85 Afghan children rescued from slavery

Published: September 26, 2003 | 176th good news item since 2003

Afghan authorities have rescued 85 boys who had been abducted, possibly for trafficking abroad, the BBC reported Thursday.

Some 50 children, some as young as four, from the northern province of Badakhshan were rescued by Afghan police as they travelled by road through a neighboring province.

Aauthorities suspect the boys were destined for religious schools in Pakistan and Iran, although they also suspect they may have been destined for sale as sex slaves abroad.

Afghan officials arrested eight people on suspicion of smuggling the boys.

The United Nations child agency Unicef has warned of a serious problem of child abduction in Afghanistan, which has limited resources to deal with the problem.

“We suspect there may be other children who have been abducted,” Unicef spokesman Edward Carwardine told the BBC.

“We also have unconfirmed reports from the south that children have been going missing there.”

According to the Unicef officials, numerous children abducted in the region are sold as sex slaves or child laborers.

Published in Rescues
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