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

4.4 Programme Responses
4.4.1 Children’s participation
The Youth Partnership Project for Child Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation in South
Asia is a regional anti-trafficking activity involving youth in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
Through the cooperation of the NGOs Aparajeyo in Bangladesh, Sanlaap in India and Maiti
Nepal in Nepal, child survivors and young people at risk engage in peer support, community
awareness and public advocacy on trafficking, sexual exploitation, gender discrimination and
children’s rights. The project is coordinated by ECPAT International.
UNICEF Bangladesh has supported a programme called Kishori Abhijan (Empowerment of
Adolescents), which began its second phase in 2006. Originally targeted at girls, adolescent
boys were later included. To date nearly 2,500 boys have received training from peers on
child abuse and exploitation, trafficking, gender, reproductive health and other issues critical
to adolescents’ growth and protection. The programme also develops peer-to-peer networks
to enhance young people’s self-confidence and encourage them to share their views about
issues that affect them. 208
4.4.2 Monitoring and data collection
The national police established a cell to monitor trafficking cases in 2005. It maintains a
database, updated daily with information from each of Bangladesh’s 64 district police
headquarters, on the rescue or apprehension of trafficked children, arrest of traffickers and
prosecution of cases. Data are collected only on trafficking, not on other aspects of sexual
violence. The monitoring cell routinely provides comprehensive updates to the ministries of
Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.
From its offices throughout the country, BNWLA investigates reports of sexual violence
against children and provides legal aid for victims. It also lobbies at the national level to
strengthen laws to protect women and children. The Centre for Women’s and Children’s
Studies in Dhaka monitors newspaper and police reports on missing, kidnapped and
trafficked children. It has plans to extend its monitoring to include child sexual abuse and
exploitation. The group’s information is disaggregated by sex, age and home location of the
child victim.
4.4.3 Legislative changes
A number of legal NGOs in Bangladesh advocate with the government to promote changes in
legislation. The organizations include BNWLA, Breaking the Silence, the coalition ATSEC
Bangladesh and Ain O Salish Kendra, among others. To date their activities have primarily
focused on women and girls, addressing rape, acid burning and trafficking of girls and
women.
208 UNICEF Bangladesh, 2006, ‘Child sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking in Bangladesh’.
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