Bangladesh

The climate crisis is affecting children everywhere – their lives, their communities and their health. Bangladesh – densely populated and with mostly flat and low-lying terrain – is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including extreme weather, rising sea levels, and devastating floods. One in three children in…, Rohim, 12, Bangladesh. A boy poses with his arms folded at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496641/Nihab “I want to be a scientist, because they invent things to help people…, Bushara, 10, Bangladesh. A girl poses at a Multi-Purpose Centre at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496633/Nihab “I want to be a teacher to help my family.”, Ayat, 12, Bangladesh. A boy poses for the camera at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496629/Nihab “I want to help out the community.”, Sadiya, 12, Bangladesh. A girl poses at a Multi-Purpose Centre at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496631/Nihab “I want to be a teacher to share the knowledge I’m getting…, Mohammad, 10, Bangladesh. A boy poses at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496630/Nihab “I want to be a religious scholar. And a doctor. And an engineer!”, Abdul, 13, Bangladesh. A boy poses with his arms folded at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496628/Nihab “I want to be a doctor.”, Jainana, 10, Bangladesh. A girl poses at a Multi-Purpose Centre at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496635/Nihab “I want to be a teacher and I want to travel.”, Mohammad, 12, Bangladesh. A Rohingya refugee child poses at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496640/Nihab “I want to be a teacher.”, Tasmin, 9, Bangladesh. A girl poses at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496636/Nihab “I want to teach English and Burmese.”, Shohida, 12, Bangladesh. A child’s drawing on the theme of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is pictured at a Multi-Purpose Centre in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. UNICEF/UNI496632/Nihab “I want to be a doctor. I’ll manage to somehow.”, Climate change is changing children everywhere, The climate crisis is not just changing the planet, it is changing children. Children’s bodies and minds are uniquely vulnerable to pollution, deadly diseases and extreme weather, and they are disproportionately affected by the impacts of disasters, environmental degradation and the climate crisis. Children are not simply inheritors of our…, More about the Rohingya crisis, Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugee children have spent six years in exile from their home country after fleeing violence in Myanmar. Many of them have been born into this limbo. UNICEF has been on the ground in the refugee camps in Bangladesh from day one. And we are still there, working with partners for every Rohingya refugee child who…

When Rohingya families fled into Bangladesh in 2017, many of the children escaping violence in Myanmar carried with them the weight of unimaginable horrors. Hundreds of thousands of children now sheltering in Cox’s Bazar – one of the world’s largest refugee camps – have received immediate, life-saving support in the form of food, medicines and…

Mohammad Al-Amin was 14 years old when he was arrested. He had been accused of vandalism and was transferred to a child detention centre in the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. He was terrified. Al-Amin had no idea what the conditions would be in a place that was far from his home. He arrived at a noisy facility, that was crowded with…, More than 5,000 children reunited with their families, The virtual children’s courts were developed to help expedite the backlog of cases involving children. Many had been detained after being accused of minor offences. The courts also helped to alleviate health concerns, with crowded conditions at the detention facilities putting young people at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. “When I started…, Call for virtual children’s courts to become permanent, The virtual courts were suspended in July 2021, after COVID-related restrictions were lifted in Bangladesh. UNICEF is advocating for these courts to become a permanent fixture of the justice system in the country. These virtual courts would allow for children to remain in school pending their court hearings. It would also help to avoid the…, Return to normality and school, On his release from detention, Al-Amin was assigned a probation officer to take care of the case proceedings, and two social workers to help with his return. “Rana bhai and Redwan bhai [the social workers] look after me now and visit me every now and then to see what I am up to – whether I’m studying or not, whether I’m on the right path or not,”…

31 May 2022 When COVID-19 vaccines started to arrive in Bangladesh, people felt a rush of hope. Families and friends could meet again. Life would maybe feel more normal. And it meant schools might reopen.   For children in Bangladesh, the pandemic has been a crisis like no other, affecting their education, health and well-being. About 37 million…, Mammoth task to vaccinate over 115 million people with two doses , Across the country, frontline health workers have been working in urban slums, trekking across fields and navigating rivers to get doses into people’s arms. Thanks to their efforts, over 250 million doses have now been administered, with more than 115 million people receiving two doses of the vaccine.  Young volunteers like Mohammad Al Mamun have…, Key vaccination target within reach , Bangladesh has a strong track record of rolling out mass vaccination programmes, especially for diseases like measles and rubella. But getting COVID-19 doses to communities across the country has presented specific challenges. When COVID-19 vaccines were initially developed and hit the market, wealthy countries bought most of the supplies. That…, Challenges ahead , As Bangladesh continues its push to vaccinate millions more people, the country still faces challenges.   There are still many difficult-to-reach populations, including some older, more vulnerable people. Recent data has shown that about 60 per cent of those aged 60 and over have yet to be vaccinated in Bangladesh, with some citing a lack of…

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Sadman and Mukta come from very different places. Sadman, 22, grew up in a small village in Bangladesh, while Mukta, 24, has lived her whole life in Dhaka, the country’s bustling capital. But they also have plenty in common – they’re both students, for example, and studying nutrition and food. More importantly: They are both…

An EU-funded initiative is helping to promote social cohesion between refugee and host communities

UNICEF-supported safe spaces are helping to prevent and respond to violence against girls and women

By age 17, Alia* had already experienced significant loss and instability in her life. When she was 9, her mother died, and her father remarried. When she was 16, her father died, leaving Alia to care for her younger sister. Determined to continue her studies, Alia worked as a household helper. And she found guidance and information at a local…

CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS, Bangladesh – Yochingnu has seen a lot of changes in Bangladesh over the past decade, not least in the number and quality of rural roads. But even with the welcome improvements, ensuring access to life-saving vaccinations is a hard slog, often undertaken on foot. “There are more roads now,” Yochingnu, a health worker, says…

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Sakib*, 16, smiles as he steps into his home in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, for the first time in months. “It feels so good to be back with my family,” he says as he greets them. Sakib was being held in a detention centre in Tongi on the outskirts of Dhaka. But with concern growing about the risk of COVID-19 spreading…

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Oishi knows she shouldn’t be wandering the streets right now. She’s heard of COVID-19 and knows she might get sick if she doesn’t stay inside. But her family is struggling to make ends meet during the lockdown, so she’s outside trying to sell the discarded goods she has been able to scavenge on the streets of Dhaka. “I don’t…

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh – The Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee camps are as worried about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as billions of other people around the world. So are Bangladeshi families living near the settlement, which is home to some 850,000 Rohingya refugees displaced from neighbouring Myanmar. They…