Afghanistan: Working to End the Use of Child Soldiers

In Afghanistan the use of child soldiers has been prevalent  throughout the country’s previous history of conflict and the current insurgency.  Children have knowingly been recruited by various armed groups, most notably the Taliban, which have reportedly had voluntary recruitment, as well as used force to recruit children into their forces.  The Taliban active use of children as soldiers and messengers/couriers, as well as human shields and suicide bombers has also increased in parts of Pakistan.

Reports of the use of children as young as three years-old have been given by foreign forces, such as told to USA Today in recent months;  “We’ve seen children actually dropping mortar rounds in the (firing) tubes against us,” sated one US Marine.

Progress in the fight against the use of child soldiers in Afghanistan has been a long uphill battle, however progress looks to be looming on the horizon as Afghan officials are now seeking to work with the United Nations to address the issue.  The increased efforts to combat the use of child soldiers has come after grave concerns were made by the UN over the presence of underage males in the country’s security services.  The country was among those included on a UN blacklist of countries, in the Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, which use child soldiers.

Today it is expected that Afghanistan will sign a formal agreement with the United Nations to end the the recruitment of children into the country’s police forces, as well as to place a ban on the use of young boys being used as sex slaves, a common practice known as bacha bazi and used by military commanders (The New York Times).

The use of boys as sex slaves and dancing boys has been noted through out the countries military history and was even banned by the Taliban.

“While in many areas of southern Afghanistan such treatment of boys appears to be shrouded in some sense of secrecy, in Kandahar it constitutes an openly celebrated cultural tradition,” a Pentagon consultant wrote in a report on Pashtun sexuality prepared for British and American troops in 2009.

The move by Afghan officials may be led by a distinct fear of being on a UN blacklist, however it may be just the proverbial kick in the pants that is needed to begin to ensure that children’s rights, especially the use of children in armed forces are taken more seriously.  If only the same fear was instilled the use of boys as sex slaves as that of girls who are forced and sold, or used as debt payments, into marriage.