12 February 2011 - Afghan and United Nations officials are working to curb child labour in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces, where young breadwinners remain common despite regulations.

Ten-year-old Ajmal (not his real name) sells plastic bags from morning to evening in Jalalabad city to cover part of his family’s expenses. He sells about 20 bags and earns 40-50 Afs or the equivalent of one US dollar per day. His brother, 16, carries goods by a small wheelbarrow to support his remaining family members – mother and two sisters. Their father was killed in a bomb explosion last year.

“We both - me and my brother - were studying at school, but after the killing of my father we were obliged to leave the school to earn money to cover first the needs of our family,” said Ajmal.

Thousands of child labourers in the eastern provinces registered with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) have no chance to study because they need to support families facing serious economic problems.

Up to 40 percent of the country’s 15 million children are likely engaged in some sort of paid work, according to an AIHRC report released last year. Some in violation of the Afghan national law preventing children younger than 14 from working more than 35 hours per week, and only in select industries.

The Child Protection Action Network (CPAN) – an initiative comprised of representatives from the AIHRC, Departments of Social Affairs and Police, UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and aid groups such as Save the Children – coordinates efforts to curb children’s rights violations and to protect and promote their rights.

As well as Jalalabad, child labour violations have been noted in Tourkham city near the Pakistani border and in the Surkhrod brick factories in the Nangarhar Province where more than 5,000 child labourers support 2,000 families, according to Pakhtana Nabi, Supervisor of UNICEF Child Labourer Project in Jalalabad.

“Child labor is a critical issue and a major human rights concern in the eastern region,” said Naqib-u-Rahman Qazizada, Human Rights Officer at UNAMA’s Eastern Regional Office.

In addition to robbing children of an education, “child labor undermines children’s right to enjoyment in the region,” he added.

By Shafiqullah Waak, UNAMA