Berlin, Oct 13 (IANS) A leading human rights organisation has raised serious concerns over gaps in Bangladesh’s child protection system, warning that children remain vulnerable to commercial transfer, irregular adoption practices, trafficking, exploitation and disappearance.
Citing recent investigations, the Germany-based International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) has exposed an alarming informal market in which children and newborns are advertised through social media groups and private networks under the guise of “adoption”.
The report found that some such arrangements involve direct financial negotiations, middlemen, advance payments, and assurances that newborn children would be handed over to prospective buyers.
An assessment by ISHR Bangladesh found advertisements offering children for amounts ranging from tens of thousands of taka to several lakh Bangladeshi taka (Tk), while some intermediaries reportedly sought money from prospective parents and from families relinquishing children.
Referring to its investigations of publicly accessible social media groups, the rights body said that it had uncovered numerous advertisements seeking or offering children.
It examined 39 public groups and subsequently reviewed 288 posts in a sample of these groups, finding that 34 sought children for adoption, while 63 offered children.
Some advertisements specifically referred to newborns, boys, girls and twins, while others mentioned particular ages and characteristics. The rights body expressed particular concern over the use of prices and bargaining language in these advertisements.
“The investigation documented an offer involving a six-month-old boy with a stated demand of Tk 200,000. Other contacts reportedly requested payments of Tk 100,000 or more. An intermediary described a system in which pregnant women who did not wish or were unable to keep their babies could be identified through hospitals and connected to prospective recipients,” the ISHR stated.
“According to the account obtained during the investigation, payments could reach approximately Tk 300,000 for a newborn boy and Tk 200,000 for a girl, with intermediaries receiving commissions. These allegations require independent law-enforcement investigation rather than being treated as ordinary adoption transactions,” it noted.
ISHR called on the Bangladesh government to establish a unified, transparent and child-centred national framework for adoption, guardianship and alternative care. It stressed that every transfer of a child outside their biological family must be subject to independent verification, judicial or authorised government oversight, documented consent and an assessment of the child’s best interests. Private financial agreements between families, the rights body emphasised, must never replace lawful guardianship procedures.
“The ultimate test of Bangladesh’s child-protection framework will not be the number of laws on the statute book. It will be whether a vulnerable newborn, a missing child, a child without a birth certificate and a family living in poverty can each be reached by an effective protection system before exploitation occurs. The state has both a legal duty and a human-rights responsibility to ensure that this protection exists for every child,” the ISHR noted.
–IANS
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