Afghanistan Times
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Yesterday, 20 November was the World Children’s Day and it was celebrated in the world to protect to rights of children. The day was also marked in Afghanistan with the hope of better future for the suffering Afghan children. It is a fact that four decades of war, and especially the 18 years of conflicts, Afghanistan has become the most dangerous place in the world for a child to be born. Girls are top in this indecision. Taking from highest infant mortality rate to lack of access to clean water, and from medical facilitation to education, and so many other issues, the Afghan children have been trapped in all depressions. Even the polio vaccination campaigns against polio have been deterred by militant group. This is legal right of every child to receive two drops of vaccine in order not to become victim of this crippling disease which is still endemic in the country and measles that can kill children. Unfortunately, around 43 percent of the country is now virtually off-limits to aid agency due to insecurity. Taking under account the facts, indeed Afghanistan today is the most dangerous place to be born. Based on reports, some 317 schools were attacked in the past year, killing 124 and wounding another 290. This has forced parents not to send their kids to schools, and there were a drop in the number of children who were attending schools and particularly young girls. School enrollment had risen to five million, including two million girls, against one million with virtually no girls in 2001 when the Taliban were ousted from power. The most irritating is health issues as the children are at great risk of dying at any early age due to lack of health care and proper nutrition. In 2020, over 9.4 million people (54 percent children) will require humanitarian and protection assistances. Half of the population – nearly 17 million people live in conflict-affected areas and 103 districts are assessed as hardest to reach. Sexual and gender-based violence including forced child marriages is another big issue to be dealt with. As whole, not only the children, but the Afghans in every age are not safe. The responsibility is utterly rest to the Afghan leaders to put aside their differences and work for the national interest to improve the living standards of the Afghan masses. There is a great proverb saying, ‘more precious than our children are the children of our children.” Hope one day we get to live in a peaceful Afghanistan, where we all get to go to schools, purse our passions and serve our motherland.
