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Tuesday | November 03, 2026 | Dhaka

20pc of social sector budget for children underscored

 New Nation
 Published: 12:00 AM, 24 January 2017

The UNICEF country representative Edouard Beigbeder urged the government to invest 20 percent of the social budget for children by 2020 for betterment of the children.
“The effects of climate change are tangible, disproportionately affecting children. To ensure a good start in life and opportunities for every child to develop their full capacity —Bangladesh to invest 20 per cent of the social sector budget for children by 2020 for their better life and to attain the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said
He said this on Sunday while addressing a ceremony of releasing a new UNICEF Bangladesh report titled “Learning to Live in a Changing Climate: the Impact of Climate Change on Children in Bangladesh”
The key report findings were presented at the launch of ‘Policy Review, Institutional Mapping and Action Plan on Climate Change and Children’ – a collaborative project by UNICEF and Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS).
Professor Shamsul Alam, Member, Senior Secretary, GED, Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh released the report as the chief guest of the program.
Md Reaz Ahmed, Director General, Department of Disaster Management, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and Dr. A. Atiq Rahman, Executive Director, Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies, were present on the occasion.
Climate change and environmental degradation undermine child rights, especially of the most disadvantaged children, which is particularly critical in Bangladesh as one of the most climate vulnerable countries, the report said.
It shows that between 2008 and 2014, around 4.7 million people were displaced while 70 percent of Dhaka’s slum dwellers are environmental migrants. Moreover, climate change is threatening to reverse Bangladesh’s development gains towards universal access to primary education, health services, safe water, ending child marriage and child labour, and eradicating hunger and malnutrition.
“Children are more vulnerable to climate change than adults. Some 85 percent of disease from climate change affects children, while the risks of water and vector-borne diseases, malnutrition, death and injury during disasters increase among children owing to climate change,” the report said.
Children experience prolonged school closures due to flooding. Families losing livelihoods due to climate change and migrating to urban slums lack basic services and expose children to violence, exploitation and abuse.
These children often stop going to school, with boys at risk of child labour and girls of child marriage. Climate change also aggravates inequality and if not addressed, it will harm the most vulnerable children first, hardest, and longest, the report added.