On April 12, 2016, in Panchagar, Mala aged 21 was killed by her husband and mother-in-law over dowry and family dispute. They poisoned her and she died on her way to Rangpur Medical College Hospital.  On April 2, 2016 a female readymade garments worker was gang raped in Mymensingh- Tangail highway after she boarded a bus at around 5pm.  In 2014, a similar incident had occurred when a bus driver and his assistant raped a girl in a moving bus on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. The perpetrators were given life imprisonment, but that did not deter a recurrence of the same crime. In December 2015 am 11 year-old domestic worker managed to escape gruesome torture at the hands of a well-known cricketer and his wife; the concerned police inspector said that "parts of her body were dislocated" by the abuse.

The brutal torture and murders of Rajon and Rakib, both minors, still haunt our minds.  Then there are incidences of barbaric torture on women and girls through edicts declared by village courts.  Village courts are legal in Bangladesh to settle landownership, inheritance and other minor disputes. But, exceeding their authority, they have become fearful instruments of religious extremism and intolerance causing harassment and deaths of women and girls.  

According to Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BASF) at least 968 children were killed after being tortured from 2012 to July 2015. BASF (Nurul Haque) states that data reveals an increase of 61 percent in death of children in 2014 and more in 2015. It is noted that 191 children were killed by July 2015. Moreover, 280 children were raped between January and July of 2015. In July 2015 alone 37 children had been murdered and 50 raped. The same types of deaths and torture continue in 2016.

What does all this tell us about our society?   
Bangladesh is a signatory to the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Government has passed laws but violence and abuse are still rampant. We need effective implementation of laws and quality education that foster human rights and good citizenship.     

Poverty, conflicts, religious extremism, human trafficking, climate change, food insecurity, unemployment, rural/urban migration all have more negative impacts on women and children than on men. They suffer subordination and harassment in multiple domains both simultaneously and sequentially. Evidence proves that we have not been able to alter our insular mindset to include women and children as human beings with rights in family, society and workplace. 

Gender, youth, education, employment and socio-economic rights need not be fused. On the contrary, they can be separated into distinct aspects of empowerment. But, our patriarchal and hierarchical tradition is generally inhospitable to critical analysis of gender and child rights. To speak of such a manipulative tradition is to invite strong criticisms. Nevertheless this difficult terrain, have double and even triple standards.     

The second area is culture, which is deeply embedded in conventional beliefs. Women and children are vulnerable to exploitation which reflects back into verbal abuse, physical assault, sexual stigma, early marriages, hazardous child labour thereby leaving them with a sense of inferiority and incapacity. 

A third set of constraints arise from discrimination in areas such as  the right to education and legal rights to acquire, hold and dispose of their income and property freely without intimidation including entitlements to  social security and safety nets. 

Entertainment media often has negative effects, especially on those who have little or no education. Exposure to western TV channels, Hollywood and Bollywood films can feed unrealistic expectations, sexual frustration and family instability. 

Old codes of conduct present in earlier settled villages and urban communities need updating but have merely broken down, all too easily replaced by simple solutions like male domination, harassment of vulnerable groups or religious extremism. The result is a proliferation of unhappy and unsettled communities riddled with greed, violence and bereft of human decency. 

These social issues need widespread deliberations to generate understanding of the sanctity of all human beings.  Life requires a degree of restraint. Fear of reprisal and punishment is important, but cannot alone curb our baser instincts.   

Here moral leadership is essential and must emanate from the top. The government in partnership with NGOs and the private sector has to develop strategies that implement efficiently the rights of women and children in all aspects of life. Community events with entertainment like Jatras, local singing competitions and other forms of amusement would attract people and also provide space to discuss topics like what it means to be a decent citizen and what religion tells us about human behaviour. 

Much can be accomplished by good political leadership, accountable governance with efficient information services; quality and relevance in education, health facilities, prompt implementation of laws, support measures to promote among women and children perceptions of their capabilities, rights and status.    

We aspire for a truly democratic society and its greatest asset is freedom. But this freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves and treat others with justice.           

The writer is Former Ambassador.