Adel: Peace can alleviate poverty, bring prosperity

KABUL (Pajhwok): The president of All Afghanistan Federation of Trade Unions (AAFTU) Dr. Mohammad Liaqat Adil has said people’s life would improve if the fighting stops and peace is established in the country.
During an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, he said poverty had increased due to the conflict and insecurity and as a result, people are facing more problems. He said the decades-old conflict took countless lives people including those earning livelihood for their families and their children are forced to work for the sake of living.
According to Adel, children have to work due to the ongoing situation instead of going to school. President of AAFTU asked the international community to cooperate with Afghan government in dealing with child labor issue. He said children are working very hard in bricks kilns right now and their rights are violated.
Adel noted that due to the conflict, the labor community was deprived of their rights, nobody heard their voices and they were expelled from their work illegally. He said in the past four decades, the private sector and government both had violated labor rights. Dr Adil stressed the country’s builders are these labor community who suffered a lot due to the past four decades.
He added the fighting not only resulted in a surge in violence but it also contributed to increasing poverty and creating critical situation. Adil, however, believed if peace was established and conflict came to an end in the country, this will help provide working opportunity for the people and alleviate poverty. “The fact that labor community is in crisis, private sector is taking full advantage of the situation and denies complete wages for the work they carry out,” he said.
The union head said many people had traveled to foreign countries illegally for work with some lost their lives on their way to foreign nations. “We participated in the 2006 World Labor Conference and informed the world about the problems and unfortunate things faced by Afghan labors, but we did not receive a positive response.” He alleged foreign aid arrived in the country over the years has not been transparently distributed and labors were not provided work opportunities.