Table 1 provides key indicators on children’s work and education in Afghanistan.

Source for primary completion rate: Data from 2019, published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2023. (1)
Source for all other data: International Labor Organization's analysis of statistics from Income, Expenditure and Labour Force Survey (IE&L), 2019–2020. (2)

Based on a review of available information, Table 2 provides an overview of children's work by sector and activity.

† Determined by national law or regulation as hazardous and, as such, relevant to Article 3(d) of ILO C. 182.
‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.

The humanitarian crisis following the Taliban takeover in August 2021 resulted in an increase in the prevalence of child labor, including its worst forms. (5,6,26-28) In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic, drought conditions, and worsening economic conditions further exacerbated child labor, child marriage, and child trafficking in the country. (5,6,16,23,26,29,30) Of all the sectors in which Afghan children work, carpet weaving is the sector with the largest number of child laborers, particularly girls between the ages of 11 and 15. (5,31) Many of these children suffer respiratory ailments. (28,32)

Children in Afghanistan are recruited and used as child soldiers. (6,16,24) According to the UN, the Taliban has dramatically increased the number of child soldiers in their ranks. (6) Dire economic conditions have made children more vulnerable to recruitment. The Taliban usually recruits boys between the ages of 14 and 17, and 97 percent of these become part of the Taliban's security forces. (6,16,23,25) In 2021, the Haqqani Network, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-I Islami, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Khorasan Province all recruited child soldiers in Afghanistan. However, research was unable to confirm if this practice continued in 2022. (16,33) Additionally, in recent years, low rates of birth registration and the falsification of identity documents contributed to the prevalence of child soldiers by making it difficult to determine a recruit’s age. (34) Observers reported that some officials accepted bribes to produce false identity documents indicating that the recipient boys were older than age 18. (17,34)

Boys in Afghanistan continued to be subjected to commercial sexual exploitation through the practice of bacha bazi, which typically entails keeping a male or transgender child for the purpose of sexual gratification. (5,6,16) Some boys were sold into the practice by their families or abducted from the street, including by police officers. (16,35) Children subjected to bacha bazi often become further victimized by the threat of violence when returning to their families, necessitating the placement of these child victims in rehabilitation centers. (5) The suspension of international aid after August 2021 significantly impacted bacha bazi victims' access to rehabilitation services. (6,26,36) According to media and NGO reports, many of these cases went unreported or were referred to traditional mediation, which often allowed perpetrators to re-offend. Cases were further under-reported because the stigma associated with these crimes prevented the vast majority of child victims from bringing cases forward to law enforcement or seeking care, especially when the alleged perpetrators were members of the police force. (6,37)

Girls from impoverished families are forced into marriage with adult men in order for the girls' families to obtain dowries. These girls are often subsequently forced into carpet weaving and required to provide their earnings to their husbands. (5,6,16,26,38,39) Girls are also sold to men in India, Iran, and Pakistan and subsequently exploited sexually or in domestic servitude. (16) Meanwhile, girls from China, Iran, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tajikistan are sometimes trafficked to Afghanistan for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. (16,40) Most human trafficking victims in Afghanistan are children, some of whom are forced into brick production or the production of illegal drugs to settle family debts. (5,16,22) Boys, especially those traveling unaccompanied, are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking, including for work in agriculture and construction. (41,42) Children's families may pay intermediaries to send children for labor abroad, where they are subsequently subjected to labor and sex trafficking in Iran, Pakistan, and parts of Europe. (43)

During the reporting period, and due to the effects of poverty and on-going military conflict, roughly half of Afghanistan's children did not attend school; as many as 1.9 million children either engaged in or were subjected to work. Moreover, after August 2021, school-age girls were not allowed to attend classes beyond the sixth grade in most provinces. (5,6,30,44) During the reporting period, the Taliban further banned Afghan girls and women from attending university. (6,45) The requirement for women to be escorted by male relatives (mahram) continues not only to impact women and girls’ freedom of movement but also inhibits their access to education. (6,46) In some cases, girls faced deliberate militant attacks against their community and girls' schools, limiting their access to education. (47,48) Additional barriers to education for children included displacement of populations due to conflict, the use of schools as military bases, living long distances from schools, school-related fees, lack of security, lack of female teachers in girls' schools, and the lack of identity documentation. (6,19,23,48-50)

Afghanistan has ratified all key international conventions concerning child labor (Table 3).

Afghanistan has established laws and regulations related to child labor (Table 4). However, gaps exist in Afghanistan’s legal framework to adequately protect children from the worst forms of child labor, including the lack of criminal prohibitions against the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

* Country has no conscription (58)
‡ Age calculated based on available information (59)

The Taliban have not made a clear pronouncement on whether the group would follow modified versions of either Afghanistan’s 1964 or 2004 constitution until it produces a new constitution, making it unclear the degree to which prior elements of the legal system remain in effect. Simultaneously, the Taliban have conveyed that prior laws remain in effect unless they violate the Taliban interpretation of sharia, as determined by Taliban courts. (60)

The Afghan Labor Law’s minimum age provision prohibits those who have not completed age 18 from being “recruited as a worker.” (51) However, the law defines “worker” as a person who is “recruited based on a definite contract,” meaning that the minimum age provision does not apply to those in informal employment. Afghan law does not sufficiently criminalize practices similar to slavery, including debt bondage. (51,52) The Penal Code criminalizes the use of male or transgender children in bacha bazi, criminalizes forcing children to dance, and criminalizes the forced use of girls in prostitution. However, the legal framework does not criminalize the use of boys or non-forced use of girls in prostitution, and it does not criminalize the use of children in pornographic performances other than dancing.(52,53,55)

Children in Afghanistan are required to attend school only up to age 15. This standard makes children between the ages of 15 and 17 vulnerable to child labor, as they are not required to attend school but are not legally permitted to work without restriction on hours and times of work. (51,52,57)

Afghanistan has established institutional mechanisms for the enforcement of laws and regulations on child labor (Table 5). However, gaps exist within the operations of enforcement agencies that may hinder adequate enforcement of their child labor laws.

The extent to which relevant agencies are carrying out the enforcement activities mandated by the pre-August 15, 2021, government—or whether these agencies continue to exist at all—is unknown. (6)

Labor Law Enforcement

In 2022, research did not find information on whether labor law enforcement agencies in Afghanistan took actions to address child labor. (5)

In 2022, information about the number of labor inspectors was unavailable. Before the takeover by the Taliban, government officials, NGOs, and UNICEF acknowledged that the number of labor inspectors was insufficient; this likely remains the case. (19) Moreover, sources indicate that labor inspections took place only in the capital, Kabul, prior to the Taliban takeover. It is unclear whether inspections continued after the Taliban takeover in August 2021; the international community did not supply support to labor inspectors after that time. (6,19,30) Although Afghanistan's labor code designates the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) as the entity with labor law enforcement authority, before mid-2021, the Ministry lacked implementing regulations and labor law enforcement funding, leaving inspectors with no mechanism to assess penalties and without offices equipped with modern technologies and means of transportation, limiting their ability to carry out inspections. (48)

Criminal Law Enforcement

In 2022, research did not find information on whether criminal law enforcement agencies in Afghanistan took actions to address child labor.

After August 2021, the United Nations confirmed the continued presence of unknown numbers of children detained without regard for age with adults in prisons and juvenile rehabilitation centers. Although reports confirm the Taliban has detained and punished children found engaged in child labor, research was unable to verify the conditions of these detentions and the scope of punitive measures imposed. (6,23)

Prior to the Taliban takeover, child victims of human trafficking were routinely prosecuted and convicted of unlawful acts that traffickers compelled them to commit—and this practice is likely to have continued during the reporting period. (6,16,17) Male victims of child trafficking, especially those engaged in bacha bazi or in armed conflict, were sometimes referred to juvenile detention or rehabilitation facilities on criminal charges, instead of being referred to appropriate victim support services. (17,19,21,63) Under the Ghani administration, the government arrested, detained, and prosecuted for terrorism-related crimes children younger than age 12 who had been forcibly recruited by non-state armed groups. Furthermore, authorities housed some child trafficking victims in juvenile detention centers, sometimes for several years. (49) Such children were considered criminals even after being transferred to rehabilitation centers. (17,35) In past years, the UN reported that some of these children were subjected to torture and ill treatment. (63,64)

In 2022, research was unable to determine whether the Taliban carried out criminal investigations in alleged instances of human trafficking. In addition, security agencies and the Ministry of Justice did not have a reciprocal referral mechanism to ensure that child victims of human trafficking and other forms of child labor receive social services. (6,15,19)

The Taliban has said that the Ministry of Interior’s anti-trafficking in persons offices have been inoperable since the 2021 takeover, and that all computer systems, data, and staff in those offices are gone. These offices have yet to be restored as of the end of the reporting period. (5,6) Due to assistance restrictions, the international community has been able to provide only limited resources to support child trafficking victims. (6,30)

Afghanistan has an established mechanism to coordinate its efforts to address child labor (Table 8). However, gaps exist that hinder the effective coordination of efforts to address child labor, including lack of utilization of previously established coordinating bodies.

Afghanistan has established policies related to child labor (Table 9). However, policy gaps exist that may hinder efforts to address child labor, including lack of implementation of previously established policies and strategies.

Research was unable to determine whether activities were undertaken to implement policies related to child labor during the reporting period.

In 2022, Afghanistan had programs that include the goal of preventing child labor (Table 10). However, gaps exist in these social programs, including lack of implementation.

For information about USDOL’s projects to address child labor around the world, visit https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/ilab-project-page-search
† Program funded by the Government of Afghanistan prior to the Taliban takeover.

Based on the reporting above, suggested actions are identified for a future government that would advance the elimination of child labor in Afghanistan (Table 11).

References on file.