Iraqi Women Forced into Sexual Slavery

Iraq’s desperate economic and security situation is leading to the trafficking of hundreds of Iraqi women into prostitution and sexual slavery.

Rising numbers of Iraqi women are being sold into sexual slavery every year because of the waning economy and dire security situation.

Human rights organizations are highlighting the plight of Iraqi women and young girls, sometimes as young as twelve, exploited by criminal gangs for profit.

“The women trafficking trade is at its height,” Houzan Mahmoud, representative abroad of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq said. “There has never been a situation as extreme, and it’s frightening. Many of them have been trafficked to neighboring countries like Syria or the Gulf states or trafficked internally inside Iraq from one city to another.”

The Baghdad Women’s Organization estimates that at least 200 Iraqi women are sold into slavery every year, although the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch estimates that the numbers are in the thousands. The organization warns that the figures may be higher if Iraqi refugee women in neighboring countries such as Syria and Lebanon are also counted.

“The situation has become much worse since 2003, after the U.S. led invasion of Iraq,” Nadya Khalife, a women’s rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa region at Human Rights Watch told The Media Line.

“More women have become widows and orphans and have turned to prostitution to simply make ends meet,” she said. “There are simply no other alternatives for women who head households to locate other sources of income. In Syria and Lebanon, for instance, Iraqi families have simply exhausted their financial savings and some of these families have forced their own wives and daughters into prostitution.”

One thing I never see mentioned in such articles is when, in some poor countries, women have to choose between starvation and becoming prostitutes. I suspect that this is never mentioned because it throws the entire argument into murky territory.

So instead, this alternative is called “slavery”, implying that someone is physically forcing them into prostitution, instead of their life circumstances. I also note that if and when this is brought up, the rebuttal is that “poverty is slavery”, implying that those who have wealth should subsidize the poor, so that the poor would not have to make such harsh choices.

The question does need to be asked, however, “Is prostitution worse than back-breaking physical labor for 14 hours a day for pennies?”, which is likely the third alternative to starvation or prostitution.

Certainly, many women are indeed physically forced into prostitution, and were tricked into emigrating to another country thinking that a legitimate job was waiting for them there, only to have their passport confiscated by a pimp.

But you’ll note that it is much more likely that this happens in *another* country, not their home country. And there is a very good reason for this. Not only in their home country do women often have family who would object to their being enslaved, but likewise the police would have to countenance the slavery of their countrywomen.

If the women are foreign, police corruption is easier, but few policemen accept the idea of slavery of women who could be like their relatives.

In this case, I suspect that the vast majority of Iraqi women who are enslaved, are enslaved in either Saudi Arabia and Syria, two nations with very “liberal” attitudes toward slavery.

To enlighten the people who are ignorant about “Sati” Pratha in India, this custom was a result of Muslim oppression and brutality. The Hindu women of India, in order to save their honour, used to jump into the fire after their husbands were brutally murdered by Muslim invaders. The question that arises from this is why did they jump into the fire and kill themselves? Why didn’t they just poison themselves? The reason for this is that the lecherous necrophiliac muslim invaders did not even leave the dead bodies alone. Yes, they had sex even with the dead bodies! How disappointing it must have been for them to find nothing, but ashes.

Interesting - I didn't know this one.

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