Iraqi refugees turn to sex trade in Syria

RolandTD20KdrummerRolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
edited January 2008 in A Moving Train
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2966165920071231

"DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A score of young Iraqi women in tight, shimmering gowns shuffle across the nightclub dance floor under the hungry eyes of Gulf Arabs at nearby tables.

The band blasts out Iraqi songs into the early hours as the watching youths join the dancing or summon girls to sit with them -- there is little pretence about what gets transacted at this neon-lit nightspot half an hour's drive north of Damascus.

The dancers, some in their early teens, do not want to talk, but one said she had no other way to support her family. "My father was killed in Baghdad and our money is finished," muttered the dark-haired girl in a black and silver dress.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR calls it "survival sex", a desperate way to cope for Iraqi refugees whose savings have run out since they escaped the violence at home.

The idea repels many of the 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria, but the struggle to make ends meet has forced some to share tiny apartments with other families in the slums of Damascus, put their children out to work or marry off teenaged daughters.

Sometimes such early marriages are simply a cover for prostitution as young brides are swiftly trafficked, according to Hana Ibrahim, head of the Iraqi Women's Will Association.

She also cited a growing incidence of temporary marriage, accepted in Shi'ite Muslim tradition, as another common route into the sex trade. "Mut'a (temporary) marriage is just for Shi'ites, but who said the Sunnis don't have other ways?"

UNHCR representative Laurens Jolles said survival sex was directly proportional to general refugee impoverishment. Continued..."
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.

http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

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Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • jlew24asujlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    are you going to follow this up with a thread showing all the success stories of Iraqis that went home and are carrying on a new successful life? I know how you love to show all sides of the story and all.
  • jlew24asu wrote:
    are you going to follow this up with a thread showing all the success stories of Iraqis that went home and are carrying on a new successful life? I know how you love to show all sides of the story and all.


    That's what you're here for isn't it? Knock yourself out Mr. Internet sensor.

    I've looked...I can't see them jumping out at me.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • jlew24asujlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    That's what you're here for isn't it? Knock yourself out Mr. Internet sensor.

    I've looked...I can't see them jumping out at me.

    try here

    http://untoldiraq.protectedsite.net/story/index.cfm
  • jlew24asu wrote:


    Amazing how both situations seem to exist. One world, perfect, and the other horrific.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • jlew24asujlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    Amazing how both situations seem to exist. One world, perfect, and the other horrific.

    they exist everywhere. you choose to only see one side. quite sad.
  • jlew24asu wrote:
    they exist everywhere. you choose to only see one side. quite sad.

    Sad that I see a problem based on lies and deceit mandated from a corrupt govt. Funny how that seems to work. All those peace activists are quite sad as well I imagine.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • jlew24asujlew24asu Posts: 10,118
    Sad that I see a problem based on lies and deceit mandated from a corrupt govt. Funny how that seems to work.
    yea I see it as a problem too. whats sad is that you refuse to look or see anything that is deemed positive from Iraq. you wont even bother looking at the website I posted.
    All those peace activists are quite sad as well I imagine.

    no, its a great cause.
  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    Is there a problem with anyone becoming a prostitute?

    It's their body they can do with as they please. That's the mantra for abortion and prostitution. That they feel the only way they have to earn a living is prostitution is a who cares. Would you have posted if it was "girls have to work as factory workers"? I think not. You seem to make a moralistic decision over what is a worthy occupation and what is not. Who are you to say what a woman does with her body?
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • MrBrianMrBrian Posts: 2,672
    surferdude wrote:
    Is there a problem with anyone becoming a prostitute?

    It's their body they can do with as they please. That's the mantra for abortion and prostitution. That they feel the only way they have to earn a living is prostitution is a who cares. Would you have posted if it was "girls have to work as factory workers"? I think not. You seem to make a moralistic decision over what is a worthy occupation and what is not. Who are you to say what a woman does with her body?

    These girls were not in this form of work in iraq and if it were not for the american invasion they would probably notbe a prostitute. selling their bodies is the last source of income they have for the family.

    So yes, when you get driven out of your country by war and you have no other form of income except to sell your body, a choice i'm sure they probably did not like and want. yep, it's a problem
  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    MrBrian wrote:
    These girls were not in this form of work in iraq and if it were not for the american invasion they would probably notbe a prostitute. selling their bodies is the last source of income they have for the family.

    So yes, when you get driven out of your country by war and you have no other form of income except to sell your body, a choice i'm sure they probably did not like and want. yep, it's a problem
    So if I had to move and had to take a factory job (something I do not do now) would it be a news worthy story? Or is this only a story because we've deciding what's right and wrong for a woman to do with her body?
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • surferdude wrote:
    So if I had to move and had to take a factory job (something I do not do now) would it be a news worthy story? Or is this only a story because we've deciding what's right and wrong for a woman to do with her body?

    I love your factory job analogy that you make like that somehow someway compares to a "girl in their early teens" being a refugee prostitute.

    It is not what they wanted to do with their bodies, its survival. These girls didn't flee Iraq looking for a place to go have some sex for money, they are doing it because they don't have a choice.

    You are playing a very morbid devils advocate right now.
  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    I love your factory job analogy that you make like that somehow someway compares to a "girl in their early teens" being a refugee prostitute.

    It is not what they wanted to do with their bodies, its survival. These girls didn't flee Iraq looking for a place to go have some sex for money, they are doing it because they don't have a choice.

    You are playing a very morbid devils advocate right now.
    Yes I am. But I'm also trying to point out that there's moral judgements being made on an act that is legal in some places in the USA and de facto legal in most places in North America.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • my2handsmy2hands Posts: 17,117
    surferdude wrote:
    Is there a problem with anyone becoming a prostitute?

    It's their body they can do with as they please. That's the mantra for abortion and prostitution. That they feel the only way they have to earn a living is prostitution is a who cares. Would you have posted if it was "girls have to work as factory workers"? I think not. You seem to make a moralistic decision over what is a worthy occupation and what is not. Who are you to say what a woman does with her body?

    seems like we have a supporter of the vancouver brotherl being proposed for the upcoming winter olympics ;)
  • MrBrianMrBrian Posts: 2,672
    surferdude wrote:
    Yes I am. But I'm also trying to point out that there's moral judgements being made on an act that is legal in some places in the USA and de facto legal in most places in North America.

    If they fled and had to work in a dirty factory with major risks, yes it would be news worthy, but that's not whats happening.

    Unlike many women in western countries who often have choices about being a prositute or working a min wage job at say mc donalds. These women/girls do not have such choices. thats the point.
  • Syria has prostitutes? how progressive of them.
  • jlew24asu wrote:
    yea I see it as a problem too. whats sad is that you refuse to look or see anything that is deemed positive from Iraq. you wont even bother looking at the website I posted.



    no, its a great cause.

    Until the political climate is resolved to a more appropriate level to even think about trying to justify and smooth over what has just happened in Iraq seems more than a bit unusual. Red flags all over that situation.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    MrBrian wrote:
    If they fled and had to work in a dirty factory with major risks, yes it would be news worthy, but that's not whats happening.

    Unlike many women in western countries who often have choices about being a prositute or working a min wage job at say mc donalds. These women/girls do not have such choices. thats the point.
    Why do you and these women feel they have no other choice? Why aren't we ripping into Syria for not providing a better welfare state for their refugees and downtrodden?
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • surferdude wrote:
    Is there a problem with anyone becoming a prostitute?

    It's their body they can do with as they please. That's the mantra for abortion and prostitution. That they feel the only way they have to earn a living is prostitution is a who cares. Would you have posted if it was "girls have to work as factory workers"? I think not. You seem to make a moralistic decision over what is a worthy occupation and what is not. Who are you to say what a woman does with her body?

    did you miss the article? According to it, this is a forced decision out of desperation.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
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