Child Protection

Right to protection in Bangladesh

We promote children’s participation and influence in decision-making processes that affects their safety and lives.

We strive to protect all children and young people, especially girls, from child labour, child marriage, trafficking and violence. We achieve this by strengthening government structures and linking them with local mechanisms.

The Child Rights Situation Analysis report on Bangladesh in 2015 showed that:

• 68% of girls were married before the age of 18.
• 13% of children were involved in child labour and mostly in hazardous work.
• 50% of the workforce were aged 15-29.
• 400,000 children worked in domestic service and had never been enrolled at school.
• 91% children experienced physical abuse at school.
• One in every 5 married girls aged between 15 and 19 are sexually abused by their husband.
• Only 37% of children’s births are registered within the first 45 days of life.

Our work ensures that 500,000 children and young people, of which 60% are girls, from the most vulnerable areas, are protected from all forms of violence, including child marriage and child labour. We do this by improving community-based systems for keeping children safe and linking them to the newly established National Child Protection System.