Situation of children continues to remain grim in Afghanistan

Kabul [Afghanistan]: In its observance of children’s rights around the world, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has highlighted the plight of Afghan children, adding that many of them are involved in hazardous jobs to earn for their families, TOLOnews reported.

Tolo News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul.

UNICEF has emphasised the rights of children and admitted to TOLOnews that they labour in dangerous jobs to earn bread for their family.

“I earn 70-80 Afs every day, I take bread home, and I walk all these places,” said Asif, a child.

Meanwhile, another child labourer, Mustafa, said, “I come out here and work to find bread to take home,” according to TOLOnews.

Sohrab told the TOLOnews reporter that he comes from a family of seven and that his parents are crippled, while he was polishing his boots on the side of a road in the capital. In addition to working, he attends fourth grade.

“There are seven of us in the house. My parents are also disabled, so I don’t have any workers at home, so I come to work here and to find something for my family,” TOLOnews quoted Sohrab as saying.

“We are poor; what should we do? We just find a piece of bread for our parents, for our brothers and sisters who are small,” said Shirzad, another child labourer.

Nearly three million people in Afghanistan have suffered from malnutrition based on the statistics of the Ministry of Public Health in 2022, as per Tolo News.

Since the Taliban seized power, Afghanistan has become one of the worst places to live, especially for children whose fundamental rights are being compromised amid the strict rules and regulations of the de facto authorities.

Following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 and their crackdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls, Afghan women have been leading miserable lives.

Girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade, including university, and women are barred from most jobs and public spaces.