The National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF) today suggested enacting a law named ‘Sexual Harassment Prevention and Remedies Act’ on an urgent basis to stop all sorts of violence against women and girl children and ensure welfare for them.
The forum consisted of 206 organizations and individuals also recommended completing trials of offenses like violence against girl children and raping and killing girls within quickest possible time with special importance to ensure welfare for them.
The NGCAF placed the proposals at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club (JPC) in the capital on Tuesday and presented a report titled “An assessment on torture and violence against girl children-2024’ in the context of Bangladesh, said a press release.
The NGCAF in association with Educo Bangladesh organized the press conference with its President Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar in the chair to mark the celebration of the National Girl Child Day.
NGCAF Vice-President and Executive Director of Nari Maitree Shaheen Akter Doly, Country Director of Good Neighbors Bangladesh M Mainuddin Mainul, Child Rights and Protection Specialist of Educo Bangladesh Md Shahidul Islam and Manager of Policy and Advocacy of Educo Bangladesh Halima Akter spoke on the occasion, among others.
Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) Executive Director Advocate Salma Ali moderated the event while NGCAF National Coordinator Syeda Ahsana Zaman (Anny) presented the keynote paper.
Speaking on the occasion, Badiul Alam Majumdar put emphasis on making sufficient investment for the girl children to ensure nutrition and quality education for them, saying any negligence to the girl children will be suicidal for the nation.
“Girl children are our wealth, they are not burden (for us) at all,” he said, adding, due to child marriage, many girls become mothers at a young age. As a result, they give birth to malnourished children, for which, the nation is paying the toll, said Majumdar.
In her keynote paper, Syeda Ahsana Zaman (Anny) said the girl children mainly face two types of torture- one is facing harassment and violence by the people of the society and another is based on gender that means girls are exposed to violence only for being born as girls.
Presenting the overall situation on the violence against women from January-August, 2024 , she made an 11-point recommendation including enacting the law titled ‘Sexual Harassment Prevention and Remedies Act’, completing trials of offenses like violence against girl children and raping and killing girls within quickest possible time with special importance, amending provisions of the existing laws related to rape allegations making accused responsible for proving the incident instead of victims (women and girls).
Her suggestion also included ensuring formation of anti-sexual harassment cells in all education institutions across the country as per the directives of the High Court, stopping to provide political and administrative patronization to girl child abusers and establishing a separate Directorate for Children to ensure their protection.
Other speakers at the event said though Bangladesh has enacted many laws including National Women Development Policy to ensure rights and protection of the women, children and girls, but women and girls in the country are still subjected to torture and discrimination in different ways.
Therefore, they laid emphasis on enacting the proposed law on an urgent basis to stop all sorts of violence, torture and discrimination against women and girl children and ensure a safe and livable society and country for them as well.
