality. 100-1000 children are represented in each district adding to a total of 20,000 involved in the organization. Throughout the study, the way in which children could participate in the child rights governance thematic work from strengthening national systems to child rights monitoring has been highlighted. The third pillar of Initially the NCTF was instrumental in monitoring the implementation of the National Plan of Action the child rights governance thematic programme -awareness raising and capacity building - is the main arm (2002-2006) against sexual abuse and exploitation of children including trafficking. Over the years it has that will be instrumental in carrying out the objectives of the other two pillars namely strengthening national expanded its role and moved on to monitor other child rights issues, take up child rights issues with duty systems and child rights monitoring. The progressive development of the first two pillars depends to a very bearers to hold them accountable and to create a space for children to participate in decision making. In 2009 great extent on the efficacy of awareness raising and capacity building. Awareness raising and capacity building the NCTF has initiated a dialogue in 22 districts with the aim of developing a child rights action plan with in relation to children have two dimensions. First, meticulous and thorough planning and preparation are active participation of children and elected representatives, government officials teachers, parents, NGOs, needed to translate the highly technical and complex subject of governance into a child-friendly language media personnel and members of civil society organizations. Children representing a wide cross-section of enabling children to understand clearly the fundamentals and scope of child rights governance. Second, to the child population such as school going children, school drop-outs, working children, adolescent girls, develop and adopt methodologies and tools that would instill skills in children to engage in child rights children from ethnic minorities and special needs participated in the dialogues across the 22 districts. governance work responsibly and diligently. The members of the Child Parliament when interviewed expressed that the NCTF should be extended further to reach out to the children in poor villages. They also informed that the children are unaware of the NCTF’s presence and its activities. Lack of visible presence of the BSA at sub national level and the limited resource availability were identified by the children as factors limiting expansion of the NCTF. In their view, at Recommendations adult forums children are not respected; they are not heard. • Mapping out the successes and impediments thus far experienced by children in their work through NCP Table 5.7 Presence of the National Children’s Task Force and NCTF which will guide them in future child rights governance work. • Identifying a core resource pool of children with considerable potential from among the participants of the NCP and the NCTF to work with the child rights governance thematic team to initiate the pilot projects on child rights governance identified in the study. 128 children • Exploring the possibility of obtaining the participation of former child parliamentarians who are now National level above 18 years to be mentors to the core group. 100,000 children • Developing a child-friendly child rights governance manual incorporating the fundamental principles and 850,000 adults CP issues and outlining the methodologies of engaging in child rights governance work. • Conducting a capacity building training programme for children prior to engaging them in child rights governance work. District level - 64 districts NCTF 12,800 children 128,000 children

Su b district level - 10 sub districts 20,800 children NCTF representation 60,000 children

Village level - 1000 villages 10,000 children 300,000 children

Children’s groups and clubs

239 Child Rights Governance Assembly, Save the Children. 242 Reference is also made to the recommendations made under different sub-headings of the report. 240 Listen to Me, Save the Children, p.2. (2009). 241 Source: CRG Strategy Workshop, CRG Theme – Save the Children Bangladesh Country Programme, p.6, 2011.

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Conclusion

The interdependence and inter-connectedness between child rights and governance as found in the analysis provide a convincing justification for expanding the frontiers of the child rights governance thematic area of Save the Children International. Child rights governance is of particular importance and relevance to Bangladesh because the underlying causes of the socio-economic problems that had engulfed the nation and its people are deeply rooted in poor governance. Multi-faceted nature of the issues and problems connected with governance is indicative of the vastness of the terrain of child rights governance landscape and the Conclusion opportunities and avenues opened for appropriate interventions. Unlike the adult population which constitutes 55%, the child population of 45% has no membership elected by them in Parliament or in local government institutions to represent them and voice their grievances. Furthermore, children are powerless without any voting and political rights or bargaining powers to ensure that the State power and authority are exercised and the State resources are allocated and disbursed in a manner that is in their best interests.

The current state of governance in the country at national and sub national levels has a long way to go to make it more child rights-oriented and child-friendly. The unprecedented delay in revamping the Children Act 1974 is the most notable example among many other that amply illustrates the low priority and prominence given by the government to child rights issues. Inefficiency and ineffectiveness in law enforcement combined with the lackadaisical attitudes of law enforcement officers towards child rights have made the enforcement of existing laws and policies concerning children an unsatisfactory and disappointing process. Administration of justice system meant to serve as a channel for redressing child rights violations has turned into a victimization process for children who come into contact with the law as victims, witnesses and even offenders having to go through with adult-oriented systems, procedures and practices. Problems of coordination within and among ministries at national and sub national levels have added more fuel to the burning problem of bureaucratization. Institutions responsible for generating, allocating and disbursing revenue to the government are yet to pay adequate and visible notice of the predicament of the country’s 45% child population. Even the limited mechanisms available in the country to monitor, review and evaluate excesses and abuses of government power, authority and resources are far from being adequately focussed on child rights monitoring.

The road map for implementing a child rights governance agenda must be systematically and appropriately 6 designed and strategised. Expanding the scope of child rights governance thematic area must be carried out progressively with time bound interventions in prioritised governance issues initially as pilot projects. Consolidation of the child rights governance thematic area with a defined set of substantive and procedural principles would ensure uniformity, coherence and consistency across all interventions. Implementing a child rights governance agenda is not simply confined to strengthening structures at national and sub national levels but should also be directed towards transforming the attitudes of government officials across the governance structure at national and sub national levels to make them believe that honouring the rights of children is an invaluable investment in the country’s future and its people.

Accomplishment of the tasks in the child rights governance roadmap would depend entirely on sustaining consistently and continuously a live and vibrant child rights governance debate and dialogue at all levels within and outside the government structure over a long period of time into the future. Hence, the augmentation strategies to implement the child rights governance road map need be solidly grounded on a strong and powerful child rights movement under the auspices of civil society organizations and children themselves who would hold the Government of Bangladesh accountable for the international obligations it had undertaken by ratifying the UNCRC in 1997.

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UNICEF, National Report Bangladesh 2008, Key Findings, Global Report on Poverty and Disparities

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 Information relating to technical/scientific experiments that need to be kept secret for strategic and Annex 2 commercial reasons  Information relating to purchasing processes Legal Framework of the Right to Information Act  Information whose release may lead to breach of privileges of National Parliament (JatiyaSansad)  Information regarding any person which is to be kept in confidence by law  Advance information regarding question papers of an examination or the marks obtained Right to Information  Documents relating to Cabinet or Council of Advisors Section 4 guarantees the right to information from the Authority and the Authority shall on demand from a Public Institutions exempted from providing information citizen be bound to provide information. Section 32(1) and the schedule stipulate that following institutions involved with security and intelligence are Definition of ‘Information’ not covered under the Act: According to Section 2 of the Act information means any information relating to an authority’s constitution, 1. National Security Intelligence (NSI) structure and official activities and includes any: memo, book, design, map, contract, data, log book, order, 2. Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) notification, document, sample, letter, report, accounts statement, project proposal, photograph, audio, video, 3. Defence Intelligence Units drawing, film, any instrument prepared through electronic process, machine readable documents and any 4. Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Bangladesh Police other documentary material regardless of its physical form or characteristics. 5. Special Security Force (SSF) 6. Intelligence Cell of the National Board of Revenue Information does not include office note sheet or photocopies of note sheets. 7. Special Branch, Bangladesh Police 8. Intelligence Cell of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Exceptions to Right to Information However Section 32(2) states that Section 32(1) will not apply to such information that are pertaining to Section 7 provides a long list of certain categories of information exempted from being published or provided corruption and violation of human rights in the above mentioned institutions. as a mandatory requirement. Establishment of Information Unit None of the authorities will be obliged to give the citizens the following information. However if and when information is not to be disclosed then the related authority must take prior approval from the Information The Act identifies the specific units which would provide authority and information, Commission. The Information Providing Units include:  Information disclosure that would threaten security, integrity and sovereignty of Bangladesh  Information relating to any foreign policy disclosure of which would harm the relationship between a  The head office, divisional office, regional office, district office or sub-district (Upazila) office of any foreign state or international/regional institution department, directorate or office attached to or under any ministry, division or office of the government;  Information received in confidence from a foreign government;  Information relating to commercial/business confidence, copy right or intellectual property  The head office, divisional office, regional office, district office or sub-district (Upazila) office of an  Information relating to income tax, VAT and law relating to excise, budget or change in the tax rate, authority. advance information in changes in exchange and interest rates, management/supervision of financial institutions including banks Institutions responsible for providing information  Information obstructing enforcement of law or inciting any offence  Information endangering security of people or impeding due process of a pending case Section 2 express spells out the type of public and private institutions required to provide information under  Information that would harm the privacy and private life of an individual the Act.  Information that would endanger the life/physical safety of any person  Information given in confidence by a person to help a law enforcement institution;  Any organization/institution constituted in accordance with the Constitution of People’s Republic of  Information relating to a pending court case and prohibited from publishing by court or constituting Bangladesh; contempt of court  Any ministry, division or office constituted under the Rules of Business as given in Article 55(6) of the  Information relating to a matter under investigation disclosure of which might impede investigation Constitution; process  Any statutory body or institution established by or under any Act;  Information if disclosed would affect criminal investigation process, arrest and prosecution of offenders  Any private organization or institution run on government funding or with help from the government  Information legally liable to be published for a specified time

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exchequer; (c) Research and Awareness Raising  Any private organization or institution run on foreign funding;  Any organizations or institution that undertakes public functions in accordance with any contract made  Conduct research on preservation and implementation of right to information and provide support to on behalf of the Government or made with any public organization or institution; educational and professional institutions for their implementation;  Any other organization or institution as may be notified by the Government in the official gazette from time to time. (d) Awareness Raising

Powers and Functions of the Information Commission  Generate and increase awareness about the right to information amongst different sections of society through dissemination and publication of information and other methods; Section 13 elaborates the powers and functions of the Information Commission.  Conduct research and organize seminars, symposium, workshops and similar other measures to increase people’s awareness on right to information and to disseminate the results obtained from the research ;  To receive complaints from any person, inquire into and dispose complaints relating to non-appointment of responsible officer, refusal to accept requests for information, not giving a response or the information (e) Provide Advice: within the prescribed time, if the applicant is asked to pay a fee or compelling to pay an unreasonable fee, if the information given is incomplete, false or misleading  Advise and provide support to the Government to make the necessary laws and administrative directives  Conduct an inquiry regarding a complaint on its own accord or upon a complaint for preservation and implementation of the right to information;  Summon and enforce attendance of persons, compel them to give oral or written evidence on oath and  Provide necessary advice and support to organizations and institutions working on right to information to produce documents or things, examine and inspect information, receive evidence on affidavit, and the civil society; requisition of information from any office, issue summons for witnesses or documents in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure (f) Provide Technical Support:  Any other matter prescribed in the rules to fulfil the objectives of the Act  While inquiring into a complaint to examine on spot any information kept in custody with any authority.  Provide technical and other support to the authorities with the aim to ensure the right to information;  Establish a web-portal for Bangladesh to ensure the right to information; Functions:  Oversee the systems set up under any other law on right to information.

The functions of the Information Commission include the following:

(a) Directives relating to Information

 Issue directives to authorities for preservation, management, publication, publicity and access to information;  Prescribe the application procedure for accessing information from an authority and fix the appropriate price of information;  Formulate and publish guidelines and directives for preservation and implementation of citizens’ right to information;  In order to preserve the right to information, consider the provisions recognised under the Constitution or any other law in force and provide recommendations to the Government for their effective implementation by indicating the impediments;

(b) Recommendations to the Government

 Identify the impediments against the preservation and implementation of citizen’s right to information and recommend appropriate solutions to the Government;  Conduct research on agreements related to the right to information and other international instruments and documents and recommend to the Government for their implementation;  Examine the similarities of various international instruments and existing laws on right to information, and in case of dissimilarities and in order to harmonize with the international instruments make suitable recommendations to the Government or the appropriate authority;  Advise Government to ratify or sign any international instrument on right to information;

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