The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced yesterday that almost one quarter of Afghan children are forced to work. Girls are more likely to be working than boys, and the problem is worst in rural areas, UNICEF says, pointing to "poverty, lack of educational opportunities, and the demand for cheap labor" as the principal conditions contributing to child labor. Additionally, the low rate of registered births in the war-torn country makes it difficult to verify a child's actual age.
Much of child labor can be detrimental to the mental, physical, and social development of children. They are employed to cheaply perform often-dangerous labor. Employers prefer young workers, because, as Noriko Izumi, head of child protection for UNICEF in Afghanistan, points out, "Children are cheaper to employ than adults and easier to manipulate."
UNICEF is urging the Afghan government to sign and ratify two conventions of the International Labor Organization: one concerns the minimum employment age and the other addresses hazardous work.
Still, many children are forced to work because of the lack of educational opportunities. Girls' schools in particular have been targeted by Taliban insurgents. Teachers and parents who chose to educate girls have been targeted -- including a girls' school headmaster who was murdered in her home earlier this month -- as well as students. Last week, two gunmen opened fire outside a girls' school, killing two students and wounding six others.
5/22/2013 Immigration Reform Bill Advances In Senate - Last night, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill in a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5. . . .
5/22/2013 Afghan Women Arrested for 'Moral Crimes' Increases 50% - A new report by the Human Rights Watch shows that in the past 18 months the number of women in Afghanistan incarcerated for 'moral crimes' has increased from 400 to 600, a 50% growth.
Many of the women imprisoned for moral crimes were arrested running away from forced or abusive marriages and families, even though there is no law against leaving. . . .
5/22/2013 Army Commander Suspended for Adultery Amid Wave of Sexual Assaults - On Tuesday, Brigadier General Bryan T Roberts was suspended from his position as commander of the Fort Jackson, South Carolina training camp which trains approximately 60% of incoming female recruits pending an investigation into allegations of adultery.
Roberts was suspended following allegations of "adultery and a physical altercation." Colonel Christian Kubik, an Army spokesperson for the Training and Doctrine Command, told reporters "We don't have any evidence of any sexual assault. . . .
