"My life is a disaster today. I could be killed by my family to restore their
honour," he said, explaining that homosexuality was totally unacceptable in
Iraq due to religious beliefs.
Following the conflict in 2003, there has been an increase in the number of
commercial sex workers (CSWs) in the country, especially among teenagers,
according to local officials.
This increase is attributed to economic pressure faced by families countrywide
and the presence of new prostitution rings that have sprung up since the
invasion. With society in turmoil and a raft of other serious issues to
address, child protection has not been uppermost in the priorities of the
transitional government.
The gangs use money or threats to get teenage boys to work for them, officials
said.
"Many of us are working under threat, but others are there because they don't
know how to survive and found it as an easy way of getting money," Feiraz said.
"Someone should help free us from these criminals."
An Increasing Problem
Saeed Muhammad, a senior official in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs,
said it was addressing the problem but was under-resourced.
"We have been informed about dozens of cases of male prostitution, and all of
them [the boys involved] were threatened," he said. "But we don't have the
capacity to deal with them."
Muhammad said a special commission had been set up, with help from the Ministry
of Interior, to tackle the rings forcing young men into the sex trade.
According to Muhammad, unofficial information suggests there could be as many
as 4,000 male commercial sex workers. There are no statistics on the number of
boys caught up in the business countrywide, but officials fear that it could be
in the hundreds.
Boys are said to receive the equivalent of around US $10 for each person they
have sex with, with the gangs reportedly taking five times that amount.
The leader of a ring of commercial sex workers told IRIN that the livelihood
they were offering Iraqi boys was "a job like any other". He insisted that the
boys were not threatened and that anyone who came to work for them could leave
at any time.
"Iraqis love boys and our work is to offer pleasure to them," the ring leader,
who calls himself Abu Weled (or "father of the boys"), said. "They are all gay
and, in Iraq, the homosexual is something cheap and bad, but we make them feel
special when working with us."
Abu Weled's gang also has some girls under 16 years of age soliciting for him,
he said.
Homosexuals Under the Law
Under Shari'ah or Islamic law, homosexual practise is a religious crime that
carries the death sentence.
The transition constitution in place in Iraq for the past two years does not
address homosexuality. A new constitution is currently being drafted.
Whether or not homosexuality it illegal, it is a taboo subject in Iraq and
homosexual acts are strongly condemned by Muslims. Yet, these prostitution
rings suggest, there is a demand for commercial sex workers to engage in
homosexual acts.
Sheikh Hussein Salah, one of the heads of the Shi'ite Muslim community in Iraq,
told IRIN in Baghdad that the families of those boys engaged in homosexual
practices should "kill them", whether the situation was forced on them or they
entered into it freely.
During Saddam Hussein's regime, Salah said, homosexuality was illegal and
homosexual practices were punishable by death. "We hope that this will be
applied under the new constitution," he added.
Some Baghdadi families said they have stopped their children from going to
school or university for fear that they would be lured into the unacceptable
trade.
"If I found that my son was doing something like that, I would kill him
straight away, because it is an offence to our God and a crime against our
honour," Kudaifa Abdul Lateff, father of three teenagers said. "Homosexuals are
nothing more than animals."
Economic Push to Prostitution
Rising unemployment, compounded by conflict, has led to the desperate search
for money to survive, despite the physical, psychological and health dangers
involved in commercial sex work, local officials say.
According to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Development
Cooperation released in April, 48 percent of youths in the country are
unemployed, most of them discouraged by poor salaries in those jobs that are
available.
"We are a poor family and my husband cannot work because he has serious
epilepsy," Um Zacarias, a mother of two child sex workers, said. "Three months
ago, Abu Weled came to our house offering us money if we let our two teenage
[aged 13 and 14] boys work with them.
"Thanks to him, today we have a good income. People may find it surprising, but
at least we can eat now and I'm proud of them."
Government Response
The Ministry of Interior, after an appeal by the Ministry of Labour, has
started a new commission to search for the ring leaders and tackle families
sending their children into the sex trade.
A senior interior ministry official, who preferred to remain anonymous for his
own security, said that leaders of two gangs in Baghdad had been captured so
far.
More than 15 boys were also being questioned, he said. Their families had not
been given the real reason for their detention, in case they responded with
threats or violence to the boys.
"When you hear what the teenagers have been through, you really fear for your
own children," the ministry official said. "They could fall victim any minute
to these heartless gangs."
The Ministry of Labour has also developed a programme, focusing on
non-judgemental psychological counselling, to rehabilitate boys who want to
return to a normal life without suffering social discrimination.
Rescue Efforts
Based on information supplied by the Ministry of Labour, two small local NGOs
are trying to help the child sex workers. On of them, Iraqi Peace and Better
Future (IPBF), has collected the names of more than 50 teenage boys who say
they cannot leave the trade because of threats. Few cases have been resolved,
however.
"We have been trying to do our best in taking those unlucky boys and girls from
the streets of the capital," said Abdallah Jassim, spokesman for IPBF. "But
sometimes we are stopped by the gangs, who threaten us. And the government
cannot offer us special security on a daily basis."
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) is also waiting for approval and funding
for a proposed rehabilitation project for teenagers, it said. So far it has had
few donors.
Meanwhile, with few positive prospects in sight, many boys in Baghdad are
living in fear, urging that someone, somewhere come up with a solution to their
plight.
"I hope that one day I will live without the fear that I may find my father
with a gun or a knife ready to kill me because he has discovered what I do for
a living," said Youssef Hatab, a 15 year-old boy.
IRIN
