Afghan children trapped in brick factories to pay off loans
Afghan kids making bricks
A new United Nations-backed survey is calling for a strategy that will free bonded child labourers working in brick factories in Afghanistan.
The survey commissioned by the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) found that 56 per cent of brick makers in Afghan kilns are children under the age of 18.
In addition, the brick kilns rely almost entirely on debt bondage.
Workers and their families are tied to a kiln by the need to pay off loans taken for basic necessities, medical expenses, weddings and funerals.
Both adult and child labourers work more than 70 hours a week, in very poor conditions and for very low wages.
The survey calls on development actors to provide humanitarian aid to bonded families to help them transition to more sustainable livelihoods and break the inter-generational cycle of bonded labour.
