Floating girl children need protection from violence  

There are many floating children (both girls and boys), who are mainly living in big cities in unsafe condition. The children, especially the girls, are vulnerable to violence such as trafficking due to their unsafe living condition here and there like streets, rail and bus stations.      
   
Take the case of three girls, aged 10, 9, and 8, respectively, who were being trafficked to India by traffickers through Moulvibazar district.

They along with their mothers used to live at Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka.
While taking the three girls for trafficking, the traffickers, seeing a team of police, left them at Moulvibazar district rail station in November, 2023. The girls started crying when left by the traffickers. The police then rescued and took them to local Police Station.

The girls had no fathers, they had only mothers. After talking to the victims, police came to know about INCIDIN Bangladesh, a child rights-based organization which provided shelter to the girls at their Drop-in-Centre (DIC) at Dholpur in the capital earlier.

Police later contacted INCIDIN Bangladesh and informed them of the matter. Afterwards, a rescue team of INCIDIN Bangladesh brought the girls to its DIC at Dholpur in the capital.
     
INCIDIN Bangladesh later reunited the victims with their poor mothers.

INCIDIN Bangladesh is currently operating two DICs, one for floating girl and another for boy children, at  Dholpur in Dhaka.
As the living condition of the three children with their foaling mothers did not lower the risk of being trafficked again, the three girls were referred to a shelter home, which is operated by Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM).

Now, the children are living in the DAMs shelter home where they are apparently safe from being trafficked, and all their basic needs such as safe shelter, food, clothing, formal and non-formal education, life-skill trainings, entertainment etc. are met.

The floating girl children need protection as their living condition is unsafe. They are in vulnerable position. They are at risk of sexual exploitation and trafficking.   
 
Terming the children as the countrys future generation, rights activists, who are working on child rights, said proper steps should be taken for protecting floating children from all kinds of violence and ensuring their rights for the sake of our national interest.

The author is a freelance journalist