Dozens of street children rally for rights in Kabul

KABUL.

In the morning, the children started their protest from Sara-i-Ghazni area to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights (AIHR) office.

Dozens of shoe-shiners, car cleaners, gum sellers and scavengers asked the government to provide them work opportunities.

A 12 years old protestor, Habibullah who cleans cars on streets, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “We are tired of walking on roads and want the government to help us.”

The boy said he was the only breadwinner for his family, urging the authorities to give street children their constitutionally-guaranteed rights, including the right to education.

“We have the right to go to school and want the government to build a special school for street children,” said Wahida, 14, one of the girls attending the rally.

She and her nine years old brother sell chewing gums and clean cars to feed their family.

Civil activist Basir Beta said children should not be forced into hard labour until they reached 18. He criticized the government for failing to improve children’s situation.

According to the AIHR and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), five million children including three million girls are deprived of education.

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