Kabul: An Afghan children’s rights organization says that the coronavirus crisis has left more than seven million children in the country prone to poverty, barring them from their basic rights in a country where half the population is under 15 years of age. The positive cases of COVID-19 in the country are close to 16,000, according to the Ministry of Public Health.

“The COVID-19 crisis exposes more than seven million Afghan children to the threat of hunger. Also, the children who have been deprived of school in the last three months have not had access to their basic right that is education,” said Maryam Ataee, spokesperson for Save the Children.

Rana, a 12-year-old girl, says she has been working on Kabul streets for the last two years, selling pens while walking from one road to another.

Her father, she said, is disabled and cannot work, leaving her with no option but to work.

“Our economy is weak… My father cannot work and my brother is young. I have to go out and work,” Rana said.

Waris said he has managed to continue his education despite spending most of his hours a day on the streets in Kabul.

“I come here to work in the morning… Some days there is work but sometimes I cannot earn anything,” he said.

“About six million children are prone to danger, according to UNICEF. Also, we have 3.1 million children that are highly vulnerable, we have 1.2 million working children,” said Ghulam Hairdar Jailani, the deputy minister of labor and social affairs.

“Despite big commitments by the Afghan government, the situation of children in terms of access to education, child marriages and sexual abuse is critical and unacceptable,” said Naeem Nazari, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

A new report by the National Statistics and Information Authority shows that nearly half of the estimated 32.9 million Afghan population is under 15 years of age.

https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/covid-19-crisis-affects-nearly-7m-afghan-children-says-watchdog