Canadian soldiers should intervene when they see sexual abuses against children in Afghanistan

The following is from a letter I mailed to the Prime Minister of Canada on June 18, 2008. If and when I get a reply, I will post it on this particular blog.

We are constantly shocked when we hear of the priestly pederasts chasing after choir boys and the many newspaper reports of scoutmasters and the like ‘sexually interfering’ with boys under their care. We are equally shocked when we learn about tourists going to countries around the world so that they can sexually molest little children. Even United Nations peacekeepers in Africa are molesting small children in Africa. So it doesn’t surprise me at all to learn through the media that Afghan men are sexually molesting little boys as do many men in other countries.

What does cause me greater concern is that Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan had been ordered by their superiors to turn a blind eye to sexual abuse they witness against civilians. That seem to conflict with the purpose of Canadian soldiers being sent to Afghanistan in the first place. They have been sent there to fight the Taliban and protect the human rights of Afghan citizens.

Lt. Joe Johns, a chaplain based in Petawawa, Ontario who has counselled Afghan veterans recently said, "We should be the standard-bearer of ethics and morality. Putting these soldiers in situations where they are helpless to intervene is the surest way to break them.”

Proof of that can be found in the debacle that took place in Rwanda in 1994. Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Alain Dallaire; received his commission as the Force Commander of UNAMIR, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda. When the massacres of almost a million Tutsis was going on, he was getting no support from the UN and he nearly went mad with grief because he couldn’t protect the Tutsis from what was going on around him.

One Canadian military police officer emailed the Toronto Star to detail training some soldiers get before deploying to Kandahar. He said, "Prior to our departure from Canada, all troops, at least on my rotation, received lectures and training on Afghan culture. It was a well-known fact that we could expect to see or learn about instances in which men would sexually assault young boys. We were told that it was not uncommon and it is actually considered normal behaviour there.” He added, "Afghan military units could be expected to have young boys with them or they would find young boys when they camped for the night and that besides getting tea, these young boys were expected to do chores such as laundry, cleaning and to be available sexually for the soldiers." Then the officer said, "We were (ordered) not to get involved in this purely local and domestic matter."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the House of Commons on June 16th that he had spoken with his military leaders to ensure that all Canadian soldiers report any allegation of unlawful acts that they might see.

That’s all very nice but what good is that going to do if the Canadian soldiers can’t intervene when they see boys (or girls) being sexually abused by Afghan soldiers or other adults and do nothing about it other than report the incidents to their (Canadian) superiors. More importantly, what are the soldier’s superiors going to do with the information once they get the information from their own men?

The psychological damage these young boys undergo will never be repaired in a country like Afghanistan since that country simply doesn’t have the means to treat these psychologically damaged children. Worse yet, these children will believe that being sexually molested is a normal part of life in their country and they will do the same thing to other children when they grow older.

This is a disgusting practice in any country but when a country sanctions it, it reaches the epitome of disgust. This is where the president of that country should intervene. But the nagging question is, just how far should he intervene?

For example, should he order that his soldiers should not use boys to do their laundry? That may be going too far. If the soldiers are giving the boys food and perhaps a small stipend, especially in a country where food and money is scarce to many Afghan families, this could be a good thing. However, inviting or ordering the boys to sleep with them so that they can molest them, is definitely wrong and certainly illegal in all countries and if not illegal in Afghanistan, it should be.

Ten-year-old Sweeta still remembers the most painful moments of her life when a bulky 35-year-old Afghan army officer raped her in his office.

At around 10am on 31 January 2008 a vehicle with the markings and number plate of the Afghan National Army stopped near a water-point where a ten-year-old girl was filling her buckets, according to the Afghanistan Human Right Organization. Three soldiers in the car grabbed her and drove to an army barracks where the commander raped her in his office in the town of Sheberghan, Jowzjan Province, in northern Afghanistan.

The child was semi-conscious when the rapist finally dropped her off at her home with some gifts, lying to her elder sister that she was hit by a car and was experiencing abdominal bleeding. The little girl was threatened by the brute that raped her that if she told anyone about the incident he and the other soldiers would kill her parents.

But it soon became clear that the girl had been raped, and this was later confirmed by local doctors. For a whole week after the incident Sweeta’s father knocked on various government doors, trying to obtain justice, but only received verbal sympathy. The situation changed when he approached Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and local and national media got wind of the story. Despite strong opposition from some influential figures, the rapist was arrested and brought to court.

The little girl’s case was not an isolated one. Many children in that country are sexually abused and for the most part, go unreported because of the shame and dishonour heaped upon their families after the abuses become common knowledge.

On September 19th, 2007 seven young men gang-raped and tortured a 13-year-old girl in the northern province of Balkh, according to the two Afghan rights watchdogs, the AHRO and the AIHRC.

A government official released all the accused rapists two days after they were apprehended, saying there was a lack of evidence. The offenders are still at large and the victim is roaming around various government departments with her petition for justice.

Many of those Afghan soldiers involved in sex offences are able to escape justice due to the weak rule of law and corruption among judges and government officials, and/or because they have the support of powerful militia leaders.

Canadian soldiers cannot stop all the abuses going on in Afghanistan but they should be able to stop what abuses they see. The problem facing them however is; how should they do it?

If they are fighting along side of Afghan soldiers and the see an Afghan soldier sexually or physically abusing a child, they should immediately intervene and rescue the child and then report the incident to the Afghan officer in charge of the Afghan military unit and insist that the offending soldier be arrested and charged. The Canadian officer should then make out a report to his superior and the Canadian military authority in Afghanistan should then follow up and make sure that the offending soldier is tried in an Afghan court.

Further, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan should make it very clear to the president of that country that unless he orders his soldiers to stop this disgusting practice, and permit Canadian soldiers who see the abuses of children by Afghan soldiers to arrest the Afghan abusers, Canada will pull it soldiers out of Afghanistan and leave the president of that country to solve his own military and monetary problems without Canada’s assistance.