The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan

Originally posted on April 20, 2010

I posted previously about this problem in Afghanistan. Not only has it received little media attention, but very little has been done on a humanitarian level to address the problem.

However, there has been a change with the media attention. Frontline recently did a piece on bacha bazi. The hour-long report is available online, along with some additional information. Whether this improves the global acknowledgment of the sexual slavery of boys in Afghanistan remains to be seen. At least it brings some attention to an otherwise ignored problem.

It is a difficult report to watch, largely due to some of the similarities to my own experiences. Of the men interviewed, only one was coy about raping boys. The others freely acknowledged “having sex” with boys, one going so far as to claim that most of the boys he abused wanted sex (this man later redeems himself a little by helping rescue one boy). The men were also open about how they sell boys and allow boys to stay the night at other men’s homes. I was truly amazed by one boy’s desire to eventually have his own group of boys to use for himself and his friends. That made me think of my father and uncles, specifically how easy it is to get so used to a given situation that a person would go on to perpetuate it.

The disturbing part of the situation is that even members of the government are involved in bacha bazi, including several of the top officials who run the child protection arm of the police. They publicly denounce the abuse, but they can be seen on camera at an illegal bacha bazi wedding party. That level of government involvement creates a problem. In one case, one policeman who murdered a boy was convicted but later released in what appears to be a payoff.

Likewise, many of the warlords have influence over the police, creating a situation in which attempts to report the abuse not only falls on deaf ears, but may result in death threats or murder against both those who report it and the boys people want to save.

The one good thing from the report is that one of the boys was later rescued. Unfortunately, he may have been raped before they could get him out of there. However, now he lives with his family in an undisclosed province. They had to hide his identity to keep him safe.

Again, hopefully this report will raise awareness about this problem. According to the piece, the Afghan government did become more proactive once they got wind of the documentary. While the extent of the abuse is unknown, the solution is quite simple: arrest someone, prosecute them, and keep them in prison. If that occurs, that might help reduce a great many of the instances of poor and homeless boys being preyed on.