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[ Country-by-Country
Reports ] IRAQ (Tier 2 Watch
List) [Extracted from U.S. State
Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2009] Iraq
is both a source and destination country for men, women, and children
trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary
servitude. Iraqi women and girls, some as young as 11 years old, are
trafficked within the country and abroad to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait,
UAE, Turkey, Iran, and possibly Yemen, for forced prostitution and sexual
exploitation within households in these countries. Some victims are sexually
exploited in Iraq before being sold to traffickers who take them abroad. In
some cases, women are lured into sexual exploitation through false promises
of work. The more prevalent means of becoming a victim is through sale or
forced marriage. Family members have trafficked girls and women to escape
desperate economic circumstances, to pay debts, or resolve disputes between
families. Some women and girls are trafficked within Iraq for the purpose of
sexual exploitation through the traditional institution of temporary
marriages (muta’a). Under this arrangement, the family receives a dowry
from the husband and the marriage is terminated after a specified period.
When trafficked by persons other than family members, women can be placed at
risk of honor killings if their families learn that they have been raped or
forced into prostitution. Anecdotal reports tell of desperate Iraqi families
abandoning their children at the Syrian border with the expectation that
traffickers on the Syrian side will pick them up and arrange forged documents
so the young women and girls can stay in Syria in exchange for working in a
nightclub or brothel. Iraqi
boys, mostly from poor families of Turkmen and Kurdish origin, are trafficked
within Iraq for the purpose of forced labor, such as street begging and
sexual exploitation. Iraqi men and boys who migrate abroad for economic
reasons may become victims of trafficking. Women from Ethiopia, Indonesia,
Nepal, and the Philippines are trafficked into the area under the
jurisdiction of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for involuntary
domestic servitude after being promised different jobs. Over the past year,
there was a credible report of women trafficked by the director of a
women’s shelter in KRG area; the shelter was subsequently closed. There
were also reports that some foreign women recruited for work in beauty salons
in the KRG area had debts imposed on them and were coerced into prostitution.
During 2008, dozens of Indonesian women trafficked to Iraq were trapped
without assistance from law enforcement authorities. IOM helped to rescue and
repatriate several of these women. Iraq
is a destination for men trafficked from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan,
Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand for involuntary
servitude as construction workers, security guards, cleaners, and handymen.
There are reports that some workers were recruited by a labor broker to work
for contractors or sub-contractors of U.S. Government agencies, but the
services of this broker were discontinued subsequent to a U.S. government
investigation. The governments of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and
the Philippines ban their nationals from working in Iraq. These bans are not
effective, however, as some laborers circumvent the law or are deceived by
labor brokers in their home countries into believing they were getting jobs
in one of the Gulf states or Jordan. They then find themselves in Iraq; their
passports are confiscated and wages withheld to repay the broker for
recruitment, transport, and costs of living. Others are aware they are coming
to Iraq, but once in-country find that the terms of employment are not what
they expected and they face coercion and serious harm financial or otherwise
if they attempt to leave. Men
brought to Iraq by labor recruiters, some of whom reportedly provided labor
for U.S. government contractors, at times found upon arrival that the jobs
they expected were contingent on contracts that had not yet been awarded.
While in camps awaiting work, they were sometimes charged exorbitant prices
for lodging and supplies, which increased their debts and prolonged the time
required to pay them, typically ranging from six months to one year. Some of
these conditions may constitution human trafficking. Traffickers
are predominantly male, but sometimes female family members traffic their own
children or relatives. Traffickers include both large crime groups and small,
family-based groups, as well as businesses such as employment agencies.
Several factors contribute to human trafficking in, into, and out of Iraq.
Since the ousting of the former regime in 2003, reconstruction activity and
provision of goods and services contracted by the government and the
Multi-National Forces have drawn foreign workers (some 30-50,000).
Instability and violence have made as many as four million Iraqis refugees in
neighboring countries or internally displaced, many of them in economically
desperate circumstances. Finally, foreign workers are drawn to the KRG by
relative stability, economic opportunity, and higher salaries compared to
those at home. The
Government of Iraq does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the
elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do
so. In particular, despite the serious security challenges facing the
government, it is committed to enacting comprehensive anti-human trafficking
legislation, which it began to draft during the past year. Despite these
overall significant efforts, the government did not show progress over the
last year in punishing trafficking offenses using existing laws or
identifying and protecting victims of trafficking. During the reporting
period, the government’s attention was devoted to other priorities,
specifically, political reconciliation, restoration of security throughout
the country, and economic reconstruction. The Iraqi government did not take
adequate action to monitor or combat trafficking in persons. Notwithstanding
the inattention to trafficking in the past year, some Iraqi officials have
begun to recognize the problem, and the Legal Advisor’s Office of the
Council of Ministers Secretariat has begun to draft comprehensive
anti-trafficking legislation. Recommendations for Iraq: Enact and implement a law that criminalizes all forms of
trafficking; investigate, prosecute, and punish trafficking offenders;
provide protection services to victims, ensure that they are not punished for
acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, and encourage their
assistance in prosecuting offenders; train officials in methods to identify
victims; undertake a campaign to raise public awareness of trafficking; take
measures to screen migrant workers to identify human trafficking; take steps
to end the practice of forced marriages and curb the use of temporary
marriages that force girls into sexual and domestic servitude; consider
measures to reduce abuse of migrant workers who learn upon arrival in Iraq
that the job they were promised does not exist; and regulate recruitment
practices, including recruitment fees, of foreign labor brokers to prevent
practices that facilitate forced labor. Prosecution Protection Prevention |