Saturday, January 04, 2020
Kabul (BNA) An agreement was signed on joint work for millions of children, up to six million of them reported to have been at risk. Expressing their concerns over the miserable situation of up to six million children, two senior government officials, the related bodies have signed an agreement on joint work for child protection, a statement from the Second Vice-President office said.
According to the statement, in presence of the country's second vice president Mohammad Sarwar Danesh, the agreement was inked between representatives of the Ministry of Work and Social Affairs, Justice Ministry, Interior Ministry in one side and UNICEF on the other. VP Danesh called poverty and insecurity major challenges facing children in Afghanistan and that the two factors had made it impossible for children to access school, according to the statement. The Vice-President said: "Today 3.7 million children are out of school. Priorities for protecting children in Afghanistan should be focused on these two factors." According to him, in order to support children there was need for emphasis on implementation of the child protection law and greater coordination among government departments and that major steps had been taken towards providing legal framework for child protection in Afghanistan. Also, Sayed Anwar Sadat, Acting Minister of Works and Social Affairs, said the situation of children in the country was alarming. The minister said six million children in the country were at serious risk and social harm, but the situation of three million was worrying. Sadat noted at present 44 percent of children in Afghanistan lacked access to school, adding that providing services to children was linked to implementation of the Child Rights Protection Law and further efforts should be made in this regard He further said that the lawmakers should not treat the matter politically and pass the law in a harmonious manner.