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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kaamil Ahmed

‘Invisible’ children born in the brothels of Bangladesh finally get birth certificates

Nine children lie on the floor of a classroom in a circle with their feet together in the middle around a tenth child. Two women in face masks also sit in the room. Another child can be seen at the door
In Daulatdia, a village that is one of the world’s largest legal brothels, having a birth certificate means the sex workers’ children can finally go to school. Photograph: Bengal Picture Library/Alamy

Through the decades that the Daulatdia brothel in Bangladesh has existed, children born there have been invisible, unable to be registered because their mothers were sex workers and their fathers unknown. Now, for the first time, all 400 of them in the brothel village have their own birth certificates.

That milestone was reached after a push by campaigners who have spent decades working with Bangladesh’s undocumented children born in brothels or on the street. It means they can finally access the rights afforded to other citizens: the ability to go to school, to be issued a passport or to vote.

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