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Breaking the custom: Toward a Future Without Bacha Bazi for Afghanistan's Children

By: Leonardo Hernández Amezola

Bacha Bazi, meaning “dancing boys”,  is an expression used in certain areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It refers to a cultural Afghan tradition which consists of families selling away their sons (specially pre-adolescent boys) in order to get resources. They dress them as girls and put makeup on them. Eventually, most of these children are forced to dance, play, music, and even engage sexually with their “masters”. Unfortunately, this practice continues affecting thousands of children in this country.

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This practice has been declared illegal in International organisms, and in Afghanistan's national law since 2018. The worst thing about this is that, despite these legal measures, the people who still practice this tradition more often are politicians and religious leaders, thus generating much concern in the whole international community. It is important to stress that the persistence of Bacha Bazi is not an isolated issue, but a symptom of the corruption and abuse of power that can be found anywhere in the world. For that reason, the international community has expressed a profound concern over the ongoing prevalence of Bacha Bazi, as it represents a serious  violation of human rights, particularly those of vulnerable children. Recognizing the urgent need for action, the delegates from the SAARC committee have intensified their efforts in order to find an effective and sustainable solution towards this issue. Along the session, delegations have discussed various points such as culture, human rights, abuse and some laws, specially North Korea and Azerbaijan, which have declared that they find it an immoral and unethical practice that needs to be changed. Although the delegation of Afghanistan has not presented a clear posture towards the topic, the whole committee has worked along to bring solutions, emphasizing in short term ones. Some of the solutions proposed are the creation of educational and social programs that help create consciousness of this unethical practice in the community of all the delegations present. Also, some delegations such as China and North Korea, proposed the use of NGOs in order to center more into the human rights of the abused children. 

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In conclusion, the committee is completely committed to eradicate this cultural, but also societal problem, in order to avoid more vulnerable children from being abused, while at the same time, being able to stick to some aspects of their culture.

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