Desperate Situations Force Iraqi refugees in Syria to “Survival Sex”

Desperate Situations Force Iraqi refugees in Syria to “Survival Sex”

By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria- Survival Sex is the term coined by the UNCHR to describe refugees forced to enter the sex industry to support their families.  Although the idea is repulsive to most refugees many teenage women are forced to enter this type of work to help their family survive, because they are unable to find conventional jobs.

The increase in women forced into Survival Sex is directly linked to the general impoverishment of the refugee population according to UNHCR representative Laurens Jolles.  “We are more and more confronted with examples of young girls or women who have decided on their own or through their families to get involved in night clubs to supplement the family income or just to look after their children,” Jolles continued.  (Yahoo News)  The girls usually make $30 a night and $100 a night whenever they enter the private villas to render private services.  (BBC News)

Some girls are abducted and forced into the sex trade.  However, there are some situations where the Iraqi refugee women willingly join the sex industry.  First, some teenage girls have been abandoned by their families and do not have a way to support themselves.  Sometimes this happens because a girl lost her virginity or has been divorced, even if it was not her choice to engage in sex.  Also, many girls are forced into the sex industry when they are choosing to support their mothers and family, because their fathers were killed in the war.  Sometimes the girls can remain at home while engaging in the sex industry.  However, it is also common for the girls to married off into temporary marriages or sold directly to exploiters who promise to support the family through the services rendered by the girl.

It is difficult for the Syrian government to be able to address the situation because the shame of the women in the sex industry usually stops them from reporting their situation to the authorities.  Also, the women who are discovered to be engaged in the industry are only arrested by the authorities and bailed out by those who are engaged in exploiting the girls.

The dire situation has caused many Iraqi refugees to lose hope and remain in the sex industry.  For example, a girl who was kidnapped raped and forced into prostitution because her father abandoned after her cousin took away her virginity complained about her situation. “Now they will send me back to Iraq, I have no-one there and in any case I am afraid for my life. I have no hope leaving here. I have told the government I don’t want to go back. My family has abandoned me.”  (BBC News)

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Prostitution ordeal of Iraqi girls- 3 December 2007

Yahoo News (Reuters)- Iraqi refugees turn to sex trade in Syria- 30 December 2007

Claims of Beginning of Genocide in Kenya

By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya – Genocide Watch called a Genocide Alert Tuesday in Kenya, claiming that genocidal massacres are taking place daily in Kenya in the wake of the disputed election of President Mwai Kibaki.  President Kibaki is a member of the ethnic Kikuyu ethnic group, and his opponent Mr. Raila Odinga is a member of the Luo ethnic group. 

Ethnic riots have broken out in numerous places throughout Kenya and hundreds of people have been murdered.  On Tuesday a church in Eldoret was locked and the people inside were burned to death by the mob.  According to Genocide Watch, people “have been pulled from their cars and their identification cards checked for their names, which symbolizes their ethnic identity, and then killed if they belong to groups being targeted.” 

While Kenya has not yet descended into an actual genocide, Genocide Watch claims the ethnic massacres are an indicator that a genocide could be in the preparation stage.

President Kibaki has accused his political opponent of organizing and unleashing the genocide. Mr. Odinga’s supports, on the other hand, blame the violence on Mr. Kibaki, saying he provoked the incidents by “stealing” the election on 27 December. 

While Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe was immediately targeted, retaliatory killings by the Kikuyu are on the rise in the mayhem.  Rights groups say the violence has been exacerbated by a police crackdown on rioting and looting. 

The international community has placed pressure on surrounding countries and the African Union to mediate between Kibaki and Odinga.  Odinga has plans for a mass rally on Thursday, which has been banned by the government on security grounds. 

Kenya has been a largely stable country and is an important ally to the West in its counter-terrorism efforts.   Kenya is usually the peacemaker in African hot spots such as Somalia and Sudan, rather than the conflict focus.  Independent from Britain since 1963, the Kikuyu have dominated the political and business life in East Africa’s biggest and fastest-growing economy.   However, many of Kenya’s 42 tribes accuse the Kikuyu of shutting out others from business and politics, an accusation the Kikuyu deny. 

For more information, please see:

Genocide Watch – Genocide Watch: Kenya – 1 January 20008

Reuters Africa – Kenya government denounces “genocide” as toll hits 300 – 2 January 2008

Telegraph (UK) – Kenya on the brink amid ‘genocide’ claims – 2 January 2008

International Herald Tribune – Gangs of Nairobi’s slums turn political dispute ethnic; concerns politicians can’t bring calm – 2 January 2008

BBC News – Kenyans plead for end to violence – 2 January 2008

South Korea Grants Amnesty to Former Daewoo Chairman

By Juliana Chan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Kim Woo-choong, 71, the founder and former chairman of the collapsed conglomerate Daewoo Group, was pardoned Monday under a traditional New Year amnesty. Mr. Kim was one of 75 people to receive a presidential pardon. Others, including businessmen and six death-row inmates, received reduced sentences or had suspended rights restored.

Daewoo, which was once the country’s second largest conglomerate, collapsed in the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis with over $80 billion in debt and leaving the South Korean government to spend over $32 billion to rescue its component companies. Mr. Kim fled the country in 1999 and has been accused of “ordering his executives to inflate the group’s assets between 1997 and 1998 to obtain bank loans.” He returned in 2005 from Vietnam “to make peace with his past.” He was arrested soon after landing.

Mr. Kim was convicted of accounting fraud that involved borrowing illegal loans from banks, as well as smuggling funds overseas. He was sentenced to prison for eight and a half years in 2006 for embezzlement and accounting fraud. One month later, however, the court suspended the sentence because of Mr. Kim’s health issues.

The justice ministry said Monday’s presidential amnesty pardoned 21 businessmen, two former spy chiefs convicted of illegal wiretapping of political and business leaders, and six death-row inmates who had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. South Korea has placed a moratorium on executions since the last hangings on December 30, 1997.

For more information, please see:

AFP – SKorea pardons tycoon over huge financial collapse: ministry – 31 December 2007

BBC News – South Korea pardons Daewoo boss – 31 December 2007

Financial Times – Korea pardons Daewoo fraudster – 1 January 2008

BRIEF: Mob Burns Church Killing 50

NAIROBI, Kenya – The crisis in Kenya has shifted from a battle between political groups to a full on ethnic feud between President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe and his opponent, Raila Odinga’s Luo tribe. In an effort to escape the violence, thousands of people, mainly Kikuyus, have sought refuge in police stations and churches.

However, even the churches aren’t safe from vigilant gangs. Earlier today, a mob torched a church killing at least 50 people, according to a Red Cross volunteer who helped count the bodies. The Kenya Assemblies of God Pentecostal church, located 5 miles from Eldoret, was harboring a group of Kikuyus. According to witnesses, a group of youths over powered the boys guarding the church and set it on fire.

The gruesome attack is being compared to the slaughter in churches of tens of thousands of victims of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Despite the riots, mounting death toll, and today’s ruthless attack, Odinga insisted he would go on with plans for a march of a million people in the capital Thursday against Kibaki. Odinga accuses Kibaki of stroking the chaos and says it is Kibaki’s administration that “is guilty of genocide.

Most deaths have come from police firing at protesters. At midday, the police estimate the number of deaths to be at 143; however that number is expected to rise by the end of today.

As one of Africa’s most stable democracies and strongest economies fall into complete chaos, January 1, 2008 will be marked as one of Kenya’s darkest moments since its 1963 independence from Britain.

For more information please see:

Yahoo News – Kenya Church Fire Kills 50 Who Fled Mob – 1 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Massacre at Church, Kenya Death Seen at 250 – 1 January 2008

BRIEF: Haditha Marine Officer’s Charges Reduced

The marine officer in charge of the soldiers who are alleged to be responsible for the death of 24 Iraqis in the village of Haditha has had the most serious charges against him dropped.

The charges of unpremeditated murder have been dropped.  However, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich still faces charges of voluntary manslaughter for the killings that were committed by his marines.

Wuterich’s lawyer, Neal Puckett, viewed the reduction of evidence of their client’s claim that the marine officer’s orders were justifiable responses in accordance with the situation of a roadside bomb.  “We are confident that a military jury will acquit Staff Sgt. Wuterich of all remaining charges, because he is, in fact, not guilty.”   (Washington Post)

For more information, please see:

Washington Post- Marine Faces Reduced Charges in Iraq Killings- 1 January 2008