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

Bangladesh has a well-established trafficking and smuggling industry, a result of both
historical and geographical conditions. The country shares a 4,146 km border with India, and
30 of its 64 districts lie on the Indian border. Though the borders were first established with
the partition of India in 1947, many Bangladeshi and Indian nationals have family and
sometimes property in the neighbouring country and routinely travel to and from. Like
families, enterprise does not recognize these fairly modern political boundaries, and the
countries share a thriving smuggling trade in rice, cloth, livestock and humans, among much
else. 190 Border controls are lax, and many people on both sides of the border supplement their
incomes through smuggling.
In addition, thousands of Bangladeshis migrate to India to work, including families who take
their children with them. Most of them work in lower-tier occupations in large cities like
Mumbai. Bangladeshi boys also regard India as a destination with opportunities. Yearly,
hundreds of boys are intercepted at the border by police and security forces, and many more
successfully migrate out of the country.
Whether boys are migrating in hopes of employment or are trafficked, their lack of protection
and support make them highly vulnerable. It can be assumed – though it is not confirmed by
research – that some end up in situations of abuse and sexual exploitation. Many boys who
had been trafficked to the United Arab Emirates for camel racing had been sexually
abused. 191 Many Bangladeshi boys live on the streets in India or work in restaurants, hotels or
transportation, all situations known to be conducive to sexual abuse and exploitation.
Research is necessary to ascertain the extent to which these boys become victims of sexual
abuse and exploitation.
4.2 Legislation
Bangladesh has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Optional Protocol on
the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; ILO Convention 182 on the
Worst Forms of Child Labour; and the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating
Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution. It adopted the Stockholm Declaration
and Agenda for Action against commercial sexual exploitation of children in 1996 and
reaffirmed its commitment in Yokohama in 2001. It has not signed the Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Palermo
Protocol).
Legislation addressing the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children includes the Penal
Code 1860; the Children’s Act 1974; the Suppression of Violence against Women and
Children Act 2000 or Nari o Shishu Nirjaton Domon Act (amended in 2003); and the
Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933. Given some later amendments, Bangladesh shares
with India and Pakistan the British Penal Code of the nineteenth century.
190 Association for Community Development, 1999, ‘Socio-cultural study of border belt area’.
191 Paul, D., 2007, ‘Children previously involved in camel racing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE): Project
review’. It should be noted that this practice has ended, and the children who where exploited as camel jockeys
have go the possibility to return, inter alia through the support by UNICEF and other organizations, more info
available at: , accessed at 18 March 2010.
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