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By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press WriterWed Oct 24, 3:24 AM ET
The Iraqi women jump onto the stage at the al-Rawabi club, their long black
hair swinging, their young faces caked with makeup. Iraqi pop music booms out
as they sway and dance under strobe lights.
Nearby, a woman nicknamed At'outa meets her paying dates men who hand over
$90 a night for companionship and sex.
This club in northwest Damascus represents one of the most troubling aspects of
the Iraqi refugee crisis Iraqi women and girls who are turning to
prostitution to survive in countries that have taken them in but won't let them
or their families work at most other jobs.
No reliable figures of Iraqi prostitutes exist, but an increase in the number
of Iraqi women seen in recent months in clubs and on the streets of Damascus,
Amman and other cities suggests the problem is growing as more Iraqis flee
their country's violence.
Most of the Iraqi women at the al-Rawabi club appeared to be in their late
teens and early 20s although some were older. While some danced on stage, about
a half-dozen others strolled around the tables, smiling at men and inviting
offers to sit down for a drink.
Ayman al-Halaqi, a club manager here, said Iraqi dancers are cheaper to hire
than Syrians. Back home, even dancing in a skimpy costume would be considered
shameful. Iraqi women who go beyond that can earn 10 times more from a single
encounter with a client than by working a full day as a housemaid.
At the al-Rawabi club, the usual customers are mostly Iraqi or Syrian men, but
summer brought the annual flood of visitors from Persian Gulf states and Saudi
Arabia.
Bassam Abdul-Wahid, a 27-year-old Iraqi who runs an import-export business in
Damascus, was partying with three male companions at the club one evening.
Sporting three gold rings and a flashy gold bracelet, he motioned for more
whiskey as two slender young Iraqi women in tight jeans slipped into chairs at
the men's table.
Abdul-Wahid, a regular at al-Rawabi, joked that he likes his table to be "an
example of Iraqi generosity." As the liquor flowed, the women laughed and
exchanged "high-fives" with the men but refused to talk with a reporter.
At'outa, a blonde in her late 30s whose nickname means "little kitten" in
Arabic, agreed to tell her story but refused to give her real name for fear
neighbors or her children would learn what she does.
Last year, she fled Iraq with her son and two daughters, all teenagers, after
her husband was gunned down by militants in Baghdad's volatile Ghazaliyah
district.
After a few months in Syria, her late husband's savings were running out. She
tried working as a tailor and a housemaid, but could not make ends meet, she
said. Then, a man offer to cancel a $250 debt in exchange for sex. Since then,
she has regularly met other dates at the al-Rawabi club, where sex earns her
enough money to pay the bills.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that around 2 million Iraqis
have fled to neighboring countries since 2003.
In Jordan and Syria, they struggle to get by.
"Men and boys are most likely to be deported, so women sometimes work
illegally, but have no protection from employer abuse," the New York-based
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children said in a recent report.
After a fact-finding trip to Jordan, the group said it heard accounts of women
and girls turning to prostitution. But its report provided few details.
Amnesty International also reported during the summer that its representatives
were told on a visit to Syria that young Iraqi girls were being pressured by
families to engage in prostitution. The group said it was worried that Iraqi
child trafficking could grow.
Syrian officials are officially silent on the subject, but Amnesty
International says they have voiced concerns in private.
An artists' professional group in Damascus forced the closure of almost 30
night clubs several months ago, saying the dancers and singers were not
licensed a sure sign the performers were Iraqi in tightly controlled Syria.
In Damascus neighborhoods full of Iraqis like Jaramaneh and Sit Zeinab, Iraqi
women often approach men in the streets, asking if they "have a place" or "want
to have some fun."
In Amman, Jordan, many Iraqi refugees flock to the districts of Shemisani and
Rabai, where clubs feature belly dancers and hostesses. Male customers often
are phoned later by the women and asked if they could meet.
Bassam al-Kadi, an official of the human rights group Syria Women's
Observatory, said some Iraqi women had been deported by Syrian authorities
because they were believed involved in prostitution.
Iraqi women whose husbands or fathers are dead or wounded from the war are most
at risk, al-Kadi said.
"These women are being left with no supporter, under tremendous pressure and
severe conditions," he said. "Thus they are being forced to do that, to fetch
bread for their families."
The alternatives are menial household jobs or selling cigarettes and cheap
goods on the street.
At'outa said she tells people that her relatives abroad pay for the $250
monthly rent for the family's apartment. She shares the single bedroom with her
two daughters, while her son sleeps on a living room sofa.
Sobbing, she says she can never go back to Iraq and longs to settle her family
in the West, but her prospects aren't good.
Laurens Jolles of the U.N. refugee office in Damascus said his agency wants to
resettle 20,000 of the most vulnerable Iraqi refugees by year's end. In
mid-February, the United States announced it would let in about 7,000 Iraqis.
Sweden has admitted more than 18,000 since 2006, the highest number in any
European country, but now says it is tightening asylum rules.
But At'outa is just one of an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria
alone.
"I ask myself every day, what did I get out of this life? No family, no home
and no honor," she said. "The guilt is ripping my body to shreds."