A boy works in a brick factory in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, June 12, 2024. Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
KABUL, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday.
"The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is trying to prevent child labor and support their families. The ministry has activated training centers for orphaned children and has provided vocational training along with other assistance to the children," local media outlet TOLOnews quoted the ministry's spokesperson Samiullah Rahimi as saying on Wednesday.
Folad, an Afghan child working at a brick factory in Dehsabz district of Afghanistan's capital of Kabul, told Xinhua, "I am interested in going to school, but I can't. We (our family) are in debt, and I'm not able to continue my studies because of poverty. If the government supports my family, I can go to school and continue my lessons."
Four decades of war and extreme poverty in Afghanistan have forced numerous children to work as child labor or struggle to make a living on the street from car washing to shoe shining. ■
Children work in a brick factory in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, June 12, 2024. Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
Children work in a brick factory in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, June 12, 2024. Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
Children work in a brick factory in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, June 12, 2024. Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
Children work in a brick factory in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, June 12, 2024. Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
A girl works in a brick factory in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, June 12, 2024. Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
A boy works in a brick factory in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, June 12, 2024. Nineteen percent of children are engaged in child labor in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
