Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Afghanistan.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Children Try to
Make a Living on Afghan Streets Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, National Public Radio NPR, January 30,
2008 www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18525484 [accessed 27 March
2011] On any given day in
the towns and cities of In Kabul's trendy Shahre-Naw neighborhood, 10-year-old Jamal, a waif of a
salesman in faded pink boots, is hawking gum for about 20 cents. Determined
to score a sale, no matter what, he chases after pedestrians and darts in and
out of snarled traffic. "I'm a
little scared of the cars," he says. "One hit me coming the wrong way
down the street. But I wasn't hurt too bad." Deborah Orr, The
Independent, 15 May 2008 www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/afghanistan-what-hope-is-there-for-the-lost-children-of-the-bazaar-828164.html [accessed 27 March
2011] [accessed 21
November 2016] Three-quarters of
Afghans are almost completely illiterate. Among widows, the proportion is
much higher. In the old days, it was incumbent on the families of the
husbands to look after the widows. Whatever one might think of the practice,
in theory, at least, it provided security for vulnerable people. But this is
just one part of the social fabric that has collapsed, with nothing to
mitigate that loss or replace it. There are too many widows now, too many
fatherless children. Widows cast out from the homes of their in-laws, and
their children, have nothing, not even a surname. The mother of these
girls has hands too stiff to work the threads and she leaves them at the loom
while she works as a laundress. A trader has supplied the girls with a loom,
brought them wool, tools and patterns, and shown them what to do. It takes
the four of them 10 days to complete a square metre,
for which they are paid 1,200 Afghanis per metre
(US$24/£12). For the horror of
their labour, and the misery of their stolen childhoods, the children count
themselves lucky. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of
Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/afghanistan.htm [accessed 18 January
2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are also found working in the urban
informal sector engaged in activities such as shining shoes, begging, or
rummaging for scrap metal in the streets. Human
Rights Reports » 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78868.htm [accessed 17 March
2020] SECTION
6 WORKER RIGHTS
– [d] The law recognizes the standard legal age for work as 15, but there are
provisions for 13 and 14-year-olds to work as apprentices, provided they only
work 35 hours per week. Children under 13 may not work under any
circumstances. There was, however, no evidence that authorities in any part
of the country enforced labor laws relating to the employment of children. In
2005 UNICEF reported there was an estimated one million child laborers under
the age of 14 in the country. UNICEF estimate, at least 20 percent of primary
school age children undertake some form of work. An AIHRC report released
this year estimated that most child laborers worked as street vendors (13
percent) or shop keepers (21 percent). Other common forms of labor were
workshop hands, blacksmiths, farming, auto repair and tailoring. In cities, a
larger proportion of child laborers were involved in collecting paper, scrap
metal, and firewood; shining shoes; and begging. Some of these practices
exposed children to the danger of landmines. Eighty-six percent of child
laborers were boys, and 14 percent were girls. While no statistics
exist, children under 18 have been arrested for drug trafficking related
charges. AIHRC reported that in Kabul there were about 60,000 child laborers,
the majority of whom migrated to the city from other provinces. Many of them
worked under unscrupulous employers who subjected the children to sexual
exploitation and forced labor. UNHCR reported that many children worked on
the streets of Kabul, Jalalabad, and Mazar-i-Sharif with numbers increasing. The child labor force
was predominantly boys aged 8-14 with a smaller number of girls 8-10 years
old. Human
Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61704.htm [accessed 4 February
2020] SOCIETAL ABUSES AND
DISCRIMINATION -
Non-Muslims faced discrimination in schools. The AIHRC received numerous
reports that students belonging to the Sikh and Hindu faiths stopped
attending schools due to harassment from both teachers and students, and the
government had not implemented measures to protect these children. CHILDREN – The law makes
education up to the intermediate level mandatory, and provides for free
education up to the college, or bachelor's degree level. Local authorities
made some progress in school attendance. A back-to-school campaign launched
by the Ministry of Education increased school enrollment from 4.2 million
children in 2003 to over 5.2 million during the year. Since 2002 the
number of girls attending school increased by over 30 percent; however, an
estimated 1.5 million school-age girls were not enrolled in classes. Some
provinces had no schools for girls to attend, and in Vivian Tan in www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=491af71b2 [accessed 27 March
2011] [accessed 21
November 2016] Every day, Afghan
children ply the streets of Kabul selling anything from newspapers to chewing
gum, phone cards and plastic bags. Some station themselves at busy junctions
and weave through traffic waving a can of smoking coal to ward off the evil
eye. Others simply beg from passing strangers. There are an
estimated 50,000 to 60,000 street children in the Afghan capital alone. Among
them are those who could not afford an education as refugees in Iran or
Pakistan, and are unable to go to school as returnees in Afghanistan because
they have to work from dawn to dusk to support their families. A UNHCR-funded project is working to bring
change. Kuwait News Agency
KUNA, Kabul, 2004 ns1.twocircles.net/2008sep23/kabul_humming_beggars_eid_gets_near.html [accessed 10 October
2012] www.kuna.net.kw/ArticlePrintPage.aspx?id=1939737&language=en [accessed 21 November
2016] The number of
beggars in the streets of Kabul, especially child beggars, is on the rise
with the approach of Eidul Fitr,
the religious festival of Muslims to mark the end of the fasting month or
Ramadan. Wearing shabby cloths with
worn-out shoes, beggars of every age and sex can be seen in the busiest
markets of this Afghan capital of five million people. Men and women as well as boys and girls
whose ages are ranging from eight to eighty years can be seen in every
street, market, square as well as in front of five-star hotels or restaurants
known for frequenting by foreigners and well-off people for Iftar dinners. While the women
beggars sitting on different squares of the city or at some busiest
locations, the children asking for money are running after the buyers in
markets and streets as well as seeking financial help from motorists at
traffic jams. The most pathetic side of the begging in Kabul is the teenaged
boys who are running after restaurant goers no sooner did they come out of the
eating and meeting places. They are asking for financial help presenting them
as orphans, homeless, hungry and so on.
Those teenaged boys are also running after locals, but their favourite targets are foreigners visiting shopping centres and hotels. They usually position themselves
between the foreigners and the doors of their cars. Pop star helping Bilal Sarwary, BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7499407.stm [accessed 28 March
2011] BREAD-WINNERS - According to the
United Nations, there are 37,000 street children in Ajmal - a witty
13-year-old who enthusiastically sells gum on the outskirts of Kabul - says
his biggest wish is that he could attend school. "My family relies on my work," he
says. "So I try to sell as much as I can. I wish I could focus more on
my school, but I can't afford to."
There are also many who do not work and provide for their mothers and
siblings by begging. Like Hussain, 14,
for whom begging is an accepted fact of life. He would attend school if he
could, but instead spends 10 hours a day begging on the streets of
Kabul. "I tried to work," he
says "so my family could live an honourable
life, but my boss at the shop paid me very little. I tried a few other jobs,
but finally I decided to beg. U.N. says half of
Afghan children not in school Jonathon Burch,
Reuters, uk.reuters.com/article/2008/04/21/uk-afghan-education-idUKISL19022420080421 [accessed 28 March
2011] www.reuters.com/article/us-afghan-education-idUSISL19022420080421 [accessed 26
September 2021] "In
Afghanistan, despite the progress in school enrolment over the last two
years, half of school-age children are estimated to be out of school,"
Shigeru Aoyagi, country director of UNESCO in Afghanistan, told a news
conference in Kabul. Working children,
street children, children in prison and disabled children were among those
excluded, the U.N. said, but by far the biggest group are girls. Speaker opens window
on life in Afghanistan Dave Benjamin,
Tri-Town News, tritown.gmnews.com/news/2007-09-13/Front_Page/004.html [accessed 28 March
2011] www1.gmnews.com/2007/09/13/speaker-opens-window-on-life-in-afghanistan/ [accessed 21
November 2016] The landscape and
the people are diverse, confusing, beautiful and controversial," Isaac
said of Afghanistan. "There are year-round snow-capped mountains,
endless rock forges and amazing canyons. There are open-air schools being run
in bombed-out buildings, potato fields surrounded by people living in tents,
mountainous foothills strewn with abandoned tanks, and suffering cities full
of street children. That's what it's like. Sardar Ahmad, Agence France-Presse AFP, June
09, 2007 www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2007/06/09/kabul-s-beggar-children-working-the-streets.html [accessed 21
December 2014] “I was selling
eggs. I fell over. My eggs smashed,” the five-year-old whimpers quietly.
“I’ve lost 50 afghanis (one dollar), my mother will
kill me.” Each day Shakir invests the equivalent of a dollar to buy eggs
that he drops on a dirty footpath. He then sits miserably in front of them
and tells his story in the hope of attracting donations. Shakir’s trick reflects the
competitive world of child beggars in Kabul, a city clogged by a population
of around four million people that exploded after the 2001 fall of the
Taliban regime led exiles home and jobseekers to the capital. According to
surveys by the UN children’s organisation, UNICEF,
there are 50,000 to 60,000 street children in Kabul, said the UN Afghanistan
spokesman Aleem Siddique. Teaching David Foster, Al
Jazeera, english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2007/05/200852518557349231.html [accessed 28 March
2011] www.aljazeera.com/news/2007/5/17/teaching-kabuls-street-children [accessed 26
September 2021] "Don't you recognise me," he asked? "I was one of your
students at Aschiana. Now I am finishing my
studies, learning computers and earning money. I am not a beggar any
more." The Aschiana project in Kabul helps less than one in ten of
the city's street children. But it does offer those
there something they can't find anywhere else. When they finish class they may go back to
begging to support their families, but they do so knowing that tomorrow will
bring more knowledge and with it perhaps a way out. Children work the
streets to support families UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/64363/afghanistan-children-work-the-streets-to-support-families [accessed 10 March
2015] Ahmad Wali, 9, is combing the rubbish dump for soda cans to
sell as a way to support his 11-member family in the Afghan capital, "I have to work
hard as my father lost his job and it has become very difficult for us to get
by and pay the monthly rent for our house," he explained. The Associated Press
AP, [accessed 21
December 2014] Fawad's mornings are spent
selling apples or red pomegranates, which can net him up to $8 (€6.22) a
day. His afternoons are dedicated to
his future. That's when the teenager
studies carpentry at a vocational training center sponsored by the Social
Affairs Ministry. Fawad is one of 37,000 young
Afghans taking part in some kind of job education across the country, said
Mohammad Ghous Bashiri, a
deputy minister. Some working
children say they also cannot take time to go to the training centers.
"My father is dead," Ahmed Shafiq, 13,
said while selling plastic bags on a crowded street. "And I have my
mother and three sisters I have to support." Ron Synovitz, Radio Free Europe/Radio www.rferl.org/content/article/1073313.html [accessed 28 March
2011] WORKING TO GET BY - The United
Nations says that more than 60,000 school-aged children now work on the
streets of Nassrullah is a 7-year-old
boy who burns small bits of coal in a tin can at a Kabul park in the belief
that the smoke will protect people from curses and bring them good luck. In
return, some people give Nassrullah a small amount
of money. But others simply turn away, annoyed at the smell of the smoke. "I make 100 to
150 afghanis (around $2-$3) in a day," Nassrullah says. "Half of that I give to my father.
The rest I give to my mother. My father is unable to work, so I am obliged to
do this. I also buy bread for them. I leave home every day at 7:00 or 8:00 in
the morning to do this. Street Children on
the Rise in Jeff Swicord, Voice of www.wwenglish.com/en/voa/stan/2006/11/2006111615168.htm [accessed 28 March
2011] Take a walk through
the crowded markets of Shahram Vahdany,
The American Chronicle, October 07, 2006 amchron.soundenterprises.net/articles/view/14436 [accessed 7 Aug 2013] SV - What's the
situation for children? Are they able to go to school or do they have to
work? AB - You certainly see
alot of child labor. You see them on the streets of
Kabul, in Herat. I was working with this organization called 'Voice of Women
Organization’ and they were putting in a grant to try to get some projects
for Herat street children and the project wasn't totally to take them out of
work because they needed to be able to work to help their family to survive
but it was to provide them with education half time and try to provide some
field training so that they could get better jobs, safer jobs. It's true that
the schools reopened, which is a wonderful advancement over the Taliban, but
if you actually look at the numbers there may be 5 million children back to
school but the numbers of children in Afghanistan is more than 15 million. UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, [accessed 10 March
2015] ASIA IRIN-AS WEEKLY
ROUND-UP 90 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2006 - As Afghanistan struggles to consolidate
its hard-won peace following nearly three decades of brutal civil war and
internal strife, young boys and girls in the country's capital expressed hopes
for a brighter future at a hilltop ceremony on Thursday, with the children
flying kites and balloons inscribed with personal messages of peace. Over 50
children from Ashiana, a local school for orphans
and street children in Kabul, participated in the event organised
by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to mark the
International Day of Peace (21 September). Don Speich, Marin Independent Journal, 08/20/2006 www.marinij.com/marin/ci_4210760 [accessed 28 March
2011] www.marinij.com/2006/08/20/mill-valley-educator-heads-back-to-afghanistant-to-teach/ [accessed 26 September
2021] "Students
wanted to do homework, even the street children," she said, explaining
that these children are mostly of parents who cannot work because of injuries
suffered during the various conflicts that have crippled the country for so
long. Spike in violence
could herald imminent Afghan success Canwest News Service, MAY
11, 2006 www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=c6594164-b1d4-49e1-8876-941e4472238d&k=40999 [accessed 28 March
2011] The school is
actually one of six that carry the Aschiana name,
meaning "nest." Those schools serve a total of 3,000 students
plucked off the streets by outreach workers, said Sigrid de Jong, the acting
director at the school. "Our
vocational training takes in students up to 28 years old," said de Jong,
an Australian volunteer. "Students here study computers, welding,
plumbing, sewing, embroidery, hygiene, reading and writing, music, art and
even photography. We figure if we can give them a few skills we can get these
kids off the street." Focus
on UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/18162/afghanistan-focus-on-kabul-street-children [accessed 10 March
2015] Unable to provide
food for her six young children, Ehsan's mother sent him and his brother into
the streets of The Brave Children
Of Richard Miron in news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/1769008.stm [accessed 28 March
2011] The street children
are sheltering from the chill - huddling in doorways. One boy I often see
charging around near the BBC office covers his head with his ragged and
blackened jacket to give himself some relief from the cold. There are numerous children who wait
outside the door of the office hoping for some work. Most of them are
shoeshine boys. They all have similar
tales - a father dead either from the war or illness, numerous brothers and
sisters, and a family dependent on their meager earnings for their daily
bread. Poverty
forces children to quit school to work UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/24406/afghanistan-poverty-forces-children-to-quit-school-to-work [accessed 10 March
2015] While millions of
Afghan children have returned to school following the collapse of the Taliban
regime in late 2001, tens of thousands of school-age youngsters, restricted
by economic hardship, must still work on the streets of the Afghan capital, Behind the Clouds:
A Umberto Angelucci, Unification News, April 2002 www.tparents.org/UNews/Unws0204/irff_afghan.htm [accessed 28 March
2011] The problem of
street children in UN
Envoy Urges Major Investment in Children and Youth of Office of the
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed
Conflict, United Nations, www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=2846&flag=news [accessed 28 March
2011] ·
1 out of every 3 children (over 1 million children)
have lost one or both parents ·
20% of children die before their first birthday, mostly
from preventable diseases ·
50% of children suffer from chronic malnutrition ·
About half the 200,000 landmine victims are children ·
An estimated 2 million children were uprooted by war ·
50,000 street children in Afghanistan: a
country rocked by turmoil, a people devastated by drought care.ca/main/?en&FloraMacDonald&PHPSESSID=9ce77bb41c33d7599e46a79e49b5f00a [access date
unavailable] STREET CHILDREN - In the streets
of ASCHIANA - Aschiana, a program supported by CARE Afghanistan and the
Canada Fund, is designed to assist these street children. In between work
stints, these children come to the Aschiana
"campuses" (there are four such "campuses" in Kabul)
where, in addition to basic instruction in literacy and numeracy, they are
taught revenue-producing skills in pottery, bicycle repair, car repair. Kabul street
children to benefit from new partnership with UNICEF United Nations
Children's Fund UNICEF, www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KHII-6DF3GM?OpenDocument [accessed 28 March
2011] reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-kabul-street-children-benefit-new-partnership-unicef [accessed 21
November 2016] Nearly 1,000 street
working children in the Afghan capital of Kabul will benefit from a new
agreement signed between the local non-governmental organization Aschiana and UNICEF.
The agreement secures Aschiana’s use of two
sites in the city to provide training and education for the children, as part
of an on-going partnership between the two organizations. Real
lives - Junko Mitani, United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, Nangarhar, 16 August 2004 www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_23051.html [accessed 28 March
2011] reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistans-former-child-soldiers-are-eager-embrace-future [accessed 26
September 2021] [Photo Caption] With UNICEF
support, the NGO “Solidarité Afghanistan Belgium”
(SAB) is running a successful program for 500 former child soldiers and
street children. These boys are learning to become electrical technicians. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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