Help poor parents save children

Parents of poor children, who often end up on streets, should be provided with livelihood support by the government and development partners to help them prevent their children from being abused and exploited, recommended a study of Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF), a child rights platform.  
The number of street children in the country is estimated to be around 6,79,728, and nearly 58 percent of them live in urban areas, mentioned BASF, comprising 260 non-government organisations (NGOs) that work on children's issues, in its publication titled “No Child Left Alone to Suffer -- A Study on Child Abuse and Exploitation in Bangladesh”.
The report, funded by the Terre Des Hommes Netherlands in Bangladesh, was published at a ceremony at a city hotel yesterday.
Information and data presented in the report, which mention the causes and consequences of child abuse and exploitation, were obtained mainly from secondary sources and interviews of vulnerable children, discussions with government officials and NGO workers and legal rights activists, and case studies from brothels.
The report also urged the government and development partners to facilitate children's access to education, sensitise parents, and educate employers about rights of children and the risk involved in child labour.
Chief guest of the programme, Justice Md Imman Ali, a judge of Supreme Court's Appellate Division, said he himself had issued 85 directives on government and other agencies in various cases related to children, but very few were implemented.
The speakers observed that there was a lack of implementation of laws to protect child rights in the country.
BSAF Chairperson Md Emranul Chowdhury, Vice-chairman Iqbal Ahammad, and Kazi Reazul Hoque, a full-time member of the National Human Rights Commission, also spoke.