Literally translated it means toy child, and in fact the bacha bazi are to all intents and purposes children rendered as mere toys in the hands of their wealthy owners.

The young males, still children or in pre-adolescent age, they are kidnapped or bought in the street and in orphanages by rich gentlemen: owning a bacha bazi is in fact an ancient Afghan custom that is still considered a status symbol. Once in the hands of their masters, the boys are forced to entertain them by dancing (here at a party) and sexual performance that, if you refuse, they easily change into violence; they also often come disguised as women.And pedophiles who hold them in their hands, since it is a question of pedophilia, they only release them at the age of 18 years, but now their entire existence is marked by this chilling experience. Furthermore, once released, are now known among powerful men that the possibilities that remain for their lives are closely linked to what they have been forced to do. Private, in tal senso, immediately to lose their identity and the ability to decide for themselves.

The main cause of this evil that has been affecting Afghanistan for a very long time is poverty: many families are even forced to put their children up for sale. Parents are fully aware of what is happening in their country, yet they don't have the means, nor the courage, to officially denounce this practice. I"Buyers" children are the most powerful men and therefore unassailable, even if this practice is forbidden both by the penal codes and by the sharia. Even if you find the courage to denounce how quickly there is the risk, likely, of being accused of homosexuality, crime punishable with the death penalty. The centuries-old tradition that has remained intact over the years forces the victims and their relatives to experience these abuses under a heavy blanket of silence.. The same reticence, however, is also imposed on those who could actually report what is happening, like American soldiers: an investigation by 2015 del New York Times has in fact reported how even the American superiors required their soldiers not to tell anything about the exploitation of their Afghan allies. “During the night we could hear them screaming, but they could do nothing. We were not allowed. ”This is what was declared by Corporal Gregory Buckley's father, died in Afghanistan in 2012.

History
The practice of relationships between adult men and young boys is attested in areas of Afghanistan, especially in the northern ones, for a long time. In fact, since the VIIIth there are evidences of such practices considered perfectly normal and included in the social norm. Over time this has also remained with the Ottoman Empire, even up to the 19th century, in which the Köçeks appear, boys dressed and made up like women in charge of dancing and entertainment events attended by the richest men. This is testified to by travelers who passed through these lands in the past, like Eugene Shuyler who between the 1872 and the 1873 he noted, passing through Turkestan "they never reached indecency, although at times they could take on a very provocative tone

These batchas or boys-dancers are an institution recognized throughout the territory of Central Asia, although it remains more popular in Bukhara and neighboring Samarkand; while in the Kokand Khanate these public dances have already been prohibited for some years. In Tashkent, tradition flourished until a severe cholera epidemic convinced the mullahs that Bacha Bazi violated Quranic precepts ". Very similar is the testimony of Count Pahlen a few years later, 1909-1910 "As the orchestra begins to play, the batches enter, young males specially trained to perform a particular set of dances. Barefoot and dressed like women, with long, bright silk shirts that reach to the knees and tight pants tied around the ankles, the arms and hands shine full of rings and bracelets. They wear long hair down to their shoulders, even if the front of the garment is shaved. The fingernails and toenails are painted red while the eyebrows are jet black. The dances are made up of sensual contortions of the whole body which rhythmically moves back and forth and with the arms raised in a trembling movement. The eyes of the onlookers sparkle with admiration and it all ends with the dancers falling exhausted to the ground ".

Also used as bombs
As if all this were not enough, Bacha Bazis also often suffer double violence.It has been documented that children were also used as bomb carriers by the Taliban: in April of 2015 a boy was stopped by the police before he blew himself up in the central police district in Kabul, goal towards which he had been directed after being raped several times. It is in fact known that the terrorists use these guys to attract the attention of government leaders against whom they then launch the attacks.

Please follow and like us: