PART- I: INTRODUCTION 1. This report presents the views of the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh on Bangladesh’s status of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. The National Human Rights Commission (BNHRC) was constituted under the National Human Rights Commission Act, 2009 in the light of ‘the Paris Principles’ to promote and protect human rights in Bangladesh. The NHRC’s functions include advising the Government about signing, ratifying and implementing international human rights treaties.1 As explained in the Information Note on National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) on interaction with the UN Treaty Body System, published by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 5 April 2011: “One of the key roles of NHRIs, as outlined in the Paris Principles, is the interaction with international human rights mechanisms and the promotion of ratification of human rights treaties. National Human Rights Institutions have a duty to contribute to the reports which States are required to submit to United Nations bodies and committees, and to regional institutions, pursuant to their treaty obligations and, where necessary, to express an opinion on the subject, with due respect for their independence.” 2. Bangladesh has ratified eight of the core international human rights instruments including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Accordingly, it undertook to report to the treaty body established under each of the respective conventions on the status of its implementation of its conventional legal obligations. Bangladesh submitted its Fifth State Party Periodic Report on CRC in 2012.2 3. The present report offers an independent assessment of the Government’s compliance with its legal obligations under the CRC. As such, it is intended to help the Government to bring its law, policy and practice into closer conformity with the CRC. 4. The present report goes systematically through the CRC provisions to review the Government’s compliance with its legal obligations. The analyses presented in this report focus on the period of time elapsed since the Committee on the Rig hts of the Child issued its Concluding Observations on Bangladesh’s Fifth Periodic Report. In addition, the report discusses in detail two statutes namely: (1) the Children Act 2013 and (2) the Rights and Protection of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2013, both of which were enacted after Bangladesh’s fifth State party report was submitted. 1 See section 12 of the National Human Rights Commission Act 2009. 2 This Report has been prepared mainly by collecting and analyzing information received from primary and secondary materials. The primary materials consist of Acts of Parliament, Presidential Order, UN resolutions and decisions of the Supreme Court. Secondary materials include BNHRC publications, the Second Cycle UPR Report submitted by the Government of Bangladesh and reports of the stakeholders and NGOs, including books, news reports, online resources and other information provided by Government bodies. 7