AFGHANISTAN: Child kidnapping alarming in the south - rights activist

KANDAHAR, 10 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Government officials and human rights activists have been alarmed at the increasing number of child kidnappings in the southern Kandahar province after several kidnapped children were allegedly killed when their parents failed to meet ransom demands.

Thousands of people rallied in Kandahar on Sunday calling for action to arrest and prosecute the kidnappers.

“We are deeply concerned about an increase in child kidnapping in the southern region,” Shamsuddin Tanweer, the head of child rights in the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) southern region office, told IRIN in Kandahar.
According to local media reports in Kandahar, one child is kidnapped per week in the region on average. There are fears that the actual number of kidnappings is higher, as many parents do not report the disappearance of their children, fearing reprisals.

Sunday’s protest turned violent when protesters tried to approach the governor’s residence and stoned police who tried to prevent them doing so.

“At least five Afghan policemen and one protester were injured when the demonstrators became violent,” Gen. Mohammad Salim Ihsas, chief of security in the province, told IRIN.
Protesters threw stones, but when they tried to climb over police vehicles to approach the governor's residence police fired into the air, Ihsas added.

Protesters IRIN interviewed were angry no measures had been taken against child abductions in the Kandahar region. “They kidnap our children and send us their body parts and we are just watching it,” an unidentified protester told IRIN. He said the kidnappers demanded large amounts of money and sent the chopped fingers of a kidnapped child to show they were serious. “No child has so far been returned,” he noted.

Child kidnapping is still a serious issue in many parts of Afghanistan. According to officials at the interior ministry in Kabul, at least 200 children were kidnapped during 2004. The problem existed in the northern province of Mazar-e Sharif, the northeastern province of Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan and now it is becoming an issue in the south, government officials said in Kabul after Sunday’s protest.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai also expressed serious concern on the issue of child kidnapping on Tuesday as he addressed a gathering on International Women’s Day.

The president said terrorists and anti-government elements were behind these acts. Karzai assigned Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali to Kandahar to look into the issue closely.
“One horrible method that terrorists have used is to kidnap our children from the streets. This is a heinous crime and it is the government's responsibility to fight this crime and ensure the safety of its people,” said Karzai.

The UN's children's agency UNICEF said it was also working to eradicate the problem. “UNICEF shares the concerns of ordinary Afghan people at every reported case of child abduction, kidnapping or trafficking,” Edward Carwardine, a UNICEF spokesman, told IRIN in the capital Kabul.

Recognising that much work remains to be done in fostering the rule of law in Afghanistan, and in introducing the necessary legal protection for children, UNICEF is working closely with the government and other partners as part of a National Plan of Action to combat child trafficking, he added.

A recent Afghanistan national human development report recognised that children made up the most vulnerable sector of society. The report noted that 20 percent of children die before the age of five and that more than 300,000 children may have perished during the conflict.

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