Human Trafficking in [Iraq Street Children in [Iraq] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Iraq [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] Iraq was in
political transition during the reporting period and is therefore not ranked
in this Report. Scope and
Magnitude. Iraq is a source and destination country for men and women trafficked
for commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. Children are
trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation; criminal gangs may have
targeted young boys and staff of private orphanages and may have trafficked
young girls for forced prostitution within Iraq and abroad. Iraqi women are
trafficked to Syria, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran
for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Iraq is also a destination
country for men and women trafficked from South and Southeast Asia for
involuntary servitude as construction workers, cleaners, and domestic
servants. Some of these workers are offered fraudulent jobs in safe
environments in Kuwait or Jordan, but are then forced into involuntary
servitude in Iraq instead; others go to Iraq voluntarily, but are subjected
to conditions of involuntary servitude after arrival. Although the
governments of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Philippines have
official bans prohibiting their nationals from working in Iraq, workers from
these countries are increasingly coerced into positions in Iraq with threats
of abandonment in Kuwait or Jordan, starvation, or force. - U.S. State
Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007 [full
country report] CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Anti-government militias, such as Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, exploit
children as young as ten years old as child soldiers. CHILD
LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - The Criminal Code, which predates the Iraqi conflict but remains in effect,
prohibits any form of compulsory or forced labor. Order 89 prohibits the worst forms of child
labor, which it defines as all forms of slavery, debt bondage, forced labor,
trafficking of children, compulsory use of children in armed conflict, child
prostitution, illicit activity, including drug trafficking and work likely to
harm the health, safety or morals, among others 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.
Five European countries successfully stymied a criminal network
trafficking Iraqi citizens to Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1998 [26] The Committee notes with
concern that the economic exploitation of children has increased dramatically
in the past few years and that an increasing number of children are leaving
school, sometimes at an early age, to work to support themselves and their
families. In this regard, the Committee is also concerned about the existing
gap between the age at which compulsory education ends (12 years old) and the
minimum legal age for access to employment (15 years old). The Committee
recommends that research be carried out on the situation with regard to child
labor in the State party, including the involvement of children in hazardous
work, to identify the causes and the extent of the problem. U.S.
Investigates Firm Building Embassy in Iraq Federal prosecutors are
investigating the Kuwaiti company building the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad,
probing allegations that foreign employees were brought to work on the
massive project against their will and prevented from leaving the country. The Department of Justice launched
the probe of First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. after former
employees alleged that workers at the company were told they were being sent
to Dubai, only to wind up in Iraq instead, people familiar with the matter
said. According to the allegations, First Kuwaiti confiscated the workers'
passports, so they were unable to depart Baghdad. Abuses Found in
Hiring at Iraq Bases Gen. George W. Casey Jr. ordered
that contractors be required by May 1 to return passports that have been
illegally confiscated from laborers on U.S. bases after determining that such
practices violated U.S. laws against trafficking for forced or coerced labor.
Human brokers and subcontractors from South Asia to the Middle East have
worked together to import thousands of laborers into Iraq from impoverished
countries. 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 "Freedom" has become a
cruel joke. Saddam's regime was
brutal, but it was secular, and women in Freedom Or
Theocracy?: Constitutionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq ¶ 113
Women suffered along with many other Iraqis as a result of the war to
oust Saddam. A breakdown of law and
order after the fall of Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study ARCHIVES 2005 Million
children work in hazardous conditions, vulnerable to sexual abuse and
violence 2004 Indian nationals, recruited for jobs in
U.S. military camps, were denied permission to leave 2004 Forced
labor alleged by four Muslim Indians who had returned from 2003 Inquiry
into efforts to combat prostitution and human trafficking in post-conflict 2003 UNICEF
wary of post-war child trafficking in |
Human Trafficking in [Iraq Street Children in [Iraq] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Iraq] [other countries]