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This document draws on information, lessons learned and recommendations on Bangladesh from the report: Child Recruitment in South Asia: A Comparative Analysis of Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. The full report examines two conflict settings, Sri Lanka and Nepal, with a view to contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon of recruitment and use of child soldiers, primarily by the non-State armed groups, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist). From this understanding and the analysis of the situation of children in Bangladesh contained in the report, the following summary identifies potential vulnerabilities of children to recruitment into armed groups there. While there is currently no armed conflict in Bangladesh, nor any studies indicating that recruitment of children is common, there is clear evidence of vulnerabilities among children that could lead to their recruitment and use by armed groups, should conflict develop. The use of children by non-State armed groups does not take place in a vacuum. A range of conditions, many of which underlie the conflict itself, also make children vulnerable to joining groups which participate in that conflict. Bangladesh shares with Sri Lanka and Nepal many of these conditions that have made children in those settings vulnerable to recruitment, including poverty, discrimination, inequality and exclusion. It also has a culture of political violence, tensions over issues of religion and identity, and a history of the use of child soldiers, all of which combine to create a situation where conflict is possible and where children could be used by armed groups. By looking at the drivers behind the use of children as soldiers in conflicts in Nepal and Sri Lanka, the full report seeks to examine the root causes of recruitment, which can be used to inform advocacy and policy options. This summary seeks to draw on these lessons in relation to Bangladesh. In addition, the summary includes a set of recommendations which, if implemented, would reduce the risk to Bangladeshi children of being exploited by armed groups and criminal gangs. Further information
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Child_Recruitment_in_South_Asia_Conflicts,_Bang...