Let Them
Speak for a Change
AASHA MEHREEN AMIN
A
few weeks ago several dailies carried the news of teenaged boys
trying to commit suicide at a government-run correction centre
because life for them was just too much to bear. Living in the
worst living conditions imaginable and being subject to physical
abuse, these children felt they had no other option but to end
their young lives.The situation at detention centres may be
extreme but in general children in Bangladesh face the biggest
odds and enjoy the least benefits. They are taught from a very
early age that they must respect and obey adults, that they
must look after their parents but that they must also earn their
own living, live without basic needs and constantly face physical
abuse and general neglect. The adults of society have pathetically
failed in their duty to protect their young. In this scenario
it seems to make a lot more sense to get the children to speak
out about their needs and frustrations.
Recent
campaigns to protect the rights of children have been promoting
the concept of 'children's participation' in policy making.
Besides reversing the parochial mindset that says 'children
should not speak but be spoken to' it also recognises the fact
that in spite of countless laws being implemented and endless
promising from politicians, the plight of children still remains
extremely miserable.
On Sepember
15, 16 and 17 a national seminar was arrange at the CIRDAP auditorium
in Kakrail by Save the Children Sweden- Denmark to allow almost
75 children from six divisions to speak their minds and discuss
with government officials and NGO and international organisation
(such as UNICEF) representatives, issues that concern the welfare
of children. The child representatives included girls and boys
from diverse backgrounds and included indigenous children, street
children and children with disability. They talked uninhibitedly
about problems common to almost all children of Bangladesh _
basic needs remaining unmet, lack of security, political exploitation
of children, using children for hazardous work, physical and
mental abuse, lack of wholesome entertainment, lack of opportunities
to be educated and lack of proper health care and nutrition.
They also raised a few less talked about problems such as discrimination
against indigenous and physically and mentally disabled children,
lack of shelter for street children and exclusion of children
in decision making.
An
interesting proposal on the last day of the workshop that came
from the children was to increase their presence in the media.
Sharmin one of the child representatives said that there should
be more programmes devoted to children on the national television
and radio. Moreover, she pointed out, that the existing programmes
are shown when children are in school. Other children said that
there should be more information in the electronic media about
crimes against children, about the problems they face. “I didn't
even know that there was such a thing as the National Plan of
Action”, says Sharmin, “all children should know about it. All
children should know what is the plight of children in remote
areas, that they are being deprived of basic rights, that they
are being abused.”
Aditi, another
confident teenager commented that all the dramas on t.v. and
films shown at the halls are for adults and about adults. “Can't
we have more films about children?”
Apart
from general needs like food, protection or just a playground,
some children have special needs. Afrin Akhter Bithi, a teenager
who is confined to a wheelchair due to a deformity in her legs,
says that all disabled children should have opportunities to
go to school and be employed. She herself is in class six and
besides her disability, is as self-assured and articulate as
any of the other child representatives at the workshop.
Hero Hawladar,
a boy from Khulna who stays at an orphanage said that the biggest
problem he faced was getting nutritious food. “Our organisation
does not have much money and they cannot give us good food or
clothes. We often get sick and have no playground to play in”
adds Hero who loves cricket and football.
Minoti,
Shoma and Laboni are all from remote areas of Natore. They are
from an indigenous community and are adolescent girls which
make them doubly deprived and neglected. “We have very little
scope for education”, says Shoma. “There are a lot of early
marriages in our area”, adds Laboni, “people are very poor,
health care is poor, we don't get enough food and many babies
die…I used to want to learn how to sing one time, but that is
just a dream”
The three-day
workshop is part of an ongoing national campaign to 'Say Yes
for Children' (that reached 64 districts) and to get the voices
of children heard. In May 2002, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia,
at a special session of the UN in New York, announced the government's
launching of the National Plan of Action (2003 to 2007) for
children. Already some of the steps in the National Plan of
Action have been implemented through the relevant ministry.
To assist the government to make it work, Save the Children
Alliance, Bangladesh, ILO, 'Say Yes for Children' member associations
and NGOs from all over the countries have exchanged views with
children through workshops and seminars which government representatives
have enthusiastically participated in.
In January
this year, Prothom Alo's round table discussion as part of the
campaign, focussed on the rights of children in national policy
making. Among the participants were prominent political figures
such as Khurshid Jahan Huque, Minister of Women and Children
Affairs, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Minister LGRD and Abdul Jalil,
General Secretary Awami League.
The
government, moreover, has formed a sub committee to execute
the National Plan of Action, a committee that will also comprise
child representatives and ordinary citizens. The government
seems to be sincere about making meaningful changes in policy
by incorporating the views of those who are directly affected
by it. This is a major difference in approach to policy making,
one that may actually produce results. At the conclusion of
the seminar on September 17, a government official from the
Ministry for Women and Children Affairs asked for a list of
issues that children thought needed to be addressed at the policy
level. A child representative asked boldly whether the government
would forget about them once the seminar was over.
But fourteen
year old Zakaria Hossain, who works as a rickshaw puller in
Sylhet and barely gets two meals a day, still has hope that
this extensive dialogue between the government and children
with the help of the NGO community, may bring about changes
in his life. “If the government makes sure we get good food
and health services and helps us to be educated then we can
be good teachers and teach those who are younger”. Certainly
a policy for the betterment of 'our future', a cliche we adults
love to flaunt at seminars, cannot be clearer than that.