children who are in contact or conflict with the law but there is no protection measures of the general children. Article 26 Equality, freedom from discrimination and equal protection of law 45. The rights to equality before the law and to equal protection of the law, and freedom from discrimination on grounds such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Article 19, 27, 28 and 29 of the Constitution of Bangladesh provides for equality and non-discrimination on the ground of relgion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Thus, the grounds of non-discrimination in the constitution of Bangladesh are narrower than those of ICCPR. Bangladesh acceded to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965on 11th June, 1979. Bangladesh adopted the Small Ethnics Cultural Institutions Act, 2010 in order to preserve culture of 27 ethnic minorities. The National Education Policy (2010) also includes provision for primary education in own mother tongue. The 15th amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh refers to tribes, minority races, ethnic sects and communities, in order to preserve diversity and protect the rights of minority groups. Through 15th Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh, article 12 has been restored. This article provides for a secular state and protects freedom of religion. 46. However, currently there is no anti-discrimination law in Bangladesh. A legal framework on anti-discrimination is essential for defining discrimination and to provide remedy in case of violation of the right to equality and non-discrimination. Under the current framework of affirmative action for the disadvantaged segments of the people, e.g. Dalits and transgender who remain some of the poorest people in Bangladesh are excluded. The NHRC thinks that there should have an Anti-Discrimination Legislation for which NHRC is advocating with a strong voice to bridge the gap of the vacuum of legislation. A draft legislation on Anti-discrimination has already been drafted and submitted to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs which is now at the vetting stage. 47. Realisation of equal protection of law requires access to justice for all. But access to justice remains a hollow promise to the vast majority of people of Bangladesh for many reasons. Prohibitive cost of litigation, inordinate delay in the courts, corruption in the justice delivery spheres, backlogging of cases, and complex procedural rules are few, if not exhaustive causes, which remain as obstacles to access to justice. Legal system continues to be inaccessible to economically and socially disadvantaged segments of society as they can not afford to pay lawyers to vindicate their rights, which itself constitutes a violation of human rights. Many poor people also live far away from centres providing legal services and have very few legal resources and facilities in their communities.40 The lack of human and physical resources, inadequate training, malfunctioning of systems can also restrict the access to justice to a significant extent. 40 .Shahdeen Malik, ‘Access to Justice: A Truncated View from Bangladesh’, in: Rudolf V. Van Puymbroeck (ed.) Comprehensive Legal and Judicial Development: Toward an Agenda for a Just and Equitable Society in the 21st Century, Washington D.C., World Bank, (2001). 22