Child laborers seek government’s support

Kabul (Pajhwok): A number of child laborers say the government should assist them, while the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs says subjecting children to hard labor is unlawful and calls on international institutions to fulfill their responsibility in addressing the stigma.

June 12 is marked World Day against Child Labor. The International Labor Organization named this day after it in 2002.

National and international laws prohibit hard labor that harms children’s mental development and physical health and prevents them from studying.

According to reports, the number of child laborers is higher in countries with low incomes.

Afghanistan is also one of the countries where many children do hard labor, but the exact number is not known.

What child laborers say?

Ahmad Javed, an 11-year-old resident of Maimana city who sells fruit juice on a hand-cart, says that he comes to the city after morning prayers and sells fruit juice until evening.

“I sell energy juice and earn 100 to 200 afghanis and take the money home. God is kind, it is enough.”

“I want the government to give us something so that I can go to school and I want to become an engineer, or a doctor, or a teacher in the future; I want my future to be built.”

11-year-old Abida, wearing old clothes, shines people’s shoes in Maimana, the capital of Faryab. “We came to Faryab from Badakhshan, I have one brother and two sisters. My father is ailing and my mother works in people’s houses. I shine shoes and earn 30 to 40 afghanis, I take it home and buy food with it.”

“I hope to become a teacher or a doctor and educate people,” she says.

Abu Bakr, a 10-year-old resident of Kabul’s Taif Maskin neighborhood, who carries people’s goods on his handcart in the vegetable and fruit market, says he works  till 1pm and then goes to a madrasa and school to study.

He described his work tiring and said he earned 100 afghanis a day.

Abu Bakr says: “I ask the Islamic Emirate to find a job for my father so I can study.”

Mohammad Kazim, a 9-year-old who carries people’s goods on his handcart in the vegetable and fruit market, also says after work he goes to school in the evening.

He sometimes earns 100 or 200 afghanis a day. “Pushing handcart loaded with goods is hard, it makes me tired and exhausted.”

Like Abu Bakr, Kazim also wants the government to find a job for his father so that he can study.

Fourteen-year-old Shafiullah, a resident of Kandahar city, says he has been working in a water machine and generator workshop that for the past five years against 300 afghanis a month to learn a skill.

According to him, he is not studying because he does not have the time and there is no opportunity for him to work and study at the same time.

He says that his father works in a motorcycle workshop but cannot meet the family’s needs.

He is asking the government to create a work plan for children so that they can learn skills and also earn some income for their families.

Adil: The situation of child laborers is worrying

Afghanistan Federation of Trade Union president Mohammad Liaqat Adil said the situation of child laborers in the country was a matter of serious concern.

He says: “Unemployment in the country, lack of adequate wages, awareness, lack of attention from international officials, lack of transparent spending of international aid, and poor economic conditions of families have played a role in the increase in child laborers.”

Ebrahimi: Employing children in hard labor is a legal violation

Samiullah Ibrahimi, spokesman for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, said that inspectors from the ministry visit areas where children are engaged in hard labor.

According to him, these inspectors give necessary instructions to ‘employers’ to prevent hard labor, and if they repeatedly employ children in hard labor, it is considered a legal violation and the inspectors take action against them.

He added: “In order to address the problems of children who are engaged in hard labor and are mostly unsupervised, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has activated orphanages in all provinces, including Kabul, where more than ten thousand orphans and unsupervised children are cared for.”

Ibrahimi said that orphanages have also been activated in Kabul and 14 other provinces for orphans and unsupervised girls, and all services are provided by women.

He said that these children are provided with education, health, housing, food and drink from the budget of the ministry.

He said: “Addressing the problems of all these children at the same time with limited resources is not inevitable. International institutions and organizations which are responsible for addressing the problems of children at the global level should discharge their responsibility in coordination with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and increase their cooperation and coordination in this area.”

He says that the ministry is responsible for addressing children’s problems at the national level and has addressed 40,000 children’s cases in the past four years.

ma