SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

Afghanistan’s National Plan of Action against Child Trafficking (2004) includes activities
on protection, prevention, recovery, reintegration and child participation. But it addresses
trafficking from a law enforcement perspective and does not envision the development of a
national, integrated, community-based child protection system that would tackle the
immediate causes of trafficking, which also relate to sexual abuse and exploitation. On the
other hand, the country’s National Strategy for Children at Risk, while not directly addressing
child abuse, encompasses a broader scope of child protection than does the trafficking NPA.
It addresses family violence, erosion of family safety nets and lack of government and NGO
coordination in addressing children at risk. It also sketches a plan for a national child
protection system over its four-year span.
Bangladesh’s National Plan of Action against the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children
(2002) is notable in South Asia for directly addressing sexual abuse as well as sexual
exploitation. The NPA includes measures that address issues facing boys, such as the risks of
migration, abuse by staff of residential institutions and creation of abuse reporting
mechanisms and safe havens for at-risk children. The NPA was supplemented by the more
recent National Anti-Trafficking Strategic Plan of Action. It attempts to clarify the roles of
government agencies and NGOs and coordinate actions for prevention, rescue, repatriation,
prosecution and reintegration of trafficking victims. However, challenges remain; the
documents do not fully integrate the role of NGOs, and they establish a complex bureaucracy
that can hamper efficient implementation of programmes.
India’s Report and Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Women and Children (1998) addresses the needs of women and girls in the
trafficking process. But it does not address the broader scope of sexual exploitation or the
links between sexual abuse in homes, community and schools and vulnerability to sexual
exploitation. While the plan mentions migration, it refers only to ‘migrant women’. The
Integrated Plan of Action to Prevent and Combat Human Trafficking, with Special Focus on
Children and Women, not yet formally approved, similarly conflates ‘trafficking for sexual
exploitation’ with ‘sexual exploitation’ as such. Thus it does not address key issues relevant
to the sexual exploitation of boys, including separation from family, and the linkages between
sexual exploitation and abuse in the family, community and workplace.
The country’s National Plan of Action for Children, however, is a more inclusive document,
intending to protect ‘all children against neglect, maltreatment, injury, trafficking, sexual and
physical abuse of all kinds, pornography, corporal punishment, torture, exploitation, violence,
and degrading treatment.’ This NPA places specific focus on child sexual abuse, separating it
from child trafficking, and addresses sexual abuse within the home by family members as
well as the abuse of children in institutions.
Nepal’s National Plan of Action against Trafficking of Women and Children for Commercial
Sexual Exploitation (2001) is similar to the trafficking NPAs of most other countries in the
region, although it is the least carefully developed. The document does not clearly indicate a
strategy, fails to clarify mechanisms for its implementation and does not integrate the
activities of NGOs or community-based organizations. Instead it relies on government
25