During my visit to the War Child Transit Centre for the unaccompanied minor(s) in Herat, I met Ahmed, a 13 year old boy from a rural village in the western Afghanistan. Ahmed was deported from Iran twice in the last 20 days. The first time he got deported he went home by himself but this time he needed War Child’s support to reintegrate him back to his family. He met our Social Workers at the Islam Qala border who enrolled him in our project that reintegrates the unaccompanied minors to their families.
Behind that innocent smile on Ahmed’s face there was a fear of what people would say when he is back in his village for the second time. He was also concerned that he wasted his family’s money.
When I asked him what is it that takes him to a totally strange country in such a young age; he could easily count a few attractions. Freedom, parks, rides, big buildings, more regular electricity were a few to count but finding work to support his family was on the top of his list. Ahmed’s dream to go to Iran is a mix of both his aspirations and the fact that he needs to be the bread winners of his family.
While we were talking, some of Ahmed’s friends also joined us at the Transit Centre. All these children met in the bus that brought them back to Afghanistan. They all belong to rural areas in the western Afghanistan. Talking about their Iranian dream they all expressed similar aspirations and realities as Ahmed and expressed their wish to go back to Iran whenever they get the opportunity. A child explained that he would go back to Iran and stay there until caught by the authorities. According to our M&E database, more than 30% of the deportee children enrolled in this project are deported more than once.
Children migrate to Iran to work mainly as a labour at construction sites, farms and gardens. Some children are also involved in selling products on the streets. Sometimes we do quite a dangerous work, children said proudly. “We are paid on time and sometimes more than the Iranian nationals because we work much harder comparatively”, a boy explained.
The Iranian employers are happy to employ Afghan children as they know that being illegal they are not only hard working but they can work for longer hours. Children mentioned a few cases where these employers didn’t pay full wages and threatened children that they will report them to the authorities if they ask for it.
Abdullah, a little older than Ahmed narrated the story of his cousin whose vehicle got shot by the police while the agents were trying to smuggle them into Iran. He said that his cousin got injured and had to come back to Afghanistan.
Going to Iran is hard work. The security at the Iranian border in Afghanistan is very tight so these children have to first go to the Southwest of Pakistan through Nimroz province from where they cross the Iranian border. They pass through deserts and mountains with tens of children stuffed into one vehicle. An agent’s cost to transport a child to Iran is only USD 300. This is mainly the cost for bribing the officials at the borders of two different countries besides all the transportation and living expenses.
45 children from Ahmed’s village went to Iran with him; hundreds of children from different villages joined them as they moved towards the borders. Ahmed said he lost contact with all of the 45 children from his village. It is concerning that the parents of those children have no resources to contact their children and/or check on where they are in Iran.
War Child’s Social Workers are trying to contact Ahmed and his friends’ families to reintegrate them if both the family and children are ready and willing for it. Since the inception of this project in July 2016, our Social Workers have reintegrated over 700 children back to their families. This is the 100% of the unaccompanied children our Social Workers received at the Islam Qala Border.