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KUNDUZ (SW): Children are forced to work in hamams (public showers) in Kunduz for 14 hours daily due to family constraints and economic pressure.
Barakatullah and Obeidullah are 13 and 14, respectively, and are brothers. Their old father works in a brickwork factory, and their jobs are to warm up the bathhouses, clean up the shower rooms, and polish shoes of clients.
The exhaustion and suffering of the long hours of work are clearly seen in the face of Barakatullah. His father asked them to cover their home and family expenses in any way possible, he said.
Although, the two brothers work in the bath houses, but their faces were stained with the smoke because their work involves warming up the shower rooms and polishing the shoes. Their distress is that they cannot go to school unlike many other children to make their future bright.
In accordance with the law about violence against children, Article 4, clause 1: The child is defined as a person who has not completed the 18 years of age. According to the Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of Children, which Afghanistan has also signed, a child is a person below the age of 18.
Under the Labor Code, children over the age of 14 can work, but under the thirteenth article of this law, children under the age of 18 can work in conditions that cannot cause physical or disability risk to them.
In most bread-shops in Kunduz, children under the age of 14 are working. In the law against human trafficking, the work of children under the age of 14 is also completely illegal.
The 14-year-old Noor Agha has been working in a bread-shop in Kunduz for about 4 years. His father is disabled, and this has forced Noor Agha to leave school to work in a bread-shop. Noor Agha sleeps and works in the bread-shop. He said that he works for 18 hours a day. Due to long working hours, this teenager is also deprived of going to school to continue studies.
However, the exact numbers of child laborers in Kunduz is still unknown.
The Directorate of Labor and Social Affairs has informed that according to the United Nations Children’s Support Office, 13% of children in Kunduz province are engaged in child labor.
It seems that there has not yet been a practical step to prevent child labor. The Directorate of Labor and Social Affairs of Kunduz has claimed that they have plenty of plans and programs in sight, but because of the lack of funds, there have been no programs in place.
According to UNICEF, there are 6 million children at risk in Afghanistan, including 1.2 million working as child laborers.
The provincial office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in Kunduz, considered the statistics to be very high and disturbing. Bismillah Waziri, head of AIHRC Regional Office for the Protection and Development of Children’s Rights in Kunduz, said the commission has launched investigation into the adverse outcomes of child labor.
ENDS
