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Over one million Afghan children engaged in hard labor: ILO
Factors such as economic poverty, conflicts, crises and the COVID pandemic have forced millions of children to do hard labor around the world.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) says almost 1.1 million children are engaged in hard labor in Afghanistan.
At a gathering in Kabul on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labor, ILO officials said that most of these children are between the ages of 5 and 17 and child labor in the country should be stopped.
“According to the latest survey, 1.06 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 have been working, which is 9 percent [of the population in that age group],” said Ramin Behzad, the Senior Coordinator for Afghanistan at the ILO.
Factors such as economic poverty, conflicts, crises and the COVID pandemic have forced millions of children to do hard labor around the world, but children in Afghanistan are more affected than any other country, ILO added.
“2020, we did an assessment and the figures were published in 2021. Since then, we have not conducted a general survey in Afghanistan to say more precisely whether this number increased or decreased; but we guess that the figures may have increased,” said another official of ILO.
Meanwhile, the officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said that the process of collecting and supporting working children continues in the country.
Humanitarian crisis driving children to work
Last month, Save the Children stated that about 6.5 million children in Afghanistan – or nearly three out of ten – will face crisis or emergency levels of hunger this year as the country feels the immediate impacts of floods, the long term effects of drought and the return of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran.
New figures from the global hunger monitoring body, the IPC forecast that 28% of the population – or about 12.4 million people – will face acute food insecurity before October. Of those, nearly 2.4 million are predicted to experience emergency levels of hunger, which is one level below famine.
The figures show a slight improvement from the last report in October 2023, but underline the continuing need for assistance, with poverty affecting one in two Afghans.
An estimated 2.9 million children under the age of five are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2024 . Since the start of 2024, Save the Children’s health teams and clinics in Afghanistan have treated more than 7,000 children for malnutrition, among them 11 year old Firoz who lives in Northern Afghanistan with his 10 brothers and sisters.
His father is a farmer, but the 3-year-long drought has forced him to take on other work to support the family.
One doctor who works for a Save the Children health team in Northern Afghanistan said people are facing serious financial problems.
“From an agricultural standpoint, they have land but don’t have water or adequate land for farming – they are jobless. These things affect children. When children are affected, they may not be able to go to school or may become busy working to find food for their homes. They become deprived of their rights or become ill and malnourished. All these problems are affecting children.”
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Afghanistan says Pakistani military post destroyed near Spin Boldak
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense says a Pakistani military post near Spin Boldak was targeted and destroyed after Pakistani forces opened fire toward Afghanistan.
Ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarazmi said in a post on X that Afghan forces suffered no casualties or damage in the clash.
Khwarazmi also rejected claims made by the Pakistani side about the incident, describing them as “propaganda.”
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Mujahid: Pakistan attacking Afghanistan to evade Mecca Pact responsibilities
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
Islamic Emirate spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has accused Pakistan of carrying out attacks on Afghanistan to divert attention from its domestic problems and to evade responsibilities under the “Mecca Pact.”
Speaking at a religious seminary in Kandahar, Mujahid said Pakistan was facing political and economic challenges at home and was using attacks on Afghanistan to shift public attention away from protests and its internal problems.
“Pakistan, by violating the territory of its neighboring Islamic country, wants to divert attention from its failures,” he said.
Mujahid also criticized Pakistan’s political situation, claiming that political space had been restricted and that freedoms guaranteed under the country’s laws were not being allowed.
He said Pakistan’s economic problems had also increased significantly and accused the country of seeking to distract the public from those problems by engaging in conflict with Afghanistan.
Mujahid further accused Pakistan’s military leadership of putting the Pakistani people at risk through what he described as its “false position.”
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
His remarks followed Pakistani airstrikes on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces on Thursday, which Afghan authorities said killed four civilians.
The strikes came three days after attacks on Kunar and Paktika provinces, in which Afghan authorities said three civilians were killed.
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Kabul rejects U.S. claim that meth seized in Pakistan was of Afghan origin
Balkhi said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi has rejected a U.S. claim that 463 kilograms of synthetic drugs seized in Pakistan were of Afghan origin, calling the attribution “unfounded and politically motivated.”
Balkhi said the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad should investigate the origin of the seized drugs in Pakistan rather than attributing them to Afghanistan.
“The attribution by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad of the synthetic drugs bound for Sri Lanka and intercepted in Pakistan through joint U.S.-Pakistani efforts as ‘Afghan-origin’ is an unfounded and politically motivated allegation,” Balkhi said.
He said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Balkhi also claimed that following the ban in Afghanistan, the cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics have increased “on the other side of the Durand Line.”
He further argued that Afghanistan does not have the capacity to produce synthetic drugs and said crossing points along the Durand Line have been completely closed to all movement for nearly a year.
His remarks came after the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said U.S. and Pakistani anti-narcotics authorities had seized 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine worth an estimated $21 million and bound for Sri Lanka.
The embassy said the operation led to multiple arrests and highlighted ongoing U.S. cooperation and training with Pakistani authorities to disrupt international drug-trafficking networks.
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