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Afghanistan - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Kabul

 

CLIMATE

Arid to semiarid climate; cold winters and hot summers.

 

LANGUAGES

Pashtu 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, and 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%. There is also much bilingualism in the country.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

A new legal system has not been adopted but all factions tacitly agree they will follow Shari'a (Islamic law).

 

CURRENCY

Afghanistan Afghani (1 USD = 4,726.30 AFA as of June 1, 2002).

 

AFGHANISTAN - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

AFGHANISTAN - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

The United States Liaison Office in Kabul was officially re-inaugurated as an Embassy on January 17, 2002. The Embassy is located at Bebe Mahro (Airport) Road, Kabul (http://usembassy.state.gov/afghanistan/). However, the Embassy can provide no passport or visa services. The Embassy's ability to provide emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Afghanistan is severely limited. Embassy officials in Kabul cannot travel outside the capital to provide assistance to Americans.

 

All U.S. citizens remaining in Afghanistan or planning travel to the country are strongly urged to register with and obtain updated security information from the American Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, or the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan at the following addresses:

 

U.S. Embassy Islamabad - Pakistan

Diplomatic Enclave

Ramna 5

Islamabad, Pakistan

Telephone: [92] (51) 2080-0000

Consular Section Telephone: [92] (51) 2080-2700

Fax: [92] (51) 282-2632

 

U.S. Consulate Peshawar – Pakistan

11 Hospital Road

Cantonment

Peshawar, Pakistan

Telephone: [92] (91) 279-801

Fax: [92] (91) 276-712

 

AFGHANISTAN - HOLIDAYS

 

AFGHANISTAN - MINIMUM AGE

There is no evidence that authorities in any part of the country enforce labor laws, if such laws indeed exist, relating to the employment of children.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Afghanistan – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

AFGHANISTAN - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

There is no available information regarding a statutory minimum wage.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Afghanistan – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

AFGHANISTAN - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

AFGHANISTAN - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

 

Section 6. Worker Rights*

 

a. The Right of Association

 

Little is known about labor laws and practices. Labor rights were not defined, and in the context of the breakdown of governmental authority there was no effective central authority to enforce them. Many of Kabul's industrial workers were unemployed due to the destruction or abandonment of the city's minuscule manufacturing base. An insignificant fraction of the work force has ever labored in an industrial setting. The only large employers in Kabul were the governmental structure of minimally functioning ministries and local and international NGO's.

 

Workers in government ministries reportedly have been fired because they received part of their education abroad or because of contacts with the previous regimes, although certain officials in previous administrations were employed under the Taliban. Others reportedly have been fired for violating Taliban regulations concerning beard length.

 

There were no reports of labor rallies or strikes.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The country lacks a tradition of genuine labor-management bargaining. There were no known labor courts or other mechanisms for resolving labor disputes. Wages were determined by market forces, or, in the case of government workers, dictate.

 

There were no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

Little information was available regarding forced or compulsory labor, including forced and bonded labor by children. There have been reports that the Taliban forced prisoners to perform construction work at Kandahar prison and that the Taliban used forced labor after its takeover of the Shomali plains area in the summer of 1999. There were credible reports that Masood forced Taliban prisoners to work on road and airstrip construction projects under life-threatening conditions (such as requiring them to dig in mined areas).

 

There reportedly have been cases of trafficking in women and children (see Section 6.f.).

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

There was no evidence that authorities in any part of the country enforced labor laws, if such laws indeed existed, relating to the employment of children. Children from the age of 6 often worked to help support their families by herding animals in rural areas and by collecting paper and firewood, shining shoes, begging, or collecting scrap metal among street debris in the cities. Some of these practices exposed children to the danger of landmines.

 

It is not known whether the law prohibited forced and bonded labor by children, or whether such practices occurred (see Section 6.c.).

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

There was no available information regarding a statutory minimum wage or maximum workweek, or the enforcement of safe labor practices. Many workers apparently were allotted time off regularly for prayers and observance of religious holidays. Most persons worked in the informal sector.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

There was no available information regarding legislation prohibiting trafficking in persons. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women reported in 1999 that there had been some cases of trafficking in women and children (see Section 5). There were reports that some Taliban soldiers (often reported to be foreigners) abducted girls and women from villages in the Shomali plains during fighting in August 1999. Women were taken in trucks from the area of fighting in the Shomali plains and elsewhere and reportedly trafficked to Pakistan and to the Arab Gulf states. There were unconfirmed reports that some Taliban soldiers abducted girls and women from villages in the Taloqan area during fighting from June through October 2000 (see Sections 1.b. and 5.).

 

*The U.S. Embassy in Kabul was closed for security reasons from January 1989 until December 17, 2001. Information on the human rights situation was therefore limited. The report is largely focused on the human rights practices of the Taliban, which controlled over 90 percent of the country for most of the year.

 

AFGHANISTAN - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

AFGHANISTAN - STANDARD WORKWEEK

There is no available information regarding a statutory minimum wage.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Afghanistan – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)