Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque and Dr. Md. Shakhawat Ullah Chowdhury :
Despite all such policy exercises on the substantive area like child development social violence in developing country continues to batter the lives of the children. Family environment is not child-friendly in most cases. Human rights in such an environment are grossly violated. The victims of violence are the children belonging to vulnerable section of the community. Because they live under the shadow of fear and restrictions. Somewhere in the world, children are being subjected to violence or abuse physically, psychologically, sexually or economically in each moment. The violence occurs in homes, in schools and institutions, at workplaces or on the streets. Violence against children and more specifically girl children continues to be a global epidemic and one of the most pervasive of child rights violations. No society can claim to be free of such violence. The only variation is in the patterns and trends that exist in countries and regions. Domestic violence, an aspect of social violence, left them panic – ridden in a perpetual state of tension.
Social violence against girl children with its various manifestations: domestic violence, rape/sexual abuse, forced prostitution (in case of poor girl) and eve-teasing traumatize them. There are several untold stories of violence against young girls in the countryside and in the city, too. For some obvious reasons, the affected girls and their parents conceal incidence of sexual abuse. These are ignored tragedies.
Patriarchal preponderance in a traditional society indicating gender-biased participation affects normal socialization of daughters. They are left in the lurch. Girls are less likely to claim entitlements to paternal property. Although poverty is the principal reason’de tre for injustice meted out to daughters, patriarchal culture per se accounts much for violation of daughters’ rights.
Domestic violence entrenches gender-inequality, denial as well as threat to health care as a basic human right. A veritable manifestation of gender inequality is ‘assertive masculine prejudice’. In a patriarchal society everything is predominantly controlled and influenced by gender biased mind-set, which has been fueled by mass ignorance among woman folk Ignorance about health is profound. This is due largely to lack of information about access to health care, maternity service and reproductive health. What is badly needed is benignity of patri-virilocal authority to show full charity and sympathy to mother nourishing her baby. Powerlessness of mother caused by inequality tends to threaten babies. Each year almost eight million stillbirths and early neonatal deaths occur due to malnutrition of women during pregnancy, inadequate care during delivery and lack of care for the new born. More, the babies of physically weak mothers are more likely to be malnourished and less likely to be immunized or to receive oral re-hydration therapy for diarrhea.
In this context, we should consider the children of divorced parents, conflicted or broken families. The numbers of children concerning those situations are increasing in Bangladesh day by day. They are suffering from such difficulties that they cannot be able to express which problems they are confronting in their family life.
The theme of child development has changed considerably over a past couple of decades. Of late there has been an increasing concern for empowering child focusing on most vulnerable one in the poorest countries. Recently, policy makers have conceived of a more humanitarian roadmap to child development avoiding putting cart before the horse. This is all about addressing violation of child rights. Intervention coverage has been global with UN agencies, donor and right-based NGOs setting up proper lines of action using aids through policies and programming to maximise their impact on the fulfillment of child rights. Understanding right-based approach stems from relief operation and humanitarian activities conducted by UN agencies and UNDP in 2003.
Patch work of child development has no substance unless root cause of the violation of child rights in the situation of violence is eliminated. Programme operation with a new thematic development is definitely to protect child rights. For it continues to turn into policy fiasco in the absence of right-based approach to the study of child development in a country where violation of human rights (HR) is rampant.
Governance becomes meaningful when it is oriented to the protection of HR. The end result of human development must be the realization of every citizen’s rights as enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights. Experts of course have conceptual understanding of HR standards. Nevertheless working knowledge about the application of such standards or principles is scanty.
For right-base approach to be operationally meaningful it is necessary to devise a mechanism for ving the children from violence.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Professor of Public Administration, University of Chittagong and Dr. Md. Shakhawat Ullah Chowdhury, Assistant Professor, and Head of the Department, Southern University, Chittagong)
