Bangladesh slips 4 notches in global child rights index
Bangladesh is only behind Bhutan, which ranked the highest among South Asian countries
Bangladesh has slipped four notches in the KidsRights Index 2020, ranking 112th among 182 countries.
Last year, the country was in the 108th position among 181 countries.
According to the 2020 index, Bangladesh has achieved an overall score of 0.671 points out of the highest possible score of 1.
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The KidsRights Index is annually published by the KidsRights Foundation, an international children's aid and advocacy NGO. The index measures how children's rights are respected worldwide and to what extent countries are committed to improving the rights of children.
Bangladesh is only behind Bhutan, which ranked the highest among South Asian countries.
Bhutan ranks 99th in the KidsRights Index 2020, while neighbouring India stands at 113, followed by the Maldives at 116, Nepal at 134, Sri Lanka at 143 and Pakistan at 147.
On the other hand, ranking at 181, Afghanistan falls below all South Asian countries. It also stood at the second-lowest among all 182 listed nations.
The ranking consists of five domains and 20 indicators using UN data and evidence collected from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Out of all five domains, Bangladesh has ranked below 112, which is the country's overall ranking. The country has performed poorly in children's right to health, education and protection, ranking 132nd on each index.
Even in the right to life ranking, the country stood at 118th.
Environment for Child Rights is the only domain where Bangladesh ranked well – ranking above 30.
The index highlights developed countries such as the United Kingdom (169), New Zealand (168) and Australia (135) hold relatively shallow positions as a result of their "very poor" performances in domain five – Enabling Environment for Child Rights.
Iceland stood top in the index, followed by Switzerland and Finland. Thailand is the only country other than Europe that has taken place in the top ten.
Chad, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone are the bottom three countries on the index.
KidsRights Chairman Marc Dullaert said, "This crisis [coronavirus crisis] turns back the clock on years of progress made on the wellbeing of children. Therefore, a strong focus on children's rights is needed now more than ever."
"However, as long as governments are struggling to keep their healthcare systems and the economies running, it is questionable to what extent they can provide this focus. Giving children the cold shoulder can be disastrous in the short-term, but more so in the long term, for both the current and the future generation," warned Dullaert.
