Many children across different provinces of Afghanistan says that poverty and the absence of parental care have kept them from attending school. Instead they are forced to work hard as a labor. These children explain that they have been separated from the world of childhood in order to provide their families’ needs.
Juma Khan an 11 years old resident of Parwan who is the breadwinner of his nine membered family, says that providing needs of his family made him to give up the simple dreams of his childhood. He said that he collected plastic bottles in the market and he wished that he could go to school and study. He says: “Each day, when I collect papers, I can only earn a few Afghanis to buy bread.”
Also Abdul Khair, a 13-years old resident of Ghor who carries the heavy responsibility of supporting his family explains that his father’s inability to cover living expenses, has kept him from attending school. He says that he wakes up early in the morning, fills his bag with plastic garbages, and then sells them to earn 20 to 30 Afghanis each day. He adds that he is not able to go to school because of his father inability.
This is only one example of the realities of Afghan children’s life working on the streets. Widespread poverty, which has left many citizens struggling, has also stolen joys of childhood from these children.
Another child laborer named Mirwais, is 15 years old from Ghor province and works in a local restaurant says that he dreams the day in which he will dress like other children on his age and go to school. He also wishes that one day would come that he wake up in the morning and put on his backpack just to go to school. He says that he works so hard, but it doesn’t help. He wished that someone would supported him so that he could study.”
Same as other children, Aimal, from Kabul who is only 10 years old tells Salam Watandar’s interviewer that he lives in a seven membered family. Aimal is a breadwinner of his family and he collects bottles every day. He requested the government to pave the ground for going to school and studying.
International organizations have repeatedly expressed their concern about the difficult living conditions of Afghan children, including their exposure to food insecurity and limited access of children to education and healthcare services.
Despite this, officials of Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Islamic Emirate emphasized on their ongoing efforts for eliminating child labor in Afghanistan. Samiaullah Ebrahimi, the ministry’s spokesperson, says that child protection committees have been established in all provinces since the return of the Islamic Emirate. Over the past four years, 50,000 child cases have been addressed which majority of them involved laborer children who worked hard.
Juma Khan Pouya, a human rights activist, says that implementing effective solutions can put an end to violence against children and their hard workings. He adds that according to existing laws, it is the fundamental rights of children to have access to all basic life services. Children should be seen as the potential force and the beating heart of a society so they should receive greater attention.
Although there is no precise statistics on the number of child workers in Afghanistan. According to the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of UN data, one in every five children in Afghanistan is engaged in hard labor.
