Human Rights analysis
Need for a uniform definition of 'child'
Delara Hossain
The basic unit of society is the family and a child is the youngest member of the family after birth. Like other members of the family children also have their rights. They should get all forms of privilege from their family. For the proper growth of children love, happiness, and understanding are essential. Especially children of the South Asia are deprived of their rights due to several serious problems, though there are other regions too facing the same problems. Mostly vulnerable are those who come from poor background and not getting enough facilities both from the society and family. There are lots of example of child abuses, trafficking, prostitution and child labour. Since particular emphasis is put on the issue of child labour, other issues remained largely untouched in this article.
Now it is essential to know that who will be called a child, albeit the prescribed ages are contradictory. Individual governments define "child" according to different ages or other criteria.
"Child" and "childhood" are also defined differently by different cultures. A "child" is not necessarily delineated by a fixed age. Social scientists point out that children's abilities and maturities vary so much that defining a child's maturity by calendar age can be misleading. For an in-depth study see Jo Boyden, Birgitta Ling, William Myers, "What Works for Working Children", (Stockholm: Radda Barnen and Unicef, 1998)
* According to Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 every human being below the age of 18 years is a child. Bangladesh ratified the Convention on 2 September 1989. There are 193 country-parties to this Convention. Though Bangladesh has ratified the Convention but still there are several provisions of law which are contradictory in determining the age of a child.
* As for example section 82 of the Penal Code, 1860 exempts a child below 9 years of age from criminal liability.
* Again, according to section 1 of the Compulsory Primary Education Act, 1999 anybody within the age of 6-10 years would be considered a minor. It means that a child above 10 years is not supposed to get any compulsory primary education. On the other hand, section 3 of the Majority Act, 1875 sets the age of majority at 18 years, which is in clear contradiction to law mentioned earlier.
In section 2 of the Children Vagrancy Act, 1943, a child is defined as a person under the age of 14 years. The National Children Policy also adopts the same age in determining children. According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, child means a person who, if a male, is under twenty-one years of age, and if a female, is less than eighteen years of age. That's not all. In the Children Act, law meant for trial and punishment of young offenders, child is a person under the age of sixteen years. The Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 has not prescribed any particular age for children, though section 34 to section 44 of chapter III deal with the employment of the young persons. It is obvious that laws are divergent in determining the age of children.
The ILO, in one of its reports, estimates that 218 million children from the ages of 5-17 are engaged in child labour including domestic labour. The Asia and Pacific regions harbour the largest number of child workers in the 5-14 age group, 127.3 million in total. Nineteen per cent of children work in the region. The report further states that in rural areas of Bangladesh more then 50 percent girls and boys enter into marriage before attaining their majority. For girls socio-economic factors play a crucial role. As a result of this they suffer serious health problems like early pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, STD and not to mention denial of education. Trafficking in children is a global problem affecting large numbers of children. Some estimates suggest that as many as 1.2 million children are being trafficked every year. Girls of 13 years of age (mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe) are trafficked as “mail-order brides”. In most cases these girls and women are powerless and isolated and at great risk of violence. Child trafficking is lucrative as it involves huge monetary gain and linked with criminal activity and corruption.
Sexual activity is often seen as a private matter, making communities reluctant to act and intervene in cases of sexual exploitation. These attitudes make children more vulnerable to such exploitation. According to a survey report 30-35 per cent sex workers of the South-East region are between the ages of 12 and 17 years.
In Bangladesh it is not uncommon to see children in detention in large numbers and more often than not they suffer severe violations of basic rights. Arrest, detention and sentencing are typically arbitrary and sometimes even illegal that may result from extra judicial proceedings by police or military forces. Detained children can be even below the age of criminal responsibility and kept with adult prisoners who may abuse them. Worldwide, more than 1 million children are deprived of their liberty by law enforcement officials. Bangladesh has not taken any initiative to eliminate these deprivations of rights whereas our neighboring country India has implemented several policies in several provinces to mitigate these problems. Bangladesh ratified the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of the others, 1949 but women and children are still trafficked and compelled to engage in prostitution without having adequate remedy in place.
It has been found that in the developing countries children are suffering from poverty, homelessness, abuse, neglect, preventable diseases, and unequal access to education and justice systems that do not recognize their special needs. Children might be a part of family but they are individuals, they have their own identity. They need to grow towards independence, and accordingly should be trusted by their guardians. Changes in society can have negative impact on children. The impact can be particularly devastating in situations of armed conflict and other emergencies.
Children are more vulnerable than adults; they need care, security, healthy environment, nutrition and other facilities. Sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography are escalating in recent years. Special attention is required in creating public awareness regarding these issues.
At the end it can be concluded that children are the future of a nation. For better society, vivid nation, their rights should be established under any circumstances especially in a country like Bangladesh. Rights are for everyone, whatever the age may be, but to determine a specific age of children is crucial in reducing the deprivation of children's right.
The writer is student, school of Law, BRAC University.
