After the fall of black regime of Taliban and creation of the new government with the collaboration of the international community in Afghanistan; great changes and developments in different levels of social, economic, cultural, political, martial has taken place. One of the changes is in the field of investment and keenness of multi-nationals for the development of people of this country.
Hundreds of the national and international organizations has started activities in different sectors and utilized a huge capital in this regard.
Based on the statistics of Ministry of Economy, round about 1224 national NGOs and 301 international NGOs are working in different sectors; which are supported by different countries of the world.
During the recent years, Afghanistan is among the countries which have already faced multiple problems on its way and our people grappled with those problems during the period.
Absurd customs and traditions, unemployment, illiteracy, lack of quality educational centers, lack of focus towards vulnerable category of the society like children, women, disables and many more problems were the main reason behind this; although during the recent years, governmental and non-governmental organizations has performed relevant activities but to the vastness of these problems these tasks were not sufficient.
For the creation of better living opportunities for the vulnerable layer of the society in the capital and provinces; different institutions has done visible activities. Among them we tried to have an interview with Mr. Abdullah Abid, the responsible for supervision and support of children of independence human rights commission in Kabul; where I have asked for the information about this institution which is going to be presented by me (Masoud Ansar).
Question: First of all, I would appreciate if you introduce yourself to the dear audience of Radio Killid?
Answer: Thank you very much; my name is Abdullah Abid working as responsible for the supervision and support of children belongs to independence human rights commission of Afghanistan.
Question: At the beginning, please share with the audience of Radio Killid about your activities?
Answer: As everyone understands, the independence human rights commission is a national institution working under the framework of the government under the article 52 of established constitution and the authorities of this institution is to support and supervise the human rights. Whenever the rights of someone are breached then they can contact this organization for assistance.
Under the framework of independence human rights commission; there are different sections operating which are as children’s right support section, women’s right support section, human rights education section, transitional justice and other different sections. Also this institution has programs on development of children’s rights and also conducts workshops which are supported by the education section of this institution.
From the other angle; government of Afghanistan is among the countries which has accepted the convention of the children’s rights, therefore it is necessary to support the children’s rights because these children are the future makers of this country and are the vulnerable category of the society. Now, in the first step the parent and government should heal their programs for better results.
Question: You said that among the other tasks of this institution; support and supervision is the one, until now which activities are accomplished by this commission in this regard?
Answer: You better know that the independence human rights commission is not an executing body and has only the support and supervision responsibility of the children but we have continues supervisions; where we have a regular visits from the steerage centers of the children mainly from nurseries and women prisons where the children are kept with their mothers. In total the children are from the vulnerable layer of the society and among them there are different categories of children i.e. children busy in work on the streets who are in need of serious supervision.
Question: Well Mr. Abid you have mentioned about the street children how is your supervision method for them, are you going to bazar or what?
Answer: Yes, we have a team with the name of field supervision; which is supervising the children’s rights and they have forms which are covering the overall state of the child, mean that it is evaluating the child from different angles and then based on the mentioned standards the children are taken under supervision.
Question: Mr. Abid; in the capital there are different institutions working in this regard, in the provinces how is your supervision method; especially those children who are attracted by the armed forces, are you directly supervising them are how is the method?
Answer: As the coverage area of the independence human rights commission is very much vast and it is consisted of eight regional offices and six provincial offices. The issue mentioned by you is among the cases to which we have already faced and we directly involved in cases where the weapons were seen in the hands of the children and were excluded from the process. Recently the name of Afghanistan government is added in united nations where it is stating that if the children are involved in the weaponry activities are considered as crime and those who have the identity card should proof that either they are 18 years old or above and if they don’t have the identity card and they are suspicious then they are introduced to the relevant authorities for the confirmation of their ages and if they are above 18 years of age then they are hired in military.
Question: Mr. Abid if there are people who are trying to keep children under 18 under armed forces; then do you have possibilities to meet them and supervise the children without any problem are you may face problems?
Answer: Yes, the commission has such authorities but not in the way you mentioned; No because the departments working under the framework of Ministry of Defense or Ministry of Interior Affairs, there is already a specific section of human rights is operating where they have responsibility to these issues. If there are such problems first they are responsible and if they ask for our cooperation then we also respond to such cases.
Question: If you can tell us about the NGOs that either they are also as effective as you or what?
Answer: As I have previously provided the information about the commission and the problem that exists in Afghanistan which is security; in some parts of the country there is no security and the other problem could be the poverty. The parents who are jobless they are encouraging their children for the heavy work which has its effects on them; there are organizations working in these regards such as Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, UNICEF and Independence Human Rights Commission, these organizations has established a network under name of Children Preservation Network and they have different meetings; where different topics are taken under discussion and tasks are distributed to the institutions.
Question: Is there any statistics available about those children who are doing heavy work and how you are evaluating the conditions of the children as compare to the previous years?
Answer: Thank you; based on reports and efforts in this regard, it appears that round about 1.9 million children are busy in 22 different types of the heavy work in Afghanistan which is considerable because they are the future of the country and until the government is not focusing seriously in this regard, this issue is of concern.
Question: Based on your views what would be the solution of this problem; how can we grant the rights of these children and which institutions have responsibility regarding this and which one has the most responsibility?
Answer: At the first step it is the duty of the government but in spite of many years from interim and transitional government not a visible work is done; once the president announce a command to collect the beggar children from the streets which was also not implemented and the government is responsible based on the constitute to act seriously in this regard and provide the opportunity of work for the children.
Question: How your organization sees the future of these children; is there any hope regarding them?
Answer: Thank you; as compare to the past, there are developments in the education of the children not only in the capital but also in villages; still there are problems but the real problem which is in front of the children is their security, if this is ensured the we are hoping for further positive developments because in the article 7 of the constitute it is mentioned that the government is obeying the international conventions; where it share the reports with the conventions and if these reports didn’t bring development then the international community will take action in this regard.
Question: Thank you very much; at the end if you have any message, please?
Answer: I would like to repeat once again that the government is responsible to solve the security problems, poverty, unemployment of the families and other problems; here is the point where the children can remain away from the heavy work and Inshallah they will have a bright future.
With many thanks from you Mr. Abid and you dears that you read the report; until next discussion good bye and wish your success.
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