Milon is one such 12-year-old boy who is living rough on the streets of Dhaka. When Anadolu Agency found him, he was sniffing glue, the drug of choice for most children, on the footpath of a busy road.

He was surrounded by three boys like him. It appeared that they were enjoying the harmful substance, but then appearances can be deceiving. 

The young boy said it had already been four years since he left his house. He said it became unbearable for him at home after his father died and his mother remarried.

"My stepfather did not like me. He used to beat me every day. Then I left the house and started living on the footpath," he recalled.

Now he earns a living by collecting paper and plastic from garbage. And all this hard-earned money then goes into feeding his drug habit.