Child Labour grows at Afghan Kilns as girls replace women

Aljazeera report of Sept 2022 with many photos, describing sharply increasing child labour in Afghanistan’s brick kilns since the Taliban took over and most international aid stopped flowing. Children are working so that their families will not die of starvation.

As you know the Taliban regime has broken its word and banned women from most work outside the home. To compensate for this more children are working, and especially girls are doing the heavy work at the kilns that their mothers used to do.

In case anyone should think that Afghanistan is an especially backward and benighted place, take note that in the World’s largest parliamentary democracy India (which sends rockets to Mars and exports IT technicians to the West by the thousand) probably a million child labourers work at the brick kilns every year and do not attend any school. This child labour continues within 10 or 20 kilometres of the residences of chief ministers in the full light of day.

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/9/26/photos-poverty-pushes-afghan-children-to-work-at-brick-kilns

Workers' Accomodation at Brick Kilns

brickkilnnewssasia
May 1, 2014
1 min read

These are typical brick kiln worker houses - jhopris as commonly known in South Asia. They are low, dark, damp and crowded. The door is low and requires stooping to enter. Inside it is possible to stand upright only in the middle of the room.

One family of several adults and children inhabits one small room. They may or may not have an electric light bulb. Cooking is done on a small mud stove outside the door. Fuel consists of locally gathered dry leaves, straw and twigs, and wood they have to pay for.

Water is hand pumped from a tube well on the brick kiln site. It may or may not be completely fit to drink. Bathing and washing of utensils and clothes are done at the tube well or in a nearby pond or river. Open defecation happened in nearly all brick kilns until recently. Now 'pakka' latrines are installed at many brick kilns. They are not always cleaned and fit for use.

A few brick kiln owners are building bigger and better accomodation for their migrant workers, with electricity, toilets and improved water supply. We salute them !