UNB, Dhaka :
Hazera Begum still remembers how she had run away from her family in the mid-1970s as an eight-year old.
In an attempt to escape from the torment of her stepmother, she initially began her homeless life as a street urchin, collecting garbage waste, selling them and even begging for a living.
After facing molestation, she was taken by the police to Kashimpur Vagrant Home, from where she was later taken to a welfare officer’s home to work as a household help. She was molested there as well, forcing her to escape and become a street urchin again. After becoming a victim of gang rape while visiting Mirpur Zoo, she was finally lured by a man, offering a job, and being sold off to Sadarghat’s Kundopatti brothel to work as a prostitute. Rawshan Ara, 27, another floating sex worker from Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban area, has a similar troubled childhood and went through similar ordeals before turning to prostitution. They are two of millions of girls who are forced into the sex trade in Bangladesh, thanks to fall of social values among the lower sphere of society. According to a 2015 report by Bangladesh
Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), there were 1.5 million street children in Bangladesh, out of which one-fourth were young girls. Many of them turn to prostitution as other means of earning such as selling flowers, begging, garbage collecting and such do not bring enough income for them. Most of them are deprived of their basic needs such as secure living place, proper food, healthcare, education, sanitation facilities and entertainment. A research conducted by Unnayan Onneshan in 2012 showed that 70 percent street girls were sexually abused and 19 percent began prostitution from as early as the age of 11. A 2016 Sex Workers Network report states that there are over 1.02 million sex workers, out of which 29,000 are underage ones. They are mainly reported to work in various areas in the city such as Dhaka University campus, Karwan Bazar, Chandrima Uddyan, High Court Mazar, Sayedabad Bus Terminal, Sadarghat and Kamalapur Railway Station. Both Unnayan Onneshan and Unicef reported in 2012 that the major reasons for young girls turning to prostitution are family detachment, poverty, physical and sexual exploitation and more. Sahanaz Begum, former president of Durjoy, an NGO for sex workers, said when she was an activist, she found that many street girls were duped by their family members or lovers and sold into whore houses, and it is still the case. “Many men used to sell their wives for Tk 20,000-50,000,” she added.
Hazera Begum still remembers how she had run away from her family in the mid-1970s as an eight-year old.
In an attempt to escape from the torment of her stepmother, she initially began her homeless life as a street urchin, collecting garbage waste, selling them and even begging for a living.
After facing molestation, she was taken by the police to Kashimpur Vagrant Home, from where she was later taken to a welfare officer’s home to work as a household help. She was molested there as well, forcing her to escape and become a street urchin again. After becoming a victim of gang rape while visiting Mirpur Zoo, she was finally lured by a man, offering a job, and being sold off to Sadarghat’s Kundopatti brothel to work as a prostitute. Rawshan Ara, 27, another floating sex worker from Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban area, has a similar troubled childhood and went through similar ordeals before turning to prostitution. They are two of millions of girls who are forced into the sex trade in Bangladesh, thanks to fall of social values among the lower sphere of society. According to a 2015 report by Bangladesh
Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), there were 1.5 million street children in Bangladesh, out of which one-fourth were young girls. Many of them turn to prostitution as other means of earning such as selling flowers, begging, garbage collecting and such do not bring enough income for them. Most of them are deprived of their basic needs such as secure living place, proper food, healthcare, education, sanitation facilities and entertainment. A research conducted by Unnayan Onneshan in 2012 showed that 70 percent street girls were sexually abused and 19 percent began prostitution from as early as the age of 11. A 2016 Sex Workers Network report states that there are over 1.02 million sex workers, out of which 29,000 are underage ones. They are mainly reported to work in various areas in the city such as Dhaka University campus, Karwan Bazar, Chandrima Uddyan, High Court Mazar, Sayedabad Bus Terminal, Sadarghat and Kamalapur Railway Station. Both Unnayan Onneshan and Unicef reported in 2012 that the major reasons for young girls turning to prostitution are family detachment, poverty, physical and sexual exploitation and more. Sahanaz Begum, former president of Durjoy, an NGO for sex workers, said when she was an activist, she found that many street girls were duped by their family members or lovers and sold into whore houses, and it is still the case. “Many men used to sell their wives for Tk 20,000-50,000,” she added.
