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

children from the sexual violence inherent in producing pornography. There are currently no
laws to protect children from pornography transmitted through electronic media.
4.2.4 Other forms of sexual exploitation
4.2.4.1 Prostitution
Neither the Penal Code, the Children Act nor the SVWCA define prostitution. The
Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933 (SITA) section 3(4) defines prostitution as
“promiscuous sexual intercourse for hire, whether in money or kind” 201 and does not reflect
the breadth of the definition of prostitution in the Optional Protocol. Child prostitution is not
defined in any law.
The laws pertaining to exploitation of children through prostitution in Bangladesh provide
significantly less protection to boys than to girls. The Penal Code prohibits the procurement
of minor girls (under 18) but not of boys. Additional subsections later added discuss the
transportation of a girl, but they do not remedy the gender exclusion. Other sections prohibit
buying, selling or obtaining possession of a girl under 18 years for the purpose of prostitution.
The sections refer only to girls.
The SVWCA criminalizes acts with the intention of engaging a woman or child (boy or girl
under the age of 16) in prostitution. This is stated in Section 6 (i). However, the law does not
cover boys between 16 and 18 years. Girls above 16 years are regarded as women. SITA,
although generally superseded by SVWCA, has advantages in that children are deemed to be
below the age of 18 years, rather than 16 years. This is established in SITA Sections 3 (1),
11(a), and 12, however, SITA is more gender discriminatory than SVWCA. A ‘prostitute’ is
defined as “any female available for the purpose of prostitution”, according to SITA 3 (5) and
a ‘brothel’ is according to SITA Section 3 (5) defined as a place where two or more women
engage in prostitution or where a child under 18 is kept for the purposes of prostitution. Thus,
SITA effectively denies the existence of boys exploited through prostitution and brothels in
which boys conduct prostitution. The sections of SITA on procuring a person are Section 9
(1), importing a person for prostitution Section 10 (1), detaining a person in a brothel in
Section 11 (a)(b), and ”causing or encouraging or abetting the seduction or prostitution” of a
child in Section 12. Section 12 only refers to girls. The only area in which boys are given
equal recognition under the law is solicitation. SITA penalizes any person – adult or child,
boy or girl – for solicitation in Section 7 (1)(a), (b), thus effectively making boys who are
sexually exploited offenders while denying them protection from being victimized.
The Children Act does little to remedy the problems of the Penal Code, SVWCA or SITA.
Limiting the age of majority to 16, it protects neither girls nor boys above the age of 16. It
imposes penalties on those who cause or encourage the seduction or prostitution of a girl, but
it does not address boys. A single exception is in section 44, regarding the exploitation of
child employees, which states that anyone who secures a child for menial employment in a
factory or other establishment but “exposes the child to the risk of seduction, sodomy,
201 Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933.
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