State Minister of the Woman and Children Affairs Alamgir Kabir speaking at parliament claimed that the situation of child rights is not as bad as depicted in the media.

But, Chairman of Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, Wahida Banu, at a press conference said there is little development in establishing child rights in the country.

Both the speeches came Thursday, a day before the beginning of the Child Rights Week.

Wahida said no significant development occurred on child trafficking, child abuse or reducing child labour. She however said child education and child health have improved.

Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum is the alliance of 235 non-government organisations, which are working to protect child rights in Bangladesh.

While replying to a question in parliament, the state minister said repression on children is not as serious as depicted in the media. "This is an anti-state campaign for ruining good image of the country and some individuals and NGOs are behind this campaign."

He claimed that the problem of child trafficking has almost been solved in the country.

On the other hand, Wahida said children of the country are facing rape, murder, exploitation and trafficking regularly due to poor socio-economic condition and lack of necessary initiatives from the government and non-government organisations.

The children are still engaged in hazardous jobs, she pointed out.

Wahida said the media is not covering all the incidents of child repression because many victims do not inform the media about the incidents.

The number of street children is increasing due to poverty, unemployment, migration of rural people to the urban areas and illiteracy, she observed.

She said the government and non-government organisations have taken some initiatives for the welfare of children and protecting their rights, but those initiatives are inadequate.

Talking to Star City, Aleya, a street child at Karwan Bazar, said ministers cannot say about the state of street children as they never face problems of food, money or shelter.

Aleya, a rape victim, does not know much about child rights, but she said, "NGO workers are good" as they teaches them and provides them with some facilities.

Aleya alleged that her stepfather had raped her several times two years ago and she left her home as her mother did not protest her husband's crime.

"Once I left the house after stealing 50 taka from my stepfather's pocket. Now I'm living on the street," said Aleya.

According to statistics of Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, 1,858 incidents of child rights violation were published in the national newspapers during January- June period of this year. Of the total, 172 incidents were of rape.

The published incidents revealed that children are tortured, burnt, strangled and trafficked at regular basis throughout the country. Only in July of this year, the national newspapers published 348 incidents of child rights violations.