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At the brick factories in Afghanistan, the youngest are five years old. Despite their age, they all carry jerry cans of water, pour the clay into wooden molds and wait for the bricks to dry. Carts take them to the kilns for firing and then pick up the finished bricks. In the smoldering coal, children look for pieces that can be reused. Sometimes they burn their fingers.
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| These children work as hard as adults. |
There is a food crisis in Afghanistan. Even children have to work around the clock to earn some money for food. They don't know what toys are, and few have ever gone to school.
Children from Bangladesh also go to work in brick factories with adults. It is unhealthy, but brick-making is almost their only source of income.
Brick Slaves
‘They treat us like dogs, they even treat dogs better.’
Nurlan Amin describes the attitude of the managment to the workers at a brick factory in Bangladesh. There are a large number of such factories in the country - their products are in great demand, but the people are forced to work in difficult conditions and for a pittance. Workers are not paid overtime, and they are beaten for any complaints. Such work negatively affects the health - laborers are exposed to harmful red dust that causes bronchitis and other lung diseases.
On International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, watch the film Brick Slaves, which reveals the stories of workers who suffer humiliation at brick factories in Bangladesh.
