In Syria, Iraqi Refugee Daughters Risk Being Sold

By Dominique Soguel

WeNews correspondent

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Iraqi women who have fled to Syria to escape the U.S.-led war face another form of violence: sales to brothels by male relatives desperate for money. Damascus is escalating its legal response to trafficking, but the risks remain high.

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Chance at Divorce

Left behind, Um Ali seized the opportunity to file for divorce. Evicted by her landlord because she was unable to afford rent, she shuttled her four children and 20 suitcases to temporary housing, each time vulnerable to sex requests from tenants and owners, until finally landing at a U.N.-funded shelter for women in late 2009.

A falling out with the shelter's management put her on the streets again with only a 24-hour notice. She says she left involuntarily but was coerced to sign to the contrary under threats of internment in a mental asylum and interference with her resettlement case.

Um Ali, her three daughters and one son now share a single room apartment with a tiny kitchen-bathroom annexed to it. Despite receiving a monthly U.N. stipend--the standard $220 for households headed by women--she can't afford to buy potable water in the summer when taps have dried out.

She pays $177 in rent and spends the rest--less than $1.50 a day--feeding five people.

"We are desperate," she told Women's eNews. "No one protects us. The U.N. has failed us."

She has received five new text message threats since leaving the women's shelter last summer. Panic attacks and nightmares follow. In her fear of being found by her brothers or ex-husband, she has cut all ties with her nuclear and extended family.

April Trafficking Law

Syria is scaling up its efforts to protect refugee women such as Um Ali who are vulnerable to kidnapping, sex-trafficking and forced prostitution while trying to survive in low-income suburbs of Damascus.

A law that took effect in April established protection measures for victims of trafficking as well as punishments of at least seven years for its perpetrators and beneficiaries.

To promote the law's implementation and share best practices, Damascus in June hosted a global conference on human trafficking that brought together more than 120 law enforcement and non-governmental experts from over 50 countries through INTERPOL, the international police organization based in Lyon, France.

National and international organizations have also hosted a variety of awareness-raising initiatives. In September, the Syrian Women's Union, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Organization for Migration held a two-day workshop in Damascus on stepping up anti-trafficking measures.

"Trafficking is increasingly a problem due to armed conflicts in our region," said Majida Qutaiet, head of the Damascus-based Syria Women's Union, which plans to open a counseling center for survivors of trafficking and gender-based violence in 2011. There is already one center in the northern city of Aleppo and one center in Damascus.