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</div> </form> </div> </div> <hr/> <div id="content" class="span-13 append-1"> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-14272"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2012/12/09/%d9%81%d8%aa%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%84-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%81%d9%82%d8%b1-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85/#respond" title="Comment on فتيات الليل في بغداد رهينات الفقر والميليشيات">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 9th, 2012 by Nur Hussein Ghazali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2012/12/09/%d9%81%d8%aa%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%84-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%81%d9%82%d8%b1-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to فتيات الليل في بغداد رهينات الفقر والميليشيات">فتيات الليل في بغداد رهينات الفقر والميليشيات</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prostitution/" rel="tag">Prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-poverty-of/" rel="tag">women - poverty of</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>"كنتُ حاملاً في الشهر الثالث، عندما سرق زوجي مصاغي، وهجرني إلى الأبد فتَركت البصرةَ، وها أنا في بغداد أمنَحُ المُتعةَ لمن يدفع". هذه بداية قصة "وردة" (23 سنة) التي تنتهي، اليوم، في شقة، وسط العاصمة، تقضي الليل مع من يدفع لها 250 دولاراً وزجاجة مشروب. <br/>اسمها الحقيقي ليس وردة بالطبع، وقد لا تكون من مدينة البصرة أصلاً. فهذا حال بنات الليل في بغداد، الأسماء المستعارة جزء من حزمة الاحتياطات التي يتخذنها في مجتمع يطاردهن ويتمتع بهن في آن، حسب ما جاء في تقرير لصحيفة "الحياة" عن معاناة فتيات الليل في بغداد. <br/>سجن 5 نجوم لفتات الليل <br/>ومن الصعب جداً اكتساب ثقة إحداهن، لكن غالبيتهن يشعرن بالحماس حين يتحدثن إلى صحافي، يشكين بلداً لم يوفر لهن فرصاً كريمة للعيش، وينظر إليهن بدونيّة. <br/>في مركزٍ للشرطة في بغداد، زُج بعشرات بنات الليل في زنزانة صغيرة بعد عمليات دهم واسعة في أرجاء المدينة. في تلك الليلة كان العشاء يصل إليهن من مطعم فاخر، وبخدمة التوصيل المجاني، بينما يطلب مجهولون من الحرس إيصال علب الدخان وبعض الحاجيات إليهن. يقول ضابط شرطة ضاحكاً: "لا يشكل لهن السجن أي فارق، هذا فندق، وهنَّ في إجازة". <br/>وبعد قضاء أيام قليلة في مركز الشرطة، خرجت الفتيات بكفالة مالية كبيرة. هذا الحدث لا يمثل سوى محطة مؤقتة في حياة الليل في بغداد، ولا يبدو كلام ضابط الشرطة دقيقاً، فقاع المدينة يسحق الفتيات من دون هوادة. <br/>"الشيخة" تدير الفتيات وتؤمن حمايتهن <br/>في منطقة قريبة من مركز العاصمة، في اتجاه الشرق، ترتفع عمارات سكنيّة يَشغلُ عدداً منها نساءٌ، تعرف الواحدة منهن في أوساط الشباب باسمِ "الشيخة"، وهن المشرفات على توفير السكن لشابات يبعن الهوى. إلى جانب السكن هناك خدمات أخرى، من بينها مستلزمات الوقاية الصحية والحماية، في ظل أوضاع متأرجحة ومقلقة اجتماعياً وأمنياً. <br/>"الشيخة" تضمن شروط الأمن مع الشخص الذي يدفع ليصطحب الفتاة إلى مكانه الخاص. لكن هذه الطريقة تجاوزتها "الشيخات" عبر توفير أماكن المتعة في محالهن. وبينما تدفع المشرفة لأصدقائها من الشرطة، أو عناصر من الميليشيات المختلفة المسؤولة عن الأمن، تحصل الفتاة على 20% مما يدفعه الرجال. <br/>والشيخة، في العموم، تجاوزت السن الذي يتيح لها تقديم تلك الخدمات بنفسها، وصار صعباً عليها اجتذاب الرجل، ولو نجحت فسيكون أجرها أقل بكثير مما تحصل عليه شابة في العشرينيات. لذا مع الوقت، تتحول فتاة الليل إلى "شيخة" تدير أخريات. وتقتصر حياة هذه الأخيرة على التحكم بمصادر التمويل، وعقد جلسات سهر وعشاء مع ضباط أو رجال أعمال من أصحاب النشاطات المشبوهة لعقد مزيد من الصفقات. <br/>الأهالي يعترضون والسهر يستمر <br/>في نادٍ ليلي يقع في قلب بغداد، حيث يستعيد الليل بعض عافيته منذ سنوات طويلة، داهمت الشرطة المكان وأغلقته بالشمع الأحمر، كجزء من حملات واسعة قادتها الحكومة ضد مخازن المشروبات الكحولية والملاهي. <br/>وقال مصدر أمني رفيع المستوى إنه "قرار من الجهات العليا فهذه المرافق الترفيهية لا تملك رخصاً بالعمل". فيما قال بعض المسؤولين في بغداد إن "الأهالي غاضبون من انتشار هذه الأماكن"، بالتزامن مع حملات عبر "فيسبوك" تحمل اسم "لا للنوادي الليلية". <br/>النادي هو أيضاً مطعم كان قبل إقفاله رسمياً تعرض إلى حريق أتى على واجهته الملونة، وأجزاء من مرافقه الداخلية. وشرح أحد العاملين الحادث قائلاً إنه "تماس كهربائي يوم كان النادي مشغولاً بالموسيقى الشرقية الراقصة، والحياة لا تتوقف فيه حتى الفجر". أما اليوم فالمشهد من الداخل ليس فوضوياً وحسب، بل إنه واحد من أشد علامات التناقض في بغداد، وشاهد على شعور سكانها بالتعب وثقل الحياة. فوسط تلك الفوضى، جلس رجال كثر على الطاولات المحيطة بمسرح تدور عليه فتيات بملابس رقص مثيرة، تبرز أجزاءً من أجسادهن. الجميع هنا يدفع للمتعة، وغالباً ما يقع شجار على إحداهن. <br/>هؤلاء خليط من الشباب المنهكين من تذبذب فرص العيش، وثلة من رجال الأعمال الصاعدين إلى السوق بعد الحرب، وضباط يمسكون بمصادر القوة التي يقع فيها النادي. <br/>زبائن متدينون أو منحرفون <br/>وتقول "وردة" إن عدداً كبيراً من الزبائن "متدين ويشارك في فعاليات ونشاطات دينية كما يمارس الشعائر بانتظام". التصادم بين هؤلاء لا يكون سلمياً أبداً. يقول شرطي في المنطقة القريبة من النادي إنَّ "ضباطاً كانوا طرفاً فيها ولم تنته على خير، والسبب رهان على فتاة". ومن دون شك هذه الوقائع لا تدوّن رسمياً، أو أقله لا تتداول إعلامياً. <br/>وتقول "وردة" التي اعتادت إيداع طفلها "حمادة" (4 سنوات) عند صديقة لها أثناء عملها: "أرقص على المسرح مع خمس فتيات، ويجتمع حولنا نحو 15 رجلاً ثملاً يفتحون شرائط النقود ويلقونها على أجسادنا، فيما يقوم شخص يعمل لمصلحة الشيخة بجمع الأموال. وعندما يختارنا أحد الرجال يدفع حساب طاولة للضيافة مع قنينة شراب، وننتهي في مكان ما". <br/>لكن الأمر ليس بهذه البساطة، فـ"وردة" التي نجت قبل عام من مهووس مدمن على ضرب فتياته بحزام جلدي، فقدت صديقة لها كانت قد قضت ليلتها الأخيرة في منزل عصابة مخدرات شمال شرقي بغداد. قالت إنها شوّهت بالكامل. <br/>اللاجئات السابقات يملأن البيوت السرية <br/>لكن السؤال الذي يحاول الجميع الإجابة عنه يتعلق بالكيفية التي تجيء بها الفتيات إلى هذا العالم السري في العاصمة. الرواية التقليدية تفيد بأن الغجريات هن من يقدن حياة الليل، لكن هذه القصة قديمة حين كان أركان نظام صدام حسين يوفرون للغجر الحماية، نظراً إلى أن عدداً منهم حريص على تمضية أوقات معهن. <br/>ولكن أحد ضابط "الشرطة المجتمعية" لديه رواية مختلفة: "فتيات الليل الحلقة الأخيرة في سلسلة طويلة تبدأ من رجال أعمال وسماسرة يصعب الوصول إليهم يوظفون أموالهم في تجارة الجنس. والأمر ليس جديداً على بغداد، سوى أن فتيات عراقيات عُدن من بلدان اللجوء مؤخراً، جعلن النوادي والبيوت السرية تكتظ بهن". <br/>وكما يقول الضابط فإن محاولات الكشف عن السماسرة تنتهي بالفشل، لأن ثمة جماعات تملك النفوذ تضغط لإنعاش هذا السوق. بينما تقول "وردة"، التي أصبحت الآن مدمنةً على الكحول، حين تسألها عن تفكيك تجارة البشر في العراق: "هذا مجرد حلم".</p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12169"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/10/occupation-of-iraq-destroys-womens-lives/#respond" title="Comment on Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives">No Comments</a></span> Posted on January 10th, 2011 by Fatima Jameel</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/10/occupation-of-iraq-destroys-womens-lives/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives">Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, <a 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rel="tag">Poverty</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prisons/" rel="tag">prisons</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prostitution/" rel="tag">Prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugees/" rel="tag">Refugees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sanctions/" rel="tag">Sanctions</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sectarian-violence/" rel="tag">sectarian violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sectarianism/" rel="tag">sectarianism</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sex-trafficking/" rel="tag">sex trafficking</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sexual-abuse/" rel="tag">sexual abuse</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sexual-slavery/" rel="tag">sexual slavery</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sons-of-iraq/" rel="tag">Sons of Iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/statistics/" rel="tag">statistics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/torture/" rel="tag">Torture</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unemployment/" rel="tag">unemployment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unemployment-levels/" rel="tag">unemployment levels</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unicef/" rel="tag">UNICEF</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/war-crimes/" rel="tag">War Crimes</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/widows/" rel="tag">Widows</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wikileaks/" rel="tag">Wikileaks</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/womens/" rel="tag">women's</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/womens-rights/" rel="tag">Women's Rights</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>More than seven years after the US- and UK-led invasion of their country, Iraqis continue to endure an occupation that has systematically violated their rights to life, dignity, self-determination and economic development. The occupation has been and continues to be so destructive and so violent that one in four Iraqis are estimated to be dead or displaced. One in five Iraqis has been made a refugee or an internally displaced person (IDP). </p> <div style="border-right: black 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: black 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: black 1px solid; width: 300px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: black 1px solid"> <p>Serene Assir, <i>The Electronic Intifada,</i> 10 January 2011 </p> <p><em>Serene Assir is a Lebanese independent writer and journalist based in Spain.</em></p> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11723.shtml" class="external" target="_blank">ei: Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives</a></p> </p></div> <p>In particular, the role and situation of women and girls has declined precipitously compared to prior to the invasion. From torture to rape to assassination, from forced separation for mixed couples to women and their children enduring the death of their husbands and fathers, from a loss of educational rights to expulsion from the workplace and public life, and from sexual slavery to forced flight or enforced disappearance, for the past seven years Iraqi women and girls have endured the most terrifying of fates. They are living at the mercy of an occupation that both seeks to terrorize them into submission, and to use them as objects for the terrorization of the whole of Iraqi society. </p> <h3>No security </h3> <p>Dr. Souad al-Azzawi, who authored a study on Iraqi women entitled "Deterioration of Iraq women’s rights and living conditions under occupation," published in January 2008, told The Electronic Intifada: "The most significant loss that Iraqi women have suffered is a complete and total loss of security." She explained that the loss of security entails both the loss of physical security and "the economic, social and civil securities Iraqi women were so accustomed to prior to the occupation." </p> <p>In fact, it appears that the loss of physical and other aspects of security have a Catch-22 effect on the lives of women. The lack of legal and institutional support for women by an Iraqi puppet government which is at best ineffective has meant that in the vast majority of cases the criminals, mafias, militias, death squads, US occupation forces and Iraqi police and army forces committing crimes against women are not held accountable for their actions. This has in turn encouraged the development of a situation characterized by lawlessness and criminality, in which women are prime targets. As such, many women have been forced to leave their jobs and quit their education, for fear that they may be the next victim of rape or assassination. </p> <p>According to al-Azzawi, Iraqi women have had to resort to "the relative security of their homes," often taking their children out of school too if they were the only parent able to accompany them there and back. </p> <p>Echoing al-Azzawi’s words, an Iraqi refugee speaking on condition of anonymity said that she was forced to leave Iraq precisely because of death threats issued against her by militias who had found out she was actively working as a journalist seeking to expose the injustices taking place against women. Had she stayed in Iraq, the threats likely would have been fulfilled. </p> <p>"Not only was I being targeted, but I was also without protection, given that Iraq has no government to speak of," she explained. She added that "I could have been killed at any moment, and no one would have been held accountable for it. It was for one reason alone that I fled: because I had no choice." </p> <h3>Criminal levels of poverty </h3> <p>The figures speak for themselves. According to a dossier on Iraqi women published by the BRussells Tribunal, prior to the invasion 72 percent of working women were government employees. The dismantlement of state institutions immediately after the invasion meant that these women became unemployed. Instability and ineffective institutions in Iraq render it impossible to pinpoint the total rate of unemployment today, but estimates range from 15 percent to 70 percent. The few stable jobs that exist, according to the dossier, are usually given to men, though a growing number of female-headed households means that many women need to take extraordinary risks in order to try and cater for their children ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.brussellstribunal.org/pdf/Women.pdf" class="external" target="_blank">Iraqi Women Under Occupation</a>" [PDF]). </p> <p>The same economic insecurity affects Iraqi refugee families. Aseer al-Madaien, the Protection Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – Syria, says that out of 139,000 registered Iraqis in Syria, 28 percent are households headed by women. In total, estimates for the total number of displaced Iraqis, including both refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), range up to almost five million, according to the international organization Medecins Sans Frontieres, which believes that there are 2.5 million Iraqi IDPs and 2.3 million refugees. </p> <p>IDPs suffer both extreme vulnerability and insecurity, as they seek refuge in the homes of relatives and friends, said Hana Al Bayaty, member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal. Many of them are the victims of ethnic cleansing, whereby a country once free of sectarianism is increasingly witnessing the targeting of persons on the basis of their religion or ethnicity. Mixed marriages in these conditions are all too often broken up by force, according to a report published by the UN-affiliated IRIN humanitarian news agency ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=26268" class="external" target="_blank">Mixed Marriages confront Sectarian Violence</a>," 6 April 2006). </p> <p>The majority of Iraqi refugees have headed to neighboring countries Syria and Jordan, where they are not allowed to work, as they are legally considered "guests." In 2007, the UNHCR reported that an estimated 40 percent of Iraq’s middle class had fled the country. Not only have almost half of those with the qualifications and experience to help rebuild Iraq left the country, but they are also suffering from the most extreme form of disempowerment, according to Al Bayaty. </p> <p>Al-Azzawi explained that "For the educated middle class, this situation is shattering as everything we have worked so hard to earn and build up over decades of war and sanctions is being brought down by military force before our very eyes." </p> <p>Unable to work legally, it is often refugee women who take upon themselves the burden and the risk of working as they are less likely to be asked for documentation on the streets of Amman, Damascus and beyond, and they thereby hope to be less likely to be deported. </p> <p>Unemployment levels in Syria and Jordan, however, mean that even illegal work is hard to come by. It is because of this that the phenomenon of forced prostitution is becoming increasingly rife. The growing problem of sex trafficking is partly caused by poverty. </p> <p>According to al-Azzawi, the lack of work permits, qualifications and opportunities "leads some women to prostitution in order to feed their children and their families." In other cases, the sheer lack of protection faced by some women push them into prostitution. Problems in such cases include threats of kidnapping issued against women should they not accept to prostitute themselves. These threats are issued especially against women whose husbands are dead or missing. "The women of Iraq live in a very fragile situation as a result of the American occupation’s crimes," al-Azzawi said. </p> <h3>Death, torture and enforced disappearance </h3> <p>No statistical reference can adequately convey the sheer suffering experienced by the people of Iraq, as a whole, from the genocidal sanctions period through the invasion and ensuing occupation. Current estimates place the number of dead at anywhere between 1.5 million and 2.5 million. </p> <p>According to Iraqi human rights analyst and advocate Asma al-Haidari, "Up to one million Iraqis have been forcibly disappeared." Behind the enforced disappearances are the US army, Iraqi government forces including the army and police, and al-Qaeda and other militias that operate freely across the country, according to a presentation given by Dirk Adriaensens, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee, at a London conference organized by the International Committee Against Disappearances on 9-12 December 2010. According to calculations by Adriaensens, based on UNHCR statistics, 20 percent of internally displaced Iraqi families have reported cases of missing children ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.brussellstribunal.org/pdf/Disappearances_missing_persons_in_Iraq.pdf" class="external" target="_blank">Enforced Disappearance. The Missing Persons of Iraq</a>" [PDF]). </p> <p>It is also understood that, given that there is a very real and justified fear of retaliation against families who report the disappearances of their loved ones, many others suffer in silence. Thousands of detainees, some of them in secret, illegal prisons, according to al-Azzawi, are women. Estimates published in 2008 by the Iraqi Parliamentary Women’s Committee and the Iraqi Ministry of Women’s Affairs indicate that between one and two million Iraqi women are widows. </p> <p>Inside Iraq’s jails, legal or not, cases of torture and sexual abuse have been widely reported. Revelations by WikiLeaks published on 22 October 2010 were described by Iraqi activists such as Sabah al-Mukhtar, president of the Arab Lawyers’ Union, as just "the tip of the iceberg," as he said on an Al-Jazeera English interview on 24 October. According to al-Azzawi, women are usually jailed on trumped-up charges of terrorism, where there is no proof and while there is no adequate legal system to ensure their right to a fair trial. "Many are awaiting execution," al-Azzawi added. </p> <p>Further, when it is the man who disappears, whether he is dead or missing, women and their families have to fend for themselves in a hellish situation. Out of this horror comes forth one of the more obtuse trends, inexistent in Iraq up until 2003, of families giving their daughters away in early marriage for fear of being unable to adequately support them. </p> <p>One immediate effect of this phenomenon is the fact that girls aged 13, 14 and 15 sold into early marriage lose their right to education. As figures currently stand, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report published on 1 September 2010, for every 100 boys in school, there are only 89 girls ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MCOI-89RD6Y?OpenDocument" class="external" target="_blank">Girls Education in Iraq 2010</a>" [PDF]). </p> <p>"Lots of those little girls are very bright and are willing to finish their education if they are allowed to," said al-Azzawi. </p> <p>Worse still is the flourishing of what are known as "pleasure marriages." These are short-term marriages conducted out of court, whereby separation is also very simple. It is a practice that Iraqi women’s rights advocates describe as linked to prostitution, because of the wrongful abuse of the practice by men in power, often blackmailing fathers into giving their daughters away in a "pleasure marriage," and also because once a girl or a woman has married in this way and has received alimony for her short-term commitment, she will find it very difficult to reintegrate back into her family. </p> <p>"Many girls are forced into prostitution and ultimately sex trafficking this way," al-Azzawi added. </p> <h3>Forced Islamization of society </h3> <p>It is deeply telling that Iraqi society is becoming forcibly Islamized by militias tied to the Iraqi puppet government, which is dependent upon the United States for its survival. Meanwhile, Washington claims to be fighting a war on Islamic terrorism. The reality, as is frequently the case, is the precise opposite. Previously a secular state, Iraqi society is becoming forcibly transformed into a theocracy. In such systems, women and girls inevitably lose. </p> <p>The results of the proliferation of fundamentalist militias are varied. While reports of Christian women veiling in order to avoid attacks are troubling in the Iraqi context, what is potentially much worse is that the notion of an Iraqi state for all its citizens is fast disappearing. Not only does this mean that Iraqi girls are no longer safe on the streets; it also means that if the occupation fulfills its goals, Iraqi "career women" may be a thing of the past. </p> <p>Al-Azzawi notes that "Economically the country has lost a huge, skilled working force, which is exactly what the occupation planned to do, and the lives of millions of working women and families were shattered." </p> <p>Considering that there is not a single right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the US occupation has not violated — as the International Initiative to Prosecute US Genocide in Iraq team found when working in 2009 to bring a legal case for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against four US presidents and four UK prime ministers — it is amazing yet encouraging that the US occupation’s goals have failed. </p> <p>Not only is the US administration under President Barack Obama still battling to maintain control over a country whose people resist in the name of their dignity and their love for Iraq, but many of the most outspoken and brilliant advocates for Iraqis’ rights in general are in fact women. </p> <p>"I have much hope for Iraq," said human rights advocate Asma al-Haidari, "Nothing will make me lose hope." </p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12153"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/08/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%81%d9%88%d8%b6%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%a9%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%ab%d8%b1-%d9%85%d9%86-850-%d8%ad%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%aa-%d9%85%d9%86/#comments" title="Comment on المفوضية السامية:اكثر من 850 حالة عانت من العنف الجنسي بين اللاجئين العراقيين في سوريا">4 Comments</a></span> Posted on January 8th, 2011 by Mohammed Ibn Laith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/08/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%81%d9%88%d8%b6%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%a9%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%ab%d8%b1-%d9%85%d9%86-850-%d8%ad%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%aa-%d9%85%d9%86/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to المفوضية السامية:اكثر من 850 حالة عانت من العنف الجنسي بين اللاجئين العراقيين في سوريا">المفوضية السامية:اكثر من 850 حالة عانت من العنف الجنسي بين اللاجئين العراقيين في سوريا</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/human-rights/" title="View all posts in Human Rights" rel="category tag">Human Rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/women/" title="View all posts in Women and Children" rel="category tag">Women and Children</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/child-exploitation/" rel="tag">Child Exploitation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/children-domestic-assault/" rel="tag">Children - domestic assault</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/damascus/" rel="tag">Damascus</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/domestic-violence/" rel="tag">domestic violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/economic-and-sexual-exploitation/" rel="tag">economic and sexual exploitation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/forced-marriage/" rel="tag">forced marriage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/forced-prostitution/" rel="tag">forced prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/human-trafficking/" rel="tag">Human Trafficking</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/juvenile-marriage/" rel="tag">Juvenile marriage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prostitution/" rel="tag">Prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rape/" rel="tag">Rape</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rape-sex/" rel="tag">rape sex</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugees/" rel="tag">Refugees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sex-trafficking/" rel="tag">sex trafficking</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sexual-abuse/" rel="tag">sexual abuse</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sexual-assault/" rel="tag">Sexual Assault</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sexual-assaults/" rel="tag">sexual assaults</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/syria/" rel="tag">Syria</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr-protection-and-assistance-centres/" rel="tag">UNHCR Protection and Assistance Centres</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/violence/" rel="tag">violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-domestic-assault/" rel="tag">Women - domestic assault</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>دمشق (الاخبارية)..كشف مكتب المفوضية السامية لشؤون اللاجئين في سوريا،انه تم تحديد اكثر من 850 حالة عانت من العنف الجنسي والعنف القائم على نوع الجنس بين اللاجئين العراقيين الموجودين هناك. <br/>وقال مصدر مسؤول في المكتب بتصريح لمراسل (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.ikhnews.com/news_view_6546.html" target="_blank" class="external">الوكالة الاخبارية للانباء</a>) اليوم،ان هذه الحالات شهدت تناقصاً خلال عام 2008 حيث بلغت 700 حالة في حين ازدادت خلال عام 2009 حيث بلغت 900 حالة. <br/>وبين ان من الاشكال الشائعة لهذا النوع من العنف،الاغتصاب،والبغاء الاجباري،والاتجار بالاشخاص،والزواج القسري،والاستغلال الاقتصادي والجنسي،والعنف الاسري. <br/>وتابع ان المفوضية مستمرة بتقديم الدعم للاجئين،والعمل على منع هذه الحالات عبر التدريب ورفع مستوى الوعي،مشيراً الى ان المفوضية وفرت مركزاً امناً في دمشق،يؤمن المأوى والطعام والاستشارة الاجتماعية والتدريب المهني والخدمات القانونية والطبية للنساء والاطفال الذين عانوا من العنف،لافتاً الى انشاء مركز تنمية المراة،بالتعاون مع الاتحاد العام النسائي في سورية،بغية تمكين الناجيات من حالات العنف الجنسي والعنف القائم على نوع الجنس،من خلال التدريب وجلسات الاستشارة وتنمية الدعم المجتمعي./انتهى/(5. ر.م) <strong>المصدر : </strong>  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.ikhnews.com/news_view_6546.html" target="_blank" class="external">المفوضية السامية:اكثر من 850 حالة عانت من العنف الجنسي بين اللاجئين العراقيين في سوريا</a></p> </p></div> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11822"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/11/28/iraq-no-country-for-women/#respond" title="Comment on IRAQ: No country for women">No Comments</a></span> Posted on November 28th, 2010 by Khaled</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/11/28/iraq-no-country-for-women/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to IRAQ: No country for women">IRAQ: No country for women</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/women/" title="View all posts in Women and Children" rel="category tag">Women and Children</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/2003-invasion-of-iraq/" rel="tag">2003 invasion of iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/analysis/" rel="tag">Analysis</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/children/" rel="tag">Children</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugees/" rel="tag">Refugees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security/" rel="tag">Security</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/syria/" rel="tag">Syria</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/vice/" rel="tag">Vice</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-trafficking-in/" rel="tag">Women - trafficking in</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/womens-rights/" rel="tag">Women's Rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/womens-rights-violations-of/" rel="tag">Women's Rights - violations of</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>MADRID, 28 November 2010 (IRIN) – The improved political representation of women in Iraq is in sharp contrast to their broader <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=91216%20" class="external" target="_blank">disempowerment</a>, as highlighted by the persistence of domestic violence and early marriage, according to a new report by the UN Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit. </p> <p>Women may hold 25 percent of seats in the Iraqi parliament, but one in five in the 15-49 age group has suffered physical violence at the hands of her husband. Anecdotal evidence alleges that “many women are being kidnapped and sold into prostitution”, and female genital mutilation is still common in the north, the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.iauiraq.org/end-violence-against-women-campain.asp" class="external" target="_blank">report</a> notes. </p> <p>“The situation many Iraqi women and girls face is beyond words,” journalist Eman Khammas told IRIN in a telephone interview. “Before, I was a journalist, a professional; now, I am nothing.” </p> <p>Khammas noted an underlying social climate of intolerance that has become increasingly poisonous for women. She was forced to flee Iraq after receiving death threats that effectively stopped her – like thousands of other Iraqi women – from working. She now lives in Spain. </p> <h3>Stay home</h3> <p>Women’s participation in the labour force has fallen sharply since 2003. Before the invasion, 40 percent of public sector workers were women, according to a report by the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.brussellstribunal.org/cooperate.htm" class="external" target="_blank">BRussels Tribunal</a>, an anti-war movement. Some sectors, such as the teaching profession, were almost entirely staffed by women, Khammas said. </p> <p>She cited the “new, fundamentalist thinking”, which emerged after the 2003 invasion of Iraq that has been aggressively imposed by the militias, armed private groups purporting to uphold religious law. </p> <p>The collapse of public social services has also limited access to education, health and jobs, while a high level of insecurity has pushed women out of public life and into the seclusion of their homes, and an ineffective judicial system has created an atmosphere of impunity, Khammas said. </p> <p>The conservative attitudes of public sector officials has been reinforced by a government that supports keeping women at home, according to a 2007 report by the international women’s resource network, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.madre.org/" class="external" target="_blank">MADRE</a>. </p> <p>“In 2006, the Iraqi Interior Ministry issued a series of notices warning women not to leave their homes alone and echoing the directives of religious leaders who urge men to prevent women family members from holding jobs,” the report noted. </p> <p>“Thus, the violence carried out by militias in the streets is backed up by more respectable political leaders, who support the call for a women-free public sphere.” </p> <p>Escalating poverty has pushed Iraqi families into prioritizing schooling for boys, stifling future opportunities for women. </p> <p>“For every 100 boys enrolled in primary schools in Iraq, there are just under 89 girls,” the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said in a report released in September 2010. School enrollment figures for girls have been progressively declining, while drop-out rates have gone up in every academic year. </p> <h3>Getting out</h3> <p>Factors pushing girls out of schooling included “security risks, attitudes to girls and education, the state of the nation’s schools, what is taught and how it is taught, the skills and attitudes of teachers, family poverty,” UNICEF said. </p> <p>Like Khammas, many other women have chosen to leave Iraq, but asylum does not necessarily end their difficulties. Neighbouring Syria is home to the majority of what the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) considers as Iraqi “persons of concern” – people who have left their home country out of fear for their safety but do not conform to the legal definition of “refugee”. </p> <p>Of the 139,000 registered Iraqi persons of concern in Syria, 28 percent fall under female-headed households, the UNHCR Protection Officer in Syria, Aseer Al-Madaien, told IRIN in an email interview. </p> <p>Many do not have work permits, which compounds the difficulties female-headed households face in neighbouring countries, where they struggle to make a living, “especially paying the rent”, while still “coping with family, social and community pressure”, Al-Madaien commented. </p> <p>Their vulnerability can lead to exploitation. “There is trafficking happening among the Iraqi refugees, [but] the scope and modality is not known to us,” said Al-Madaien. </p> <p>According to the UN Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit report, “Victims are trafficked internally and to neighbouring countries, including Syria and the Gulf states”.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91218" class="external" target="_blank">IRIN Middle East | IRAQ: No country for women | Iraq | Gender Issues | Governance | Human Rights | Security</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-10375"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/06/6th-may-2010-selected-english-language-coverage/#respond" title="Comment on 6th-May-2010 Selected English Language Coverage">No Comments</a></span> Posted on May 6th, 2010 by Diya al din</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/06/6th-may-2010-selected-english-language-coverage/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to 6th-May-2010 Selected English Language Coverage">6th-May-2010 Selected English Language Coverage</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/aki/" rel="tag">AKI</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-liqaa-square/" rel="tag">al liqaa square</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-mansour/" rel="tag">al Mansour</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/amil/" rel="tag">Amil</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/analysis/" rel="tag">Analysis</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/arbil/" 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/the-nation/" rel="tag">The Nation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/torture/" rel="tag">Torture</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/war-crimes/" rel="tag">War Crimes</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/western-anbar/" rel="tag">western Anbar</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-poverty-of/" rel="tag">women - poverty of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/world-health-organisation/" rel="tag">World Health Organisation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/xe/" rel="tag">Xe</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/zubair/" rel="tag">Zubair</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ac%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a8-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%b1/" rel="tag">جمعية الصليب والهلال الاحمر</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <h3 style="color: #800000">The Day In Quotes:</h3> <ul> <li><strong>Hussein al Shahristani on bringing the Akkas, Mansouriya and Siba gasfields on stream </p> <p></strong>“Once these fields are put on stream, the production will be used to meet Iraq’s growing energy needs as well as possibly exporting to neighbouring countries or the European Union,” </p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100506/BUSINESS/705069876/1005/rss" class="external" target="_blank">source</a>: </li> <li><strong>Hussein al-Shahristani on the agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdish Separatists on oil revenues</strong> <p>"We reached an agreement with the Kurds that all revenues will be handed over to SOMO and the Iraqi government will be responsible for paying the extraction expenses in Kurdistan," </p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.france24.com/en/20100506-iraqi-govt-resolves-oil-row-with-kurds" class="external" target="_blank">source</a> </li> </ul> <h3 style="color: #800000">Human Rights:</h3> <p><strong>France24 – Iraqi Kurdish journalist kidnapped and killed</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>The family of a Kurdish journalist and student who was kidnapped and killed held his funeral on Thursday, hours after his corpse was found.</p> <p>Sardasht Osman, a final-year English student at Salaheddin University in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, was found dead overnight in the restive northern city of Mosul officials said. <br/>He had been kidnapped on Tuesday on his university campus in Arbil.</p> <p>"I received a phone call saying a citizen had been kidnapped in Arbil and we informed police," said Marwan Abdulhamid, an official with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the region’s two dominant political parties.</p> <p>"Mosul police informed us at around midnight that they found a corpse with a university ID."</p> <p>Osman, 22, worked as a journalist for the magazine Ashtiname ("Letter for Peace" in Kurdish) and as an English-Kurdish translator.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.france24.com/en/20100506-iraqi-kurdish-journalist-kidnapped-killed" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>MI5 told all evidence in torture trials will be heard in public – Home News, UK – The Independent</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>Six former detainees at Guantanamo Bay have won their legal battle to have their claims against the Government heard in public.</p> <p>In a far-reaching judgment on the principle of open justice, the Court of Appeal yesterday overturned a previous ruling which would have allowed MI5 to use secret evidence to defend itself against claims it was complicit in unlawful detention and torture.</p> <p>Last year, the High Court ruled that there was no reason in law why the court could not allow a "closed material procedure" to be used in a claim for damages. <br/>This would mean that the Government and the secret services would not have to disclose information to the claimants’ lawyers if they felt that doing so would damage the interests of national security, the UK’s international relations, the detection and prevention of crime, or was likely to harm the public interest in some way.</p> <p>It was proposed that any sensitive material would be disclosed to "special advocates" – barristers who had been given security vetting and clearance but who could not discuss the evidence with the six claimants. <br/>But yesterday the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, said the court would "take a stand" against secrecy that the judges said would undermine the "most fundamental principles of common law"</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mi5-told-all-evidence-in-torture-trials-will-be-heard-in-public-1962557.html" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>MoD asked Red Cross to look into Iraq birth defects – Home News, UK – The Independent</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>"On DfID’s request," said Mr Thomas, "the ICRC has discussed this [reports of a rise in foetal abnormalities] with the technical director of Al-Fallujah General Hospital as well as another doctor based there. Both responded that although there were occasional cases of foetal abnormalities, these did not exceed two to three cases per year."</p> <p>In another letter written in January this year Mr Thomas said that because of the continuing dearth of reliable information on such cases, DfID had formally asked the Iraqi Ministry of Health to release any data regarding the claims.</p> <p>Allegations that the British Government was complicit in the use of chemical weapons linked to an upsurge in child deformity cases in Iraq are being investigated by the Ministry of Defence.</p> <p>The legal case, which is being prepared for the High Court by Public Interest Lawyers, specifically raises serious questions about the UK’s role in the American-led offensive against the City of Fallujah in the autumn of 2004 in which hundreds of Iraqis died.</p> <p>After the battle, in which it is alleged that a range of illegal weaponry was used against the civilian and insurgent population, evidence has emerged of large numbers of children being born with severe birth defects. Iraqi families who believe their children’s deformities are caused by the deployment of the weapons have begun legal proceedings against the UK Government. <br/>They accuse the UK Government of breaching international law, war crimes and failing to intervene to prevent a war crime.</p> <p>Lawyers for the Iraqis have sent a letter before action to the Ministry of Defence asking the Government to disclose what it knows about the Army’s role in the offensive, the presence of prohibited weapons and the legal advice given to the then prime minister, Tony Blair.</p> <p>Last month the World Health Organisation said it was investigating evidence of a worrying rise in the incidence of birth defects in the city which Iraqi doctors attribute to the use of chemical weapons in the battle.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mod-asked-red-cross-to-look-into-iraq-birth-defects-1964491.html" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Sex slave girls face cruel justice in Iraq – CNN.com</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>Trafficking is a growing problem in Iraq. Some vulnerable women, desperate to support their families, are tricked into it by accepting fake marriage proposals. Many young girls, their parents facing dire economic circumstances, are just sold outright.</p> <p>"In some ways, their fate is worse than death," explained Samer Muscati from Human Rights Watch. "Once they’ve been trafficked, there’s a stigma even though they’re the victims in this horrific situation. They’ve been exploited and they’ve been trafficked to another country with no real recourse."</p> <p>According to Muscati, even if the girls do manage to escape the cruelty of their circumstances, it will be very difficult for them to escape the judgment of their families. <br/>"When they do come back to Iraq, if the family does accept them it’s very difficult because they’ve brought great shame to the family, they’re subjected to honor crimes. And we’ve come across cases where young women have preferred to stay in prison or custody than to be released and to face tribal justice," Muscati said.</p> <p>Rubaie puts it even more bluntly when discussing what little future awaits trafficked girls who manage to return home.</p> <p>"I’m sure the girl’s family won’t take care of her," said Rubaie. "I’m sure that neighbors and relatives and society will judge her, they’ll know that the girl had been a prisoner and the family will be ashamed of her.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/04/iraq.women.prisons/index.html?hpt=C2" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a>: </p> </blockquote> <h3 style="color: #800000">Politics and Security</h3> <p><strong>France24 – Kurds vow to back Shiite coalition choice for PM</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>Iraq’s main Kurdish political bloc will accept the candidate for prime minister chosen by the new Shiite coalition of incumbent premier Nuri al-Maliki, a top official said on Thursday. <br/>"We will not veto anyone chosen by the alliances to take up the post of prime minister," said Roz Nawri Chawis, the autonomous Kurdish region’s deputy prime minister. <br/>Maliki’s State of Law Alliance and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) led by Shiite religious groups announced on Tuesday that they were forming a new coalition following the March 7 parliamentary elections. <br/>The move was aimed at squeezing out a secular coalition led by ex-premier Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc won the election with 91 seats but failed to build a parliamentary majority. <br/>The new Shiite coalition is also four seats short of the 163 needed to form a parliamentary majority but the Kurdish Alliance, comprised of Kurdistan’s two long-dominant political blocs, has said it will join it.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.france24.com/en/20100506-kurds-vow-back-shiite-coalition-choice-pm" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Bayati: SLC, INA Alliance to speed up forming next government  : National Iraqi News Agency – NINA</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>The leader within the State of Law’s Coalition, Abas al-Bayati, confirmed that "The Alliance between the SLC and the Iraqi National Alliance will participate in speeding up the negotiations for forming the next government and ending the political tensions." <br/>He stated to the national Iraqi News Agency (NINA) "The Alliance between INA and SLC will set a timetable for the negotiations with the other blocs over forming the national partenership government to be able to provide services and represent all Iraqis."</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.ninanews.com/English/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=EMFFGH" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Nijeifi criticizes calls to divide Iraq into three areas : National Iraqi News Agency – NINA</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>The leader within the Iraqiya Slate, Usama al-Nijeifi, revealed that "There are calls to divide Iraq into three areas;" criticizing these calls saying "We reject these calls absolutely." <br/>Speaking to the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) "These calls are dangerous and threaten the unity and the stability of Iraq." <br/>He added "The Alliance between the State of Law’s Coalition and the Iraqi National Alliance gave sectarian image," noting that "The Kurdistani Alliance is having the same attitudes while Iraqiya Slate preserved the national method away from confessionalism."</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.ninanews.com/English/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=EMFFID" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Othman: Alliance between SL, NIA to satisfy Iran : National Iraqi News Agency – NINA</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>The Kurdish Alliance’s official, Mahmoud Otham, expressed his dissatisfaction over the new alliance between State of Law (SL) and the National Iraqi Alliance (NIA) considering this move is to satisfy Iran’s demands. <br/>Othman said, “Kurdish leadership is not surprised with this move because on increased pressure on Iraq that threatens its security and independence.” <br/>He added that Iran works, from the start of the election process in intervening in Iraq’s affairs and putting pressure on political sides toward denying the Iraqiya Slate from forming next government.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.ninanews.com/English/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=EMFGEH" class="external" target="_blank">source</a></strong><strong>: </strong> </p> </blockquote> <p><strong>IED blast leaves 1 killed, 3 wounded : Aswat Al Iraq</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>“The IED went off at the entrance of the southern Baghdad district of al-Mahmoudiya, leaving one killed and three others wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=131302" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>KUNA : Roadside bomb kills 2 in N. Baghdad – Military and Security – 06/05/2010</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>BAGHDAD, May 6 (KUNA) — Iraqi police said on Thursday that two people were killed in a roadside explosion in Al Mansour district, northern Baghdad. <br/>A source in the Iraqi police told KUNA that the bomb exploded near a flowers auction in Al Mansour district. <br/>The explosion resulted in the death of two people and wounding four others. They were taken to a hospital for treatment, the source added. </p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2081286&Language=en" class="external" target="_blank">source</a>:</p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Woman wounded in central Falluja : Aswat Al Iraq</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>A woman, standing in front of her house in central Falluja, was wounded in a random shooting on Thursday</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=131279" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Hand grenade wounds cop, civilian in Kirkuk : Aswat Al Iraq</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>“Unknown gunmen threw a hand grenade on the guards of Kirkuk police chief near al-Shuhadaa tunnel, central Kirkuk, injuring a policeman and civilian,” Colonel Ahmad Shmerani told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. <br/>“The gunmen tried to escape but police forces managed to arrest two of them</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=131279" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>IED injures 3 civilians in western Anbar : Aswat Al Iraq</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>“The bomb went off near a water tanker truck in al-Qaem district in western Anbar, wounding three civilians, including the driver,” </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=131279" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Al-Qaeda leader captured in Mosul : Aswat Al Iraq</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>“The forces arrested Mahmoud Mohammad Salama, a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Mosul,” </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=131288" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Kirkuk car bomber arrested : Aswat Al Iraq</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>“The detainee, a 29-year-old man who had detonated an explosive vehicle near al-Huweija Hospital on March 22, was captured and is now under investigative custody,”</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=131297" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <h3 style="color: #800000">Society and Economy:</h3> <p><strong>France24 – Iraqi govt resolves oil row with Kurds</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>An oil dispute between Iraq and the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan has been resolved, the central government’s oil minister said in Baghdad on Thursday. <br/>"We reached an agreement with the Kurds that all revenues will be handed over to SOMO and the Iraqi government will be responsible for paying the extraction expenses in Kurdistan," Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters. <br/>SOMO is Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation which deals with sales of crude and other petroleum-based products.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.france24.com/en/20100506-iraqi-govt-resolves-oil-row-with-kurds" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Iraq puts three natural gas fields up for bid – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>Iraq’s oil minister on Thursday invited international energy companies to bid for contracts to develop three untapped natural gas fields. <br/>Hussain al-Shahristani expressed confidence in international interest in the fields, saying that 45 companies with experience in gas projects will submit their offers in the country’s third energy bidding round, set for Sept. 1. <br/>"We have indications that there is renewed interest among companies to compete for these fields," he said in a press conference. <br/>The Akkas gas field near the border with Syria has estimated reserves of 5.6 trillion cubic feet and was originally offered in Iraq’s first round of bidding. It only garnered a single offer, which was declined. <br/>Mansouriya gas field, with reserves of 4.5 trillion cubic feet, is located in the once restive province of Diyala north of Baghdad and received no bids in the round. <br/>The smaller Siba field, with 1.1 trillion cubic feet of reserves and near the border with Kuwait, will be offered up for the first time.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=iraq-puts-three-natural-gas-fields-up-for-bid-2010-05-06" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Iraq offers gas and oil licences – The National Newspaper</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>Iraq, the holder of the world’s third-biggest proved oil reserves, has announced its third post-war bidding round for oil and gas licences.</p> <p>This time, Baghdad’s focus will be on developing the nation’s large but mainly overlooked gas resources.</p> <p>Starting on September 1, the Gulf state would seek offers to develop its Akkas, Mansouriya and Siba gasfields, Dr Hussain al Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, said yesterday. <br/>Iraq has sought for years to develop gas exports, in addition to expanding domestic supplies of the fuel to burn in power plants.</p> <p>Baghdad had earlier set aside the under-developed Akkas field, near the country’s western border with Syria, to supply the proposed Nabucco pipeline, which was conceived to reduce European dependence on Russian gas. <br/>“This will make Iraq one of the major producers for natural gas,” Ali al Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, said last week at a business forum in Abu Dhabi, in remarks heralding the gas auction.</p> <p>“Once these fields are put on stream, the production will be used to meet Iraq’s growing energy needs as well as possibly exporting to neighbouring countries or the European Union,” Dr al Shahristani added yesterday. <br/>The minister also said a US$4 billion (Dh14.69bn) joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell to gather and market up to 700 million cubic feet per day of gas produced as a by-product from Iraq’s main southern oilfields had been submitted to the government’s energy committee for approval, more than 18 months after Baghdad signed a preliminary deal with the company.</p> <p>The gas is currently being burnt as “waste” because Iraq lacks gathering and processing facilities.</p> <p>But the deal is controversial because Baghdad negotiated it directly instead of inviting competitive bids, and because it appeared to give Shell a monopoly over gas produced from Iraq’s main oil exporting province of Basra. <br/>Despite the country’s dire need for gas to fuel electricity generation, the agreement could still be overturned in parliament or by the next Iraqi government.</p> <p>In what appeared to be a compromise, Dr al Shahristani said the scope of the final deal would cover only three fields: Iraq’s biggest oilfield, Rumaila; the Zubair field; and West Qurna phase 1, which is being developed by ExxonMobil and Shell.</p> <p>The new bidding round for contracts to develop gasfields that are not associated with oil also faces challenges.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100506/BUSINESS/705069876/1005/rss" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>France24 – Iraq says Kuwait reparations are unsustainable</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p>Iraq cannot sustain its reparations payments to Kuwait for Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion, which it says are the highest paid by any country in history, Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said Thursday. <br/>"Iraq has paid Kuwait enormous amounts of compensation for its losses and we do not know of any country in the world that has paid such high sums," Shahristani told reporters in Baghdad. <br/>"The sum of money that Germany paid to France and Britain is less than what Iraq has paid to Kuwait, even though that was a world war and the losses were considerable." <br/>On April 13, Adnan Abdulsamad, head of the Kuwaiti parliament’s budgets committee, said the emirate had so far received 17.5 billion dollars out of the 41.8 billion dollars approved by a United Nations special compensation fund. <br/>"Iraq cannot continue to make these payments and has made this known to the UN Security Council," Shahristani said. "We call on our Kuwaiti brothers to work together with us to forget the past, which has cost our country more than our neighbours."</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.france24.com/en/20100506-iraq-says-kuwait-reparations-are-unsustainable" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Iraqi Airways chief released by British court</strong><strong>: Khaleej Times Online</strong></p> <blockquote><p>A British court released the head of Iraqi Airways on Thursday and allowed him to return home, Iraq’s transport ministry said in the latest twist in a legal nightmare for the airline. <br/>Kifah Hassan Jabbar had his passport seized and the plane he arrived on impounded at London’s Gatwick Airport on April 25 as a dispute with Kuwait Airways marred Iraqi Airways Company’s (IAC) first commercial flight from Baghdad to London in 20 years. <br/>“A British court today (Thursday) issued a decision for the release of Mr Kifah Hassan Jabbar, chief executive of Iraqi Airways,” the transport ministry said. <br/>It said the court ruling was greeted by “angry shouts” from Kuwaitis attending the hearing, who “expressed their discontent and dissatisfaction with the decision.” </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/May/middleeast_May99.xml&section=middleeast&col=" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>:</strong></p> </blockquote> <h3 style="color: #800000">Commentary and Analysis</h3> <p><strong>The secret behind Iran’s power</strong><strong>: By Fatih Abdulsalam</strong></p> <blockquote><p>Why is Iran seen as a fundamental power in the region stretching from Afghanistan to Lebanon and in between Iraq, its golden state? <br/>There are some who think that Iran’s military maneuvers and revelations of new weapons, boats, frigates and missiles that can reach Israel and Europe are the source of this power. <br/>People who entertain such opinions, I am sorry to say, are naïve. The U.S. and Europe have no fears of the display of Iranian armaments. <br/>Strategy analysts and experts say Iranian weapons might be ineffective. The point is whether the weapons are operational and can be used. <br/>The analysts believe if the U.S. attacks Iran, the first thing its forces will do is to render Iranian weapons systems ineffective. <br/>Iran’s Western enemies will take the initiative and do not allow Iran to unleash its missiles and other weapons on their targets. <br/>But still Iran is a powerful country. Iran’s strong muscles are not due to its weaponry. <br/>Iran’s strength emanates from its diplomacy and the role it plays almost in all important files in the region. Arab states have almost no role to play here. <br/>Therefore, it is so hard for Iran’s nemesis, the U.S., to embark on any negotiating or movements in the region without taking Tehran into account. <br/>Tehran has proxies and agents throughout the region. They are the source of Iran’s power and not its weapons. </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2010-05-06%5Ckurd.htm" class="external" target="_blank">Source</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-9815"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/04/16/iraqi-refugees-in-syria-not-going-back-soon/#respond" title="Comment on Iraqi refugees in Syria not going back soon">No Comments</a></span> Posted on April 16th, 2010 by Abdus-Samad</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/04/16/iraqi-refugees-in-syria-not-going-back-soon/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Iraqi refugees in Syria not going back soon">Iraqi refugees in Syria not going back soon</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/child-labour/" rel="tag">child labour</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/children/" rel="tag">Children</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/damascus/" rel="tag">Damascus</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/domestic-violence/" rel="tag">domestic violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/douma-refugee-registration-centre/" rel="tag">Douma refugee registration centre</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/education/" rel="tag">Education</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/farah-dakhlallah/" rel="tag">Farah Dakhlallah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/food-ration/" rel="tag">food ration</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/health/" rel="tag">Health</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-refugees/" rel="tag">iraqi refugees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/poverty/" rel="tag">Poverty</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prostitution/" rel="tag">Prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rape/" rel="tag">Rape</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugee-agency/" rel="tag">refugee agency</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugee-camps/" rel="tag">refugee camps</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugees/" rel="tag">Refugees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/syria/" rel="tag">Syria</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unemployment-levels/" rel="tag">unemployment levels</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr-funding-shortfalls/" rel="tag">UNHCR Funding shortfalls</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr-registration-centre/" rel="tag">UNHCR registration centre</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p><strong>Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees have been stuck in Syria for years. They are running out of money and into trouble. </strong> </p> <p>Burud (39) walks with a limp. She lifted her long dress to show that she has been missing a foot ever since she came too close to an exploding bomb in Baghdad in 2005. After she recuperated from her injuries – most of them, that is, she is still missing a hand and her body is full of shards left by the bomb. Burud fled to Syria, where she remains to this day. </p> <div style="border-right: lightgrey 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: lightgrey 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: lightgrey 1px solid; width: 360px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: lightgrey 1px solid"><a title="Damascus_shop_captioned" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27086036@N02/4526789050/" class="external" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" alt="Damascus_shop_captioned" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900im_/http://static.flickr.com/4042/4526789050_51580b7117.jpg" border="0"/></a><br/> <h3><b>Most refugees are Sunnis</b></h3> <p>According to UN estimates, Syria harbours up to 900,000 Iraqi refugees. </p> <p>Of all registered refugees, 65 percent are from Baghdad province. </p> <p>Most, (62 percent) are Sunnis. Only 19 percent are Shiites. Slightly less (11 percent) of refugees are Christian. </p> <p>In Iraq, 60 percent of the population is Shia, 20 percent are Sunni and one percent is Christian. </p> </p></div> <p>She lives in the narrow Sha’ab street, out in the Damascus suburb of Yarmouk, with her six children, aged 4 to 17. For Burud, going back is not an option. “I have gone through enough,” she said. “And besides, we were kicked out of our house by Shiite militias.” </p> <h3>Hundreds of thousands fled for Syria</h3> <p>Burud is just one of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who have been living in Syria for years. Most of them do not live in refugee camps but have found a place amongst the Syrians. About 163,000 refugees are currently registered with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, but it is estimated that an additional 400,000 to 800,000 have not. “Perhaps they don’t need our help. Or perhaps they don’t trust us,” said Farah Dakhlallah, a spokesperson for the UNHCR in Damascus. </p> <p>After the2006 bombing of Al Askari mosque in Samara set off a wave of violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq, refugees started pouring into Syria in huge numbers. At one point, tens of thousands were arriving weekly. Since 2008, Iraq has slowly become less violent. The number of people killed dropped from 2,000 a month to somewhere between 200 and 300. But, like Burud, many refugees have no intention of returning. They no longer have homes to go back to, or remain wary of conditions in their home country. </p> <p>The UN has yet to give the green light for them to return. “A lot of problems remain with general security,” Dakhlallah said, sitting in the UNHCR’s Damascus office. “In addition, power and potable water are not readily available. Unemployment levels are high. We do not believe that the conditions allow for a safe, permanent return, particularly in the five central provinces. A lot of work remains to be done there.” </p> <p>The Iraqi government promised large sums of money, housing and jobs to returning refugees. “But it has failed to make good on those promises,” said Filippo Rossi of the UNHCR registration centre in Douma. Many people have returned without any assistance; the UN assumes some 60,000 did in the last year. </p> <h3>New refugees are still coming </h3> <p>But at the registration centre, dozens of new arrivals still awaited their turn. Every day, some 20 to 30 families, 150 a week, still check in here. Approximately 60 percent are fresh from Iraq. The others have been in Syria for a while but only register once they run out of money and need support. The slower influx of refugees means that their total number is now declining, but the Iraqis left here are doing worse and worse. “Most are middle-class Iraqis who have been pushed into the margins of society,” Dakhlallah said. </p> <p>Officially, refugees are not allowed to work in Syria. “Which forces them to work illegally,” said Dakhlallah. They lose their dignity and their families fall apart. Domestic violence becomes more frequent. Generally speaking, a lot of negative phenomena are on the rise: child labour, forced marriages, prostitution.” </p> <p>Mazen (50) is a Sunni from the Al-Ghazaliya neighbourhood in Baghdad. “I had a prospering car rental business,” he recalled. “But Shiite militias took over my neighbourhood in 2006. I was threatened and told to leave. One day, militias gained access to my home by posing as a regular patrol and raped my wife. I took her, my daughter [now 14] and my two sons [18 and 21] and fled here. By now we have gone through all of our savings, and there is no work here for us.” </p> <p>Mazen does not want to go back. Al-Ghazaliya is still under Shia control. “If we returned we would be killed. Here we are safe, but dependent on outside help. I have lost my dignity,” he said. </p> <p>All registered refugees are entitled to food rations consisting of rice, sugar and tea. Vulnerable groups, single mothers especially, also receive financial assistance of some 80 euros a month. They pay only a nominal fee for basic medical care and their children can attend school for free. </p> <p>The UNHCR is trying hard to prevent Syria’s better healthcare from drawing ‘medical tourism’ from Iraq. The UN supports Syrian healthcare and education by building new schools, for instance, and introducing new educational methods. “It is important to continue this assistance,” Dakhlallah said, “so Damascus won’t suddenly decide it has had enough. So far, Syria has been more than generous.” Still, the UNHCR expects that international financial contributions will dwindle as the world’s attention shifts away from Iraq and its refugees. “Iraq is no longer the world’s biggest problem, but this would be exactly the wrong moment to pull out. A lot of refugees can’t return,” Dakhlallah said. </p> <p>Burud’s husband returned to Iraq in 2006 to earn money. “He is risking his life,” Burud said. “At a certain point he was kidnapped ad by Shiite militias, held captive for three months and tortured.” </p> <p>“In Iraq we are humiliated. We have asked our government for help, but only Shiites or people with wasta [connections] receive it. I am not going back.” </p> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.nrc.nl/international/Features/article2525449.ece/Iraqi_refugees_in_Syria_not_going_back_soon" class="external" target="_blank">nrc.nl – International – Features – Iraqi refugees in Syria not going back soon</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-9212"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/03/18/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d8%b4%d9%81-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a3%d8%b2%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%a5%d9%86%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%ae%d8%b7%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%ac%d9%87-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%86%d8%a7/#respond" title="Comment on الكشف عن أزمة إنسانية خطيرة تواجه النازحين العراقيين">No Comments</a></span> Posted on March 18th, 2010 by markfromireland</div> <h3><a 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rel="tag">sanitation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security-concerns/" rel="tag">security concerns</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/squatters/" rel="tag">Squatters</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/squatters-evictions-halted/" rel="tag">Squatters -evictions halted</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/syria/" rel="tag">Syria</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unami/" rel="tag">UNAMI</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr-funding-shortfalls/" rel="tag">UNHCR Funding shortfalls</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/vulnerable-communities/" rel="tag">vulnerable communities</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>افادت منظمة لاجئون دوليون " ريفوجيز انترناشيونال(<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.refugeesinternational.org/" target="_blank" class="external">Refugees International</a>) " غير الحكومية ان مئات الاف العراقيين الذين نزحوا من ديارهم بسبب الحرب الى مخيمات يعمها البؤس, يعانون من ازمة انسانية خطيرة. وكشفت المنظمة ان بين المليون ونصف المليون عراقي الذين اضطروا الى مغادرة منازلهم في العام الفين وستة والفين وسبعة زهاء خمسمئة الف, يعيشون في الاكواخ". وافاد تقرير للمنظمة ان الحكومة لا تبذل الكثير وربما لا تفعل شيئا لمساعدة النازحين داعية الولايات المتحدة "التي تتحمل مسؤولية خاصة" في هذه الازمة الانسانية الى الاهتمام بهم وفق التقرير . من جانبه، دعا سفير العراق في الولايات المتحدة سمير شاكر الصميدعي الحكومة الى بذل المزيد من اجل العراقيين النازحين داخل وخارج البلاد وقال ان "بلدا يقوم على بحر من النفط لا يجب ان يعيش سكانه في مثل هذه الظروف". </p> <p dir="rtl" align="right">( <strong>روابط ذات علاقة </strong>- <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/03/18/iraq-humanitarian-needs-persist-refugees-international/">Iraq: Humanitarian Needs Persist | Refugees International | Gorilla’s Guides</a>  )</p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-9198"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/03/18/iraq-humanitarian-needs-persist-refugees-international/#respond" title="Comment on Iraq: Humanitarian Needs Persist | Refugees International">No Comments</a></span> Posted on March 18th, 2010 by markfromireland</div> <h3><a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <ul> <li> <blockquote style="border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding-bottom: 1em;">As the U.S. continues to draw down its military forces and eventually end its occupation in Iraq, the U.S. and other donors must increase their humanitarian and development assistance and commitment to finding long-term solutions for displaced Iraqis. Millions of people are still displaced without access to shelter, food, health care or other basics. It is too soon for the U.S. government and other donors to abandon the needs of the Iraqi people. Likewise, the UN must seek to increase its presence and resources inside the country and throughout the region, ensuring that Iraq’s most vulnerable are protected and assisted until durable solutions are available.</p></blockquote> </li> <li> <blockquote>On the one hand the U.S., the UN, and the entire international community often champion the considerable security progress inside Iraq. On the other hand, these same entities continue to be extremely constrained by highly restrictive security protocols. These protocols no longer reflect the realities in the country, and the lack of access continues to severely hamper the humanitarian response of the UN and the U.S. The zero-risk mentality of the burgeoning security industry has hijacked more rational and creative thinking that might help guarantee staff safety while allowing for greater mobility in a more low-profile manner. </p></blockquote> </li> </ul> <div style="border-right: black 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: black 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: black 1px solid; width: 300px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: black 1px solid"> <p><strong>Policy recommendations</strong></p> <ul> <li> <p>The U.S. should continue to fund current and future UN appeals at no less than 50% and seek to dramatically increase its support for community development programs.</p> </li> <li> <p>The UN and the U.S. should review and adapt their security measures in Iraq to allow staff greater freedom of movement and access to vulnerable communities.</p> </li> <li> <p>The Government of Iraq should develop a detailed plan to implement the solutions included in its 2008 National Policy on Displacement.</p> </li> <li> <p>UNHCR should dramatically and rapidly increase its number of staff working in the field inside Iraq.</p> </li> <li> <p>The U.S. and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) should urge the Government of Iraq to create a process for IDPs to voluntarily integrate into the local communities in which they have been displaced.</p> </li> <li> <p>UNHCR should conduct a thorough needs assessment of the Palestinian refugee community in Iraq and seek durable solutions for those living in Iraq and Syria, including third country resettlement.</p> </li> </ul> <h3>Download File:</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.refugeesinternational.org/sites/default/files/031710_iraq.pdf" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq: Humanitarian Needs Persist</a> File Size 136.03 KB (PDF)</li> </ul> <h4>About:</h4> <ul> <li><em>Refugees International Senior Advocate Elizabeth Campbell and consultant Nir Rosen assessed the situation for displaced Iraqis in Iraq and Syria in February 2010.</em></li> </ul></div> <p>The humanitarian situation facing Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people is quickly becoming a protracted one for which the U.S. bears special responsibility. Though the country is well positioned to generate vast sums of revenue from its oil, it will take many years before the government is able to rebuild the country’s infrastructure and provide basic services to its people. Ongoing political and security concerns continue to challenge development efforts. It is thus critical that the U.S. and other donors continue to support a strong and expanded humanitarian program, working hand-in-hand with a variety of community development initiatives. </p> </p> <h3>Iraqis Living as Squatters in Slums </h3> <p>UNHCR estimates that of the 1.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) forced from their homes in 2006 and 2007, 33% or 500,000 live as squatters in slum areas. Refugees International visited about 20 different squatter settlements in various parts of Baghdad, Diyala, and Salah al-Din. These people have no legal title to the land. Many fear returning to their original homes. Most are too poor to relocate. The settlements all lack basic services, including water, sanitation, and electricity and are built in precarious places—under bridges, alongside railroad tracks, and amongst garbage dumps. In 2009 the Iraqi Government issued a directive calling upon all squatters to vacate public buildings. This directive has since been postponed, but they all remain at risk of eviction. UNHCR will have to liaise closely with other UN agencies and international and national NGOs to provide assistance to these communities and to urge the Government of Iraq to create programs of land grants and housing for these people. </p> <p>Refugees International met several Iraqis who left Syria, because they could no longer afford to live there, and are now living as internally displaced squatters in these slum areas. As one squatter told the RI team, “We used to own a home in Abu Ghraib. Now we have lost everything. It is too dangerous for us to return there, so we are living here, hoping that the government will give us a small piece of land.” </p> <p>These families are among the most vulnerable in Iraq. Most have not received assistance from the government, UN agencies, or NGOs. Since they live illegally, the government is reluctant to improve their living conditions and address their basic needs. UNHCR is aware of many of these squatter settlements and is in the process of conducting a more comprehensive survey of them. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) also has a list of the settlements in which the internally displaced live. IOM and UNHCR should work together to develop a single, comprehensive list so that humanitarian interventions can be targeted and coordinated. </p> <p>If UNHCR is going to have any impact addressing the needs of these especially vulnerable displaced people and the larger communities, they will have to dramatically increase the number of UNHCR staff people with the responsibility of reaching out to them. For those at risk of eviction in the near future, the UN should work closely with the Government of Iraq to begin to devise a contingency plan. As outlined in Iraq’s July 2008 National Policy on Displacement, displaced people and host communities should be involved in planning, designing and implementing appropriate strategies and programs concerning their return, integration or relocation. </p> <h3>Increasing Humanitarian Access in Iraq </h3> <p>On the one hand the U.S., the UN, and the entire international community often champion the considerable security progress inside Iraq. On the other hand, these same entities continue to be extremely constrained by highly restrictive security protocols. These protocols no longer reflect the realities in the country, and the lack of access continues to severely hamper the humanitarian response of the UN and the U.S. The zero-risk mentality of the burgeoning security industry has hijacked more rational and creative thinking that might help guarantee staff safety while allowing for greater mobility in a more low-profile manner. </p> <p>The UN Department for Safety and Security and the Resident Security Officers for the U.S. must adapt their security protocols to the new and changing realities and allow greater access for humanitarian workers. The northern and southern governorates of Iraq are widely recognized as being safe. Many parts of the central governorates can also be accessed daily for field visits. Refugees International staff was able to travel alone without security escorts throughout most of Baghdad and multiple locations within Diyala, Salah al-Din and Babel. Iraqis of all types and backgrounds interviewed by Refugees International expressed a strong desire to see the UN and international actors return and fully function in the country. </p> <p>Currently the U.S. government and the UN are completely dependent upon the U.S. military to provide access outside of the international zone. Access to Iraqi communities occurs irregularly and in a very limited fashion. Plans have to be made months in advance to coordinate trips. This already limited access will be further reduced with the impending U.S. military withdrawal. </p> <p>Furthermore, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), led by the Department of Political Affairs (DPA), often does not prioritize humanitarian issues. They tend to take a back seat to UNAMI’s political agenda. Political affairs officials are often given priority over humanitarian actors when it comes to dividing the limited number of slots available for staff to travel outside of the international zone. </p> <p>While international UN staff and diplomatic missions have limited access to Iraqi communities, an increasing number of international NGOs are accessing vulnerable Iraqis in Baghdad and other parts of the country. There is also a plethora of Iraqi NGOs who are making significant humanitarian contributions, without which much of the work could not take place. UNHCR’s efforts to enhance the capacity of over 100 national NGOs should be supported. </p> <h3>Returns and the Prospects for Local Integration </h3> <p>Though the Government of Iraq, the U.S., and other governments continue to push for displaced people to return home, much of the current displacement is likely to be permanent. UNHCR estimates that only 426,000 people have returned, the overwhelming majority of whom were internally displaced people. People will continue to return home, but only at a trickle. Lack of security and jobs continues to be a strong deterrent. Others are simply too traumatized to return to their places of origin. Long-term solutions must be found for these people. </p> <p>If given the option, IOM estimates that 25% of IDPs would be interested in local integration. This would be an important step forward in the protection of some IDPs, as they would then presumably be granted residency cards reflecting their new place of habitual residence. Such cards would allow them full and fair access to all services at the local and governorate level. They would be able to vote like other Iraqis in future elections, attend schools without facing discrimination, and seek employment without impediments. The U.S. and international community should urge the Government of Iraq to create a process for IDPs to voluntarily integrate locally if they so choose. </p> <p>Those wishing to return to their original homes and lands, but who are unwilling or unable to do so at this time, should continue to be afforded this opportunity when the conditions warrant safe and voluntary returns. Efforts to ensure that such people are able to retrieve their properties should continue to be made. This includes urging the Government of Iraq to expand its property restitution mechanism to all of the governorates and to ensure that those displaced between 2003 and 2005 are also provided a mechanism to reclaim or be compensated for their lost properties. The Iraqi government should at least quadruple the $850 return compensation grant currently available.</p> <p>Although few people have returned home, the Government of Iraq, the UN, and several donors have supported a successful return and reintegration program in the Governorate of Diyala, a place that suffered some of the most severe violence and the displacement of some 300,000 individuals. The objective is to support the voluntary return and reintegration of at least 27,500 families while rebuilding their communities. Assistance has been provided to both returnees and local residents in the understanding that communities as a whole must be engaged if resentments are to be avoided and returns sustained. Targeting some 400 largely destroyed villages, the project aims to provide urgent life-saving services and rebuild homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods. </p> <p>The Government of Iraq has pledged some $78 million dollars for reconstruction of destroyed homes, but the disbursement of these funds is lagging. Despite this, 3,000 starter homes have been constructed with 6,000 more planned for 2010 if funding is made available. </p> <p>The success of this initiative stems in part from the strong political commitment and financial pledge from the central government, the coordination and participation of most of the UN agencies and many international and national NGOs, and the strong support of the local authorities and communities. It is also successful because humanitarian actors are able to work closely with development actors, ensuring that the returns and the rebuilding of communities are long-term and sustainable. When Refugees International visited the project in villages near Khan Bani Saad, it was a rare but positive example of long-term development efforts working hand-in-hand with humanitarian intervention, benefitting a much larger number of people than those directly targeted for assistance. This model is successful and could be replicated in other parts of Iraq, but it is very costly. Donors should be willing to support these efforts. </p> <h3>Protecting Refugees in Syria </h3> <p>Most Iraqi refugees in Syria have benefited from generous government policies and hospitable neighbors. The government’s recent efforts to extend residency permits for six months, their commitment to issue some work permits, and their engagement in drafting legislation that will address the presence of Iraqis in Syria are all positive steps that help to advance the protection of refugees. </p> <p>Still, the overall situation for Iraqi refugees continues to deteriorate. It is therefore essential that the U.S. and other donors maintain their humanitarian commitment to this increasingly protracted refugee caseload. There are approximately 3,000 new individuals registering for refugee status each month. Most are unable to work. Families continue to be torn apart as men seek employment opportunities outside of Syria. Rents continue to increase. Families are forced to move in together and share small apartments. This year there are 30% fewer Iraqi children enrolled in school. In some cases the costs of books and school uniforms are prohibitive for families. There has been an increase in detention and deportation, due in part to petty crime and prostitution. Opportunities for local integration have not materialized, and the majority of refugees have no plans to return. While most refugees dream of third country resettlement, this solution will not be afforded to most of the 218,000 refugees currently registered with UNHCR. </p> <p>Almost 13,000 vulnerable Iraqi families now receive cash assistance in the amount of approximately $150 every month (plus $15 per dependent) through the use of ATM cards. This creative program is efficient, effective and dignified—and a preferred form of assistance for most refugees. The ATM card system has an overhead of approximately 2.3%, whereas the overhead cost for assistance distributed through partner agencies can be as high as 23%. In urban contexts like Damascus, cash assistance cuts down on otherwise costly outreach and distribution efforts. Without more funding, UNHCR will be forced to scale back this life-saving program. </p> <p>Similarly, refugees with chronic but treatable illnesses like diabetes and cancer are at risk of losing UNHCR’s support due to funding shortfalls. Thousands of refugees’ lives will be at stake if UNHCR and its partners are no longer able to help subsidize tertiary health care. </p> <p>The World Food Program has also responded to the particular needs of delivering assistance in an urban environment through a recently introduced pilot program. Each family receives a SMS text message on his or her mobile phone with the voucher number and the amount of the entitlement. Families are then able to redeem the voucher for food from a list of nine items in any one of the selected stores participating in the program. Such a program directly benefits the local and national economy and supports Syrian-run markets. Refugees feel empowered to make their own food selections. Overhead costs are drastically reduced. This innovative model should be expanded in Syria and replicated in other parts of the world. </p> <p>While these two innovative programs should be strengthened, more emphasis needs to be placed on skills training so that refugees are able to become self-sufficient. Information technology programs are particularly useful, as they have utility in resettlement countries, the country of asylum, and the country of origin. </p> <p>Today, UNHCR has one of the most sophisticated and accurate registration systems in the world operating in Syria. The numbers of refugees registered with UNHCR as well as the needs of many of the most vulnerable are well known. Donors have not been able to even meet the needs of registered refugees let alone those who choose not to register. The U.S. especially has a special responsibility to help host governments ensure that the basic assistance and protection needs of this population continue to be met until durable solutions are readily available. </p> <h3><b>Refugees in Iraq Need Durable Solutions</b> </h3> <p>There are some 35,000 refugees in Iraq. One of the largest and most vulnerable populations is the stateless Palestinians. Though successful efforts have been made to resettle Palestinians from three border camps, the needs of those in Damascus, Al Hol Refugee Camp in Syria and Baghdad must be urgently addressed. Unlike Iraqis, Palestinian refugees from Iraq have been denied access to asylum in neighboring countries and subjected to forced encampment. In Baghdad they continue to be subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention, raids by the police and army, and armed violence. Their recently issued identification documents are noticeably different from Iraqi documents, making them easy targets at checkpoints. Most Palestinians attempt to acquire Iraqi documentation, and the men regularly travel with women to help protect them against arbitrary arrest and detention. Hiding their Palestinian identity is a matter of survival for these refugees. </p> <p>At the start of the war in 2003 there were an estimated 35,000 Palestinian refugees in Baghdad. Today there are only 11,000. Left behind are the elderly, the disabled, and some of the most destitute families. Even if they attempted to flee, there is nowhere for them to run—the Jordanian and Syrian borders are closed to them and UNHCR actively turns away Palestinians attempting to flee to Al Waleed Camp on the border. </p> <p>Many of the families are in need of urgent assistance. UNHCR needs to conduct a full assessment of this population and develop criteria for resettlement. In Syria UNHCR needs to immediately refer Palestinian cases in Damascus for resettlement and continue resettlement out of Al Hol Camp. </p> <h3><b>Conclusion</b> </h3> <p>As the U.S. continues to draw down its military forces and eventually end its occupation in Iraq, the U.S. and other donors must increase their humanitarian and development assistance and commitment to finding long-term solutions for displaced Iraqis. Millions of people are still displaced without access to shelter, food, health care or other basics. It is too soon for the U.S. government and other donors to abandon the needs of the Iraqi people. Likewise, the UN must seek to increase its presence and resources inside the country and throughout the region, ensuring that Iraq’s most vulnerable are protected and assisted until durable solutions are available. </p> </p> <p><em>Refugees International Senior Advocate Elizabeth Campbell and consultant Nir Rosen assessed the situation for displaced Iraqis in Iraq and Syria in February 2010.</em> </p> </p> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.refugeesinternational.org/policy/field-report/iraq-humanitarian-needs-persist" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq: Humanitarian Needs Persist</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.refugeesinternational.org/" target="_blank" class="external">Refugees International</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-9041"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/03/10/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82-%d9%8a%d8%aa%d9%87%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%aa-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1/#comments" title="Comment on العراق يتهم الكويت والسعودية والإمارات بتهريب الفتيات العراقيات للعمل بالدعارة">3 Comments</a></span> Posted on March 10th, 2010 by Um Thalit</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/03/10/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82-%d9%8a%d8%aa%d9%87%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%aa-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to العراق يتهم الكويت والسعودية والإمارات بتهريب الفتيات العراقيات للعمل بالدعارة">العراق يتهم الكويت والسعودية والإمارات بتهريب الفتيات العراقيات للعمل بالدعارة</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/human-rights/" title="View all posts in Human Rights" rel="category tag">Human Rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/women/" title="View all posts in Women and Children" rel="category tag">Women and Children</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/child-poverty/" rel="tag">Child Poverty</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/child-prostitution/" rel="tag">Child Prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/human-trafficking/" rel="tag">Human Trafficking</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kuwait/" rel="tag">kuwait</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prostitution/" rel="tag">Prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saudi-arabia/" rel="tag">Saudi Arabia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/uae/" rel="tag">UAE</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-kidnapping-of/" rel="tag">women - kidnapping of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-trafficking-in/" rel="tag">Women - trafficking in</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div dir="rtl" align="right"> <blockquote> <p>اتهمت الصحافة  العراقية المحلية ثلاثة دول خليجية بالمتاجرة فى النساء العراقيات من خلال تهريبهن خارج العراق للعمل في مهنة لاإنسانية منافية للأخلاق والدين وهي الدعارة أقدم مهنة عرفها التاريخ, والتي تعتبر التجارة الأكثر رواجاً في العالم كجزء من الإتجار بالبشر ونقلت وكالة أنباء الإعلام العراقي (واع)  الحكومية عن مصادر في دول جوار العراق قولها إن "هناك عمليات تهريب لفتيات عراقيات إلى بعض دول الخليج العربي بالإتفاق مع عصابات الجريمة المنظمة داخل العراق".وأضافت المصادر أن "عمليات التهريب تتم بالتعاون مع عناصر في مخابرات هذه الدول خاصة مخابرات السعودية والكويت والإمارات العربية المتحدة"، مبينةً ان أغلب الفتيات المهربات هن من الأبكار ويجبرن على العمل في النوادي الليلية".</p> <p>وكشف وزير الداخلية جواد البولاني أن "التجارة بالرقيق الأبيض انتشرت بشكل لافت في الفترة الأخيرة ما دفع الوزارة إلى تشكيل فرق خاصة لمتابعة هذا الموضوع", إلا أنه لم يشر إلى تورط أجهزة رسمية في دول الجوار في هذا الموضوع. وقد حذرت منظمات نسوية عراقية من "استفحال هذه الظاهرة", موضحةً "أسبابها إلى الوضع المعيشي الصعب لأسر بعض الفتيات ما جعلهن فريسة لعصابات من خلال الإغراءات المادية وأحياناً تتعرض بعض الفتيات إلى عمليات الاختطاف ومن ثم تهريبهن للخارج".ويشار إلى أنه هذا هو لسان حال 27 مليون إنسان، 80% منهم من النساء والأطفال يعيشون في ظلّ العبودية الحديثة أو ما يعرف بتجارة البشر، إذ أصبحت تجارة البشر أكبر تجارة لا شرعية في العالم، حيث تقدّر منظمة العمل الدولية قي آخر تقرير لها أرباح استغلال النساء والأطفال جنسياً بـ28 مليار دولار سنوياً، كما تقدر أرباح العمالة الإجبارية بـ32 مليار دولار سنوياً، </p> <p>وتؤكد المنظمة أن 98% من ضحايا الاستغلال التجاري الإجباري للجنس هم من النساء والأطفال. ويتعرض حوالي 3 ملايين إنسان في العالم للإتجار بهم، بينهم 1.2 مليون طفل, ويتمّ الإتّجار بطفلين على الأقل في الدقيقة للاستغلال الجنسي أو العبودية, كما يتنقل ما يتراوح بين 45 ألف 50 ألف من الضحايا إلى الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية سنوياً</p> </blockquote> <p><strong>المصدر : </strong>  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://www.aliraqnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=34816" class="external" target="_blank">شبكة أخبار العراق – الأخبار</a></p> </p></div> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-8734"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/02/22/iraqs-ladies-of-pleasure-in-lebanonstuck-between-two-evils-aswat-al-iraq/#respond" title="Comment on Iraq’s ladies of pleasure in Lebanon…stuck between two evils! : Aswat Al Iraq">No Comments</a></span> Posted on February 22nd, 2010 by Mohammed Ibn Laith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/02/22/iraqs-ladies-of-pleasure-in-lebanonstuck-between-two-evils-aswat-al-iraq/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Iraq’s ladies of pleasure in Lebanon…stuck between two evils! : Aswat Al Iraq">Iraq’s ladies of pleasure in Lebanon…stuck between two evils! : Aswat Al Iraq</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/category/women/" title="View all posts in Women and Children" rel="category tag">Women and Children</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/lebanon/" rel="tag">Lebanon</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prostitution/" rel="tag">Prostitution</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugees/" rel="tag">Refugees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-poverty-of/" rel="tag">women - poverty of</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>BEIRUT / <a title="Aswat al-Iraq:" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127417" class="external" target="_blank">Aswat al-Iraq:</a> The 22-year-old Abeer was sitting all by herself at one of the largest night clubs in Junya, northern Beirut, along with other Iraqi filles de joie, and did not have any qualms about revealing her true nationality although she mastered the Lebanese dialect very well.</p> <p>Amidst all the hullabaloo inside the murky smoky cabaret, Abeer had time to tell Aswat al-Iraq that the living and security conditions Iraq is going through were all to blame for her ending up in the oldest profession.</p> <p>“I came to Lebanon three months ago in search of a job but some bad company brought me here to this place. I failed to get myself a decent job but I had no other option to have this one that brings me $40 a day. I can earn more if I went outside the club with one of the customers,” she said, puffing a cloud of thick smoke in the air from a cigarette between her long red-painted thumb and index fingernails.</p> <p>She said she has been an employee back in Iraq.</p> <p>“After I broke up with my husband and my folks emigrated outside Iraq, I had to depend on myself. I came to Beirut from Syria. I know several other women in my ‘career’ but they are strictly hush-hush about it,” said a smiling Abeer.</p> <p>Another Iraqi girl thinks the phenomenon in Beirut might be far less than in Syria.</p> <p>“Many Iraqi women are doing just this openly in Syria and in well-known places,” said the woman, who declined to give her real name.</p> <p>“Some are blaming the conditions in Iraq and keep parroting on the tough circumstances their families are going through back at home. However, I think this is one of the reasons, but not a main one,” the woman, who looked more conservative than Abeer, told Aswat al-Iraq.</p> <p>Another Iraqi lady of the night said some of the women used to sell love in Baghdad and so they had to go out of the country after all the threats they have received.</p> <p>“Lebanon is a haven of prostitutes from all over the world,” she quipped.</p> <p>Saad Abdulrazzaq, an Iraqi researcher, said some families had to leave Iraq under bad security conditions but were shocked by the high prices in the countries they went to.</p> <p>“Those Iraqi women had no other option,” Abdulrazzaq told Aswat al-Iraq.</p> <p>He called on the Iraqi government to do its best to bring displaced and emigrant Iraqi families back to their motherland and save the nation’s reputation.</p> <p>“I just want to live and have a good time,” said Abeer, puffing a final cloud as she put out her cigarette and vanishing away.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127417" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq’s ladies of pleasure in Lebanon…stuck between two evils! : Aswat Al Iraq</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prostitution/page/2/">« Previous Entries</a></div> <div class="alignright"></div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar" class="span-10 last"> <div class="span-10" id="tabs"> <ul> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#featured-articles">Featured Articles</a></li> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#latest-articles">Latest Articles</a></li> </ul> <div id="featured-articles" class="widget"> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116212900/http://gorillasguides.com/2012/04/19/hezbollah-says-latest-bombings-in-iraq-thwart-mission-to-build-state/">Hezbollah says latest bombings in Iraq “thwart mission to build state”</a></li> <li><a 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