Experts said at a discussion on Tuesday that a rapidly expanding digital landscape was creating new risks of online sexual exploitation for children in Bangladesh.
A large number of children faced online sexual harassment, cyberbullying and blackmail or sextortion, yet digital platforms bore no accountability for their protection.
The event, titled “From Exploitation to Protection: Addressing Child Online Safety and SRHR through Law and Policy,” highlighted these concerns.
The event was organized by Terre des Hommes–Netherlands, with support from its partner organizations, Population Services and Training Center (PSTC) and Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), and hosted in collaboration with the daily Bonik Barta, with funding from the Dutch foreign affairs ministry.
The discussion also noted that nearly half of all women in the country are married before 18, increasing health risks and exposure to sexual violence. Some 62% of married adolescent girls aged 15–19 experience violence by their husbands.
Experts called for stronger legal frameworks to protect children’s sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and counter the growing threat of online sexual abuse and exploitation (OSAEC).
Held at the Westin hotel in Gulshan, the roundtable was moderated by Bonik Barta’s assistant editor and special correspondent Md Badrul Alam.
Speakers said that while existing laws include provisions to punish perpetrators, mental health support, essential services and rehabilitation options for child victims remain extremely limited. They stressed the need for a consolidated national action plan, better awareness of safe internet use, positive parenting and a child-friendly, accountable legal framework.
The event opened with welcome remarks from Terre des Hommes country manager Nazrul Islam and featured two research-based policy briefs. AKM Masud Ali, executive director of Incidin Bangladesh, presented on “Child online safety and online sexual exploitation of children.”
Professor Dr Sanzida Akhter of the University of Dhaka’s Women and Gender Studies department presented on “SRHR of children and adolescents.”
The briefs outlined barriers to protecting adolescents’ SRHR and shielding them from online sexual abuse. AKM Masud Ali said children’s internet use was rising rapidly while digital literacy and legal protections lagged behind. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have become high-risk spaces for children. Research shows 53% of children and adolescents have experienced some form of online sexual abuse in their lifetime, including grooming (53%), cyberflashing (38%) and sextortion (12%).
The risk has spread to rural areas; a study in Mollahat upazila found 30% of adolescents received pornographic texts or audio and 21% received pornographic videos.
Professor Dr Sanzida Akhter said the 2025 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) put the adolescent birth rate for girls aged 15–19 at 92 per 1,000, which she noted a deeply worrying level. Ending child marriage was identified as critical as the survey found more than half of women married before 18.
The discussion also highlighted the need for reproductive health awareness among adolescent boys. Participants said that although the topic is included in the national curriculum, many teachers avoid classroom instruction due to personal discomfort, leaving boys to rely on unreliable sources and pornography. This fuels misconceptions about consent and gender that may encourage violence later.
Discussants pointed to weaknesses in the legal framework, saying the “Cyber Security Ordinance 2025” falls short on child protection and does not align with international human rights standards. Internet service providers often remain indifferent to online harassment of children because codes of conduct to ensure accountability are poorly enforced.
Nazrul Islam, country manager of Terre des Hommes Netherlands, said: “Our aim is to keep children at the centre of the discussion. We must move the conversation forward on online safety and sexual health. Although our resources are limited, this won’t be a one-day event. Recommendations from today will be documented and shared with the government and stakeholders. Our goal was to create an open space for civil society to speak freely and strengthen networks.”
Professor Ahsan Habib of the University of Dhaka said: “A social and cognitive gap has emerged between us and the current generation. Teachers still hesitate to discuss sexual and reproductive health despite it being in the curriculum. Yet this generation is more active on social media and more exposed to global trends. Despite policy limitations, we must collectively drive this change for the country’s development.”
Md Sirajuddin Belal, head of program for prevention and protection at Justice & Care, said the growing number of children from low-income backgrounds in government safe homes was deeply concerning for their development. “Since the pandemic, device dependency has exposed children to unsafe digital spaces. Adolescents are trafficked and abused through online connections, with lives endangered by overseas scams. An average of 495 children and adolescents are trafficked from Bangladesh each year. Coordinated action from the government and development partners is urgently needed.”
Wafa Alam, senior research fellow at Brac James P Grant School of Public Health, said digital platforms are now central to adolescents’ understanding of SRHR. “This access also creates serious risks. When children seek help after online abuse, they often find no digital safety information or legal aid. Social stigma and shame compound the harm. Making digital spaces safe and ensuring accessible protection systems is now imperative.”
Dr Noor Mohammad, executive director of PSTC, said the discussion revealed the severity of adolescent reproductive health risks and online sexual exploitation. “The core problem isn’t policy alone but weak implementation and accountability. Although reproductive health and sexual awareness are included in textbooks, the subject is often ignored in classrooms because of teachers’ personal discomfort and conservative attitudes.”
Roksana Sultana, executive director of Breaking the Silence, said: “We work to expose sexual abuse within families. In our society, it is far harder to say ‘I have been sexually abused’ in Bangla than to utter the word ‘sexual’. Our aim is to create an environment where children can speak without fear, through positive parenting and parental awareness.”
Tasneem Binta Karim, national program coordinator at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said poor implementation and coordination are major crises. “A dangerous trap has emerged around social media. Lured by promises of jobs or a better future, adolescents are being drawn into online sexual exploitation, leaving them exposed not only to physical abuse but also to severe psychological harm. Addressing this requires an integrated, holistic approach in which the government, law enforcement agencies, technology service providers and families have to work together.”
Supa Barua, country coordinator of the Sufasek Project at Terre des Hommes, said two policies had been drafted under the project, one on the legal framework and one on prevention. “Sexual abuse must be addressed online and offline. In the development sector, the focus has shifted away from viewing the child solely through the lens of girls or women and towards gender equity more broadly. As initiatives to raise awareness among boys gather pace globally, there’s hope that the same momentum will strengthen in Bangladesh. We now have to focus less on the problem and more on solutions. The time is right to implement a National Plan of Action.”
Nurul Kabir, adviser for PME and fundraising at Terre des Hommes, said nearly 40 percent of children in Bangladesh use the internet and many face online sexual exploitation. “Laws are strict on paper but weak in practice. Harmful sites must be identified and blocked quickly. We need a specific National Action Plan and integrated guidelines.”
Abdur Rahman Shibli, a student and a member of Breaking the Silence’s Child Protection Forum, said: “Children representing Breaking the Silence no longer stay silent. We can all say no now. If something makes us uncomfortable or feels unjust, we have learned to speak out and protest directly.”
Mahbubul Alam, head of program at PSTC, said: “Online sexual exploitation has now spread from the national level to the most marginalized communities. Offenders are constantly changing their methods by abusing technology. In particular, there’s an urgent need for large-scale investment in research to understand how devastating online abuse is for children’s physical and mental health. The encouraging news is that we have given due prominence to online sexual exploitation in the ongoing midterm review committee of the national health strategy.”
Zumana Hayat Khan, associate researcher at Brac James P Grant School of Public Health, said a wide gap persists between policy and practice. “Policies often ignore marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities and street children. Parents’ views are also overlooked.”
Abu Hena Rumi, a member of Breaking the Silence’s Children’s Forum, said shame and fear often silence survivors, especially when abusers are relatives or neighbours. “We are working at Breaking the Silence to break this silence and amplify children’s voices.”
Sajid Montasir of PSTC Gazipur’s Children’s Forum said: “Sexual harassment is now rising at an alarming rate on online platforms, outpacing the offline world, and women and adolescent girls are the primary victims. Women in particular face cyberbullying and sexual harassment when they use social media to showcase their skills or advance their careers. Bangladesh’s existing laws and policies are not being properly enforced to curb these crimes. Through my long association with PSTC, I have seen how crucial awareness-raising short dramas, meetings and seminars are in preventing cyberbullying and online harassment.”
Professor Mohammad Bellal Hossain of the University of Dhaka said social taboos remain entrenched. “We have yet to break out of the social taboos and sense of shame that surround this issue. The deeper problem is that the state has shifted responsibility for ensuring protection onto development organizations instead of taking it on itself, even though no single organization can bear this scale of pressure alone. There’s a kind of social phobia around the issue. Overcoming it requires coordinated work with the government. The entire sector currently depends on funding from donors. Allocations from the national budget remain severely inadequate. If a sustainable solution is to be achieved, the state must take direct ownership.”
Syed Nooruddin, SRHR consultant at Plan International, said: “Although Bangladesh is home to more than 50 minority communities, their voices are effectively absent from national policymaking. This is compounded by geographic disadvantage; reaching remote areas like the char regions of Kurigram can take an entire day. Children there are cut off from education and have little or no access even to basic healthcare. Existing policies rarely reflect the realities of these marginalized communities. In many cases, girls in these areas begin menstruating before the age of 13 and, by 14 or 15, are married off and become mothers. Faced with such extreme
