Children, throughout the world, are considered as the hope for future. Healthy and happy children mean that the society is going to have prosperous future. Therefore, it is suggested and many countries struggle to care for the children from all sorts of evil and promise them better living conditions. It is really important 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.

Moreover, special attention should be provided to the children who are being nourished in instable societies, among different sorts of economic and social problems and many of them have to face violence and discrimination as well.

To make the states and individuals realize the importance of children and to divert the attentions of the people towards their issues a Universal Day has been suggested for them. Universal Children’s Day takes place annually on November 20th.

First proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954, it was established to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world’s children. It was also chosen as the day to celebrate childhood. The day is also celebrated in Afghanistan but to a very limited extent. But as far as the violation of children’s right, child abuse and violence against them are concerned, there is no limit!

According to the studies six million Afghan children - around 15 million under the age of 15 - have been said to be in “critical” condition. The children are forced into child labor and often fall victim to sexual abuse. There has been a lot of talk about the recent case of a three-year-old child in the northern province of Takhar being sexually abused or the 22-year-old man raping a five-year-old in the neighboring province Balkh around the same time. In the western province of Herat, over 70 cases of sexual abuse against minors were reported this year alone. The estimated number of unreported cases is much higher.

Experts say the increase in sexual abuse against children in Afghanistan is due to a lax judicial system that fails to prosecute pedophiles. They also attribute it to a system that allows child labor. Ustad Sharafuddin Azimi, a professor of psychology at the University of Kabul would also like to see the government do more to crack down on sex crime offenders. He says the death penalty should be used in such cases.

“The fact that the laws are not consistently implemented has led to an increase in sexual abuse against children,” he says. “

We hear of new cases on a daily basis. But no one is ever brought to justice. No one is prosecuted - no one is hanged.”

The laxity of the law encourages offenders because they know they will not be punished, according to Azimi. It is unfortunate to note that there is not any comprehensive law in the constitution that can be realized into practical measures to curb the situation and many children keep on becoming the victims of this sort of violence even by the so called decent people of the society.

Azimi says a huge number of abused children are also forced into child labor. They work under unprotected conditions with no one to stand up for them.

Children often do not have people to protect them on the streets. In Afghanistan, it is not uncommon to see children as young as three years old selling goods on streets or working in brick factories. In many cases, children are the sole breadwinners of their families.

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 – mostly madressahs.

The attitude of a trained militant clearly depicts the fact that the training sessions in those 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.