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War increased trafficking of Iraqi women and girls

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Summary of story from WeNews, November 9, 2011

Up to 5,000 women have been trafficked from Iraq and forced to work as prostitutes since the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The majority of the women and girls have been taken to Syria, while Jordan is the second ranking destination, according to a report by the London-based Social Change Through Education in the Middle East.

The Iraqi constitution prohibits the trafficking of women and children, as well as the sex trade and slavery.

But rather than protecting victims, the authorities often punish them for crimes committed as a direct result of them being trafficked, the authors claim in the report – called ‘Karamatuna’ or ‘Our Dignity’.

The first stage of a project to gauge the full extent of trafficking of Iraqi women, the report describes how the chaos and anarchy of post-war Iraq has created conditions in which women and girls are vulnerable to trafficking.

The report describes how a 14 year-old girl who fled with her family to Syria was forced into prostitution by her mother when the family’s savings ran out. As Iraqi refugees they were prevented from working legally in the country.

Traffickers are often women involved in the sex industry or male solicitors and taxi drivers recruited by trafficking gangs.

They largely prey on girls and young women who have fled their homes as a result of abuse, forced marriage or the threat of so-called ‘honour’ crimes.

“The neglect of authorities to deal with this problem effectively had fostered a state of impunity in which crimes against women are neglected and offenders go unpunished,” the report says.

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