Thousands of Afghan children working in brick factories

More than 2,200 children are working long hours in Nangarhar Province brick-making factories to pay off family debts, according to the Afghan Child Action Protection Network, the U.N.’s IRIN news agency reported Tuesday.

Some 90 percent of the 2,298 children are deprived of their education due to their long work hours. Almost all of the families employed by the factories owe their employers and other brick merchants large amounts of money, which, the article says, keeps them “trapped in a cycle of unending dept due to high interests rates imposed by the lenders.”

“Some families are in debt for many years,” said Hayat Khan, director of Nangarhar’s department of labor and social affairs, adding that this forces them to work as “slaves” in factories.

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