Iraqi
Refugees Turn To prostitution
By Omar Sinan
25 October, 2007
Associated Press
DAMASCUS, Syria -
The Iraqi women jump onto the stage at the al-Rawabi club, their long
black hair swinging, their young faces caked with makeup. Iraqi pop
music booms out as they sway and dance under strobe lights.
Nearby, a woman nicknamed At'outa meets her paying dates — men
who hand over $90 a night for companionship and sex.
This club in northwest Damascus
represents one of the most troubling aspects of the Iraqi refugee crisis
— Iraqi women and girls who are turning to prostitution to survive
in countries that have taken them in but won't let them or their families
work at most other jobs.
No reliable figures of Iraqi
prostitutes exist, but an increase in the number of Iraqi women seen
in recent months in clubs and on the streets of Damascus, Amman and
other cities suggests the problem is growing as more Iraqis flee their
country's violence.
Most of the Iraqi women at
the al-Rawabi club appeared to be in their late teens and early 20s
although some were older. While some danced on stage, about a half-dozen
others strolled around the tables, smiling at men and inviting offers
to sit down for a drink.
Ayman al-Halaqi, a club manager
here, said Iraqi dancers are cheaper to hire than Syrians. Back home,
even dancing in a skimpy costume would be considered shameful. Iraqi
women who go beyond that can earn 10 times more from a single encounter
with a client than by working a full day as a housemaid.
At the al-Rawabi club, the
usual customers are mostly Iraqi or Syrian men, but summer brought the
annual flood of visitors from Persian Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.
Bassam Abdul-Wahid, a 27-year-old
Iraqi who runs an import-export business in Damascus, was partying with
three male companions at the club one evening. Sporting three gold rings
and a flashy gold bracelet, he motioned for more whiskey as two slender
young Iraqi women in tight jeans slipped into chairs at the men's table.
Abdul-Wahid, a regular at
al-Rawabi, joked that he likes his table to be "an example of Iraqi
generosity." As the liquor flowed, the women laughed and exchanged
"high-fives" with the men — but refused to talk with
a reporter.
At'outa, a blonde in her
late 30s whose nickname means "little kitten" in Arabic, agreed
to tell her story but refused to give her real name for fear neighbors
or her children would learn what she does.
Last year, she fled Iraq
with her son and two daughters, all teenagers, after her husband was
gunned down by militants in Baghdad's volatile Ghazaliyah district.
After a few months in Syria,
her late husband's savings were running out. She tried working as a
tailor and a housemaid, but could not make ends meet, she said. Then,
a man offer to cancel a $250 debt in exchange for sex. Since then, she
has regularly met other dates at the al-Rawabi club, where sex earns
her enough money to pay the bills.
The U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees estimates that around 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring
countries since 2003.
In Jordan and Syria, they
struggle to get by.
"Men and boys are most
likely to be deported, so women sometimes work illegally, but have no
protection from employer abuse," the New York-based Women's Commission
for Refugee Women and Children said in a recent report.
After a fact-finding trip
to Jordan, the group said it heard accounts of women and girls turning
to prostitution. But its report provided few details.
Amnesty International also
reported during the summer that its representatives were told on a visit
to Syria that young Iraqi girls were being pressured by families to
engage in prostitution. The group said it was worried that Iraqi child
trafficking could grow.
Syrian officials are officially
silent on the subject, but Amnesty International says they have voiced
concerns in private.
An artists' professional
group in Damascus forced the closure of almost 30 night clubs several
months ago, saying the dancers and singers were not licensed —
a sure sign the performers were Iraqi in tightly controlled Syria.
In Damascus neighborhoods
full of Iraqis like Jaramaneh and Sit Zeinab, Iraqi women often approach
men in the streets, asking if they "have a place" or "want
to have some fun."
In Amman, Jordan, many Iraqi
refugees flock to the districts of Shemisani and Rabai, where clubs
feature belly dancers and hostesses. Male customers often are phoned
later by the women and asked if they could meet.
Bassam al-Kadi, an official
of the human rights group Syria Women's Observatory, said some Iraqi
women had been deported by Syrian authorities because they were believed
involved in prostitution.
Iraqi women whose husbands
or fathers are dead or wounded from the war are most at risk, al-Kadi
said.
"These women are being
left with no supporter, under tremendous pressure and severe conditions,"
he said. "Thus they are being forced to do that, to fetch bread
for their families."
The alternatives are menial
household jobs or selling cigarettes and cheap goods on the street.
At'outa said she tells people
that her relatives abroad pay for the $250 monthly rent for the family's
apartment. She shares the single bedroom with her two daughters, while
her son sleeps on a living room sofa.
Sobbing, she says she can
never go back to Iraq and longs to settle her family in the West, but
her prospects aren't good.
Laurens Jolles of the U.N.
refugee office in Damascus said his agency wants to resettle 20,000
of the most vulnerable Iraqi refugees by year's end. In mid-February,
the United States announced it would let in about 7,000 Iraqis. Sweden
has admitted more than 18,000 since 2006, the highest number in any
European country, but now says it is tightening asylum rules.
But At'outa is just one of
an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria alone.
"I ask myself every
day, what did I get out of this life? No family, no home and no honor,"
she said. "The guilt is ripping my body to shreds."
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