Breaking the Cycle of Injustice: Investigating Restorative Justice Solutions for Street Begging Children in Dhaka City, Bangladesh through a Comprehensive Socio-Legal Analysis

Abstract

Street children in Dhaka are subjected to subtle abuse, exploitation, and violence, like children in many third-world countries. Children are found in vulnerable conditions in street-side homes, public walkways, local bazaars, in front of big buildings, and at public gatherings. It contrasts with the UN SDGs' goals and juvenile rights conferred by articles 02 to 41 of the UNCRC3, the Children Act 2013, and many other national and international laws. Is it not the responsibility of the state to comply with the mandate under international laws and the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. What role have the special laws for women and children played in confirming safeguards from all forms of discrimination and vulnerabilities? Children should be safeguarded and free from all psychological, physiological, inhuman, and other nuances of human exploitation. This contrast to development objectives and the frequency of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of street children in all spheres of social, economic, and cultural life is a major problem that reinvestigated the efficacy of the rule of law and challenged the restorative justice solution mechanism in place for street children in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. A comprehensive socio-legal analysis of the Children Act of 2013 was done using a mixed-methods approach. The study sought to identify the challenges to the effective execution of the Children Act 2013 in Bangladesh and explore how restorative justice approachescan break the cycle of injustice for the most deprived and vulnerable children in society. The study explores the socio-legal perspective through doctrinal and applied informatics approaches to explore, inter alia, the uprising rate of begging children on the streets of Dhaka. The study's findings explore the shortcomings of the restorative justice mechanism and attempt to address an alternative mechanism to deal with the root causes of street begging and promote social reintegration. This study included observations and interviews with key stakeholders and reviewed relevant literature and aims to provide insight into the effectiveness of protecting the rights and well-being of street children under the current legal system in providing protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration of street begging children under the Children Act 2013. The study addresses some specific reformations of the policy framework and practises to ensure better protection of the rights of street children and promote their social inclusion in the mainstream of city stakeholders in Dhaka. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to identifying evidence-based policy recommendations for improving the lives of street-begging children in Dhaka City.