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

3.0 COUNTRY PROFILE: AFGHANISTAN
3.1 Research Findings
3.1.1 Country background
Afghanistan has suffered several decades of foreign military occupation and fratricidal
conflict, resulting in a drastic erosion of protective safety nets for women and children.
Female-headed and child-headed households are commonplace, and as of 2004 Afghanistan
had the highest proportion of widows and orphans in the world. 89 Armed conflict has resulted
in extensive population displacement. The country has approximately 3 million refugees
living in neighbouring countries, primarily Iran and Pakistan, and more than 150,000
internally displaced persons, mainly in refugee camps. 90 The country has among the lowest
social indicators in the world, ranking 174 out of 178 countries, and the lowest in South
Asia. 91 Over one-fourth of primary-school-age children are involved in labour, most of them
boys. 92
Afghan society is conservative and patriarchal, and women and girls are kept close to the
household. Girls are frequently the victims of forced marriage and child marriage and there
are cases where they have been provided like property to settle disputes. Yet traditional
society in a period of reduced social protection also puts boys at risk for abuse and
exploitation. Boys are expected to ‘go out in the world’ and assume adult male
responsibilities. This can result in extensive irregular migration, entry into labour situations
far from their villages and recruitment as child soldiers, all of which can expose them to
abuse and exploitation, including trafficking.
3.1.2 Knowledge base
The knowledge base on the sexual abuse and exploitation of boys in Afghanistan is scant. No
formal research has been conducted on child sexual abuse in the country, although some
information has been collected from NGOs working with children and from journalistic
reports. There is, throughout the country, a social prohibition of the discussion of sexual
issues, and this militates against the conduct of research. At the same time, it is likely
(although there is inadequate research to verify) that sexual mores and practices vary in
different parts of the country among different tribal, religious and ethnic groups, and this may
result in different forms and incidences of the sexual abuse of boys within Afghanistan.
The extensive military conflict in recent years has discouraged field research. At the same
time, although little older data are available for comparison, it appears likely that both the
prolonged conflict and the resurgence of Taliban ideologies have changed the nature of child
sexual abuse in the country. For example, there are journalistic reports (noted below) of boys
89
International Organization for Migration, 2008, ‘Trafficking in persons in Afghanistan: Field survey report’.
90
Ibid.
91
UNDP and Kabul University, 2007, ‘Afghanistan human development report 2007: Bridging modernity with
tradition, rule of law and the search for justice’.
92
UNICEF, ‘General question and answer sheet 2007’.
.
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