Afghans at risk in school shortage

Child labour or marriage the only option for some families returning from Pakistan to face poverty and a dearth of facilities

KABUL // Children of Afghan families returning from Pakistan who have no access to education are increasingly at risk of falling into child labour and early marriage, according to a children’s charity.

Save the Children carried out a survey in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province and revealed the situation.

The charity warned that it could deteriorate further as more than 3,500 Afghans return from Pakistan each day after Islamabad tightened regulations on those living illegally in the country.

This year, more than 650,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan, with the majority planning to stay in Nangarhar, at least until the end of winter. Hundreds of thousands more are expected to leave Pakistan in the coming months.

Of those who have returned, many have no money and require documents and ID papers.

Parents facing poverty often feel the only stable choice they can make is to arrange a marriage for their child or to send the children into the workforce, the survey found. “We are really concerned about the risks threatening the children and the future of the children if the situation continues,” said Bahirullah Wyaar, an adviser at Save the Children in Kabul.

“If the children, especially the girls, do not have access to education, it puts them at the risk of early marriages.”

Also, many of the poorest have no resources, which may “force the children to work on the streets”, Mr Wyaar said. The survey was based on 379 interviews carried out between October 28 and November 8 in five districts in Nangarhar. It has a 5 per cent margin of error.

In June, Pakistan’s government extended a deadline for Afghan refugees deemed to be staying in Pakistan illegally to return home by the end of the year or face deportation. Although Kabul welcomed the extension, Afghanistan’s refugees and repatriation minister, Sayed Hossain Alemi Balki, said he wanted it extended until December next year.

He said Pakistani police were harassing refugees, and Islamabad should not forcibly repatriate Afghan refugees when the deadline passed.

Millions of Afghans fled to neighbouring Pakistan and Iran during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the civil war of 1992 to 1996 between United States-backed rebel groups that fought the Soviets, and again after the Taliban came to power in 1996 – creating one of the world’s largest refugee populations.

Pakistan and Iran have been pressing for them to leave.

Pakistani authorities claimed a number of militants were hiding in refugee camps, creating a security risk for the country.

Ana Locsin, Save the Children’s group’s director in Afghanistan, said “part of the problem was that many repatriated families left stable jobs and lives in Pakistan and were now watching the few savings they had dwindle knowing they had little prospect of income”.

“Many are living out in the open, or in tents, so they have no real semblance of shelter, let alone security,” she said.

“They often feel they have little choice but to send their child to find work or to marry off their daughters.”

‘ If the children, especially the girls, do not have access to education, it puts them at the risk of early marriages Bahirullah Wyaar adviser at Save the Children in Kabul