Human trafficking is one of the most severe forms of human rights violation against men, women, and children. It is a market fueled by supply and demand forces. Poverty, corruption, and illiteracy are all baits for trafficking. Forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation, and domestic servitude are the main reasons for the annual trafficking of millions of people worldwide. Asian nations especially India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have high levels of poverty that traffickers use to lure desperate citizens. Pedophilia is another complex issue increasingly making headlines on news desks and deserves attention to help solve the child sex trafficking menace. Parents are also enablers of the trade, falling prey to money allures and selling their children for profit. Child sex trafficking is a growing vice promoted by profit incentives, especially from male sex buyers.
Watching the Bacha Bazi boys of Pakistan was a revelation on how the trade works and its effect on the victims. The people behind the trafficking have powerful links to senior government officials and for them selling young boys for sexual exploitation is just a typical day at work. Some of the boys are not even teenagers, and they give tales of how their masters abuse them and harm them if they do not follow orders. Human rights abuse is nigh in the trade where some boys end up dead, and others disappear without a trace. One thing is for sure though; it is all about the money! Pimps in Pakistan also buy smuggled girls from Bangladesh, Burma, and other Asian regions. The issue requires regional collaboration to solve, but since the states do not have mutual relations, the organized business continues to thrive.
Child trafficking seems to affect war-torn countries such as Syria and Afghanistan. Sexual exploitation in these nations is a complex affair due to religious backgrounds, cultural traditions and government obligations to international treaties. Every child has a right to lead a normal life, but trafficking threatens this right. Afghan boys are also victims of the trade falling for the usual promises of work, education and a home. Pimps dangle these promises in front of their eyes, only to crush their bright hopes and replace them with fear and hopelessness. War-torn nations like Afghanistan are a market for male child trafficking especially for extremist groups who want to acquire child soldiers. The boy child is at a higher risk than the girl child due to their higher demand for more roles.
Different governmental bodies and activist organizations seem to be at an impasse on whether pedophilia is a crime or a mental disorder. Sexual attraction to pre-pubertal children is a sensitive matter that came into the limelight and one that continuously reinvigorates the child trafficking debate. Child sex trafficking is a business propelled by pedophiles who do not want exposure due to the current societal norms. However, pimps coerce these children and exploit them for huge profits. The video about the Bacha Bazi boys gives us a glimpse of the atrocities subjected to children by the trade. Nations have to protect their children since they are the future generation. Slavery is outdated, and all form of human trafficking is abuse to people’s rights. Governments and international bodies should team up to fight the trade through awareness and prosecution of perpetrators.