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Public areas, including government buildings, often lacked wheelchair accessibility. The government improved access to workplaces for persons with disabilities by revising building codes and included disabled persons in youth education programs. Consensual same-sex sexual activity for males is illegal under indecency statutes; however, the law was not strictly enforced. Consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adult men carries a maximum penalty of 15 years. Although societal attitudes toward homosexuality improved, media reported some cases in which they impeded operation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex LGBTI organizations.
There were limited reports of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in a variety of settings. There were no reports of public violence committed against LGBTI persons due to their real or perceived sexual orientation. Some persons claimed fear, stigma, and discrimination impaired the willingness of HIV-positive persons to obtain treatment, and HIV-positive persons reported several incidents of discrimination from health-care professionals and police. The ministry also trained a number of health-care professionals and police officers in antidiscriminatory practices.
The ministry reported stigmatization of HIV-positive persons, while still a significant problem, had decreased, especially among police.
Rape and Domestic Violence : The law prohibits rape of a female by a male and physical spousal abuse, but the law excludes marital rape if the female is older than Rape can be punished by life imprisonment or the death penalty. There were reports of sexual violence with impunity. On August 17, police freed Awami League official Mohammed al-Helal four hours after he was arrested on charges of raping an year-old girl in her home in Sherpur Upazila in Helal was taken into custody but was freed later, on technical grounds. According to human rights monitors, many victims did not report rapes due to lack of access to legal services, social stigma, fear of further harassment, and the legal requirement to furnish witnesses.
In April the High Court released a point guideline on the handling of rape cases by law enforcement personnel and other parties to the matter. The guidelines came in response to a writ petition following complaints of delays in recording rape cases. According to the guidelines, the Officer-in-Charge OC of a police station must record any information relating to rape or sexual assault irrespective of the place of occurrence. The High Court guidelines also stipulated every police station must have a female police officer available to victims of rape or sexual assault during the recording of the case by the duty officer.
The statements of the victim are required to be recorded in the presence of a lawyer a social worker or protection officer, or any other individual the victim deems appropriate. Victims with disabilities should be provided with government-supported interpretation services, if necessary, and the investigating officer along with a female police officer should escort the victim to a timely medical examination.
From January through September, HRSS documented 35 women killed and an additional 41 women injured as a result of dowry-related violence. On March 6, Rima Begum died at Ujirpur Health Complex after sustaining injuries from dowry-related violence by her husband. On September 16, parliament, in an apparent bid to stop abuse of the Dowry Prohibition Act, adopted the Dowry Prohibition Act of incorporating new provisions and rearranging some of the provisions in the original law. Islamic tradition dictates only those religious scholars with expertise in Islamic law may declare a fatwa.
Despite these restrictions village religious leaders sometimes made such declarations. The declarations resulted in extrajudicial punishments, often against women, for perceived moral transgressions. Incidents of vigilantism against women occurred, sometimes led by religious leaders enforcing fatwas. The incidents included whipping, beating, and other forms of physical violence. Assailants threw acid in the faces of victims—usually women—leaving them disfigured and often blind.
The law seeks to control the availability of acid and reduce acid-related violence directed toward women, but lack of awareness of the law and poor enforcement limited its effect. The Commerce Ministry restricted acid sales to buyers registered with relevant trade organizations. On February 4, Sujan Chandra Paul and Arjun Chandra Paul, along with two other assailants, threw acid on the newlywed Jharna Rani, while she was riding on a motorcycle in Baliadangi Upazila with her husband, causing severe burns to her.
The charges against the assailants were pending at the end of the year.

Discrimination : The constitution declares all citizens equal before the law with entitlement to equal protection of the law. Women do not enjoy the same legal status and rights as men in family, property, and inheritance law. Under traditional Islamic inheritance law, daughters inherit only half of what sons do. Birth Registration : Individuals are born citizens if their parents were Bangladeshi citizens, if the nationality of the parents is unknown and the child is born in Bangladeshi territory, or if their fathers or grandfathers were born in the territories now part of the country.
If a person qualifies for citizenship through ancestry, the father or grandfather must have been a permanent resident of these territories in or after Birth registration is required to obtain a national identity card or passport. Education : Education is free and compulsory through fifth grade by law, and the government offered subsidies to parents to keep girls in class through 10th grade. Despite free classes, teacher fees, books, and uniforms remained prohibitively costly for many families, and the government distributed hundreds of millions of free textbooks to increase access to education.
Enrollments in primary schools showed gender parity, but completion rates fell in secondary school, with more boys than girls completing that level. Child Abuse : Many forms of child abuse, including sexual abuse, physical and humiliating punishment, child abandonment, kidnapping, and trafficking, continued to be serious and widespread problems. Children were vulnerable to abuse in all settings: home, community, school, residential institutions, and the workplace.
Peru- Coastal cities. Median HIV prevalence among male sex workers reported from 8 European countries between and was 7. Although societal attitudes toward homosexuality improved, media reported some cases in which they impeded operation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex LGBTI organizations. Social stigma against HIV and AIDS and against higher-risk populations could be a barrier for accessing health services, especially for the transgender community and men who have sex with men. The law criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual conduct, and there were reports of harassment and violence by society and police. Child Abuse : Child abuse was reportedly a pervasive problem, but up-to-date statistics on child abuse cases were not available. Lack of security remained a challenge for disability programs.
On August 4, Supreme Court Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain expressed frustration with 75 judges of 69 juvenile courts across the country for keeping more than 21, juvenile cases pending, including cases pending for more than five years. The Children Act of calls for opening child friendly courts across the country.
Despite advances, including establishing a monitoring agency in the Ministry of Home Affairs, trafficking of children and inadequate care and protection for survivors of trafficking continued to be problems. Child labor and abuse at the workplace remained problems in certain industries, mostly in the informal sector, and child domestic workers were vulnerable to all forms of abuse at their informal workplaces.
Early and Forced Marriage : The legal age of marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men.
In the High Court ruled that the government should explain why the provision allowing the marriage of a minor should not be declared illegal in response to a writ petition filed by BNWLA. In June, Abhaynagar subdistrict officials stopped the underage marriage of year-old Bonna Roy. The fiance fled the scene. Roy was returned to her parents. According to government data, 52 per cent of girls were victims of child marriage in According to the UNICEF report, child marriage prevalence has fallen by 15 percent globally, whereas the rate of decrease in South Asia was 30 percent.
The government and NGOs conducted workshops and public events to teach parents the importance of their daughters waiting until age 18 before marrying. Child pornography and the selling or distributing of such material is prohibited. There was no Jewish community in the country, but politicians and imams reportedly used anti-Semitic statements to gain support from their constituencies. The law provides for equal treatment and freedom from discrimination for persons with disabilities, but the government did not effectively enforce these provisions.
Although the law requires physical structures be made accessible to those with disabilities, the government did not implement the law effectively. The law calls for the establishment of local committees to expedite implementation of the law, but most committees have not yet been activated. In many cases local authorities are not aware of their responsibilities under this law. A report prepared by several NGOs in highlighted negligence in areas such as accessibility in physical structures; access to justice; rights of women with disabilities; freedom from exploitation, violence, and abuse; the right to education, health, and a decent work place; the right to employment; and political rights and representation.
The law requires persons with disabilities to register for identity cards to track their enrollment in educational institutions and access to jobs. This registration allows them to be included in voter lists, to cast votes, and to participate in elections.
The law also created a member National Coordination Committee charged with coordinating relevant activities among all government organizations and private bodies to fulfill the objectives of the law. Implementation of the law was slow, delaying the formation and functioning of Disability Rights and Protection Committees required by the legislation.
According to the NGO Action against Disability, 90 percent of children with disabilities did not attend public school. The government trained teachers about inclusive education and recruited disability specialists at the district level. The government also allocated stipends for students with disabilities. The law affords persons with disabilities the same access to information rights as nondisabled persons, but family and community dynamics often influenced whether these rights were exercised.
The law identifies persons with disabilities as a priority group for government-sponsored legal services.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, the Department of Social Services, and the National Foundation for the Development of the Disabled are the government agencies responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. The government did take official action to investigate those responsible for violence and abuses against persons with disabilities. Amzad lured the girl into an open field with promises of agricultural produce. Members of the community telephoned the Bangladesh National Help Desk.
On January 21, Bangladesh Police arrested the father, grandparents, and aunt for the murder of one-month old Akita Khatun.
Akita was born prematurely and suffered from severe disabilities. Later, police found Akita dead in the cabinet in her home. Government facilities for treating persons with mental disabilities were inadequate. The Ministry of Health established child development centers in all public medical colleges to assess neurological disabilities.
Several private initiatives existed for medical and vocational rehabilitation as well as for employment of persons with disabilities. National and international NGOs provided services and advocated for persons with disabilities. The government established disability information and service centers in all 64 districts, where local authorities provided free rehabilitation services and assistive devices. The government also promoted autism research and awareness. The government inaugurated an electronic system to disburse social welfare payments, including disability allowances.
Government inaction limited the rights of persons with disabilities to participate in civic life, including accessibility in elections. There were no major attacks on religious minorities motivated by transnational violent extremism. There were, however, reports of attacks on Hindu and Buddhist property and temples for economic and political reasons. Police had not filed charges against Muslim villagers accused of vandalizing and burning approximately 30 Hindu houses in Rangpur in November in response to a rumored Facebook post demeaning Islam.
NGOs reported national origin, racial, and ethnic minorities faced discrimination. For example, some Dalits lowest-caste Hindus had restricted access to land, adequate housing, education, and employment. The Chittagong Hill Tracts CHT indigenous community experienced widespread discrimination and abuse despite nationwide government quotas for participation of indigenous CHT residents in the civil service and higher education.
These conditions also persisted despite provisions for local governance in the CHT Peace Accord, which had not been fully implemented. Indigenous persons from the CHT were unable to participate effectively in decisions affecting their lands due to disagreements regarding land dispute resolution procedures under the Land Commission Act. The government continued construction projects on land traditionally owned by indigenous communities in the Moulvibazar and Modhupur forest areas.
The central government retained authority over land use. The land commission, designed to investigate and return all illegally acquired land, did not resolve any disputes during the year. The Chakma and Marma indigenous communities, organized under different political groups, engaged in intraindigenous community violence causing dozens of deaths. According to press accounts, at least 34 members of the two indigenous groups were killed by intraindigenous community rivals from January to August. Media reports said many leaders of these factions are engaged in extortion of money.
Meanwhile, the deaths and violence remain unresolved.