Although June 12 is recognized globally as the World Day Against Child Labour, in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, nine-year-old Basmina is busy making bricks.
Basmina, a child labourer, says: “I work from morning till evening because I can’t go to school. We are poor, and that’s why I can’t study.”
Another child labourer, Tasleema, adds: “We live in poverty. We wake up early in the morning. We can’t study like other children because of our poverty.”
Twelve-year-old Mustafa also works in the heat. He earns 2,000 afghani per month but carries within him many unfulfilled childhood dreams. He says the value of his lost childhood is far greater than his monthly income.
Mustafa says: “We, too, want to study, go to school, and enjoy our childhood like other kids, but poverty doesn’t allow it.”
Rahmat Gul, a family member of one of the child laborers, said: “We have no choice but to bring our children with us to work. We are forced by our circumstances.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs pledged that efforts to support children are ongoing. The ministry stated that it has transferred over 10,000 orphans and working children to care centers.
Samiullah Ebrahimi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, says: “It is clear that with the current resources, we cannot reach all these children. Therefore, international organizations working in child protection should join efforts with the ministry to share this responsibility.”
Psychologist Zakaria Barakzai said: “The psychological and emotional traits that push children toward drug use destroy their mental, emotional, and social security. They begin to believe the world is only full of injustice and oppression, and nothing beyond that. These thoughts lead to hopelessness, with deeply harmful and dangerous consequences.”
According to the International Labour Organization’s figures from last year, nearly 138 million children worldwide are engaged in labour. Of those, 54 million are involved in hazardous work that poses serious risks to their health, safety, and development.