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

Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street 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 or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

UNICEF - The Big Picture

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

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Recent information indicates that in urban areas, children are employed in merchant shops, as ticket collectors on buses, and are found washing cars, shining shoes, and cleaning litter from streets. Children work as vendors of cigarettes, gum, candy, food, soft drinks, pornographic videos, fruit, fuel, used clothes, and junk.  Children also dig through rubbish, drive donkey carts and work in brick factories in Iraq.  Since the war, the number of street children in some areas of Baghdad has been increasing.

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

CHILDREN - MOLSA operated a total of 22 orphanages for older children in Baghdad and the provinces, housing a total of 617 children, and 42 orphanages for young children, housing a total of 1,519 children.

In an effort to address juvenile delinquency, the MOI, in cooperation with MOLSA, initiated on March 20 a campaign to respond to the growing problem of street children. MOLSA officials estimated that approximately 480 homeless children in Baghdad alone were placed into homes during this campaign.

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.

Poverty Wages War on Iraqi Children

The number of street children has greatly risen in Iraq since the U.S.-led occupation began in 2003. The foremost reason for this is the deteriorating economic condition of the country, according to the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI).

And, as many have died since the start of the war, the significant increment of the number of widows and orphans has also largely resulted in children who have to beg and try to sustain their lives on the streets across the country.

The NCCI reported that the families facing fragile economic conditions (especially if their male member/s, who are mostly synonymous to the major or sole breadwinner of the family, are killed in the conflict) often send their children to beg on streets as a mean of supplementing their income.

Whereas, Cedric Turlan, the information officer of the NCCI, said that some families also send their children to work, and this also to sustain their livelihood or at least to feed themselves.

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.

Child beggars proliferate in Baghdad

His father fell ill and could not work so he sent his children out to beg. If they did not come home with enough money, he would beat them, Ahmed said. His father died of kidney failure in April 2005.  "Now they are dead but my brothers treat us well. We are happy even though we sleep in the open, in a garden with only two blankets. I hope one day I will help all child beggars in Iraq," Ahmed said, grinning from ear to ear before excusing himself and running after an expensive-looking car.  Ahmed is one of thousands of homeless children throughout Iraq who survive by begging, stealing or scavenging in garbage for food.

Grim Time for Iraq's Street Children

Iraqi society attaches a heavy stigma to street children, whether they are orphans or war victims. These days, most orphanages are accepting only the children they cared for before the war who scattered during the conflict. The newly orphaned and deserted children on the streets, said to number at least a few thousand, are objects of scorn.

Iraq: A Dangerous Environment for Children

Although the war in Iraq has ended, children are still in danger. Some of Iraq’s children sleep in the street between Coalition tanks and statues in front of the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad. Others are living in orphanages.

Iraq's Outcasts

Many orphans and other poor children are forced into begging and prostitution.  These children have joined the growing army of street children who scrape and beg for a living in a city that is flooded with weapons but has no government to impose law and order and deliver social services.  But in a city where few have money, it is almost impossible to make a living on the street and most of the children are barefoot, ragged and often appear to be starving.

IRAQ / STREET KIDS

In Saadoun neighborhood, we saw a real tragedy - children getting raped all the time, girls and boys. There are organized gangs giving children drugs, tablets, alcohol to make them drunk and taking them to the hotels where they will be raped as payment, if you want to have sex with a girl or a boy.

Glimmer Of Hope For Iraqi Street Kids

Since 1991 a great number have been abandoned by parents too poor to feed them, and the numbers grew dramatically during the conflict earlier this year, after looters attacked orphanages following the fall of Baghdad.  "Children living in the streets have no families, so they're not cultured and have little education," explained Amira Hasar al-Saraf, head teacher at the al-Wasaria orphanage. "Most of them are thieves.  They get drunk and take drugs - they even have sexual relations with each other."

New Premises For Homeless Children In Capital

It seems like a happy scene, but if you talk to the former street children, you will find that many of them are disturbed and potentially violent.   Under the former regime, the issue of street-children was kept under wraps.

Street Whys?

They appreciate the security, the food and the activities we offer, but the settling in process is very difficult especially if they are used to complete freedom. They are usually illiterate and have little conception of accepted behavior. Our difficulty is to know what to do with the older ones who are legally of age but who remain vulnerable

Iraq's Street Children Who Face A Daily Struggle For Survival

With support systems almost non-existent, many children find themselves falling through the net completely and end up living on the streets.  These kids - mostly boys, but girls too - come from homes broken by the first Gulf War, or orphaned by the second, but these children have survived to live a brutalized existence.  A day in a life on the streets offers a vicious reality - crime, bloody violence, sexual abuse (and attendant diseases) and an ever-increasing drug culture.

Lives Less Ordinary

Kevin and Helen went to Iraq as human shields, but found the mission of their lives in its forgotten street kids.  A tale of their transformation from protestors to care-workers.

New NGO Helps Street Children In Baghdad

"I am 14 years old. My mother [left my father and started living with another man], and my father took us away from our mother and then he started beating us. And then I ran away." -- Kutaiba, a homeless Iraqi boy    Thousands of homeless children are living on the streets of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. They are begging, stealing, selling, or using drugs, rooting through garbage for food, and sleeping on the pavement.

As Street Violence Flares In Iraq, Lutheran World Relief Aids Street Children

The project, which depends on local organizations and staff, will repair a shelter that provides street children in north Baghdad with protection, education and good hygiene.

'All Our Children' Approves New Projects for Iraq's Youngest

In one project, Church World Service (CWS) and its consortium partners approved repairs to the Bait al Tuful social institution, which provides shelter and care for street children. Working with Enfants du Monde and the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA), the institution serves as a transitional place where children have access to education, hygiene and protection.

 

 

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