Human Trafficking Around the World (22 page)

Some child-trafficking victims are placed in protective facilities, orphanages, and foster care, but others are placed in juvenile detention centers. Foreign victims are not granted legal protection against removal, nor are they provided temporary or permanent residency status or other relief from deportation. In the case of the 14 women from Uganda, the Iraqi government did assist in their repatriation. There are no formal procedures available to officials to systematically refer victims for services, although two government ministries do refer juvenile and adult detainees to medical screenings if they report abuse. Also, no formal procedures exist to help identify trafficking victims among vulnerable groups such as prostitutes and foreign workers. Lastly, the government does not fund shelters for trafficking victims; all care of trafficking victims is administered by NGOs (U.S. Department of State, 2010).

WHAT HAPPENS TO TRAFFICKERS

There is no official mechanism in place to collect data on trafficking offenses or enforcement in Iraq. Thus far, there is no evidence that the Iraqi government has successfully prosecuted traffickers. In 2010 the Iraqi government did initiate a human rights and criminal investigation into an alleged occurrence of labor trafficking. This resulted in the issuance of two arrest warrants. It is unknown whether the alleged traffickers faced prosecution or sentencing. What is known is that the few existing trafficking investigations are slow going. For instance, a 2008 investigation into an alleged incident of human trafficking by the director of a women’s shelter in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area was not complete as of June 2010 (U.S. Department of State, 2009; 2010). Additionally, cases are often misclassified, dismissed, or ignored. For instance, traffickers that were part of the syndicate that trafficked 128 women from Iraq to Saudi Arabia were released, and the police officers who were part of the ring were transferred. The case—while obviously human trafficking—was categorized as terrorism and closed (OWFI, 2010).

INTERNAL EFFORTS TO DECREASE TRAFFICKING

The passage of the anti-trafficking law is an enormously positive step, but overall, human trafficking has been a low priority for those groups in charge of anti-trafficking efforts—the Ministries of Interior of both Iraq and the KRG. As a result, cases often go uninvestigated. Also, there is no mechanism to collect data on enforcement or offenses of human trafficking. Child labor is supposed to be regulated and enforced by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, but again enforcement is minimal, as the ministry lacks resources and inspectors (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009).

Unstable national security, corrupt officials, dire financial circumstances, and the insecure position of Iraqi women, children, and migrant workers have created an atmosphere ripe for human trafficking. Of particular concern is the CPA Order 17 immunity that the United States granted to contractors and subcontractors. Order 17 was rescinded, but the ramifications of the order continue to have an effect. Forced-labor abuses by contractors and subcontractors are still taking place, yet the onus appears to fall on no one. Victims of trafficking face severe social stigma and continue to be punished for crimes associated with their trafficking experience. The government’s anti-trafficking law has created a comprehensive definition of human trafficking and criminalizes all forms of trafficking. If properly implemented, it could significantly improve the treatment of victims, emphasize victim protections, and grant adequate tools to law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenses.

CHAPTER 8

Syria

Refugees are especially vulnerable to human trafficking. Prolonged displacement and uncertainty, coupled with increased financial pressure, can adversely affect the scope and severity of sexual and gender-based violence among refugees in Syria, including the trafficking of women and children.

—RENATA DUBINI, UNHCR SYRIA REPRESENTATIVE

In January 2010 the Syrian government adopted counter-trafficking Legislative Decree No. 3. The new law includes a definition of trafficking, protection measures for victims, punishment for perpetrators and those who benefit from the offense, the establishment of shelters for victims, and the creation of a counter-trafficking unit (Moschella, 2010). Under the new law, which became effective April 2010, trafficking is the inducing, transportation, kidnapping of persons in order to use them for financial or other gain. Sexual abuse of children is also regarded as human trafficking. Offenders face a minimum of 7 years’ imprisonment and a fine of $21,459.23 to $64,377.68 (Sawah, 2010). The law provides a legal framework, albeit skeletal, for prosecuting traffickers and those who commit trafficking-related offenses. It also creates a legal foundation for protecting victims. What the law does not provide is a clear definition of human trafficking, nor does it specifically criminalize the sale of children and child pornography (UNCRC, 2012). Despite the law, the Syrian government often punishes victims for crimes that occur during the trafficking experience, such as prostitution and immigration violations. On the other hand, traffickers are rarely prosecuted. Though the adoption of the anti-trafficking law is highly significant, there have been delays in its execution. For instance, the executive order required to implement the new law was not issued until more than a year later. In addition to the absence of a clear definition of trafficking, there is a lack of clear procedures for the identification, interview, and referral of victims (UNCRC, 2012; U.S. Department of State, 2012). Without procedures, prosecutions and adequate protection for victims have been hindered. Also, the status of Syria’s national plan of action against human trafficking, which the government began drafting in early 2010, is unknown (U.S. Department of State, 2010, 2011, 2012).

Of course, the new law and subsequent changes took place before and during the pronounced unrest that began in Syria in mid-March 2011. It began in Dara’a, where demonstrators set fire to the headquarters of the ruling political party, the Ba’ath Party. They chanted demands, which included the release of all political prisoners, trials for those who shot and killed protesters, and a halt to Syria’s longstanding emergency law, which was imposed in 1963 and allows security agencies to detain people without arrest warrants and hold them for lengthy periods without communication (New York Times, 2011; HRW, 2011). In response, police opened fire on the demonstrators, killing one person and injuring numerous others. President Bashar al-Assad seemed initially to waver between offers of political reform and violence, ultimately choosing the latter (New York Times, 2011; Associated Press, 2011). The estimated number of dead killed by Assad loyalists, which the United Nations believes to be over 5,000, continues to rise (UN News Centre, 2011). The Syrian regime claims that 2,000 government soldiers have died during conflicts with the opposition, which has been increasingly militarized as a result of army defections (Peel, 2012). In September 2012 the UN News Centre stated that more than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, had died since the uprising against Assad began (UN News Centre, 2012). Though anger over human rights violations by Assad and his regime is the driving force behind the uprising, a November 2011 opinion poll revealed that 55 percent of polled Syrians did not want him to resign. For many the desire for Assad to stay in power was based on fear for the future of the country (Doha Debates, 2012). As divisions deepen and fighting continues as the nation sinks further into civil war, the factors that contribute to an optimal environment for human trafficking also increase. Unrest and forced migration, as can be seen in Colombia and Iraq, creates immense vulnerability to abuse and exploitation, including human trafficking. As the conflict continues it is difficult to see what the exact consequences will be, but so far an increasing number of Syrian refugees have fled to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, while other nearby nations are bracing for a potential influx of Syrians.

SYRIA AS A DESTINATION

Primarily a destination nation, persons are trafficked to Syria for commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor. Women and girls are trafficked from eastern Europe, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, and Somalia for commercial sexual exploitation. Other women willingly come to Syria seeking employment only to find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude. This is the situation of cabaret dancers, often from Belarus, Morocco, Russia, Somalia, and Ukraine. Some of these women are forced into prostitution, their passports are withheld, and they are prohibited from leaving their work premises. Also, women from Ethiopia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sri Lanka, among other nations, accept positions in Syria as domestic servants but face involuntary servitude. Contracts that the women sign prior to departure are often changed once in Syria, passports are withheld by the employer or recruitment agency, and the women are often confined to the private residences where they work. The government of Ethiopia has prohibited its citizens from accepting employment in Syria, but this move has not stopped the flow of Ethiopian workers into the nation. Men and women are also trafficked from Indonesia for forced labor and debt bondage in the areas of construction, agriculture, and manufacturing (U.S. Department of State, 2008, 2010, 2012). Determining exact numbers is a challenge, but according to the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, the majority of the 6,000 Filipino women working illegally in Syria are trafficking victims. Susan Ople, head of the Ople Center, says most victims are first trafficked to other nations such as Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. “The first human trafficking case that the Ople Center ever handled was that of a Filipino domestic worker whose passport and contracts were sold from Dubai to Oman to Damascus, Syria, way back in 2006,” Ople said. “Even during that time we were surprised to find out that we had 6,000 Filipino women illegally employed in Syria” (ABS-CBN, 2011). In 2011 the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified at least 95 Filipino domestic workers believed to be trafficking victims in Hama and Homs (U.S. Department of State, 2012).

Syria is host to the largest externally displaced Iraqi population in the region, many of whom remain in need of urgent assistance as the economic and social situation of this vulnerable population has worsened (IOM, 2010b). Some Iraqi women and girls are forced to prostitute by their families or criminal gangs, with temporary marriages used as a means to do so (U.S. Department of State, 2010). The exact number of Iraqi refugees in Syria is disputed. The UN, on the basis of Syrian government figures, initially estimated that roughly 4.8 million Iraqis were displaced from their homes between 2003 and 2009, and that an estimated 2 million persons fled to neighboring countries, primarily Syria and Jordan (GAO, 2009). In September 2008 the government of Syria reported that 1.2 million Iraqis held residence permits. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) believed these numbers to be an overestimate and, by deactivating 58,000 files, revised downward the number of Iraqi refugees registered in Syria to a total of 165,493 registered at the end of April 2010 (IRIN, 2010). In 2012 there were 102,000 registered Iraqi refugees, though the government of Syria estimated the total number of Iraqi refugees to be 1 million (IRIN, 2012). The reality is that many Iraqi refugees do not want to register, and the UNHCR has had difficulty reaching out to them. “If we look at the numbers officially registered, such a small minority has been reached,” Elizabeth Campbell, a senior advocate at Refugees International, a U.S. advocacy group, told IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “Not many refugees are returning.” In 2010 those refugees who did not pick up food vouchers for two months and who did not make contact with the office for more than four months had their files deactivated (IRIN, 2010).

The current unrest in Syria makes the situation for Iraqi refugees all the more tenuous. Food prices have risen, and ways out of Syria have diminished. Furthermore, the warfare that Iraqis escaped is once again present in their everyday lives. For many Iraqis, the choices are limited to staying in Syria and returning to Iraq, where the situation is not much better. As noted above, an estimated 1 million Iraqis still live in Syria and have chosen to stay, so far. Others, in small numbers, have fled Syria into Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Refugees are forbidden from formal employment in Syria, so many Iraqis are employed in the informal sector, which is less regulated and makes workers more susceptible to abuse and human rights violations, including human trafficking. In the informal sector, many refugees work in hotels or tourism, industries that have been hit hard by the unrest (IRIN, 2012).

Without means of finding employment to take care of their children, Iraqi female-headed families in Syria remain particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. Consequently, international organizations such as the IOM have made significant efforts to aid this population. In October 2010, through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Association, the IOM distributed 800 hygiene kits—which included mops, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, tissues, and other materials—to Iraqi female-headed families in Syria and victims of trafficking who were assisted in two shelters in Damascus and Aleppo (IOM, 2010a). The initiative is part of a wider $2.05 million program funded by the European Union that aims to provide comprehensive assistance and protection to vulnerable Iraqi female-headed families and victims of trafficking in Syria. The program includes medical aid, psychosocial assistance, and vocational training as well as long-term assistance to help vulnerable families and victims of trafficking engage in income-generating activities (IOM, 2010a). “Refugees are especially vulnerable to human trafficking,” said Renata Dubini, the UNHCR Syria representative. “Prolonged displacement and uncertainty, coupled with increased financial pressure, can adversely affect the scope and severity of sexual and gender-based violence among refugees in Syria, including the trafficking of women and children” (Moschella, 2010).