'As we sit in New York or London with wall-to-wall coverage of the (Iraqi)
constitutional referendum, in their homes Iraqis are not talking about the
constitution. They are talking about how to protect their wives,' said Fisk.
In the last couple of months, more and more reports about prostitution in Iraq
have started making the headlines. USA Today recently published an article on
the rise of 'pleasure marriages' in Iraq.
'Pleasure marriages were outlawed under Saddam Hussein but have begun to
flourish again. The contracts, lasting anywhere from one hour to 10 years,
generally stipulate that the man will pay the woman in exchange for sexual
intimacy,' said USA Today.
Under Saddam Hussein, the Fedayeen, Arab guerrillas, cracked down on
prostitutes, pimps and anyone suspected of selling girls abroad. In 2000,
Saddam reportedly beheaded 200 women convicted of prostitution. In the absence
of the Fedayeen, prostitution seemed to have gained a loose reign.
'It`s a serious problem because there are young girls doing this -11, 12, 13
years old,' said Abdelhamid El Ouali, representative of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees.
The Syrian government and UNHCR put the number of Iraqi refugees in Syria at
roughly 700,000.
Syrian police either lack data or won`t release any figures on prostitution,
according to the Women`s International League for Peace and Freedom.
The US State Department`s 2005 'Trafficking in Persons Report' acknowledged the
problem.
'There have been some reports that indicate Iraqi women may be subjected to
sexual exploitation in prostitution in Syria at the hands of Iraqi criminal
networks, but those reports have not been confirmed,' the report said.
The going rate for an Iraqi prostitute is 10,000 Iraqi dinars ($7), according
to The Toronto Star.
Though some women are adopting prostitution to feed their families, others are
being sold against their will.
The Independent interviewed two women who were abducted and then sold into
prostitution.
'Because I was not married, I was sold for $6,000, and Sajeeda for $3,000. My
hymen had a price - this is when we realized that we were going to have to do
bad things with men. We were terrified,' one of the women told The Independent.
A growing concern of many humanitarian organizations is the young ages of Iraqi
prostitutes. In an article for Salon magazine, an outreach organization for
refugee children, Good Shepherd Nunnery, in Damascus said they had lost many of
their students.
'In the past year, many of the children attending the nunnery`s learning center
suddenly disappeared' said a sister at the school.
To prevent girls from turning to prostitution, the center offers them computer
training courses and helps find them jobs in sewing and gold-manufacturing
factories. But pay is usually about $50 a month -- $100 in the best case --
compared with the $40 to $60 sex workers can make per night. 'And the job
opportunities are very rare,' said the sister. 'I had one girl who waited for
three years for the factory job.'
In newspaper articles, social workers and humanitarian agencies blame the
international community for not taking the issue of prostitution seriously.
One UN official told the Women`s International League for Peace and Freedom the
international community had kept silent about the issue. The official said the
'conspiracy of silence' surrounding prostitution underscores the international
community`s larger failure to recognize the dire conditions of Iraqi refugees
and provide them with a safe haven.
While the coalition forces still have to develop a strategy for arresting
prostitution Islamic vigilantes have taken things in their own hands, according
to a recent Newsweek article.
'Islamic vigilantes are inflicting punishments that can be far more severe than
a short stay behind bars. Liquor stores and porno shops around the country have
been bombed, torched or even attacked with rocket-propelled grenades. Two
customers at a porno theater in Mosul died in September when unidentified
assailants dropped a hand grenade through a ceiling vent,' said Newsweek.
The fear of prostitution is keeping many women home, said Hanny Megally,
Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights
Watch. She said: 'Women and girls today in Baghdad are scared, and many are not
going to schools or jobs or looking for work. If Iraqi women are to participate
in post-war society, their physical security needs to be an urgent priority.'
