Children of Bangladesh
At Images For Inclusion we value the life and future of all children and believe that they need to be empowered by opening a window the world and giving them a voice. Child abuse must be addressed with urgency.
The amount of child labor in Bangladesh is truly shocking. Homeless children are everywhere. They walk around begging for money which puts them at risk of being attacked or sexually abused. While some children can enjoy a game on a cricket field, others are collecting trash to be able to buy some food in order to survive. Children do not enjoy equal opportunities in Bangladesh’s society, which persists by the prevailing cultural traditions.
The implementation of Child Labor laws has failed — there is an enormous amount of children being abused by employers who force them to do heavy work such as brick-chipping, construction work and waste picking. They are paid low or no wages at all, eat contaminated food, and are exposed to hazardous working environments like the production of bidi/cigarette and aluminum products. Their faces show the signs of their illness due to the toxicity they consume and are exposed to. Being forced to work long hours interferes with their inalienable right to an education— so most are forced to drop out. Child Labor exposes children to physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Therefore, child labor should be a major national and international concern.
A significant amount of children in Bangladesh are victims of poverty and neglect. Moreover, they are systematically discriminated against by their race, religion and gender. Boys and girls are subject to sexual abuse.
The different forms of abuse girls suffer based on their gender are tremendous. This power structure strengthens the lack of opportunities girls to have to access an education and creates recipients of systematic economic abuse. IFI believes that it is fundamental to help change the sexist social structure that dominates Bangladeshi people's lives — where religious beliefs and customs are stronger than the law.
The intersectional forms of violence against little girls must be eradicated. The power structure that maintains the systematic abuse that enables the perversive lack of opportunities for girls to have access to an education violates their human rights and confines them as objects of systematic physical and mental abuse. It is fundamental to raise awareness and find ways to help change the horrendous power structure that dominates Bangladeshi girls’ lives — where religious beliefs and customs seem much stronger than international law.
