Published: 12:33 AM, 12 October 2026
Girl Child Protection: Risks That Cross Economic Boundaries
Concern in Bangladesh about girls’ safety is growing among parents. Safety while travelling to and from school, contact with strangers, sexual harassment, rape, and child marriage are long-standing common concerns. But new risks such as social media, online fraud, sexually abusive content, digital exploitation, trafficking, and children going missing have joined the common concerns.
The protection of girls is no longer an issue concerning only poor or marginalized families; in the digital age, it has also become a concern for middle-class and affluent families in Bangladesh and across the globe.
Every year, the International Day of the Girl Child is observed worldwide on October 11. The voices, initiatives, and leadership of girls are highlighted and amplified on this day across the globe. This year’s theme is “End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls’ Rights.” The Government of Bangladesh has decided to observe “National Girl Child Day 2026” on October 12.
What is Child Protection?
According to UNICEF’s Child Protection Strategy 2021–2030: “Child protection is the prevention of and response to exploitation, abuse, neglect, harmful practices and violence against children.” Violence against children can occur at home, in schools, communities and online, and in many cases, the perpetrators may be people known to and trusted by the child.
Concerns for Girls in Bangladesh on the Rise
Recent statistics on the protection of girls in Bangladesh seems to be a major cause of concern. The Bangladesh Mahila Parishad’s newspaper-based monitoring for 2025 presents a frustrating scenario. In 2025, the organization documented 786 women and girls as victims of rape and gang rape. Of these, 543 were under the age of 18. The same report documented 142 cases of gang rape, 203 suicides, and 117 attempted rape cases involving girls.
The situation appears even more concerning this year. According to data from the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, a total of 1,919 incidents of violence against women and girls were documented during the first eight months of the year. Of these, 884 involved girls. From January to August 2026, 331 rape cases involved 240 girls; of the 33 cases of rape followed by murder, 22 victims were girls. In 136 attempted rape cases, 112 of the victims were girls.
Concern from International Organizations
One worrying aspect of the child protection crisis in Bangladesh is that even places considered safe for children may not always be safe. In March 2025, UNICEF Bangladesh expressed concern over the increase in sexual violence against children in Bangladesh, particularly girls.
In May 2026, the organization again expressed deep concern over incidents of violence, including the rape and killing of children. UNICEF has said that protection measures and accountability need to be strengthened everywhere children spend time, including families, educational institutions, workplaces, neighborhoods and service centers.
In other words, the safety of girls is not limited to risks on roads or from strangers. In many cases, risks may also emerge from familiar individuals, social relationships and even environments where children go with a sense of trust.
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Girls Is a Serious Concern
Every year, the United States Department of State publishes its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report on human trafficking around the world. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 TIP Reports have each stated that “child sex trafficking remains prevalent in Bangladesh” and estimated that around 30,000 girls are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
The reports also state that traffickers lure women and girls with false promises of employment or income and push them into commercial sexual exploitation. UNICEF’s 2025 report titled ‘Stopping the Traffic’ identified poverty, climate-induced displacement, child marriage, social inequality and weak protection systems as important risk factors contributing to trafficking.
Increasing Online Risks for Girls
In 2025, UNICEF Bangladesh highlighted the case of an 11-year-old girl who went missing after communicating with an adult man through social media and was later rescued far from her home.
A recent study involving 456 students from Grades 9 and 10 at four schools in Bangladesh found that 53.3 percent of the students reported experiencing at least one form of online sexual abuse at some point in their lives. Notably, the study found that children in urban areas face a higher risk of online sexual abuse than children in rural areas.
Although there has not been sufficient recent nationwide discussion about the online safety of girls in Bangladesh, existing research points to concerning risks of online sexual abuse, grooming, stalking, sexting and blackmail involving children’s private images.
In terms of online safety risks for girls, parents from middle-class and affluent families may face concerns. Expensive smartphones and widespread access to mobile devices among students at well-resourced schools can, rather than automatically improve girls’ safety, increase the risk of their personal information being misused for blackmail. Girls from middle-class and affluent families can therefore also face significant risks in this area.
In 2025, UNICEF Bangladesh conducted a youth survey involving nearly 29,000 children and young people. Two-thirds of the participants reported that fake news and misinformation on social media had caused them stress.
Global Concerns for Girls
Bangladesh’s situation should also be viewed in a global context. A new UNICEF study published in September 2026, analyzing data from 21 countries, found that nearly one in five children aged 12–17—approximately 20 million children—experienced forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence and abuse within a one-year period.
UNICEF data shows as well that nearly 650 million women and girls worldwide experienced sexual violence during childhood—approximately one in five. Of these, more than 370 million experienced rape or sexual assault during childhood.
More than 40 percent of girl victims of tech-facilitated abuse never shared with anyone, while fewer than 1 percent were reported to authorities such as the police, social workers, or helplines. Globally, the most common reason children remained silent was not knowing where to go or who to tell.
Bangladesh Made Legal Progress, but Reality Remains Concerning
In 2026, Bangladesh introduced new legislation to prevent human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Meanwhile, the Cyber Security Act 2026 includes provisions addressing blackmail, sexual harassment, revenge pornography, the unauthorized publication of private sexual images or videos, and blackmail involving sexual content.
This indicates that Bangladesh’s legal framework is also evolving in response to emerging risks. However, there remains a gap between having laws in place and ensuring the safety of girls.
Who Is Responsible for Protecting Girls?
Who is responsible for ensuring the protection and safety of girls? Is it the government, law enforcement agencies, parents, neighbors, or someone else? The responsibility for protecting girls belongs to everyone.
Protecting girls does not simply mean restricting them from going outside. It is essential to create an environment where they can speak safely, educate them about online and offline safety, and stand beside them in times of danger rather than blaming them.
This is not simply about protecting girls from a single type of crime. It means creating an environment that protects their freedom of movement, education, friendships, use of technology, personal dignity and future—an environment in which girls can grow up with safety and confidence rather than fear.
Raton Malo works for an
international development
organization in Bangladesh and is a
freelance media professional. He can be reached at [email protected]
