Children are rightly considered builders of a nation, throughout the world. Healthy and contented children guarantee a prosperous future. Thus, it is recommended and many countries strive to care the children from all sorts of evils and promise them better living conditions. It is really imperative that all the people in the world and all the states must realize that they have a special responsibility towards the children which they have to fulfill in every condition.

In addition, special concentration should be provided to the children who are being nourished in instable societies, among different sorts of economic and social problems and who have to undergo violence and discrimination, as well.

The prevailing instability in Afghanistan is influencing all the sections of the society to a large extent, but the weaker sections of the society; especially, children are the ones who fall easy preys in such situation. The violent incidents have not only been carried out by Taliban or terrorists rather there are certain other issues of violence against children that are carried out by the society as a whole and for that the habitual inconsideration and sick mentality of the common men are responsible.

Many children, because of improper birth or because of lack of health facilities and insufficient nutrition either die in the very beginning of their lives or able to drag on their lives with certain physical deformities and serious diseases. Most of the children of the society are not able to have access to education, either because of the financial problems or the traditional hatred of the parents for modern schooling system.

The girls in this regard suffer even to more extreme levels. Moreover, the children who do not get a chance to be admitted in school are then sent out for labor so that they can prove to be a helping hand for their parents and in the process they are left at the mercy of the social evils.

Child labors are exposed to crimes and maltreatment to a risky extent, especially the ones who are employed by shop-owners, mechanics and small firms. They are even put to violent treatment by their employers on pity matters. Further, another concerning factor regarding the plight of the children in Afghanistan is the growing number of child beggars.

Families, stricken with intense poverty, do not hesitate even to send their children for begging. Apart from that, there are professional beggars who utilize the helpless children for the begging purposes. The children are even abducted for the same purpose. The phenomenon of violence against children is multifaceted. It involves recruitment of children by armed forces and armed groups.

The involvement of armed forces in this regard is really embarrassing. The recruitment that is carried out by militant groups is mostly for the purpose of carrying out suicide attacks through them, who because of their immaturity or because of the intense pressure do not understand the incentive of their actions.

There have been many incidents of suicide attacks in different parts of the country, wherein the attacker were below 16 years of age. Apart from that the children are also welcomed by the militant groups with the intention to have a cadre that they can train in accordance to their own will, within their training camps.

On the other hand there has been a trend of appointment of children in Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). In pursuing quantity ANSF on certain occasions did not hesitate to appoint the children under the age of 18. However, since 2011, there have been improvements in this regard and steps are being taken to eliminate the trend. In 2011 an action plan was signed by Afghan government with the UN to end the recruitment of Afghans who are under 18 years of age in security forces. And, the passing of legislation by the Wolesi Jirga, earlier this week, to criminalize underage recruitment in ANSF has further added to the optimism. There are hopes that the step would be pursued with complete determination and its practical implication would be made possible by all means.

UN also welcomed the step by the Wolesi Jirga and the UN Secretary General’s special representative for Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, said in a statement on Wednesday, “The United Nations welcomes the Lower House’s decision to pass legislation criminalising the recruitment of child soldiers in ANSF,”

UNAMA’s Human Rights Director, Georgette Gagnon emphasized, “The recruitment of children has been a real concern in Afghanistan, and should be completely stopped, immediately and without delay… This law should advance the road map for the prevention of underage recruitment into armed forces and, most importantly, should advance the protection of children’s rights in Afghanistan… The United Nations also urges all armed groups to halt the recruitment of children, as required under international law.”

Recruitment of the children both by Taliban militants and the ANSF will definitely result in violence against children and their abuse. The attitude of a trained militant clearly depicts the fact that the training sessions in their training camps do involve severe kind of violence and maltreatment. Another type of violence includes the killing and maiming of the children because of the conflict-related violence.

This also includes accidental killings or injuries by the national and international security forces, which, though relatively are much lower than the ones committed by the terrorists. Unfortunately, most of the deaths or injuries in this regard have been the result of the violent attacks of the terrorists on schools and hospitals. Such attacks do not only take precious lives but tend to inflict fear among parents and children regarding attending schools.

The security of the children against all sort of violence, their proper nourishment and their character development are the most important considerations to contemplate on, if the government is really serious to safeguard the rights of the children. The same children are going to be the builders of future; their proper care should be ascertained through every possible means. Apart from the government the members of the society can also play a tremendous role in diminishing violence against the children and uplifting their morale.