Canadian military still investigating Afghanistan sex assault claim

A young Afghan Batcha Bazi (Dancing Boy) is dressed by his "owner" for a private party in a small city in the north of Afghanistan. Young boys taken from their families to dance for male audience, are often sexually assaulted and kept like concubines until age 20.

After five years, the Canadian military is still investigating claims that Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were told by their superiors to ignore incidents where Afghan soldiers and interpreters sexually assaulted young boys.

The probe continues, with no specified end date, a Canadian Forces spokesperson said, long after most Canadian soldiers have left Afghanistan and nearly five years after a board of inquiry was convened on Nov. 21, 2008, by Lt. Gen. Andrew Leslie.

A preliminary investigation into the claims concluded in 2010 and since then the case has been under review by the office of the Canadian army’s deputy commander, currently Maj. Gen. P.F. Wynnyk.

Eight board investigators, as well as board president Brig.-Gen. Glenn Nordick, have interviewed 87 witnesses and collected more than 30,000 pages of documents, said a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence.

Jessie Chauhan, a DND spokesperson, said the investigation has taken so long because of its “complex” nature.

Chauhan said in an email that the deputy commander’s office is now ensuring that the report “clearly and completely addresses all of the findings required by the convening order.”

“The Convening Authority may reconvene the Board as required to address deficiencies. At this time, no firm timeline is available for when this BOI (Board of Inquiry) will be final.”

Once the report is finally approved, Chief of Defence Staff Thomas Lawson could decide to keep some or all of the report secret, Chauhan said.

During the summer of 2008, the Star reported that some Canadian soldiers who had returned from Afghanistan had sought counseling to cope with feelings of guilt because they had not stopped incidents of child abuse.  (more...)

Canadian military still investigating Afghanistan sex assault claim