During times of conflict, women and girls are at greater risk of gender-specific harms, including sex trafficking. In Iraq, because of internal conflict and the breakdown in law and order since the overthrow of the Iraqi regime in 2003, large numbers of refugees and internally displaced Iraqis have had to flee their homes, resulting in a rise in kidnapping and trafficking. Victims of sex trafficking may be forced into prostitution by family members, subsequently falling under the control of third party criminals, or may be simply kidnapped. Iraqi government officials have failed to act to prevent such abuses and to punish offenders, as the concept of human trafficking is relatively new in Iraq and in the region. Trafficking victims face the same pervasive stigma attached to women and girls who violate cultural restrictions on behavior and sexuality, and are viewed as having dishonored their families. Iraqi women's organizations and police encounter trafficking cases, but lack training and confuse trafficking with voluntary prostitution. As such, trafficking victims encounter condemnation even from the few institutions that exist to assist them. In Lebanon and Syria, which have no anti-trafficking policies, the combination of large numbers of Iraqi refugees, low wages and corruption in law enforcement agencies has created a situation in which sex trafficking is frequent in nightclubs and hotels in major cities. In Jordan, Iraqis convicted of minor crimes are routinely sent back to Iraq, causing trafficking victims to fear contacting law enforcement because of risk of criminal charges and deportation.

Summary

Heartland Alliance is implementing a two-year education, prevention and direct services project to address the needs of Iraqi victims of sex trafficking in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and within Iraq. The project develops partnerships between women's NGOs, law enforcement agencies and UN agencies, and enhances IOM's role in coordinating protection and referral of trafficking victims by assuring the existence of trained, interconnected service providers in each country. The project bolsters service capacity at seven partnering agencies, provides training and technical consultation to government officials, and provides training to first responders, including law enforcement officials and LNGO staff, who both protect and provide services for victims of trafficking.  Through coordinated information collection, the project is designed to enable UN agencies, law enforcement and civil society organizations to better understand trafficking networks, and to better design trafficking prevention programs.

Activities

Heartland Alliance is working to combat trafficking of Iraqis in the Middle East by:

• Establishing a regional network of human rights and women's organizations to assist Iraqi victims of sex trafficking, and providing training to these organizations;
• Identifying and training first responders, including law enforcement officers and LNGO staff in target countries, to identify victims of trafficking, ensure safety and protection of victims, and refer victims for needed social and legal protective services;
• Identifying and training, in collaboration with IOM and UN agencies, key government personnel to assure support for protection activities;
• Establishing communication systems and facilitating referrals between participating law enforcement and service providers within and between target countries so that trafficking victims in need of emergency services can access needed assistance, including legal representation, emergency or short-term shelter, assistance in repatriation or referral to UNHCR for resettlement to a third country, or emergency medical care;
• Researching and documenting trafficking networks between the target countries to be used for prevention; collecting quantitative information on trafficking victim arrests and deportations.