Seven-year-old Mina (name changed) and her mother Qamar Gul outside their shelter, a makeshift house, in Shaidahi area on the outskirts of Herat city. Hikmat Noori for The National
Seven-year-old Mina (name changed) and her mother Qamar Gul outside their shelter, a makeshift house, in Shaidahi area on the outskirts of Herat city. Hikmat Noori for The National
Seven-year-old Mina (name changed) and her mother Qamar Gul outside their shelter, a makeshift house, in Shaidahi area on the outskirts of Herat city. Hikmat Noori for The National
Seven-year-old Mina (name changed) and her mother Qamar Gul outside their shelter, a makeshift house, in Shaidahi area on the outskirts of Herat city. Hikmat Noori for The National

Afghan parents are selling their children into marriage and labour to stave off poverty


  • English
  • Arabic

As the people of the ancient western Afghan city of Herat settle in for a cold December evening, the residents of a relatively new tent settlement brace themselves for a harsh night nearby.

“We own nothing, except the two tents given to us by DRC (Danish Refugee Council). There’s no water, no clothes, the winter days are getting colder,” says Qamar Gul, a 35-year-old widow from Badghis province, from inside her small white tent located in the Shaidahi area on the outskirts of Herat city.

The tent is reached after navigating a sea of thousands of temporary houses and mud homes in the makeshift settlement that extends for over eight kilometres. It is estimated that 50,000 Afghans displaced internally by war and drought moved to Herat this year, joining 52,000 others already living in those camps.

Gul and her two children welcome us into the shelter they have called their home for the past year and a half. The family was forced to leave their village after the Taliban killed her husband, who served in the Afghan police, two years ago. However, having to leave her home was not the most difficult decision Gul had to make.

Faced with extreme poverty, lack of food, water, clothes and a prospect of another harsh winter led Gul to sell her youngest child, seven-year-old Mina to a rich man in their home province five months ago. Her name has been changed for security reasons.

“When I lost my husband, I didn’t have anything. We didn’t have land or a house, or food to eat. She didn’t even have socks to cover her feet. She would cry for food and I didn’t know what to do,” Gul says, responding fiercely to questions and defending her actions.

“We were not in a good situation.”

Massive encampments in Shaidahi area on Herat city of Afghans displaced internally due to conflict and drought. It is estimated that close to 100,000 IDPs live similar makeshift homes in camps that stretch across 10 kilometers on the outskirts of Herat city. [Photo by Hikmat Noori]
Massive encampments in Shaidahi area on Herat city of Afghans displaced internally due to conflict and drought. It is estimated that close to 100,000 IDPs live similar makeshift homes in camps that stretch across 10 kilometers on the outskirts of Herat city. [Photo by Hikmat Noori]

Mina sits next to her mother quietly, staring at her hands, refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the white fabric room. Tears well-up in her eyes as her mother, also in tears, narrates her story. Gul struck a deal with a distant relative to sell Mina for a sum of AFN  210,000 ($2,680), of which they received AFN 5,000 ($64) in advance with the full amount to be paid when she was sent to his house.

The deal was struck with the help of a relative from this man's village in Badghis province. After receiving the surety amount, Mina's uncle took her to that village where she stayed with the relative for a few days, ahead of the "engagement ceremony". It was during this period that the mother had a change of heart about selling her and reached out local activists who helped to bring Mina back by crowd-sourcing the amount needed to buy her back from this man.

They eventually brought the girl back and put the rest of the money was put into an account in Mina's mother's name to be used for Mina's education. However, there is no school for several kilometres. The only school in the camp is run by Unicef and located in a remote part of the camp, so she is not currently enrolled.

The buyer claimed to have brought Mina as a bride for his teenage son, but activists who helped to save her suspect that Mina could have been vulnerable to exploitation and abuse as well.

“Of course, it is an injustice to marry a seven years old girl but we didn’t have any other option. We would’ve died if we didn’t get that money,” she says.

As the country slips into insecurity and extreme economic adversity, many families have been found to have engaged in trafficking their own children. According to US State Department data, international organisations working in IDP camps have noted a significant increase in displaced parents trafficking their children to pay off debts.

Between July and September 2018, one organisation reported 161 cases of IDPs selling children into either marriage or servitude, according to the report. Activists and NGOs, even though numbers are hard to come by because of a lack of reporting, say they have observed an increase in the last two years as the IDP population has grown.

Responding to this need, Afghan politicians passed the much-awaited Child Protection Act on Saturday, which among many components includes a focus on child trafficking.

“This law contains 16 chapters and 118 articles that cover a comprehensive range of issues that affect Afghan children,” says Sayed Khushal Haris, a social protection specialist with the Afghan Ministry of Labour.

Mr Haris has worked closely on the development of the draft bill for child protection over the last five years.

“There are already provisions for countering child trafficking in Law on Human Abduction passed in 2008, and an amendment in the 2018 penal code also addresses this issue,” he says. The current law provides a punishment of five to eight years imprisonment depending on the severity of the cases.

However, despite tough laws, Mr Haris admits the impact leaves more to be desired. “We realise that that there is a gap in the investigation and implementation of the laws due to a number of factors, mostly because we don’t have a commission or body to monitor the implementation of the laws,” he says.

“We are currently working on a National Child Protection Policy that will suggest creating such a committee for accountability.”

Given the nature of the Afghan society where a social stigma prevents the reporting of such crimes, much of the onus of child protection depends on the involvement of local communities, Mr Haris says.

“We are trying to develop a process under this policy for response mechanism, that would provide a space even or the child or a community member to report such cases directly,” he shares.

A similar initiative by Unicef, the UN children’s agency, to set up a network of government agencies and NGOs, called the Child Protection Action Network, attempts to help in cases of child protection.

However, issues of security, lack of trained professionals and socio-cultural norms have prevented its implementation, resulting in an increasing cases of child trafficking, many of which go unreported. Numbers also vary widely depending on who you speak to. The Ministry of Labour say there were less than 20 cases of child trafficking in 2018, while the USAID report mentions 161 cases reporting by just one organisation in that same year.

Fortunately for Mina, her story caught the attention of a local philanthropist and activists who intervened and helped rescue her by paying off her buyer.

“I regretted it the moment I made the decision. I could not send her to him. I knew I had to protect her,” Gul says, holding her daughter close.

“I am happy I didn’t have to go. I didn’t want that life,” Mina says, speaking from a seated position on the floor of the small, cold tent.

“I am happy here.”

Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community

• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style

“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.

Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term. 

From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”

• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International

"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed.  Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."

• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org

"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."

• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com

"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.

His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.

Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."

• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher

"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen.  He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”

• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org

"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."

ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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What is an ETF?

An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.

There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.

The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.

There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.

While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash. 

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Results for Stage 2

Stage 2 Yas Island to Abu Dhabi, 184 km, Road race

Overall leader: Primoz Roglic SLO (Team Jumbo - Visma)

Stage winners: 1. Fernando Gaviria COL (UAE Team Emirates) 2. Elia Viviani ITA (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) 3. Caleb Ewan AUS (Lotto - Soudal)

 

Company: Instabug

Founded: 2013

Based: Egypt, Cairo

Sector: IT

Employees: 100

Stage: Series A

Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors

The Africa Institute 101

Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction. 

Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs

Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor

Power: 843hp at N/A rpm

Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km

On sale: October to December

Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)

Watch live

The National will broadcast live from the IMF on Friday October 13 at 7pm UAE time (3pm GMT) as our Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi moderates a panel on how technology can help growth in MENA.

You can find out more here

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands

50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias

Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match

WWE World Heavyweight Championship AJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura

Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe

United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos

Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt

Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho

Singles match John Cena v Triple H

Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba

 

Saudi Cup race day

Schedule in UAE time

5pm: Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors Cup (Turf), 5.35pm: 1351 Cup (T), 6.10pm: Longines Turf Handicap (T), 6.45pm: Obaiya Arabian Classic for Purebred Arabians (Dirt), 7.30pm: Jockey Club Handicap (D), 8.10pm: Samba Saudi Derby (D), 8.50pm: Saudia Sprint (D), 9.40pm: Saudi Cup (D)

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Company%20profile
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What are the main cyber security threats?

Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.