TEHRAN, Aug. 14 (MNA) The increasing number of female sex workers among displaced Syrians at refugee camps in the neighboring countries, selling themselves to make a living and provide their families with their basic needs is adopting a worrying trend.Sammar is a 20 year-old Syrian girl who has moved to a neighboring country together with her family. We ran away to here but we realized life conditions here are worse than living under fire and bullets, she says.
Al-Hayat Newspaper quotes this angry girl as saying: We are extremely distressed and they know how to take advantage of our helplessness. Doing forbidden things is not right, is not right, is not right, but I cannot leave my family hungry, even if I have to sell myself a thousand times.
Recent reports by written media suggest that the number of sexual abuse networks inside and outside Syria [where these girls escape to] has gone up. These networks trap these girls by taking advantage of their poverty and distress. These Syrian women are twice victimized, once they fall victims to violence and once to the greediness of those who look at the distressed situation of the Syrians as a slave and sex workers market.
Rabab, a 17 year-old Syrian girl says with a depressing voice: 10 dollars per hour! Do you know what that means?! It means bread and water; it means medicines for my ill father.
Leila is another girl who lives at a camp outside Syria. I have been forced into marriage twice. What could I do? I was with a rich man for some time, then he divorced me and gave me some moneyI did not feel anything anymore. What matters when I have sold myself, my home is ruined and my dear ones have either been killed or missing?
Human traffickers take advantage of such circumstances, as the tough conditions make some Syrian displaced families to force their young daughters into marriage. Although this type of marriage is more like trading, they believe this prevents their daughter from falling for corruption.
A young Jordanian who requested anonymity says: These days everyone can marry a beautiful Syrian girl by paying a few dinars. The young man works at a supermarket in the mornings and spends his evenings on helping young Arabs who look for Syrian girls at refugee camps in Jordan for marriage. This way, I and the Syrian families in need can earn a little money, he says in a teasing tone.
Sammar and Rababs extreme poverty outside Syria leaves them with no choice but the aforementioned option. This is while many young girls have fallen victims to sex traffickers inside Syria. The distressing conditions of the country has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have to deal with difficulties and hardships they inevitably face while looking for a refuge and piece of bread; this is what has lead the young little girls of these families who possess no power to fall preys for sex traffickers.
By Mehr News Agency
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