Bacha Bazi: The Dancing Boys Of Afghanistan

After watching the Watch & Think documentary “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan” I did some more research on the history of Bacha bazi (translated in “boy for play”). What I found is this practice involves men communally, abusing, enslaving, committing sexual abuse as an organization fashion. Moreover, the young boys are chosen from poor families with the exchange for food, clothing, or money to his family “adopt” the child.

Furthermore, after the child is chosen the boy is then sent to a trainer who would then force the boy to dance and wear female attire including bells etc. After training the child he would be forced to entertain the Bacha bazi in front of male only company where all to often the dance would turn into sexually exploited

activities. Moreover, after Bacha bazi the child would often be sold to the highest bidder of the group, and in many cases the child would be murdered because of envious male rivals. For those children who escape the this world would all too often be left with a wide variety of emotional and psychological scares left by the horrific nature of Bacha bazi.

This particular practice has to be changed with the help of the Afghan Government implementing laws to prohibit the exploitation of children. Moreover, the United Nations (UN) has taken steps to protect the rights of children in the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. However, the Afghan Government has failed to implement measures to enforce the rights set forth by the U.N, and continues to practice Bacha bazi. Horrifically, Bacha bazi is deeply rooted in the religious practices dating back thousands of years, and to truly deal with this exploitation of children it’s going to take government leaders, religious leaders, and police to make changes.

In conclusion, when dealing with Bacha bazi in America the best approach is education for government leaders, religious leaders, teachers, and law enforcement of this thousand year old practice. Furthermore, training for law enforcement (exploitation of children units), prosecutors, and judges in the practice of Bacha bazi should be implemented to best prepare in an ever-changing American culture.