Search

ABOUT CHILD RIGHTS ADVOCACY COALITION IN BANGLADESH (CRAC, B)

Bangladesh is one of the first countries to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990 as well as two of its Optional Protocols and hence is obligated to respect, protect and fulfill children's rights at any circumstance by the letter and spirit of the convention. The country has also formulated several policies and legislations for safeguarding child rights e.g. National Children Policy 2011, The Children's Act 2013 to name a few that reaffirms its commitment to the cause.

Nevertheless, despite these provisions, children of the country continue to experience sustained or chronic deprivation of resources, services, capabilities, choices, security and power for proper enjoyment of their childhood. These further perpetuate systemic violation of their right to survival, development, participation and protection. Deep-rooted structural causes around gender stereotype, discriminatory behavior and attitude, social exclusion, combined with weak governance, institutional bottlenecks, and lack of enforcement of laws and policies exacerbate these violations.

With long development history, innovations and vibrant NGO movements in the country since independence, quite a few national and international NGOs have invested significant efforts and resources, both individually and collaboratively, to uphold child rights and fight for their justice with notable successes. They also have partnered and closely worked with government in many of its successful endeavors and contributed to the development of national policies and legislations. Still, child rights violations continue. There also seems to be a lack of coordinated and concerted advocacy efforts around child rights among these NGOs. Therefore, NGOs have felt the need to coordinate their actions and jointly advocate with government and other stakeholders for upholding child rights, especially since joint advocacy can add greater value and voice than the individual efforts on a number of areas.

It is therefore crucial that the organizations which are committed to safeguard child rights devise a coordinated mechanism for joint advocacy efforts so as to create greater influence on the policy process and deepen impact on children. It is in this backdrop that these ten organizations have formed a coalition 'Child Rights Advocacy Coalition in Bangladesh' to jointly advocate for legislative and policy reforms for the realization of child rights. A mix of both national and international NGOs as well as networks within the Coalition will provide it with strong legitimacy and position to exert influence over policy makers, raise collective voice and strive for legal remedies against child rights violations as and when necessary.

Broad objective of the Coalition

·       To influence government and other key stakeholders to deliver child rights in line with UNCRC and other relevant national and international human rights instruments.

Specific objectives of the Coalition

The specific objectives are as follows:

1.  To initiate and/or strengthen joint advocacy actions for holding both state and non-state actors/institutions accountable to implement recommendations of the UNCRC Concluding Observations and Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

2.   To unite and campaign against child rights violations

The ten-member organizations of the coalition are (in alphabetical order): ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB), Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh ShishuAdhikar Forum (BSAF), Child Rights Governance Assembly (CRGA), Education and Development Foundation- Educo, National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF), Plan International Bangladesh (PIB), Save the Children in Bangladesh (SCIB), Terre des Hommes-Netherlands (TdH-NL) and World Vision Bangladesh (WVB)

Strategic focus

To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the Coalition initiatives will be underpinned by the UNCRC principles and encompass four broad dimensions of child rights -

1.    Right of children to survival

2.    Right of children to development

3.    Right of children to participation

4.    Right of children to protection

ABOUT THE SECRETARIAT: AIN O SALISH KENDRA (ASK)

Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a national legal aid and human rights organisation, provides legal and social support to the disempowered, particularly women, working children and workers. Its goal is to create a society based on equality, social and gender justice and rule of law. It seeks to create an environment for accountability and transparency of governance institutions.

ASK was registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, Bangladesh under the Societies Registration Act, XXI in 1986, and with the NGO Affairs Bureau under Foreign Donation Regulation Ordinance, 1978 in 1993. It was accorded special consultative status with UNECOSOC in 1998.