War continues to ravage Afghanistan’s landscape. As if this were not enough, young boys especially must now elude sexual abuse. In northern Afghanistan, boys as young as ten years old are reportedly being lured into organized sexual slavery.
These boys are made to dance, wear cosmetics, and wear girls’ clothing, all before large groups of men. The practice is known as bacha bazi—"boy-play"—and is usually conducted by warlords or well-off businessmen. They are bought and sold, as though commodities; the “best” dancers in these social circles increase the status of their “owners,” making the business a lucrative one.
Even worse, when authorities do discover these activities—which are illegal in the country–the boys may be arrested, despite the fact that they have been victimized and their human rights contravened in the worst way. Child protection experts have termed this sort of occurrence “re-victimization.” Re-victimization runs contrary to international child protection standards, as well as Afghanistan’s Juvenile Code (developed in 2005). Unfortunately, the Code does not make adequate provisions for the rights of children vis-à-vis sexual exploitation, reports UNICEF.
International human rights organizations and the United Nations have been aware of the practice, but it is difficult to contain. The sexual enslavement of young boys has now been documented in bits of Southern Afghanistan and in Kabul, the capital. Partly for this reason, many are pessimistic about the futures of Afghan boys trapped in sexual slavery. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, has spoken out in favour of improved protection for war-affected children, as it is in times of great social upheaval—wars, natural disasters, civil disorder—that the rule of law is crippled and the rights of the most vulnerable become difficult to protect. Countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico are other countries struggling to contain child prostitution.
The right of children to protection from sexual exploitation is enshrined in Articles 19 and 34 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Afghanistan is a state party—making it binding law.
On the up side, popular culture has increased awareness about this child rights issue. Most recently, the Australian documentary entitled, The Warlord’s Tune, and Khaled Hosseini’s internationally critically-acclaimed book, The Kite Runner.