SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

Poverty, absence of primary caregivers and extensive rural-to-urban migration result in two
groups of boys who are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation: working children
separated from their families and children living on the street. While Bangladesh has
proportionately fewer working children than other countries in South Asia, including Pakistan
and Nepal, it likely has the highest proportion of children living on the street. According to
the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, approximately 380,000 children live on the
street in Bangladesh, the majority of them boys. 143 This number is rapidly growing and is
expected to double by 2020. 144
4.1.2 Knowledge base
The knowledge base on the sexual abuse and exploitation of boys in Bangladesh is relatively
comprehensive for urban areas, including boy rural-to-urban migrants, and scant for the rural
areas of the country, including peripheral ethnicities and refugee populations like the
Burmese Rohingya. Several studies (see below) have focused on street migration and boy
prostitution in urban areas, primarily Dhaka, and a number of case studies of the noncommercial
sexual abuse of boys and girls have been collected, also primarily from urban
areas. All have been conducted using reliable methodologies. Although the majority of
studies have been conducted three or more years ago, it is not considered that the situation has
changed much to date, with the possible exception of the numbers of children involved.
Bangladesh has not suffered from serious armed conflict or social disruption in recent years.
However, it is likely that the overall number of rural-to-urban migrants has increased,
including boys who enter the street and/or child labour. As well, it is likely that the number of
primary caregivers from rural areas who migrate as remittance workers to the Gulf states and
elsewhere has also increased, damaging the ‘safety nets’ of more children, and perhaps
resulting in additional cases of sexual abuse and running away of boys. At present, the
knowledge base regarding children in rural areas, including minority and refugee populations,
needs considerable expansion.
4.1.3 Sexual abuse of boys
Bangladesh has adequate, if not comprehensive, qualitative data on child sexual abuse,
covering both boys and girls. But quantitative data, particularly for rural areas, are scarce, and
most information comes from newspaper articles and police reports. Though focused on girls,
research indicates that boys may comprise up to 45 per cent of sexual abuse cases. 145 Some
studies have addressed the sexual abuse of children as a whole, 146 while others have focused
on working children and children living on the street, exploring the linkages between the
sexual abuse of vulnerable boys and their resulting sexual exploitation. 147 All studies show a
143
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, 2004, ‘Street children in Bangladesh: A socio economic
analysis’.
144
Ibid.
145
Heiberg, T., 2001, ‘Commodities in stigma and shame: An international overview of Save the Children’s
work against child sexual abuse and exploitation’.
146
For example, Breaking the Silence Group, 1997, ‘Non-commercial sexual abuse of children in Bangladesh: A
case study based report’; and Breaking the Silence Group, 2003, ‘Learning from experience: Case studies of
non-commercial sexual abuse of children in Bangladesh’.
147
For example, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, 2004, ‘Street children in Bangladesh: A socio
economic analysis; and ECPAT International and INCIDIN Bangladesh, 2006, ‘The boys and the bullies: A
situational analysis report on prostitution of boys in Bangladesh’.
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