Misquoted on legalisation of the Sex Trade

Over the past 3 weeks, there has been much publicity, rumour and speculation in the media, press and in the streets that the President of the Sex Trade impact organization Charles Lewis is calling on the Governments around the Caribbean to legalise the Sex Trade.

This cannot be further from the truth. In my recent seminar at the Hilton on “The Global Sex Trade and the impact on Caribbean Tourism” I was asked the following question by a very astute individual.

“How can Sex Trade Impact organisation address the stigmatization and discrimination of Sex Workers, without addressing the legalization of the Sex Trade? As long as the Sex Trade is illegal, there will be stigma”

My response was “Advocating legalization and or decriminalization of the Sex Trade is NOT part of the agenda or objectives of Sex Trade Impact organisation. However, if I am ever given the opportunity to engage in dialogue with government officials in the Caribbean on this matter, I will point out the benefits to decriminalizing and legalizing the activity of Sex Workers as seen in countries like Holland and Germany.”

I further stated that my opinion is that the Caribbean is not ready for the legalization or decriminalization of the Sex Trade, from a cultural, political and moralistic point of view. This will not happen in the foreseeable future.

It is very unfortunate that we live in a society that thrives on the distortion of the truth. It is even more unfortunate that our society prefers to highlight the negatives and dilute the positives.

Furthermore, society on the whole has a lot to answer to for the phenomenal growth and size of the Sex Trade. It can be argued that the Sex Trade is borne out of the failures of a dysfunctional society.

The hypocrisy of society is also a major contributor to the existence and perpetuation of the activities of Sex Workers. Does society really want to stop the Sex Trade? Or do they want to drive and keep the trade underground so they can indulge in or profit from the activities of Sex Workers with minimal risk of being exposed.

Far too many people who are charged with the responsibility of policing the Sex Industry avidly indulge in illicit sexual activities. This includes Government Officials, Church leaders, Police and immigration.

Anyone who wants to know the truth about the objectives of Sex Trade Impact and what’s really going on in the sex industry should visit our website at www.sextradeimpact.com and not rely on press articles and rumours.

US Child Sex Trade

Here’s an article that was written in 2001. Just imagine how rampant child sex must be now compared to before. Read on:

The problem of sexual abuse of children in the United States is much worse than previously thought, according to a new report.

A study from the University of Pennsylvania, shows as many as 400,000 youngsters are being sexually exploited, from working as prostitutes on the streets to selling sex at school for cash.

The findings reveal as many boys as girls suffer from sexual exploitation, while most of the offenders are known to their victims.

The three-year investigation, which was commissioned by the US Government, calls for urgent measures to be taken to tackle the issue.

‘Survival sex’

Researchers visited 17 US cities and interviewed local law enforcements agencies, child welfare groups and hundreds of children to gather information.

The study’s author, Richard Estes, a professor of social work, said he was stunned by the results.

“That figure just blew our minds. We never at the beginning of the study thought we would encounter so many children in this predicament,” he told Reuters news agency.

Mr Estes’ team found that children who had run away from home formed the largest affected group, using “survival sex” to obtain food, clothing and shelter.

“Street children are exposed to violence, drug abuse, rape and, sometimes, even murder at the hands of the pimps, ‘customers’ and traffickers that make up their world,” the report’s author told Reuters.

Professor Estes says contrary to popular belief, strangers account for less than 4% of sexual assaults against minors.

His report shows many offenders are adults known to children, and even include members of victims’ own families.

“It is ironic that running away from home increases their risk of physical violence and sexual abuse,” Mr Estes told the news agency.

Although a large number of victims were boys, their complaints were often not taken as seriously as those from girls because of a feeling boys should be able to protect themselves better, the report says.

Chat rooms

One area where attention has been focused is the internet, where sexual predators use chat rooms to lure unsuspecting children.

A recent survey showed nearly a fifth of American children between the ages of 10 and 17 reported unwanted approaches from strangers online.

As part of the measures being taken to crack down on child abuse, 30 specialist units dedicated to tracking down culprits on the internet have been set up across the country, where undercover detectives search internet chat rooms for offenders.

“It’s extremely graphic, most of it’s sexual. What we see is anything from infants all the way up and that comes across constantly, things that just shock the conscience and the mind,” one detective told the BBC.

Mr Estes’ research also investigated child abuse in Mexico and Canada, the results of which will be released soon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1535199.stm

Two Hundred Million for Sex

An expert on the global sex trade believes that more than 20 thousand people in Barbados are involved in the industry.

This is the view of businessman Charles Lewis who says the industry pulls in about 200 million dollars annually into Barbados.

He made the comments Friday morning at a seminar on the Global Sex Trade and its impact on Caribbean tourism at the Hilton hotel.

He called for the authorities in Barbados and the region to legalise the sex industry.

Mr Lewis says several problems have been cropping up in the industry and he wants tourism managers to find solutions to them.

He believes they can be handled by education and by confronting the problems head on.

http://www.cbc.bb/index.pl/article?id=2482725

TOURISM CONFERENCE – THE GLOBAL SEX TRADE & THE IMPACT ON CARIBBEAN TOURISM

The Caribbean tourism industry is the focus of a ground breaking initiative by the newly formed NGO, Sex Trade Impact (STI).

STI is hosting the first in a series of regional Tourism Conferences in Barbados the 24th October 2008 at the Hilton Hotel.

The aim of this seminar is to heighten the awareness to the problems faced by the Barbados tourism sector as a result of the Global Sex Trade and to empower officials, umbrella organizations and managers to minimize the negative impact on their establishments and the industry on the whole.

The founder and president of STI is sex industry expert and consultant Mr. Charles Lewis, who has over 25 years experience of owning and operating all types of Sex Trade businesses in UK, USA, Europe and the Caribbean.

After retiring from the sex industry in 2006, Mr. Lewis now offers his expertise and consultancy services to government agencies, NGO’s and private sector organizations to develop initiatives to minimize the negative impact of the global Sex Trade on their related industries, the general public and on Sex Workers themselves.

Mr. Lewis says, “As the main industry in most of the Caribbean markets, tourism officials, owners, directors and managers have a responsibility to educate themselves on global trends in any industry which can have a positive or negative impact on their establishments.”

“In spite of the perceived immorality, illegality and its sensitive nature, the Sex Industry should not be an exception. Due to its phenomenal growth, size and revenues, decision makers in tourism can no longer trivialize the impact of the Sex Trade.“

The seminar is targeted at the owners, directors and managers of all types of tourism organizations and ancillary businesses.

Mr. Lewis adds, “The response to the launching of STI and to our upcoming conference has exceeded expectations.”

In addition to Tourism, attendance is expected from persons in the Health, Police, Immigration, Social Services, Church, the general public and other sectors who are also affected by the impact of the Sex Trade. Local Sex workers and Sex Trade operators are also invited to attend.

The STI conference is FREE but all attendees are asked to make a donation to the local fight against AIDS.

This ground breaking conference has been made possible with the sponsorship of Hilton Hotel and the assistance of the BHTA.

Persons interested in attending the conference, should RSVP online by visiting the STI website at www.sextradeimpact.com

Carribbean Sex Trade

Guyana, Suriname, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil and Jamaica are known for intercontinental sex trade more so in the Caribbean and to a lesser extent, internationally. Criminal groups send their members into indigent communities to gather women who are desperate to entertain a improved life style. These unsavory characters mislead these women about immigrating to the U.S, Canada and other parts of the world where life is a much more pleasant to live. In many cases I here of these characters lure women and prevaricate about attaining work permits and working for large sums in hotel management and other large business enterprises. These men would end up either selling these women and children to make a profit while others upon reaching there destination would be forced into sexual slavery since after reaching, they would be told of the large sums of money they owed for getting there.

In many cases these women and children are between the ages 11-24 years. Imagine, some have not reached the age of menstruation and many don’t have no idea what sex is. Most of them do not have a primary education because they are living in an undeveloped country struggling with poverty and hunger with no way our, hoping for an opportunity to work and help their family.

These young girls, after being trafficked, are forced into labor, and since they are told of the large sums of money they owe and must repay, they become dancers and sex workers since these are the only opportunities available to them through the contacts that of the individuals who traded them. Some of their women accept offers of forced marriages, later finding themselves caught in situations of extreme cruelty, forced labor and sexual abuse.
These women who are trafficked are terrified of speaking about their experiences or working conditions in fear of their employers holding their salaries, illegal confinement, deportation, and while having no documents to identify themselves at the same time illegally occupying a country, they are unable to return home.

Dear Reader, imagine what it must feel like for a teenage girl being kidnapped, raped, bought and sold by affluent men. These innocent souls have no money, no stable family, anywhere to go and usually end up doing sex work and thus mentally scarred and stigmatized for life. Why do men commit these acts? These women are someone’s daughter, sister or in many case someone’s wife. Our world is has enough brutality, men killing other for materialistic gain. We have “holy wars” being fought with guns and women being used in kamikaze missions. Where has the world gone wrong? Why do human beings have their priorities twisted to the point where they plunder, pillage, and steal precious life? I strongly feel that the human race will destroy all that was created on God’s green earth. It saddens me to hear stories of young women hoodwinked and taken to strange countries to have sex with dirty old men for a few dollars. Do some human beings feel that they will never have to account for their actions on earth? Or do they feel that no one is watching them? It is sad to or world being destroyed by man’s greed and ignorance.

The Caribbean sex trade is bigger then ever and is quite possibly going to get even larger as cost of living across the globe increases and becomes unbearable in many vulnerable communities? I am open to any suggestions as to how an initiative could be drawn up as to curb the large sums of human trafficking. Living in Guyana and having living limited Internet access and thus limited global information flow, I only recently found out that in East Asia, girls as young as five years old are being sold to men as old as sixty years old. I had the opportunity to view snippets of a story covered by CNBC TV in regards to human trafficking and the sex industry in East Asia and it was the very thing that saw on the net was portrayed on the program. I cannot explain what I feel when writing this article as a human being and more so as a women.

Readers, do you have any thoughts on the subject matter?

http://baiganchoka.com/blog/2008/03/06/caribbean-sex-trade/

Charles’ ’sex change’

Do read below an interview with our very own founder Charles Lewis

by CAROL MARTINDALE

SEX HAS BEEN his business for most of his adult life.

At the age of 19, Charles Lewis journeyed into what some may consider the raunchy, racy world of the adult industry.

As a result, he has been stigmatised and stereotyped.

Always a straight talker, Charles readily admits he has been through the finger-pointing and ridiculing.

But in his own words,he is a survivor.

Two years ago Charles put that life behind him – but that door is not entirely closed because this well-dressed businessman is now putting all the experience and expertise garnered over the years to help those in the local and regional tourism industry deal with the impact of the sex trade on this very vital sector.

In an interview with the SUNDAY SUN on Thursday, Charles looked back on his years in the sex industry and mapped out his plan to put his knowledge to even better use.

For the past 25 years, Charles Lewis’ name has been synonymous with the adult industry business here and abroad.

He started when he was in Los Angeles, then moved on to Britain and Europe; that’s where he got most of his experience in management and ownership of all types of adult entertainment organisations.

Charles admits that the main reason he stayed in the business so long was because it was difficult to find a different source of income that compared to what he was making.

“I always wanted the opportunity to get out of the industry. It was not easy. In fact it was difficult, having gone through the stigmatisation and finger-pointing, but I survived all of that.

“It is easier to survive and make a decent income in the adult industry in the international market. Having lived overseas, it allowed me to make money in a market where people are quite open to the sex industry.”

However, he said, returning to the Caribbean and getting involved in the sex industry was a difficult transition for him as this society was a lot more conservative, even though he operated at a very exclusive level with his client base.

But in 2006 the start of a new business venture – an investment, management and consultancy firm representing the interests of offshore investors – offered Charles an out.

“It gave me the leverage to break away from the industry and become involved in something more corporate and more socially acceptable. Over those years I acquired considerable knowledge of the dynamics of the tourism industry. I understand the culture, the marketing of it, and I have been able to follow the growth of the industry over the years,” he said, boasting of his ability to chart this new chapter.

The turning point for him came, he recalled, when he was tapped as a source by the Cricket World Cup Local Organising Committee. With mounting concern about the anticipated influx of sex workers in the region at that time, officials, including those in the Ministry of Health, were gathering information on the sex trade.

That led to the Sex Trade Impact Project, which will start with a workshop in Barbados targeting hoteliers in mid-October before branching out to the Caribbean with similar sessions.

Trends

The plan is to educate hoteliers on world trends in the sex trade.

“The aim is to heighten awareness of the growth and size of the global sex trade and sex tourism, and the problems tourism facilities face. Attending the seminar is not an admission that sex workers ply their trade in their establishment,” he said.

“We will also be pointing out problems and challenges some of them face, but also show how the trade can impact on their credibility, their reputation and financial income. We will bring to light problems they have never thought possible, but could happen in their establishment,” he explained.

Charles, who is president, with his events manager Luna Blandford at his side, said they had already received positive feedback from some stakeholders in the tourism industry, including the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association. He said they also plan to work closely with the Caribbean Hotel Association, Immigration officials, as well as police to help sensitise them to the issues regarding the adult industry.

Charles believes it is becoming more difficult for people to continue to “bury their heads in the sand”.

He said that in the Caribbean there were more and more strip clubs, adding that the industry has become more sophisticated over the years. No longer is it about a number of individuals working on Bush Hill or Nelson Street, he said.

“A lot of people are coming into Barbados from across the Caribbean and from the international markets because we have such a mature and exclusive tourism product. You also have very wealthy individuals who are potential clients. Then, you also have more Barbadians getting involved in the industry.

“When you have someone working hard 40 hours a week and making $300 to $400 . . . when there is the possibility of making $500 to $1 000 in one hour, you could imagine that would lure many people in the industry,” he said.

Charles said that within the last two to three years, he had noticed an escalation in the number of people in the industry and also a change in the mentality of those involved.

“They are no longer afraid to admit they are in the industry. Before, they were conservative. I know many people who have full-time jobs and they are opportunistic sex workers, and I know people who have quit full-time jobs to become sex workers.”

He said when he was in the industry. hoteliers admitted they too had noticed the increasing number of locals coming into their hotels, those entering the island for extended periods of time to ply their trade, as well as clients bringing in sex workers.

Charles believes hotels need to be vigilant.

“If hoteliers are aware, they would know what to look out for, and they would be able to minimise the activities surrounding this business,” he said.

http://www.nationnews.com/story/302801495324735.php

Prostitutes’ complaints about johns difficult to investigate: police

Winnipeg police say it’s difficult to investigate complaints sex-trade workers make about violent johns, especially when the complaints are made anonymously.

In the wake of a Winnipeg man’s arrest in connection with the death of a sex-trade worker earlier this week, another prostitute told CBC News she had made several complaints to police after violent experiences with a john who she thought might have been the suspect.

Her calls were not addressed, she said.

“They pretty much were, like, well, you know what, you’re a sex-trade worker – you should be expecting stuff like this to happen,” said the woman, who went by the name Amanda.

Winnipeg police Staff Sgt. John Ormondroyd said police take the issue of violent johns very seriously.

“The members of our morals unit are out there seeing what’s going on. If they see something themselves, they act,” he said.

“But for the most part, I mean, this is something that happens in secrecy and seclusion somewhere, so we’re not seeing what is going on. So we have to rely on the girl to come forward and say something, and … that just doesn’t happen very often.”

Police don’t receive many complaints from sex-trade workers, he added, and when they do, they’re often made anonymously.

“It becomes very difficult for us to act when the person doesn’t want to actually come forward themselves or make an actual complaint,” he said.

Police are trying to build relationships with the city’s prostitutes so they can talk openly about problems they encounter, Ormondroyd said.

“We’re trying to educate the girls that we are there to try and help them,” he said.

Source:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/09/20/john-complaints.html

Investigators try to shut down Cantina sex trade

HOUSTON – A cantina sex trade continues to flourish in Houston despite efforts by officials to shut it down and an indictment of one of its leaders, according to a newspaper investigation.

Human traffickers and prostitution operators remain operating in dimly lit cantinas with secret doors and hidden gates as a result of resilient and lucrative organized crime networks, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday.

Court documents and interviews with authorities reveal that the cantinas have persisted with a franchise-like ability to persist and prosper. The sex trade continues despite the indictment of Gerardo Salazar, an alleged organizer who called himself “The Rooster.”

Authorities say Salazar ran his operation until he fled to Mexico after being indicted in 2005 by a federal grand jury as a leader of an international human trafficking ring. Two of Salazar’s associates, David Salazar, a U.S. citizen of no

relation to Gerardo, and David Salazar’s mother, Gregoria Salgado Vazquez, an illegal immigrant, now face felony charges of kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of a child in Harris County.

A message left by The Associated Press with attorneys for the two on Sunday was not immediately returned.

Until last year, David Salazar owned one of the bars Gerardo Salazar allegedly did business, according to court records.

Investigators said women refused to testify against David Salazar or his mother when they tried to shut down the bar in 2005. An undercover police operation showed the mirror in the women’s bathroom doubled as a door that led to a fenced backyard where clients from the bar would meet the women and go to an outer building for a paid rendevouz arranged by the bartender, according to records, crime scene photos and interviews with Sgt. Michael Barnett of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

David Salazar is accused of selling a 16-year-old sex slave at the bar, according to court docments.

The girl rescued earlier this year told authorities that she was lured from her hometown in Mexico by David Salazar after he made promises of love and offered an escape from extreme poverty.

She was illegally brought across the border in January and once brought to Jacinto City, in the Houston area, she was locked up in David Salazar’s mother’s house and forced to sell herself five to six nights a week in his cantina, the girl told police.

“When she refused, they would lock her up in a room and wouldn’t feed her for days,” said Jacinto City Detective B.J. Silva.

The girl could not escape because the home’s yard was fenced and guarded by pit bulls and a chow. The home’s windows were barred, and the storage room where the girl slept was padlocked.

Police found her after she called 911 in March when a cantina customer gave her a cell phone and showed her how to contact authorities, Silva said.

She was found after two house-to-house searches since she didn’t know the address of the home where she was being held.

The bar remains open under new ownership.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080907_mo_cantina.53e0533f.html

Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria ( part 2 )

“We’re especially concerned that there are young girls involved, and that they’re being forced, even smuggled into Syria in some cases,” Ms. Günther said. “We’ve had special talks with the Syrian government about prostitution.” She called the officials’ new openness “a great step.”

Mouna Asaad, a Syrian women’s rights lawyer, said the government had been blindsided by the scale of the arriving Iraqi refugee population. Syria does not require visas for citizens of Arab countries, and its government had pledged to assist needy Iraqis. But this country of 19 million was ill equipped to cope with the sudden arrival of hundreds of thousands of them, Ms. Asaad said.

“Sometimes you see whole families living this way, the girls pimped by the mother or aunt,” she said. “But prostitution isn’t the only problem. Our schools are overcrowded, and the prices of services, food and transportation have all risen. We don’t have the proper infrastructure to deal with this. We don’t have shelters or health centers that these women can go to. And because of the situation in Iraq, Syria is careful not to deport these women.”

Most of the semi-organized prostitution takes place on the outskirts of the capital, in nightclubs known as casinos — a local euphemism, because no gambling occurs.

At Al Rawabi, an expensive nightclub in Al Hami, there is even a floor show with an Iraqi theme. One recent evening, waiters brought out trays of snacks: French fries and grilled chicken hearts wrapped in foil folded into diamond shapes. A 10-piece band warmed up, and an M.C. gave the traditionally overwrought introduction in Arabic: “I give you the honey of all stages, the stealer of all hearts, the most golden throat, the glamorous artist: Maria!”

Maria, a buxom young woman, climbed onto the stage and began an anguished-sounding ballad. “After Iraq I have no homeland,” she sang. “I’m ready to go crawling on my knees back to Iraq.” Four other women, all wearing variations on leopard print, gyrated on stage, swinging their hair in wild circles. The stage lights had been fitted with colored gel filters that lent the women’s skin a greenish cast.

Al Rawabi’s customers watched Maria calmly, leaning back in their chairs and drinking Johnnie Walker Black. The large room smelled strongly of sweat mingled with the apple tobacco from scores of water pipes. When Maria finished singing, no one clapped.

She picked up the microphone again and began what she called a salute to Iraq, naming many of the Iraqi women in the club and, indicating one of the women in leopard print who had danced with her, “most especially my best friend, Sahar.”

After the dancers filed offstage and scattered around the room to talk to customers, Sahar told a visitor she was from the Dora district of Baghdad but had left “because of the troubles.” Now, she said she would leave the club with him for $200.

Aid workers say $50 to $70 is considered a good night’s wage for an Iraqi prostitute working in Damascus. And some of the Iraqi dancers in the crowded casinos of Damascus suburbs earn much less.

In Maraba, Umm Hiba would not say how much money her daughter took home at the end of a night. Noticing her reluctance, the club’s manager, who introduced himself as Hassan, broke in proudly.

“We make sure that each girl has a minimum of 500 lira at the end of each night, no matter how bad business is,” he said, mentioning a sum of about $10. “We are sympathetic to the situation of the Iraqi people. And we try to give some extra help to the girls whose families are in special difficulties.”

Umm Hiba shook her head. “It’s true that the managers here are good, that they’re helping us and not stealing the girls’ money,” she said. “But I’m so angry.

“Do you think we’re happy that these men from the gulf are seeing our daughters’ naked bodies?”

Most so-called casinos do not appear to directly broker arrangements between prostitutes and their customers. Zafer, a waiter at the club where Hiba works, said that the club earned money through sales of food and alcohol and that the dancers were encouraged to sit with male customers and order drinks to increase revenues.

Zafer, who spoke on condition that only his first name be used, refused to discuss specific women and girls at the club, but said that most of them did sell sexual favors. “They have an hourly rate,” he said. “And they have regular customers.”

Inexpensive Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular destination for sex tourists from wealthier countries in the Middle East. In the club’s parking lot, nearly half of the cars had Saudi license plates.

From Damascus it is only about six hours by car, passing through Jordan, to the Saudi border. Syria, where it is relatively easy to buy alcohol and dance with women, is popular as a low-cost weekend destination for groups of Saudi men.

And though some women of other nationalities, including Russians and Moroccans, still work as prostitutes in Damascus, Abeer, a 23-year-old from Baghdad working at the same club as Hiba, explained that the arriving Iraqis had pushed many of them out of business.

“From what I’ve seen, 70 percent to 80 percent of the girls working this business in Damascus today are Iraqis,” she said. “The rents here in Syria are too expensive for their families. If they go back to Iraq they’ll be slaughtered, and this is the only work available.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/world/middleeast/29syria.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin

Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria ( part 1 )

MARABA, Syria — Back home in Iraq, Umm Hiba’s daughter was a devout schoolgirl, modest in her dress and serious about her studies. Hiba, who is now 16, wore the hijab, or Islamic head scarf, and rose early each day to say the dawn prayer before classes.

But that was before militias began threatening their Baghdad neighborhood and Umm Hiba and her daughter fled to Syria last spring. There were no jobs, and Umm Hiba’s elderly father developed complications related to his diabetes.

Desperate, Umm Hiba followed the advice of an Iraqi acquaintance and took her daughter to work at a nightclub along a highway known for prostitution. “We Iraqis used to be a proud people,” she said over the frantic blare of the club’s speakers. She pointed out her daughter, dancing among about two dozen other girls on the stage, wearing a pink silk dress with spaghetti straps, her frail shoulders bathed in colored light.

As Umm Hiba watched, a middle-aged man climbed onto the platform and began to dance jerkily, arms flailing, among the girls.

“During the war we lost everything,” she said. “We even lost our honor.” She insisted on being identified by only part of her name — Umm Hiba means mother of Hiba.

For anyone living in Damascus these days, the fact that some Iraqi refugees are selling sex or working in sex clubs is difficult to ignore.

Even in central Damascus, men freely talk of being approached by pimps trawling for customers outside juice shops and shawarma sandwich stalls, and of women walking up to passing men, an act unthinkable in Arab culture, and asking in Iraqi-accented Arabic if the men would like to “have a cup of tea.”

By day the road that leads from Damascus to the historic convent at Saidnaya is often choked with Christian and Muslim pilgrims hoping for one of the miracles attributed to a portrait of the Virgin Mary at the convent. But as any Damascene taxi driver can tell you, the Maraba section of this fabled pilgrim road is fast becoming better known for its brisk trade in Iraqi prostitutes.

Many of these women and girls, including some barely in their teens, are recent refugees. Some are tricked or forced into prostitution, but most say they have no other means of supporting their families. As a group they represent one of the most visible symptoms of an Iraqi refugee crisis that has exploded in Syria in recent months.

According to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, about 1.2 million Iraqi refugees now live in Syria; the Syrian government puts the figure even higher.

Given the deteriorating economic situation of those refugees, a United Nations report found last year, many girls and women in “severe need” turn to prostitution, in secret or even with the knowledge or involvement of family members. In many cases, the report added, “the head of the family brings clients to the house.”

Aid workers say thousands of Iraqi women work as prostitutes in Syria, and point out that as violence in Iraq has increased, the refugee population has come to include more female-headed households and unaccompanied women.

“So many of the Iraqi women arriving now are living on their own with their children because the men in their families were killed or kidnapped,” said Sister Marie-Claude Naddaf, a Syrian nun at the Good Shepherd convent in Damascus, which helps Iraqi refugees.

She said the convent had surveyed Iraqi refugees living in Masaken Barzeh, on the outskirts of Damascus, and found 119 female-headed households in one small neighborhood. Some of the women, seeking work outside the home for the first time and living in a country with high unemployment, find that their only marketable asset is their bodies.

“I met three sisters-in-law recently who were living together and all prostituting themselves,” Sister Marie-Claude said. “They would go out on alternate nights — each woman took her turn — and then divide the money to feed all the children.”

For more than three years after the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi prostitution in Syria, like any prostitution, was a forbidden topic for Syria’s government. Like drug abuse, the sex trade tends to be referred to in the local news media as acts against public decency. But Dietrun Günther, an official at the United Nations refugee agency’s Damascus office, said the government was finally breaking its silence.

( continue in next post )