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Iraqi Girls into Prostitution. Thanks alot George Bush!
NIQASH -- Muhammad al-Tamimi (Baghdad/Sulaymaniyah), 22 October 2007 -- The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that the number of Iraqi refugees has now almost doubled since the end of last year, adding that Iraq is now the site of the Middle East's biggest refugee crisis since the creation of Israel in 1948.
The United Nations implored the international community to
provide $60 million in emergency donations, in order to deal with the crisis. A specialist for the organization stated that one out of every eight Iraqis has now left their home, adding that half a million have been forced to leave in the last six months. Approximately 2 million people have left the country, while 1.7 million have been internally displaced. Authorities are clamoring for emergency aid for Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan. At the same time, Iraqi women's organizations have blamed the current government for the rise in prostitution amongst female Iraqi refugees.
Arabs make up 93% of Iraqi refugees, and of these, 64% are Shi'ite, 32% Sunni, 4% Christian and 1% Sabaean and Yezidi.
Prostitution as a Source of Income and Housing
Returnees to Iraq have confirmed that Iraqi women have been
forced into prostitution in order to make ends meet and even to obtain residence permits in Syria, where unemployment is extremely high, as well as in Jordan. Muhammad Nur al-Din Issa pointed out that Iraqi women have been forced to flee from their homes because of sectarian cleansing, only to become prostitutes in other countries. Issa, who has returned to Iraq with the intention of moving his family back from Lattakia in Syria, where he managed to find employment in an Iraqi restaurant, added that, "sex traders are doing a roaring business, opening nightclubs with Syrian entrepreneurs and Iraqi bodies." He reported that, "the Nejma club, frequented by Gulf tourists, employs 25 Iraqi women whose ages vary between 12 and 20. Some clubs employ even larger numbers of women." A cargo driver confirmed these assertions, saying that, "the rise in Iraqi female prostitutes has led to clients abandoning their Russian and Moroccan counterparts, and the price of one night with an Iraqi woman is $50-70 for girls." He said that many women support three or four families on the revenues from prostitution, and that all of them have been forced into it.
In a phone conversation with Niqash, Salwa, an Iraqi woman who managed to flee to Syria, told us that, "after my husband was murdered by armed men in his hairdressing salon at the beginning of this year, I had to work as a prostitute, since I was unable to find other employment. I make $300, sometimes $500, a week from my new job." In a report on the status of Iraqi refugees the United Nations confirms that, "there are young girls involved in prostitution, many of whom have been forced into it in order to feed their families." Human rights activists report that thousands of refugees in Jordan and Syria, driven to despair by their situation, now stand in line outside Iraqi embassies to demand their rights. Others repeat stories about deportations after failing to meet residency requirements, which has turned Iraqis into "beggars at embassy doors".
The New York Times published a long report on prostitution among Iraqi refugees, describing the tragedy of female refugees and how they are forced into prostitution after fleeing murder in their country. The American newspaper claims that the Damascene suburb of Sednayah is a center for refugee prostitution due to its numerous nightclubs, adding that many have been cheated and raped there and elsewhere.
160,000 refugees in Kurdistan
The Kurdish government has announced that 160,000 Iraqis have
fled rising sectarian violence in the rest of the country for Kurdistan, a number which has been corroborated by a report prepared by an international group that follows the status of refugees. Washington-based Refugees International reports that Iraqi refugees who have fled north are facing harsh living conditions, not helped by inflation and few employment opportunities. Aid groups do not provide much help to these refugees - and to other refugees inside Iraq - because both Iraqi and US governments, as well as the United Nations have failed to acknowledge the severity of the crisis.
The Iraqi Red Crescent confirmed the facts of the report. Its official Rasul Abd al-Khaleq told Niqash that almost 1,000 Arab families have moved to Sulaymaniyah since August of this year, and thousands of other families are struggling to feed themselves after finding lodging in cheap hotels. 72 families have been forced to live in tents, in a camp between the Sulaymaniyah and the Jumjumal districts, due to their terrible economic situation.
Refugees complain of neglect by Kurdish and Iraqi authorities,
as well as the United Nations. Anwar Saber al-Ali, a refugee, demands that, "the Iraqi government put aside a percentage of its oil revenues for both internal and external refugees," adding that, "we have nothing left to live on, and we have become refugees in our own country with only mattresses in our possession." Another refugee, Munira Khaled, insists that she and the other refugees "are the victims of the current situation in the country, which is due to political strife."
As every Iraqi city outside Kurdistan has been the scene of a sectarian war that has led to 2 million refugees six months after the Samarra attack, Iraq is now considered to be the most violent country in the world. United Nations figures say that 727,000 people have been internally displaced since the Samarra attack in February 2006. The Iraqi Ministry for Refugees states that approximately 470,000 refugees have officially registered their status with the ministry since Saddam Hussein's fall, but admits that this number does not accurately reflect the reality of the situation, which is worsening. Refugees in Kurdistan, particularly Arabs, are facing more problems than Kurdish (fleeing Arab cities in Iraq) or Christian refugees, as the Kurdish authorities placed new conditions on their stay, including the need for a Kurdish guarantor in order to be able to acquire a (renewable) one-month living permit.
The United Nations implored the international community to
provide $60 million in emergency donations, in order to deal with the crisis. A specialist for the organization stated that one out of every eight Iraqis has now left their home, adding that half a million have been forced to leave in the last six months. Approximately 2 million people have left the country, while 1.7 million have been internally displaced. Authorities are clamoring for emergency aid for Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan. At the same time, Iraqi women's organizations have blamed the current government for the rise in prostitution amongst female Iraqi refugees.
Arabs make up 93% of Iraqi refugees, and of these, 64% are Shi'ite, 32% Sunni, 4% Christian and 1% Sabaean and Yezidi.
Prostitution as a Source of Income and Housing
Returnees to Iraq have confirmed that Iraqi women have been
forced into prostitution in order to make ends meet and even to obtain residence permits in Syria, where unemployment is extremely high, as well as in Jordan. Muhammad Nur al-Din Issa pointed out that Iraqi women have been forced to flee from their homes because of sectarian cleansing, only to become prostitutes in other countries. Issa, who has returned to Iraq with the intention of moving his family back from Lattakia in Syria, where he managed to find employment in an Iraqi restaurant, added that, "sex traders are doing a roaring business, opening nightclubs with Syrian entrepreneurs and Iraqi bodies." He reported that, "the Nejma club, frequented by Gulf tourists, employs 25 Iraqi women whose ages vary between 12 and 20. Some clubs employ even larger numbers of women." A cargo driver confirmed these assertions, saying that, "the rise in Iraqi female prostitutes has led to clients abandoning their Russian and Moroccan counterparts, and the price of one night with an Iraqi woman is $50-70 for girls." He said that many women support three or four families on the revenues from prostitution, and that all of them have been forced into it.
In a phone conversation with Niqash, Salwa, an Iraqi woman who managed to flee to Syria, told us that, "after my husband was murdered by armed men in his hairdressing salon at the beginning of this year, I had to work as a prostitute, since I was unable to find other employment. I make $300, sometimes $500, a week from my new job." In a report on the status of Iraqi refugees the United Nations confirms that, "there are young girls involved in prostitution, many of whom have been forced into it in order to feed their families." Human rights activists report that thousands of refugees in Jordan and Syria, driven to despair by their situation, now stand in line outside Iraqi embassies to demand their rights. Others repeat stories about deportations after failing to meet residency requirements, which has turned Iraqis into "beggars at embassy doors".
The New York Times published a long report on prostitution among Iraqi refugees, describing the tragedy of female refugees and how they are forced into prostitution after fleeing murder in their country. The American newspaper claims that the Damascene suburb of Sednayah is a center for refugee prostitution due to its numerous nightclubs, adding that many have been cheated and raped there and elsewhere.
160,000 refugees in Kurdistan
The Kurdish government has announced that 160,000 Iraqis have
fled rising sectarian violence in the rest of the country for Kurdistan, a number which has been corroborated by a report prepared by an international group that follows the status of refugees. Washington-based Refugees International reports that Iraqi refugees who have fled north are facing harsh living conditions, not helped by inflation and few employment opportunities. Aid groups do not provide much help to these refugees - and to other refugees inside Iraq - because both Iraqi and US governments, as well as the United Nations have failed to acknowledge the severity of the crisis.
The Iraqi Red Crescent confirmed the facts of the report. Its official Rasul Abd al-Khaleq told Niqash that almost 1,000 Arab families have moved to Sulaymaniyah since August of this year, and thousands of other families are struggling to feed themselves after finding lodging in cheap hotels. 72 families have been forced to live in tents, in a camp between the Sulaymaniyah and the Jumjumal districts, due to their terrible economic situation.
Refugees complain of neglect by Kurdish and Iraqi authorities,
as well as the United Nations. Anwar Saber al-Ali, a refugee, demands that, "the Iraqi government put aside a percentage of its oil revenues for both internal and external refugees," adding that, "we have nothing left to live on, and we have become refugees in our own country with only mattresses in our possession." Another refugee, Munira Khaled, insists that she and the other refugees "are the victims of the current situation in the country, which is due to political strife."
As every Iraqi city outside Kurdistan has been the scene of a sectarian war that has led to 2 million refugees six months after the Samarra attack, Iraq is now considered to be the most violent country in the world. United Nations figures say that 727,000 people have been internally displaced since the Samarra attack in February 2006. The Iraqi Ministry for Refugees states that approximately 470,000 refugees have officially registered their status with the ministry since Saddam Hussein's fall, but admits that this number does not accurately reflect the reality of the situation, which is worsening. Refugees in Kurdistan, particularly Arabs, are facing more problems than Kurdish (fleeing Arab cities in Iraq) or Christian refugees, as the Kurdish authorities placed new conditions on their stay, including the need for a Kurdish guarantor in order to be able to acquire a (renewable) one-month living permit.
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