Being surrounded by today’s crucial political, economical and other social crisis, children are completely forgotten and ignored from the top listed priorities that need serious attentions. It should be understood that the children are the future of their nations for the socio-economic and political developments and the agent for peace and change.
Over the past 30 years of continues conflicts, today the country witnesses that huge number of children is orphan and living without shelter in open places or begging on the streets. The children in other countries are provided the best possible facilities in the field of education, but in Afghanistan, they are supposed to earn money and support their whole family members. These children are mostly the worst victims of violence and sexual harassment while asking for one or two AFNs on the streets.
Every place you visit has its own terrifying and sad story that can be hardly seen. The Afghan children have always been and still are under a very crucial rule of injustice and violence. They are subjected to both physical and mental abuse and the discrimination against them everyday increases by their parents or by other members of society. Child protection policy working in Afghanistan including many other working NGOs have not yet discovered the total number of children who are under extreme pressure of violence and discrimination.
The NGOs and other local organizations are only for their personal objectives. In simple words, they are doing business on children. There are no factual changes in their lives to award these organizations on the ground for their involvement.
Perhaps, they have not yet discovered the children who are under physical abuse. They are used for drug transportation to different countries by the warlords and other criminal networks. They are the victims of terror attacks, they are the victims of labor, they are the victims of family violence, and they are the victims of mine and other humiliation.
In the same way, their involvement in work is common in Afghanistan and it is often another reason for not attending school. Bacha bazi (keeping boys as sex slaves by wealthy or powerful patrons) has remained unchecked in Afghan society. The government of Afghanistan has done little to tackle this abusive cultural tradition.
Corporal punishment widely used and recognized, though to a certain extent, is not entirely socially accepted. Physical violence exists to varying degrees within many families and most commonly, children experience slapping, verbal abuse, punching, kicking, and hitting with thick sticks, electrical cables and shoes.
The recent reports show that corporal punishment is also used on children as young as 2 or 3 years and no clear difference between the punishment of boys and girls are identified. In response to the increasing rate of abusive acts against the children, the government must and should bring them to court of justice. The world humanitarian organizations could not do much in this regard with years of bold involvement in most remote areas of the country.