Prostitution in Afghanistan

Prostitution is illegal in Afghanistan, with punishments ranging from 5 to 15 years of imprisonment. The country is deeply religious and one of the most conservative countries in the world, where sex outside marriage is not only against the law but could lead to serious consequences, even capital punishment.

Despite the dangers, several NGOs have reported a rise in prostitution stemming from poverty. APMG Health estimated there to be 12,500 prostitutes in the country in 2015. In 2020 UNAIDS estimated there to be 11,000 prostitutes in Kabul, Herat, Mazar and Jalalabad based on a 2019 survey. Prior to foreign troops withdrawing from the country, there have been reports of brothels and prostitution around US bases.

A number of women from China, Iran, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan have been trafficked for prostitution into Afghanistan. Afghan women are also trafficked to other countries for sexual exploitation.' Child prostitution in the form of bacha bazi have also been reported in the country.

Legality and consequences

The practice of prostitution in Afghanistan has always been illegal, with punishments ranging from 5 to 15 years imprisonment and 80 lashes if unmarried. Married prostitutes are considered adulterers under the Afghan penal code. Prostitution is even more strictly prohibited by the Taliban, with those thought of having extramarital sex risking extrajudicial killing by cultural fundamentalists and Islamists.

Extrajudicial risks

* In July 2008, two women were accused of running a secret prostitution service and working for the police and killed by the Taliban in the Ghazni Province, although the local authorities as well as the American military in the area at the time claimed the women were innocent.
* Two women accused of prostitution were shot dead in July 2010.

Dynamics

In the 1990s, prostitution existed clandestinely in Kabul, despite being outlawed due to the government following a very strict interpretation of the Islamic Sharia law. Melissa Ditmore reported in ''Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work'' that during their rule the traffic in women for prostitution had thrived. Prostitutes mostly worked from their private homes termed as Qalas and in Kabul there were 25 to 30 hidden brothels.

Prostitution in the country is claimed to be mostly driven by poverty and displacement. Prohibition for women to work under the Taliban regime means some street children have been forced into the trade in order to make a living. According to the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, females from Iran, Tajikistan, China, and possibly Uganda and other places have been forced into prostitution in Afghanistan.

Women from Tajikistan are believed to be trafficked through Afghanistan to other countries for prostitution. Trafficked Iranian women transit Afghanistan en route to Pakistan. Afghan women as well as boys and girls among recently returned refugees from neighboring countries have been reported to be forced into prostitution, a number of children were also reported being sold into it by their family.

A 2007 University of Manitoba

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