Universal Children's Day: November 20
First observed in 1953, Universal Children’s Day on November 20 is a time to honour children with special ceremonies and festivals and to make children's needs known to governments.
November 20 marks the day in which the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989.
By most standards, children in
Bangladesh get a raw deal. Among issues of concern are child labour, child
domestic workers, child prostitution, trafficking of children, children
with mental and physical disabilities, and children in orphanages and
jails.
• Over 14,000 incidents violating the rights of children occurred in the
last two years. These include murder, rape, abduction and disappearance.
• About 900 children die every day (325,000 every year) due to various
diseases, malnutrition and accidents, in particular, drowning.
• The level of malnutrition in children is very high, along with
prevalence of wasting and anaemia.
• Almost 1.5 million girls are out of school.
• About one half of all girls still marry before reaching 18.
• 6.3 million children, some as young as six, are engaged in 300 types of
physical labour, 47 of which are highly risky.
• Over 200,000 women and children were trafficked out of Bangladesh in the
last 10 years. Girls are sold for sexual exploitation while boys are
trafficked to the Middle East countries as camel jockeys.