UNICEF, Hamed’s journey: 11 days of uncertainty, fear and regret, 2 December 2022
“One 15-year-old journey's to Iran and back, in search of a better life Sam Mort & Omid Fazel HERAT, AFGHANISTAN - His family had struggled with poverty, unemployment and sickness for years. But the moment 15- year-old Hamed decided he had to leave his village near Herat for Iran, was when there was no money left to buy school stationery for his two brothers and two sisters. He had to help them get an education. “I would have loved to stay in school, but I couldn’t. Someone had to earn money for my family. So, I dropped out of Grade 8.” Hamed tried working in baking and tailoring businesses, but he was let go. Afghanistan could offer him nothing. It was February 2022. His family knew about his plans to leave for Iran and supported him because they were so desperate. With the help of a relative already in Iran, they agreed to pay 20,000 AFN (nearly US$ 300) to cover the cost of the journey. One night at 8pm with a smuggler by his side, he left his village. The smuggler took him and some other boys deep into the mountains near the border with Iran. They stayed in a freezing cold cave for three long days and nights. During the day, the boys gathered wood so that they could light a fire by night. Hamed felt very scared that thieves would catch him and harm him or try to extort money from his family. On the fourth day, the smuggler took them into Iran. Immediately, they were caught by the Iranian police who took them to a detention center. In the course of the next few days, Hamed moved from detention center to detention center. It was a harrowing experience. With barely enough food to eat, Hamed remembers being painfully hungry – but too scared to speak up to ask for more from the guards. Once he was deported to Afghanistan, UNICEF and War Child UK met Hamed and other children like him at the border.”
ICRC, Afghanistan: “My children are collecting waste to feed themselves”, 1 November 2022
“Widows and orphaned children are among the worst affected and too often unable to eat even one proper meal a day.”
The Khaama Press News Agency, 4 arrested for selling young girl in northeast Afghanistan, 28 September 2022
“The Taliban arrested 4 people, 3 men and 1 woman, on charges of selling a young girl in the northeastern Afghan province of Takhar, said local Taliban authorities. Abdul Mubin Safi, the Taliban government’s spokesperson in Takhar province, said that four people forced a young girl to be sold against her will without her family’s knowledge for money.” […] “As the Taliban took power in Afghanistan last year, there was an upsurge in reports of family members, including daughters, wives, and parents, selling their children to survive. Afghanistan is presently experiencing the worst levels of hunger, starvation, despair, unemployment, and poverty, in addition to the deterioration of women’s rights and the ‘worst humanitarian crisis on Earth.’ The Taliban also dissolved the two organisations that dealt with forced marriages and underage marriage, violence against women, and other related issues, the Ministry of Women Affairs, and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.”
Jurist, Report finds 72% increase in unaccompanied minors seeking EU asylum, 5 May 2022
"The report finds the increase is largely due to the situation in Afghanistan. There was an increase of 12,270 unaccompanied minors in 2021 from Afghanistan compared to 5,495 in 2020. In 2021, unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan accounted for 53% of the applications."
UNICEF, Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report Report #3 1-28 February 2022, 22 March 2022
“With UNICEF support, more than 99,580 people received life-saving protection services including 1,435 separated and unaccompanied children who benefitted from family-tracing and reunification services.”
Jurist, Afghanistan dispatch: ‘an Afghan family has sold four of their daughters for 42,000 Afghanis’, 18 February 2022
“To survive, an Afghan family has sold four of their daughters for 42,000 Afghanis. This family, who live in Afghanistan’s Sar e Pul province, told a local newspaper that they sold their daughters to buy food and other necessities, particularly flour and oil.
This family has sold every child they have had in the last four years for small sums of money. Their first daughter was sold for 11,000 Afghanis, their second daughter for 12,000 Afghanis, their third daughter for 9,000 Afghanis, and their fourth daughter for 10,000 Afghanis.
The local newspaper further reports that the family’s mother is now mentally ill due to the sale of her daughters. The family have no money to either pay for food and treatment of the family’s mother.”
ToloNews, Most Public Orphanages Now Closed: Ministry, 1 February 2022
“While the number of orphans and unsupervised children is increasing across Afghanistan, officials said that only 9 out of 68 public orphanages are operating in the country. Mohammad Yunus Sediqi, head of the media department at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, said that 36 private orphanages are open in the country. Currently nine public (government) orphanages are open as are 36 private ones. Efforts are underway to reopen the public orphanages if there is a budget for us.”
UNHCR, Afghanistan situation: Emergency preparedness and response in Iran, 23 January 2022
“On 13 January, describing a “nightmare unfolding in Afghanistan”, the United Nations’ Secretary-General, António Guterres, warned that the world is “in a race against time to help the Afghan people." (Link) The UN Chief said the size of the appeal launched on 11 January “reflects the scale of the despair.” He added that there are “babies being sold to feed their siblings. Freezing health facilities overflowing with malnourished children. People burning their possessions to keep warm.” Currently, more than half the population depends on life-saving assistance but without a more concerted effort from the international community, Mr. Guterres stated that “virtually every man, woman and child in Afghanistan could face acute poverty.”
NBC News, They managed to escape Afghanistan. But their 2-year-old is still stuck in Kabul, 23 December 2021
“An Afghan man and his wife are appealing to the Biden administration to help them reunite with their son, who had to be left behind with a relative in the chaos at Kabul airport.”
UNICEF, Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore on unaccompanied and separated children evacuated from Afghanistan, 7 September 2021
““Since 14 August, hundreds of children have been separated from their families amidst chaotic conditions, including large-scale evacuations, in and around the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. [...]
In Afghanistan, more than 550,000 people have been displaced by conflict, the majority in recent weeks, and 10 million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. We are very worried about the safety and wellbeing of unaccompanied and separated children inside the country.”