Breaking the mould: occupational safety hazards faced by children working in brick kilns in Afghanistan

In 2011, the ILO Kabul Office published Buried in bricks: A rapid assessment of bonded labour in brick kilns in Afghanistan, a ground-breaking study on the extent and nature of one of the most prevalent yet least known forms of hazardous child labour and bonded labour in brick kilns in two provinces in Afghanistan. The report identified the actors involved in exacting forced and child labour in brick kilns in the country and those intervening to combat it, and examined the situation of specific vulnerable population groups and the structure of debt bondage in the sector and beyond. This follow-up study, Breaking the mould: Occupational safety hazards faced by children working in brick kilns in Afghanistan, based on research undertaken in 2013, digs deeper into the evidence on the health of children working in brick kilns in Afghanistan. It examines the specific occupational safety and health hazards they face, taking gender differences into consideration, and examines possible remediation measures. The new study compares the health of children working in brick kilns with their siblings and other children who do not work in the kilns. Guided by the World Health Organisation’s conceptual framework on the social determinants of health, it examines mental and social well-being as well as physical health.