Human Trafficking in [Iraq] [other countries]
Street Children in [Iraq] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries]
 

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

Iraq [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

Iraq [map] is a Middle Eastern country bordered on the north by Turkey, on the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, on the east by Iran, and on the west by the Syrian Arab Republic. The military victory of the US-led coalition in March-April 2003 resulted in the shutdown of much of the central economic administrative structure. Although a comparatively small amount of capital plant was damaged during the hostilities, looting, insurgent attacks, and sabotage have undermined efforts to rebuild the economy.

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Iraq. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

ECPAT – On-line form for reporting child prostitution and other sexual offences against children

Quick Search for Missing Children - Select Gender, Country (Iraq), and Years Missing

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS - Detection of trafficking was extremely difficult due to lack of information because of the security situation, existing societal controls of women, and the closed-tribal culture. There were reports of girls and women trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1998

[27] The Committee notes with concern the situation of children living and/or working on the streets, particularly as it relates to economic and sexual exploitation. In this regard, the Committee encourages the State party to increase preventive measures and its efforts to ensure the rehabilitation and reintegration of these children.

Amnesty urges help for Iraqi refugees

Amnesty said it visited Syria, where its delegates interviewed many Iraqis who had been tortured and in some cases raped. Most are traumatized, with little hope of receiving treatment, Amnesty said. "Many refugees said they received no food and that their savings had dried up." The statement said that some Iraqi refugee families have even resorted to forcing their daughters into prostitution to help the family survive. Child prostitution and trafficking of Iraqi children is said to be growing, Amnesty said.

Children lured into drugs and prostitution

Sami Rubaie, 12, lives on the streets of Baghdad. He said he ran away from home because he could not stand the beatings he got from his father for not bringing home enough money from begging all day. He soon turned to glue sniffing. To support his habit, he recently joined a gang and now men have sex with him in exchange for glue and money.

"I cry every time a man has sex with me and they usually hit me because I am crying. After I do it, my boss gives me a good quantity of glue and around US $3 dollars for food. I know what I'm doing is wrong but it's better than living with daily beatings from my father for not bringing him enough money," Sami said.

Western civilisation? The Unspoken Fate of Iraqi Children

August 2005 saw a report published by the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), which brought to light the growth of child prostitution, under the new liberated Iraq and how children as young as thirteen have become victims of this sexual tyranny, which the West has brought to these children’s doors.

The report states that extreme poverty has lead to an increase in gangs, who are going around and kidnapping children and forcing them into the sex trade, where hard currencies can be exchanged for the degradation of a young persons body.

Focus on Boys Trapped in Commercial Sex Trade

A 16-year-old boy has started a desperate new life since being forced into the sex trade in Baghdad, joining a growing number of adolescents soliciting in Iraq under the threat of street gangs or the force of poverty.

Unveiling Iraq's Teenage Prostitutes

The story of a Sunni girl from Fallujah selling herself in a Damascus nightclub represents startling new fallout from the Iraq war, one that human rights organizations and experts are only beginning to address.  An increasing number of young Iraqi women and girls who fled Iraq during the turmoil are turning to prostitution in Syria, although there are no reliable statistics on how many girls are involved.  That might partly explain why so little reporting has been done on the topic.  For journalists and human rights workers, securing contact with Iraqi sex workers in Syria is difficult and dangerous because the topic is taboo.  It's a serious problem because there are young girls doing this -- 11, 12, 13 years old.

Voices of Resistance: Women Speak Out - Interview

One of the impacts of wars and sanctions has been a rapid increase in prostitution in Iraq. Prior to 1991, levels of prostitution were relatively low. However, over the last decade prostitution rates have sky rocketed. Many men died in the wars, and sanctions left women in financial difficulty. More and more women, as well as children now, are involved in prostitution in order to make a living. I recently completed a project working with children who are 10, 11, 12 years old -- not even teenagers -- who are working in this industry.

5.1 Middle East - State of CSEC/ Attitudes toward CSEC [PDF]

While Israel, Jordan and Lebanon indicate a tacit willingness to address the issue, the majority of the countries in the region have not conducted research and deny the possibility that children are being sexually exploited for commercial purposes. Open discussions of sex related issues are regarded as a social taboo thus further explaining the lack of research and acknowledgement of CSEC. While the extent of child prostitution in the Middle East region is unknown, anecdotal evidence indicates that there is a large problem in selected areas of the region.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children - Middle East/North Africa region

These countries also have in common, however, a number of constraints that have hindered preparation of national plans of action. In all the countries of the region, there is cultural resistance to addressing the problem because the subject is largely taboo. Often the issue is dealt with more generally under headings such as ‘violence’ and ‘trauma’. This means that there has been no regional consensus on defining CSEC in law; in some countries, for example, it is looked upon as an indecent act, in others as rape, although in all 20 countries there is some section of the penal code that can be invoked against sexual abuse and exploitation.

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Human Trafficking in [Iraq] [other countries]
Street Children in [Iraq] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries]