More on Child Exploitation
An American writer has picked up coverage of Canada’s back-and-forth on the alleged sexual abuse of kids by Afghan security forces (you’ve seen my take here, here, here and here).
One snippet from another piece highlighted in the commentary points out how deeply ingrained the problem is, how difficult it will be to deal with, and how many factors have to be affected to see change:
“When Amruddin’s 13-year-old daughter was kidnapped in Sar-i-pul province last year, he had to pay for the local police officer’s fuel in order to get the officer to visit the café where she had last been seen. The officer was no help. When Amruddin — who, like most poor farmers in Afghanistan, only has one name — finally found his daughter a week later, she identified the police officer as one of her eight rapists. Three other suspects worked for the village strongman. When their case came to the local prosecutor, he dismissed it, saying there wasn’t enough evidence. More likely, says Amruddin, there wasn’t enough of a bribe. Amruddin says that in order to raise enough money for all the necessary bribes, he sold his two other daughters, ages 9 and 11, for $5,000. “I had to sell them in order to pursue this case,” he says. “What else can I do? I am not a pimp, a coward, to let these men get away with what they did. I will sell all of my children if that is what it takes to get justice.” “
Yikes…
