30 cases of violence against children recorded

GHAZNI CITY (PAN): Thirty-nine incidents of violence against children took place in southern Ghazni province last year, the labour and social affairs director said on Tuesday.

The incidents included kidnappings, sexual assaults and traffic accidents, Abdul Karim Noorzai told participants of a gathering marking the international children’s day in Ghazni City, the provincial capital.

Noorzai did not provide figures for the children sexually abused, but said the culprits had been arrested. He added there had been a decrease in incidents of violence against children in Ghazni.

He asked parents to keep in touch with their children about their routine life and avoid forcing them into hard labour. He said it was responsibility of parents to send their children to schools instead of work.

A large number of children could be seen selling goods on the streets of Ghazni city and begging money.

Hamidullah, a resident of the Andar district, said he lost his father to the conflict. The 10-year-old said he made money through begging or some time selling things. “With both ways I hardly earn 30 afghanis a day,” the brother of two sisters said.

He said his mother did not marry after the death of his father and he has to go out of home in search of money to feed the family.

Another 12-year-old, Noorullah, said he carried people’s luggage in a hand-cart owned by him. “Our economic condition is worse. Sometimes I manage to earn 70 afghanis a day, but the amount cannot meet all family needs,” a native of the Giru district said.

Noorullah is one of about 1.2 million children in part or full time work in Afghanistan, where war, poverty, widespread unemployment and a preference for large families have created a huge underage labour market.

A 2010 study by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission found that an even larger portion of the country’s 15 million children — up to 40 per cent — were likely to be engaged in some sort of paid work.

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