Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

16pc of Afghan Child Labors Endure Sexual Abuse: Poll

16pc of Afghan Child Labors  Endure Sexual Abuse: Poll

KABUL - The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) says 43 percent of children in Afghanistan are busy doing hard labor and among them 16 percent have endured sexual harassment.
The commission interviewed 657 child labors in 25 provinces of the country and released the findings on Tuesday at a press conference in Kabul.
The surveys said eighty percent of the respondents were above 12 years of age and more than 92 percent of them were boys and three percent were disabled.
The commission report said an unsatisfactory number of girls appeared for interview because they worked inside people’s homes.
AIHRC head Sima Samar, presenting the survey’s results, said 90 percent of the children interviewed worked for more than 35 hours in a week and some even worked during night.
Six among each 10 respondents were busy in light activities while four percent respondents in hard activities, she said.
Samar said 56 percent of children interviewed were busy doing hard labor and they had been deprived of education.
Eighty-one percent of the children could not reach schools on time and 13 percent were prevented from attending school by their families.
She said that 98 percent of the interviewees were single and 0.8 percent were married. The married respondents said they had been forced into marriage by their families.
Forty percent of the children said they faced pressure and threats during work and 28 percent said they were obligated to do tasks above their abilities.
Samar said 16 percent of the children said they endured sexual harassment.
Based on the survey, 61 percent of child labors work in unhealthy environments, 32 percent are harmed during work and 2.4 percent lost limbs.
The commission’s assessments show that 21 percent of child labors work to pay debts of their parents, 59 percent eat three times a day and 39 percent eat one or two times a day, Samar added.
She said accurate statistics about child labors there were not available in Afghanistan so far and asked the government to work for reducing poverty so it would help prevent child labor.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs had earlier said 6.5 million Afghan children were vulnerable to risk and 1.1 million children were engaged in heavy works.
Creating a fundraising box, imparting education and creating a supporting center for child labors and helping their families and announcing May 2 as Child Labor Day were suggestions of AIHRC. (Pajhwok)