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Girls increasingly at risk of child marriage in Afghanistan
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said this week she is “deeply concerned by reports that child marriage in Afghanistan is on the rise”.
In a statement issued Saturday, Fore said: “We have received credible reports of families offering daughters as young as 20 days old up for future marriage in return for a dowry.
“Even before the latest political instability, UNICEF’s partners registered 183 child marriages and 10 cases of selling of children over 2018 and 2019 in Herat and Baghdis provinces alone. The children were between 6 months and 17 years of age,” she said.
UNICEF estimates that 28 percent of Afghan women aged 15 to 49 years were married before the age of 18.
Fore attributed the rise in child marriages to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing food crisis. She said the onset of winter has also further exacerbated the situation for families.
In 2020, almost half of Afghanistan’s population was so poor that they lacked necessities such as basic nutrition or clean water.
“The extremely dire economic situation in Afghanistan is pushing more families deeper into poverty and forcing them to make desperate choices, such as putting children to work and marrying girls off at a young age.”
She said UNICEF is working with partners to raise awareness around the risks for girls if they are married early.
“We have started a cash assistance program to help offset the risk of hunger, child labour and child marriage among the most vulnerable families. We plan to scale up this and other social services programs in the months to come.
“UNICEF will also work with religious leaders to ensure that they are not involved in the “Nekah” (the marriage contract) for young girls,” she said.
In light of this, UNICEF called on all central, provincial and local authorities to take concrete measures to support and safeguard the most vulnerable families and girls. “We urge the de facto authorities to prioritize the reopening of schools for all secondary school girls and allow all-female teachers to resume their jobs without any further delays.
“The future of an entire generation is at stake,” Fore said.
Sources told Ariana News that a cabinet meeting of Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate was held last Wednesday in Kandahar under the leadership of Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Islamic Emirate.
According to the sources, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate, along with a large number of cabinet members, also attended the meeting.
Sources added that key issues related to the country were discussed and reviewed during the meeting.
Abdul Baqi Haqqani, head of the National Examinations Authority, announced on Friday that the fourth and final round of the university entrance examination (Kankor), in which 120,000 candidates participated, has concluded in a transparent manner.
He added that this was an important and valuable step for the country’s academic process, which was successfully implemented by the National Examinations Authority through precise planning, organized management, and joint efforts.
This year’s Kankor examination organized in four stages. In the first stage, graduates from 15 provinces participated; in the second stage, graduates from 18 provinces were included; and in the third stage, 12th-grade graduates from Kabul province took part.
In the final stage, absentees from previous stages, graduates from abroad, graduates of ethnic and tribal studies, graduates of religious schools in Kabul province, 14th-grade graduates, and night faculty applicants were included. This examination was held today (Friday).
The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed receipt of a list of members of an Islamic Emirate delegation scheduled to travel to Brussels, with security screening for visa issuance now underway.
The delegation is expected to hold talks with the European Union focused on the return of Afghan migrants.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner has described the visa process for Islamic Emirate officials as “somewhat complicated,” while stressing the need for constructive dialogue with the authorities in Kabul to address migration-related challenges.
Political analyst Ghous Janbaz said European countries are interested in engaging directly with Islamic Emirate representatives, including on the return of Afghan migrants who have allegedly committed crimes in Europe.
The development comes amid growing pressure on Afghan migrants across Europe in recent years, with countries such as Germany and Austria reportedly taking steps toward deporting some Afghan asylum seekers.
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