Child Laborers on Rise in Bamyan as Poverty Deepens

DID Press: The number of working children in Afghanistan’s Bamyan province has surged amid worsening poverty and a lack of job opportunities, forcing many to abandon school and take on hard or street labor to support their families.

As economic hardship continues to grip Bamyan, local residents report a sharp rise in the number of children working in markets, streets, and construction sites.

Many of these children say they have been compelled to work due to their families’ lack of income and the absence of government or humanitarian support.

Ahmad, a 12-year-old street vendor in Bamyan’s main bazaar, said: “My father is unemployed and we get no help from anywhere. I work down to dust to bring home food for my family.”

Dozens of families in Bamyan face severe economic distress. The lack of job opportunities for adults, widespread unemployment, and the absence of state welfare programs have driven many children into exhausting and often dangerous forms of labor — threatening not only their physical and mental health but also their education and future.

Civil society activists in Bamyan have called on national and international organizations to launch urgent support programs to curb the rising phenomenon of child labor in the province.