| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
*
For the year 2000, the ILO projects there will be 601,000 economically
active children, 269,000 girls and 332,000 boys between the ages
of 10-14, representing 24.18% of this age group. (ILO,
International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically
Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
* In 1995, there
were 529,000 economically active children, 227,000 girls and 302,000
boys between the ages of 10-14, representing 25.25% of this age
group. (International
Labour Organisation (ILO), International Labour Office - Bureau
of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working
Paper, ILO 1997)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Children from
the age of 6 often work to help support their families by herding
animals in rural areas and by collecting paper and firewood, shining
shoes, begging, or collecting scrap metal among street debris in
the cities. Some of these practices expose children to the danger
of landmines. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000,
February 2001)
|
| Child
Slavery |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Little information
is available on forced or compulsory labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* The UN Special Rapporteur
on Violence against Women reported that there were some cases of trafficking
in women and children. There were unconfirmed reports that some Taliban
soldiers, often reported to be foreigners, abducted girls and women from
villages in the Shomali plains, and these women were taken away in trucks
from the area of fighting, and were trafficked to Pakistan and to the Arab
Gulf states. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
|
`
Child
Prostitution
and Pornography |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Children as young
as eight and nine years old have been reported to be in prostitution in
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Taliban's law drives women to suicide", 27 May 1998,
Julian West)
|
|
Children Used
in Crime
|
- |
| Child
Soldiers |
COMBINED
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* Sources have
claimed that children as young as 11 were members of the various
armed groups. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing Radda
Barnen database quoting The Scotsman, 17/12/97)
* It is estimated
that at least 108,000 children are involved in the fighting. (ECPAT
International, A Step Forward, 1999)
*
In recent years, with approximately 90% of children having no access
to schooling, the proportion of child soldiers has risen from roughly
30% to at least 45%. (UN,
Graca Machel, Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, 26 August 1996,
citing Rachel Brett and Margaret McCallin, Children: The Invisible
Soldiers, April 1996)
*
In August 1999, a Taliban delegation visited all the main madrasas
in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province appealing for students
to join the Taliban's holy war. It is estimated that up to 5,000
students left their schools. According to the UN, the students who
joined the Taliban at that time were aged between 15 and 35. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing Galpin,
R., "Teenage recruits swell Taliban ranks", The Guardian,
21/08/99)
*
In August 1999, the United Nations estimated that up to 5,000 students
aged 15 years and above, left their schools and joined the Taliban's holy
war. (CSUCS,
Asia Report, July 2000, citing P. Lobjois, "Pakistanis fiers de mourir
en Afghanistan: recrutés par les taliban, ils pensaient combattre les Russes",
Libération, 13 August 1999)
*
The Annual Report of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan accused the
Taliban of recruiting soldiers as young as 14 from religious schools
in Pakistan. ("Taliban denies charge,
it uses child soldiers", The Plain Dealer, 1 December 1999)
| |
