An estimated 50,000 Iraqi women and girls who have fled from the civil war into Syria have turned to prostitution in their desperation to eke out a living.
According to the UN refugee agency, many of those working in the sleazy nightclubs and discos of Damascus are in their early teens. Others walk the streets of the capital, openly soliciting men in broad daylight - unthinkable before the Iraqi influx - or rely on pimps to find clients in the downtown cafes and sandwich shops.
Since Syria prohibits refugees from working legally, the prostitutes, many of whom lost husbands or fathers to the violence, are often exploited by unscrupulous club owners. Some of the girls in tight jeans, crop tops and spike-heeled boots have to pay to perform in the amateurish floor shows. What money they make - $50 to $70 on a
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Many of the women fleeing Iraq are turning to prostitution finds philip jacobson |
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good night - comes in commissions for persuading patrons, most of them from the Gulf states, to buy overpriced bottles of champagne: the going rates for accompanying a punter to a hotel start at $200.
The Syrian authorities initially turned a blind eye to the rapid growth of the sex trade, but under pressure from the UN they are beginning to address the issue.
Yet prostitution is only one of the problems that the million or so refugees from Iraq have brought with them. Schools in Damascus are becoming overcrowded, while prices for accommodation, transport and food have all risen since the influx.
"Most Syrians feel genuinely sorry for the refugees, and are opposed to deporting them," says a Lebanese journalist based in Damascus. "What upsets them is the reputation their country has acquired as the sex tourism capital of the Arab world." 
FIRST POSTED JULY 11, 2007 |
