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Over one million Afghan children engaged in hard labor: ILO

Factors such as economic poverty, conflicts, crises and the COVID pandemic have forced millions of children to do hard labor around the world.

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The International Labor Organization (ILO) says almost 1.1 million children are engaged in hard labor in Afghanistan.

At a gathering in Kabul on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labor, ILO officials said that most of these children are between the ages of 5 and 17 and child labor in the country should be stopped.

“According to the latest survey, 1.06 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 have been working, which is 9 percent [of the population in that age group],” said Ramin Behzad, the Senior Coordinator for Afghanistan at the ILO.

Factors such as economic poverty, conflicts, crises and the COVID pandemic have forced millions of children to do hard labor around the world, but children in Afghanistan are more affected than any other country, ILO added.

“2020, we did an assessment and the figures were published in 2021. Since then, we have not conducted a general survey in Afghanistan to say more precisely whether this number increased or decreased; but we guess that the figures may have increased,” said another official of ILO.

Meanwhile, the officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said that the process of collecting and supporting working children continues in the country.

Humanitarian crisis driving children to work

Last month, Save the Children stated that about 6.5 million children in Afghanistan - or nearly three out of ten - will face crisis or emergency levels of hunger this year as the country feels the immediate impacts of floods, the long term effects of drought and the return of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran.

New figures from the global hunger monitoring body, the IPC forecast that 28% of the population – or about 12.4 million people - will face acute food insecurity before October. Of those, nearly 2.4 million are predicted to experience emergency levels of hunger, which is one level below famine.

The figures show a slight improvement from the last report in October 2023, but underline the continuing need for assistance, with poverty affecting one in two Afghans.

An estimated 2.9 million children under the age of five are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2024 . Since the start of 2024, Save the Children’s health teams and clinics in Afghanistan have treated more than 7,000 children for malnutrition, among them 11 year old Firoz who lives in Northern Afghanistan with his 10 brothers and sisters.

His father is a farmer, but the 3-year-long drought has forced him to take on other work to support the family.

One doctor who works for a Save the Children health team in Northern Afghanistan said people are facing serious financial problems.

“From an agricultural standpoint, they have land but don't have water or adequate land for farming - they are jobless. These things affect children. When children are affected, they may not be able to go to school or may become busy working to find food for their homes. They become deprived of their rights or become ill and malnourished. All these problems are affecting children.”

 

 

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250,000 Afghan children need homes, food, education after returning from Pakistan


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IEA delegation attends conference for ‘Promoting Mining Cooperation’ in China

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The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said on Saturday in a statement that its delegation participated in a conference titled "Promoting Mining Cooperation" in China’s Hunan province.

The Ministry stated the conference aims to build a well-equipped laboratory in Afghanistan, increase the capacity of technical and professional employees of the Ministry of Mines, and encourage investors in the mineral resources sector of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Chinese investors expressed their interest in Afghanistan’s gold, copper, mica, talc, oil, gas, lithium, lead and zinc mines.

At the conference, the ministry’s deputy minister of finance and administration and head of the delegation Hussamuddin Saberi talked about Afghanistan's natural resources contracts and investment opportunities and considered holding such programs effective for the relations between the two countries.

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Uzbekistan, EU envoys meet to discuss Afghanistan

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Uzbekistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, Ismatulla Irgashev, on Friday met with the EU Special Representative for Central Asia Terhi Hakala.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current state and prospects of Uzbek-European relations in the Afghan direction, the efforts of the international community to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the country and the possibility of using the international transport and logistics hub in Termez to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Hakala highly appreciated the efforts of Uzbekistan to develop a consolidated regional position on Afghanistan, establish long-term peace and stability in the country, according to the statement.

The parties expressed mutual interest in continuing bilateral consultations on the Afghan issue, the statement added.

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UN expert calls for comprehensive, rights-focused action plan for Afghanistan

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A UN expert on Friday called on the international community to devise and implement a comprehensive, human rights-centered action plan to address the human rights crisis in Afghanistan.

“The absence of a unified, forceful response from the international community has emboldened the Taliban (IEA),” UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said.

In his latest report to the UN General Assembly, Bennett said that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is worsening, which includes systematic gender oppression, amounting to gender persecution and which many Afghans term “gender apartheid” with intergenerational implications.

Bennett expressed concern about the new “vice and virtue” law, announced in August, which he believes has institutionalized an expanding list of restrictions that “blatantly violate the rights of women and girls.”

He also expressed concern about the “shrinking civic space” in Afghanistan, the situation of minorities, journalists, and former government officials and security personnel.

“Justice, equality, and the rule of law are being systematically undermined,” he said.

The UN expert also called for increased funding and support for Afghan civil society and humanitarian efforts to mitigate the crisis.

Bennett urged the IEA to reverse its “repressive policies” and reinstate basic human rights. He pressed the international community to take a coordinated, multifaceted approach to support the Afghan people.

Bennett urged states not to normalize relations with the IEA until there are demonstrable human rights improvements and pathways to justice and accountability.

This comes as the Islamic Emirate has said that it is committed to ensuring human rights, including the rights of women and girls, according to Sharia, and this is an internal issue of Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate has banned Richard Bennett from traveling to Afghanistan, saying that he exaggerates small issues.

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