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3.5. The Legal and Political Factors of Bacha-Bazi
There are various negative and positive legal and political factors associated with the
practice of Bacha-Bazi in Afghanistan. First the positive political and legal factors regarding
Bacha-Bazi in Afghanistan have been discussed below,
The recent collaboration of Afghanistan Government with UN for developing the National
Action Plan against child trafficking and Bacha-Bazi is anticipated to be effective for reducing
the severity of the issues within the nation (Erdogdu et al 2016). Although the Criminal Law in
Afghanistan does not have any certain law or provision regarding Bacha-Bazi but article 427 in
Afghani Criminal Code is able to protect children from the extreme activities related to Bacha-
Bazi, such as rape, gang rape and pederasty (Ehsan & Khalil, 2016).
The AIHRC has recently given its firm declaration towards Afghanistan Government to
declare Bacha-Bazi as a strong criminal offence. AIHRC recommended the Afghanistan
Government to make significant changes in the Penal Code so that different forms of Bacha-Bazi
could be prevented with specific criminal codes and laws (English, 2016). The arm licensing
policies in Afghanistan has also been recommended to be reformed by the AIHRC so that social
influence of perpetrators and coercion in Bacha-Bazi could be prevented with greater efficiency
(Ng, 2014).
The Afghanistan Government has adopted a better towards developing the domestic
schooling and education system so that illiteracy could be reduced and the next generation
children could be made better aware of their basic human rights (Jones, 2015).However, it
should also be mentioned that there are various negative political and legal aspects in
Afghanistan which is adverse for the prevention and elimination of the system of Bacha-Bazi
from the nation, such as, The criminal law in Afghanistan still does not have any certain
provision against the practices of Bacha-Bazi and it is unable to prevent the most common form
of Bacha-Bazi which is dance in public and private ceremonies (Erdogdu et al 2016).
A social division in Afghanistan which is involved in child trafficking and other activities
related to Bacha-Bazi is highly supported by local political groups and local authorities due to
their economical power and social influence. Hence, taking action against them is not easy
(English, 2016).
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A larger proportion of Afghani population is suffering with illiteracy which restricts them
for asking proper justice for the coercion Bacha-Bazi (Ehsan & Khalil, 2016).
3.6.
Conclusion
Afghanistan is considered as one of the most religious country in the world, where men
and women do follow the Islamic religion very carefully. But, behind this dedicated peripherals,
the country of Afghanistan do have a deep secret that is Bacha-Bazi or child abuse which the
government of the country have tries to forecast in order to abolish this illegal activities (
Brown
2010).
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CHAPTER IV
ACTION TAKEN TO CHANGE THE SITUATION
Bacha-Bazi in Persian language literally means “boy play”. This term in Afghanistan
language is a kind of slang language used in perspective of a wide
variety of activities that
mainly includes the child sexual abuse as well as pederasty. This would also include some form
of child pornography, sexual slavery also including the child prostitution wherein all the
prepubescent as well as the adolescent boys are being sold to people belonging to the wealthy
families just for entertainment and also for making out different types of sexual activities. The
concepts of Bacha-Bazi still exist throughout the historical concept. Force and coercion are
common elements of the child abuse concept in Afghanistan (
Catani et al 2008).
The security
officials of the country have stated that they have totally failed to stop this child abuse because
many people involved in these types of activities are well armed warlords of the country. It was
only during the Islamic emirates of Afghanistan that Bacha-Bazi was officially considered as a
huge offence and resulted in death penalty of the individuals. The practice of dancing by
adolescent boys is totally an illegal concept as stated under the Afghan law and this practice is
also totally against the Sharia and civil law. This sexual exploitation of Bacha-Bazi is of such
standard where it is notice that the owner of the child have all sorts of rights over the child like
he would make influence in their habits and even possess the right to beat of kill the child if he or
she is no found to be ready to what their owner have suggested them to do. The children
subjected to this kind of sexual abuse become easily traumatized and the often hope for ending
their life before their parents.
The poverty level of Afghanistan is one of the most important driving force that is leading
to a rise of child abuse from the last 15 years. In reality this is something more than sex slavery
and where boys are passed on between the different middle aged persons for meeting their sexual
gratification. The practice of Bacha-Bazi is Afghanistan is very shameful and for this a
nationwide investigation was carried out by the independent Human Rights Commission (
Craig
2010).
Lack of guardianship, rate of literacy in the country as well as domestic violence proves
to be main reason behind the expansion of Bacha-Bazi. This are making the children reduce their