Tuesday November 1, 2016
Kabul (BNA) Over the last fifteen years, the government of Afghanistan has had considerable achievements in children rights, as it has created laws and procedures on children safety and did much on their access to education and prevention on battlefields as well as other dimensions.
Qanounmal Khwaja Ahmadullah Sediqi, professional member of punishment laws’ board of the ministry for justice told that the government of Afghanistan has made much effort for children to access their rights. Furthermore, the ministry of justice as a lawmaking organization have sent many laws to presidential office for hierarchy such as, law on prevention of children in army ranks, law on children rights protection, law on addressing violations against children, law on children protection strategy and many more, Sediqi further said. To make a rough draft of laws is the responsibility of the ministry for justice, but their practicing is up to the different administrations working on children rights, Sediqi said, adding these laws help them better get aware on children rights, based on which they will arrange their programs.
Meanwhile, the ministry of education said, ‘however, the government has done a lot on children access to education, but unfortunately, still there are three million children deprived of education across the country. Therefore, the ministry has asked the government to make serious efforts in this respect.’ The ministry of education is making effort so no child is far from education, but unfortunately, recent continuation of war and insecurities in the country have caused three million children to be deprived of education, officials said. In the meantime, expressing glad on the government efforts on children rights and approving laws, Afghanistan Human Right Commission (AHRC) stressed that much must be done for this generation. Abdullah Abed, the in-charge on children rights in AHRC told that fortunately, the Afghan government could have eye-catching achievements on approving and practicing many laws on children so far. It is worth mentioning that the since establishment of the interim government, 900,000 children have accessed to education, 40 percent of whom are girls, Abed said, adding based on the ministry of education, more than 12000 new schools have been built throughout the country.
Likewise, the government of Afghanistan in cooperation with international organizations has made effort in vaccination campaigns as periodically, but unfortunately, still the Afghan children are the most vulnerable segment of the society, Abed went on to say. In the meantime, a number of civil society organizations’ members and experts said, ‘over the last years, the children have been killed in suicide attacks, in different insurgents’ attacks, etc.’ Safia Sediqi, a children rights activist said, ‘unfortunately, Afghanistan is the only country where less attention has been paid to children, but in other countries of the world, the children enjoy special position.’ Safia Sediqi also said, ‘I expect the government to provide better education grounds to children, so they never be deceived by extremist groups.’ This is while that however the government has made much effort on children rights over the last years, but unfortunately, still they are faced with challenges in the country.
Suraya Raiszada
