A new report by the Afghanistan Analysts Network has warned that deepening poverty and the collapse of livelihoods in Afghanistan have pushed families into risky and irreversible choices, including child labour, early marriage of girls, and even the sale of infants and young children. The organisation says the continuation of this situation has placed the future of the next generation under serious threat.<\/p>\n
The report was published on Tuesday, 3 September, under the title \u201cAt the End of the Line: The Struggle for Survival Against Deepening Poverty in Afghanistan.\u201d According to the report, severe economic contraction, widespread unemployment, rising housing costs and an unprecedented decline in international aid have sharply weakened family finances and left millions on the brink of livelihood collapse.<\/p>\n
The report says the forced return of refugees from Iran and Pakistan has placed additional pressure on the already limited labour market and public services. At the same time, rising demand for housing and higher rents have increased economic pressure on families, while restrictions imposed on women\u2019s education and work have closed off income opportunities for female-headed households.<\/p>\n
The Afghanistan Analysts Network also said a major share of the public budget has been allocated to security, and the inability to secure development funding has widened the scope of poverty. According to the organisation, families first sell their assets, gold and small savings to survive, and then turn to informal, low-income work.<\/p>\n
The report says that as debt rises and families are unable to pay rent, children are taken out of school and sent into the labour market. Street vending, shoe polishing, workshop labour and low-paid embroidery are among the jobs children are forced into to help support their families.<\/p>\n
Another section of the report says some families illegally send their teenage sons to neighbouring countries to work and send money home, a move that carries the risk of arrest and forced deportation. It also says some families, unable to provide food, send their sons to round-the-clock religious schools so that at least their meals and accommodation are covered.<\/p>\n
The report adds that in the most severe stages of the crisis, some families have turned to forced and early marriage of daughters in exchange for bride price, and even to giving away or selling infants and young children. The Afghanistan Analysts Network warned that this trend turns poverty from an immediate crisis into an intergenerational cycle.<\/p>\n
According to the organisation, although traditional support networks and local solidarities have so far helped prevent a complete catastrophe, their capacity has also been sharply reduced as poverty spreads across all levels of society. The Afghanistan Analysts Network is an independent research body that publishes reports and analysis on political, social and economic developments in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new report says deepening poverty in Afghanistan is driving families to child labour, early marriage and even selling children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-social-affairs","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}