AFP has traced three former victims of “bacha bazi”, or the sexual exploitation of boys, whose testimonies lay bare one of Afghanistan’s most egregious human rights violations. Here are some key answers about the abusive practice. What is it? “Bachas” are boy sex slaves, often kept by powerful warlords, commanders, politicians and other members of … Read more
Adorned in makeup, fake breasts and bells, Jawed whirls around middle-aged men at Kabul’s underground bacha bazi, or “boy play” parties, where the former child sex slave finds freedom of sorts as a dancing boy. Jawed was kidnapped by a former jihadi commander in Shomali, north of Kabul, when he was barely 14, a victim … Read more
Afghanistan is finally set to outlaw the sick ‘bacha bazi’ practice that sees young boys dressed up as women and sexually abused. Heavy penalties are set to be laid out for the first time in a landmark move against the depraved act, officials in Kabul said. It comes after it was revealed last year how the … Read more
Afghanistan is set to criminalise the practice of “bacha bazi” — the sexual exploitation of boys — with a slew of stringent punishments laid out for the first time in a revised penal code. The move comes after an AFP report last year found the Taliban are exploiting the centuries-old practice, one of the most … Read more
Afghanistan is set to lay out stringent penalties for “bacha bazi” — sexual slavery and abuse of boys — for the first time, officials say, in a landmark move against the deeply entrenched practice. AFP revealed last year how the Taliban were exploiting rampant bacha bazi in police ranks to mount deadly insider attacks, exposing … Read more