Bangladesh: 50 Percent Children with Disabilities sexually abused - Recent Study

Nearly 50 percent of country's disabled children reportedly fall victims of sexual abuse with 91.1 percent of them by their family members or close relatives, according to a recent study.

The study also confirmed that some 38.38 percent of the disabled children were sexually abused in absence of knowledge about body language. 

Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation (BPF) and Save the Children Sweden-Denmark jointly conducted the study that showed the barbaric scenario about the condition of disabled children in Bangladesh.

During the six-month long study from October 2009 to March 2010, the parents of 216 disabled children (aged 7-18) were interviewed in six divisional headquarters - Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barisal, Khulna and Sylhet - categorizing the disabled children as intellectually impaired, visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically impaired. 

The researchers also collected data from some 535 adult disabled people, their family members, teachers and NGO workers. 

The study reveals that most of the sexual offenders were male. Even teachers and therapists were found to be guilty in many cases. Of the victims of sexual abuse, 52 percent were girls and 48 percent boys - aged between 7 and 18 years.

According to the study, the rate of sexual abuse is even worse in case of mentally disabled children (intellectually impaired) due to their inability to express themselves or understanding the intention of the offender.

The study recommends increasing self-protection ability of the children with disability as well as making the concept of sexual abuse clear through specially designed counseling.

It also recommended counseling for the family members on how to better handle the issue and 

undertaking capacity building programmes for the NGO workers to address the problem.

Senior Researcher Dr Selim Chowdhury told UNB that parents of the victims are not willing to go for legal action as the disabled children cannot express them properly.

He stressed the need for involving physicians and psychologists to help realize the disable children's body language in getting justice.

Dr Chowdhury, a psychologist, said: "We seem to have no concern about the sexuality of a disabled child. When a disabled child becomes adolescent, he or she has some biological needs. So, they should be trained in this regard." 

He said the abuse happens due to the fact that the understanding of personal body parts, personal security and sexual abuse is unclear to the physically and mentally impaired children and to their family members.

"There is no adequate support, tools and structure in both public and private sectors to address the problems of disabled children in the country."

Dr Chowdhury suggested the authorities concerned to reserve ten percent seats in shelter homes for the victimized disabled children.

Referring to the sufferings of the disabled children living in rural areas, he feared that the scenario of sexual abuse of disabled children will be much worse in rural areas than in urban areas, as there is none to specifically look after the disabled children outside Dhaka.

Selina Ahmed, director of child protection, Save the Children Sweden-Denmark, said that the disabled children are exposed to a higher risk of sexual harassment because they cannot protect themselves. 

She said intellectually impaired children are more harassed than other disabled children because they do not understand the difference between good touch and bad touch.

"As the disabled children could not identify the relationship status properly, the offenders take advantage of this." 

Selina Ahmed noted that there is no specialized organization in both public and private sectors in Bangladesh to provide legal support to the sexually abused children.

She stressed creating awareness among the people to address the longstanding problem. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), persons with disability constitute about 10 percent of the country's total population.

There were nearly 12 million disabled people in the country, according to the 2001 census.

She said intellectually impaired children are more harassed than other disabled children because they do not understand the difference between good touch and bad touch.

"As the disabled children could not identify the relationship status properly, the offenders take advantage of this." 

Selina Ahmed noted that there is no specialized organization in both public and private sectors in Bangladesh to provide legal support to the sexually abused children.

She stressed creating awareness among the people to address the longstanding problem. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), persons with disability constitute about 10 percent of the country's total population.

There were nearly 12 million disabled people in the country, according to the 2001 census.