Bangladesh NGO report

Supplementary Information to Bangladesh’s second periodic report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, submitted by The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers to the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its Pre-sessional working group 34th session, 9-13 June 2003. This CRC country brief contains: (i) Summary; (ii) Country Profile; (iii) Urgent actions recommended, and (iv) Questions to State representatives. Although Bangladesh was one of the first countries to ratify the Optional Protocol (6 September 2000), there are indications of children active in government forces, as the minimum age for recruitment is only 16 (the Bangladeshi government does not support a “straight-18” position). The increasing criminalisation and militarisation of Bangladeshi children and the proliferation of small arms in the country is a matter of concern.