June 1st is the International Day for Protection of Children and is marked as children’s day in many countries of the world including Afghanistan. The children in Afghanistan face multifaceted issues. Regretfully, their plight is on the rise as no proper attention is being paid to them. Children day serves as reminder to the leadership of this country that their lack of interest in addressing the problems faced by Afghan children is causing the greatest harm to the future of the country.
Children are increasingly being used criminal activities including terrorism. Use of children in carrying out suicide attacks is on the rise. Terrorist organizations have been recruiting, training and brainwashing them in madrassas in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is now no secret!
Based on a report published last month by United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) 545 children have been killed in Afghan conflict in 2013. That figure is alarming and establishes the fact the Taliban and other terror networks have no respect to the right of children and sacrifice them for reaching their heinous objective. UNAMA also launched a booklet highlighting the complementarity between the teachings of Islam with international human rights and international humanitarian law. “The conflict has exposed children to armed groups that prey on their vulnerability and exploit them, and who use children to participate in active hostilities or as messengers and delivery boys – further exposing children to the dangers of war,” said UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of Unama, JánKubiš, at the launch, revealed Unama’s website.
Another major issue is the education of the children. Although since the fall of Taliban millions of Afghan children both boys and girls are enrolled in schools, based on estimations around 6 million children have no access to education due to various problems.
Majority of these children are unable to get education because they are the sole breadwinners of their families and have to work from dawn to dark in order to prevent their family members from starvation. Child labor is extreme in Afghanistan and children are involved in all kinds of works. According to estimates up to 30 percent of primary school-age children are engaged in some form of work and are often the sole source of income for their families.
Meanwhile, incidents of rape and other sorts of physical, sexual and psychological violence against children have reached all-time high in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government must be pressurized to alter the situation of children for better. With continuation of such a condition, Afghanistan would continue to have millions of illiterate people in the future too who will be at great risk of getting involved in criminal activities. International aids for children must be spent only for children with full transparency and accountability. Protecting and educating children are among the most crucial responsibilities of our government and it must fulfill them with utmost sincerity.