24.12 Persons aged eighteen and over are entitled to vote. (CIA World Factbook: Bangladesh, updated July 2013) 415 There is no military conscription in Bangladesh. The minimum age for voluntary recruitment in the army and the navy is 17 years, and 16 years for the air force. Because recruits initially undergo a period of basic training, there is no scope for any person to be employed for actual service or combat duty before attaining the age of 18. (Third & Fourth Periodic Report of the Government of Bangladesh under the CRC: August 2007 416 (p78)
24.13 Bangladeshi nationality can be acquired by birth, descent, migration or naturalization. A child‘s nationality is based on the nationality of his or her father. (United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (Third & Fourth Periodic Report of the Government of Bangladesh under the CRC: August 2007,417 (p23) Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under Article 44 of the Convention: Bangladesh. 23 October 2008 418 (paragraph 120)
See also Section 24: Education and Section 24: Child marriage
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The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 31 July 2013. 139
without access to basic services ... The Committee also concluded that the minimum age of criminal responsibility at below 12 years is not internationally acceptable.
‗At present though there are three specialized juvenile courts in the country... most of the children are dealt with through the regular criminal courts, where they are often tried jointly with adults having no legal representation.
‗The existing juvenile courts have limited jurisdiction and cannot hear cases of children who have committed serious offences. Though the justice system lacks the
infrastructure to administer juvenile justice properly, there have been significant efforts by the courts to hold proceeding[s] in chamber and to encourage the separation of children from adults as they are brought to court.
‗There are three specialized institutions for the detention of child offenders which have been renamed as the Child Development Centers.
‗Section 15 of the Children Act provides the procedure for sentencing and there is direction through which the court may direct the probation officer to prepare a social inquiry report, but in reality there is rare application of these provisions.
‗The Children Act, 1974 the principal legal instrument governing the juvenile justice administration in Bangladesh, includes some important procedural protections, but does not provide [a] particularly comprehensive juvenile justice system.‘419
24.15 The High Court ruled on 9 July 2006 that all children must be tried in juvenile courts.
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.‘420
24.16 The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in an article, ‗Bangladesh: Rights of the Child come into contact with Law and state of Juvenile Justice system‘, 5 June 2012, stated that:
‗At present though there are three specialized juvenile courts established in the country and the creation of another four of these is being considered, most of the children are dealt with through the regular criminal courts, where they are often tried jointly with adults and have no legal representation. Existing legislation do not explicitly recognize the Children‘s Right to express their views in the proceeding, legal provision permit the court to dispense with children‘s attendance violate the right of participation and due process. To note that the existing juvenile courts have limited jurisdiction and cannot hear cases of children who have committed serious offences. Though the justice system lacks the infrastructure to administer juvenile justice properly, meanwhile there have been significant efforts by the courts to hold proceeding in chamber and to encourage the separation of children from adults as they are brought to court.‘421
419 The Independent, ‗Child rights and juvenile justice system of Bangladesh‘, 17 April 2013
http://www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=164942:child-rights-and- juvenile-justice-system-of-bangladesh&catid=169:op-ed&Itemid=201 Accessed 24 June 2013
420 Child Rights Information Network (CRIN), ‗Bangladesh High Court Verdict on Children in Conflict with the Law‘
11 July 2006. (Source: Save the Children) http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=9159 Date accessed 23 June 2009
421 Asian Human Rights Commission, ‗Rights of the Child come into contact with Law and state of Juvenile Justice system- Bangladesh perspective‘, 5 June 2012 http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-ART-046- 2012/?searchterm Accessed 22 August 2012
24.17 World Vision stated in a report published on 12 April 2013:
‗[T]o activate the Juvenile Justice system in Bangladesh a number of child friendly guidelines have been passed by the...High Court Division of Bangladesh focusing on the provision of a safe home with comprehensive child friendly services, taking into account the child‘s age, and the need for protection and meeting the child‘s basic need, the provision of a minimum standard of care, the child‘s right to consent and give his or her opinion, as well as the prohibition of death penalty.
‗According to section 11 of the Children Act 1974, if at any stage the Court is satisfied that the attendance of a child is not essential for the purpose of the hearing, the Court may dispense with his attendance and proceed with the hearing of the case without his presence. If (Section 12 states) at any stage during the hearing of a case a child is summoned as a witness, the Court may hold a hearing of the case or may direct such persons as it thinks fit. Even the court may not consider the child as a party to the case or proceeding. In this act ' child' means a person under the age of sixteen years.
‗However, in practice the judiciary is not child friendly, the children are harassed in the investigation process, and there is no victim and witness protection to enable a child and her/his family to seek justice against organized criminal networks or influential offenders.‘422
See Section 11: Judiciary - Organisation, Section 12: Arrest and detention – legal rights – Bail , Section 13: Prison conditions and Section 24: Children – basic legal information
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Violence against children
24.18 UNICEF Bangladesh, in a newsletter, ‗In Focus: Protection of Children at Risk, Issue 11‘, March 2009, stated that:
‗Children in Bangladesh are vulnerable to violence within the family, at schools, at work places, within institutions and on the streets. Violence against children takes different forms: physical abuse, molestation, acid throwing, trafficking and sexual abuse including rape and various kinds of sexual exploitation for commercial purposes.
‗More than half a million children are estimated to live on the streets in Bangladesh.
Many children who live on the streets are forced to work to support themselves and their families. Approximately 13 per cent of children aged 5 -14 years are involved in child labour.
‗A recent UNICEF study on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in
Bangladesh found that a half of the children surveyed were initially involved in child labour. Involvement in child labour leads to a situation in which a child can easily be pushed out of informal safety-nets and exposed to abuse and exploitation. The survey found the average age at which surveyed children first became involved in commercial sexual exploitation was 13 years. Commercial sexual exploitation of children is often linked to trafficking. Many girls are trafficked into sexual exploitation or bonded servitude and many boys have been trafficked to the Middle East to become camel racing
422 Word Vision, ‗Stakeholder Report on Bangladesh - Submission by World Vision Bangladesh for Universal Periodic Review (UPR), 2nd Cycle, 2012: Child Protection and Child & Maternal Health http://www.upr- info.org/IMG/pdf/wv_upr_bgd_s16_2013_worldvisionbangladesh_e.pdf Accessed 27 June 2013
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jockeys. Many children are taken with their parents‘ consent, having been duped by stories of well-paid jobs or marriages.‘423
24.19 According to the ASK CRGA 2012 report:
‗In Bangladesh several laws exist in relation to child welfare and protection. However, implementation of these laws is very weak. Not much has been done in ensuring
abusers accountable ... Current laws related to sexual crimes against children focus on punishing the offender rather than protecting children‘s rights. There is no law or
procedure to address recovery and rehabilitation of child survivors of commercial sexual exploitation, and judicial decisions to date have only commented upon repatriation. Law enforcing agencies do not usually assist child victims or children at risk of commercial sexual exploitation, even though they are empowered to do so by statutory power.
‗The government and the judiciary has taken some commendable steps like the directives given by the High Court banning sexual harassment, the circular issued by the Government to all educational institutions to ban corporal punishment, creating mass awareness on these issues etc. However the government is yet to enact specific legislation to stop sexual harassment including cyber crime.
‗The social stigma, non-disclosure of sexual abuse by the children, lack of witness protection, un-child friendly (especially for the girls and children with disability) legal and medical examination procedures, improper collection and maintenance of evidence and lengthy legal process lead to either non filing of court cases or acquittal of the accused.
Generally camera trial is not in use, although the provision is there. In case of prosecution of the perpetrators there are many constraints including of faulty
investigations ... Often the traffickers and the organizers of child sexual exploitation put pressure on the plaintiff to withdraw the case or to ―compromise‖.
‗Girl children are not always safe under temporary police protection or in government approved certified homes.‘424