NIEUWS

Lees hieronder de vragen werden die naar voren gebracht door Tijs Berman:

"The ILO has published a report "Buried in Bricks" on the bricks  sector in Afghanistan (Kabul and Nanghar) and the pressing human rights  situation of the labourers in this sector. The study shows that by using  a system of advances the kiln owners keep their labourers bonded to the  kiln. Nearly all the households surveyed (98%) began working in brick  kilns while they were in exile in Pakistan. The households consist of  large families and have almost no access to credit, therefore they turn  to brick kilns because it is one of the few places were they can get  credit advances as well as in-kind payments such as shelter and water.  Their debt keeps these households bonded to the kilns. And since all  households members are forbidden to seek employment outside the kiln and  are only allowed to leave the kiln on set times to set locations (the  hospital for example) they cannot seek jobs elsewhere. The families are  also tied to the kiln because they do not own land and are depended on  the shelter offered by the kiln owner.

Child labour is also widely spread in the kilns (56 % of the  labourers are children). Child labour helps kiln owners maximise the  in-kind payments by using all the household members and children perform  the tasks that make adults more productive such as carrying water and  rolling mud balls. These children are trapped in a cycle of being bonded  to the kiln since they cannot attend school and forced to take over  their parent's debt.

Is the Commission aware of this pressing human rights situation in  the kilns in Afghanistan and if so, what action has been taken so far?

Would the Commission in principle be willing to support programmes of  e.g. Unicef, ILO and NGOs to tackle both bonded and child labour in the  Afghan brick kilns, for which options have been sketched by the ILO in  the report Buried in Bricks? 

Would the Commission be willing to support specific programmes to get  children working in brick kilns into mainstream education as part of  the focus on the ‘educational needs of vulnerable groups’ as mentioned  in the Country Strategy Paper Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 2007-2013?

As the Country Strategy Paper Afghanistan mentions possible actions  under the thematic programme ‘migration and asylum’ with an emphasis on  the link between migration and development, would the Commission be  willing to support a regional programme with Pakistan as recommended by  the ILO?"

Foto: isafmedia