Rights Investigation
Malnourished right to nutrition
Many children in Bangladesh are suffering from malnutrition. In the prevailing nutritional status, it was surprising to see the front-page news (The Daily Star/ November 13, 2013) related to sufferings of milkmen forced to sell their milk in many locations due to unavailability of transport amidst Hartal. Researchers have long been drawing attention towards malnutrition of children. Recent increases in violent political programme have taken its toll on children in a number of ways. While many children suffered injuries recently by mistakenly picking crude bombs left by political hooligans in the street, children from underprivileged communities suffer in other means too.
The right to adequate nutrition is established in numerous international instruments, from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It has been stated in Article 24 of the CRC that states must take appropriate measures to diminish infant and child mortality and combat disease and malnutrition through, among other things, the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water. Article 12 of CEDAW also requires states to ensure appropriate services in connection with pregnancy as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation. All major human rights conventions together with these two major instruments establish a web of nutrition, health, social and economic human rights protections that obligate governments to ensure the right of every woman, child and person to adequate nutrition.
However, caloric availability does not guarantee food security. Between 2000 and 2007, Bangladesh was largely self-sufficient in terms of production of rice. However, improvements in caloric availability have not translated into positive effects on maternal health and child nutrition. Low dietary diversity and lack of equitable distribution of food manifest as vitamin and mineral deficiencies and maternal and child malnutrition.
Available statistics on nutrition sound very bleak. It reveals that almost 36 percent of children under-five are underweight and 41 percent of all children in the same age group shows stunting in consequence of malnutrition. When we have such a vast number of malnourished or undernourished children we are looking to a stunted future. So many babes with impaired physical and mental faculties conjure up the image of nearly half of the adult population being at a debilitating disadvantage to contribute to the nation's future.
As it has been estimated, at least 4.9 lakh litres of milk goes sour or sells for throwaway prices on a hartal day, as leading dairy producers Milk Vita, Brac and Pran have stopped buying and transporting milk fearing shutdown violence. According to an estimate of Bangladesh Milk Producers' Cooperative Union Ltd, that owns Milk Vita, at least 1.5 lakh dairy farmers with unsold milk and around 5,000 transporters without pay have to go through untold hardship during the politically troubled times.
Who are the ultimate sufferers? This affects millions of consumers including children, senior citizens and ailing people, who remain deprived of essential nutrition of milk. Children and mothers from extreme poor households not only suffer from low income in a Hartal day, but forced also to compromise quality and quantity of food items largely due to scarcity of food in the local market.
To conclude, Children having nutritious food are likely to do well in the school. The first 1,000 days [from the day a woman becomes pregnant to the time that child turns two] is the most critical period to build the nutrition profile of a child. Both parties in power and parties engaged in demonstrations have responsibilities towards children and mother. What are the political parties aiming for while depriving them from essential nutrition?
The writer is a human rights worker.
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