]KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: An unprecedented study of 210 stakeholders in Afghanistan, including 130 boys, has found that on average one in 10 of the boys interviewed had experienced human trafficking. The study, Forgotten No More: Male Child Trafficking in Afghanistan, was conducted by Hagar field researchers and funded by the U.S.Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP).
Honor and shame
The study, which asked boys about their experience of human trafficking, highlights a profound lack of understanding of male child trafficking and the systematic failure to support survivors of trafficking. “In Afghanistan, a culture of honor and shame quickly buries discussions deemed shameful,” says Jane Thorson, Hagar Afghanistan’s Education and Technical Advisor. Thorson conducted field research for Forgotten No More in four Afghan provinces, including Kabul, Kunduz, Herat and Nangarhar. “The rights of male child victims and survivors in Afghanistan are consistently denied,” says Thorson.
“During the night they would make me dance”
Forgotten No More highlights the prevalence of bacha bazi (‘boy play’ in Persian), a form of child sexual slavery and prostitution in which young, prepubescent boys are recruited for dance and sexual entertainment, particularly at weddings. Fifty per cent of sexual abuse cases documented in Forgotten No More were related to bacha bazi and the report found that dancing boys are more likely to be arrested than their recruiters.
Afghan boys are also regularly found to be sexually exploited in their roles as assistant truck drivers. In addition, boys living on the streets – or ending up in Juvenile Residential Centres (JRC) – were highly vulnerable to human trafficking.
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Related - from 2014
]KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: An unprecedented study of 210 stakeholders in Afghanistan, including 130 boys, has found that on average one in 10 of the boys interviewed had experienced human trafficking. The study, Forgotten No More: Male Child Trafficking in Afghanistan, was conducted by Hagar field researchers and funded by the U.S.Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP).
Honor and shame
The study, which asked boys about their experience of human trafficking, highlights a profound lack of understanding of male child trafficking and the systematic failure to support survivors of trafficking. “In Afghanistan, a culture of honor and shame quickly buries discussions deemed shameful,” says Jane Thorson, Hagar Afghanistan’s Education and Technical Advisor. Thorson conducted field research for Forgotten No More in four Afghan provinces, including Kabul, Kunduz, Herat and Nangarhar. “The rights of male child victims and survivors in Afghanistan are consistently denied,” says Thorson.
“During the night they would make me dance”
Forgotten No More highlights the prevalence of bacha bazi (‘boy play’ in Persian), a form of child sexual slavery and prostitution in which young, prepubescent boys are recruited for dance and sexual entertainment, particularly at weddings. Fifty per cent of sexual abuse cases documented in Forgotten No More were related to bacha bazi and the report found that dancing boys are more likely to be arrested than their recruiters.
Afghan boys are also regularly found to be sexually exploited in their roles as assistant truck drivers. In addition, boys living on the streets – or ending up in Juvenile Residential Centres (JRC) – were highly vulnerable to human trafficking.
https://www.hagarinternational.org/international/new-hagar-study-sheds-light-on-male-child-trafficking-in-afghanistan/