Many children die before the race is over either from fear or from being tossed by the animal or being dragged to death after being partially dislodged from the security rope binding the child to the animal.
Thousands of women and children are trafficked to, from and thru Pakistan every year. They are trafficked to Pakistan for the sex industry and as cheap labor in garment factories. Children are also trafficked to Pakistan to labor in the clothing industry and as recently reported in the world media, Pakistani toddlers and young children are sold to middle eastern countries to be camel jockeys and to be used for the black-market human organ transplant industry. This section will discuss what is known about human trafficking to/from and thru Pakistan and will investigate two important elements of Pakistani society and political influence that make this problem extremely dangerous for not only the victims trafficked but also Pakistani women and children in general who are effected as well. In this section, discussion will include the Zina Hudood Ordinance and issues surrounding the US Department of State annual Trafficking Report, which in 2002 gave Pakistan a higher tier rating for supposedly working to improve conditions relative to human trafficking in their country. The information presented in this paper will raise serious doubts whether Pakistan has fulfilled the necessary requirements that denote an improvement in conditions.
There have been one million Bangladeshi and more than two hundred thousand Burmese women trafficked to Karachi, Pakistan.[1] Two hundred thousand Bangladeshi women have been trafficked to Pakistan for the slave trade and prostitution.[2] Two hundred thousand Bangladeshi women were trafficked to Pakistan in the last ten years, continuing at the rate of 200-400 women monthly.[3]
In Pakistan, where most trafficked Bengali women are sold, there are about fifteen hundred Bengali women in jail and about two hundred thousand women and children sold into the slave trade.[4]
India and Pakistan are the main destinations for children under 16 who are trafficked in south Asia.[5] More than 150 women were trafficked to Pakistan every day between 1991 and 1993.[6]One hundred to one hundred and fifty women are estimated to enter Pakistan illegally every day. Few ever return to their homes.[7] There are over 200,000 undocumented Bangladeshi women in Pakistan, including some 2,000 in jails and shelters. Bangladeshis comprise 80 percent, and Burmese 14 percent, of Karachi’s undocumented immigrants.[8]
A Bengali or Burmese woman could be sold in Pakistan for between $1,500 and $2,500 – depending on her age, beauty and whether or not she is a virgin. For each child or woman sold, the police claim a 15 to 20 percent commission.[9] In 1991, women kidnapped at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were sold in the marketplace for R600 per kilogram. Auctions of girls are arranged for three kinds of buyers: rich visiting Arabs, mostly sheiks and businessmen, rich local citizenry, and to rural farmers.[10] A reported nineteen thousand Pakistani children have been trafficked to the United Arab Emirates. One hundred sixty thousand Nepalese women are in Indian brothels.[11] Orphaned girls are also reportedly sold as ‘wives’ to men who resell them for profits.[12]
Methods and Techniques of Traffickers
Bangladeshi and Burmese women are kidnapped, married off to agents by naive unsuspecting parents, trafficked under false pretenses, or coerced with wonderful stories of a better life, all into the brothels of Pakistan. Border police and other law enforcement agencies are well aware of trafficking through various high use entry points into Pakistan including Lahore, Kasur, Bahawalpur, Chhor and Badin.[13]
Nepalese and Bangladeshi woman and girls are trafficked under false pretenses, with promises of better-paid jobs, and are then forced into prostitution in Pakistani brothels.[14] Since 1994, there has been a significant rise in trafficking of girls, aged 8-15, in Pakistan.[15] Pimps disguised as job agents lure victims from poverty-stricken families. The parents and relatives of the soon-to-be victims are known to spend as much as $145 to $ 450 for agent fees. The girls’ families sell everything the own believing that the money they invest with the agents are for a brighter future. Every month 120 to 150 Bangladeshi women are trafficked into Pakistan and sold to brothels or individuals to be used as prostitutes. The flesh trade is the fastest growing area of international criminal activity in Pakistan, with increased numbers of victims growing daily.
The Route from Bangladesh to Pakistan
Law enforcement authorities and border patrols provide protection to pimps who transport the women, usually first to Dhaka, then to New Delhi and then onto the Indian border and finally into Pakistan. The railway trail starts in Meenapur, Bangladesh and carries on to Calcutta, from where they travel to Delhi, then Amritsar and eventually Pakistan. Once they arrive in Pakistan, the pimps follow the standard route through Lahore down to Karachi, where the market conditions are most profitable for the flesh trade. Dealers bring women into Pakistan as their wives or sisters. Prostitution gangs are organized to the extent that all necessary paperwork in prepared in advance by their partners in Pakistan. Porous borders and lax border guards have made it easy for this trade to flourish. Once in Karachi, the women and children are kept in Bengali paras (slums). They are kept in crowded rooms and deprived of food and clothing. They are forced to do laborious tasks and are beaten if they refuse to cooperate. The pimps then arrange buyers for their commodities. Pimps can make normally make between $ 200 and $230 per sale and can conclude as many as 125 sales a month. A woman’s price tag, depending on her age, beauty, virginity and level of education can start at $1,280 and go as high as $2,400. Particularly attractive women can be sold for as much as Rs. 150,000[16]. Once sold or married off, the women either are forced to work in brothels, or are relegated to a life of domestic slavery.
Burma to Pakistan
Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (Karachi) visited many Pakistani jails and revealed that a large number of Muslim Burmese women and children fleeing the persecution of the Burmese government, have also come to Pakistan from Bangladesh and many of them are trafficking victims.
Traffickers, recruiters and agents have clear links with politicians and influential people in the trade, as well as with various institutions such as the police, customs, border forces, overseas recruiters, travel agents, transport agents, religious institutions, hospitals and clinics (organ transplant factories), adoption agencies and baby-farms. [17]
Policy and Law
If being forced against their will to be slaves in the sex trade were not enough, trafficked women are further victimized by the police and the legal system, which treat them as criminals. The women who escape their captors and are arrested by the authorities are booked under Pakistan’s Hudood Ordinances. The Zina Ordinance, which is derived from Pakistan’s Islamic Hudood Ordinance, makes adultery or sex outside marriage a crime against the state. Women and girls in prostitution are often charged with Zina. Sometimes, they are booked under the Passport Act. Either way, they spend long periods in local and regional prisons. For those accused of illegal immigration, the sentence is four years, but many women end up serving an additional three to four years in jail, either waiting for trial or to clear up immigration formalities. The latter case would only be possible if a local NGO offers them legal assistance.[18]
The governments of Pakistan in the last 26 years have established three commissions of inquiry into the sexual exploitation of women. However, the government under Bhutto in the seventies, the Zia regime of the eighties and the present government under Musharaff have all disregarded the commission’s recommendations.[19]/[20]
Human Rights
According to the 2003 Human Rights Report on Pakistan (published annually by the US Department of State), “significant numbers of women were subjected to violence, rape, and other forms of abuse by spouses and members of society over the preceding year. Discrimination against women was widespread and traditional social and legal constraints generally kept women in a subordinate position in society. Violence against children, as well as child abuse and prostitution, remained serious problems. Debt slavery persisted, and bonded labor by both adults and children remained a problem. The use of child labor remained widespread.
On August 28, 2002, the Government passed the Prevention and Control of Human TraffickingOrdinance; however, trafficking in women and children for the purposes of prostitution and bonded labor has continued to swell.”[21]
Trafficking Report – US Department of State
According to the 2002 report on Pakistan, released last year, Pakistan was raised from Tier 3 (lowest level) to Tier 2. In this year’s report, Pakistan remained in Tier 2. The US Department of State report noted Pakistan as –
“A country of origin, transit, and destination for women and children trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and bonded labor. Internal trafficking of women and girls from rural areas to cities for purposes of sexual exploitation and labor also occurs. Pakistan is a source country for young boys who are trafficked to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar as camel jockeys. Pakistani men and women travel to the Middle East in search of work and are put into situations of coerced labor, slave-like conditions, and physical abuse. Pakistan is a destination for women and children trafficked from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and labor. Women trafficked from East Asian countries and Bangladesh to the Middle East transit through Pakistan.
In October 2002, the government passed a law that criminalizes all aspects of trafficking, from recruitment and transporting to receiving a person. If rape or forced prostitution cases are prosecuted under the Islamic law-oriented Hudood ordinances, victims are reluctant to testify since, the woman’s testimony is tantamount to an admission of adultery if prosecutors conclude that her testimony does not meet the burden of proof. The Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) reports that 11 people have been arrested for trafficking under the new statute and those prosecutions of those individuals are pending.
The government sponsors a variety of shelters and training programs throughout Pakistan that provide medical treatment, limited legal representation, and vocational training. The government provides temporary residence status to foreign trafficking victims, as well as a lawyer on demand. However, without the advocacy of an NGO, victims may be treated as criminals and detained because of their illegal immigration status. Many victims languish in jail for months or years without having their cases heard. On the provincial and local level, the Punjab Ministry for Social Welfare collaborates with approximately 400 NGOs in providing women’s shelters, orphanages, and rehabilitation programs for women and children. In destination countries for Pakistani laborers, embassy officials assist those who have been trafficked or placed in abusive working conditions.”[22]
US-Pakistan Relations – Special Treatment in exchange for cooperation in the fight against Terrorism
When deciding whether a country is designated as Tier 1, 2 or 3 (lowest), determination is made according to whether or not they meet the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” which are noted as follows.[23]
“Governments should prohibit trafficking and punish acts of trafficking; prescribe punishment commensurate with that for grave crimes, such as forcible sexual assault, for the knowing commission of trafficking in some of its most reprehensible forms (trafficking for sexual purposes, involving rape or kidnapping, or that causes a death); prescribe punishment that is sufficiently stringent to deter and that adequately reflects the offense’s heinous nature for the knowing commission of any act of trafficking; and make serious and sustained efforts to eliminate trafficking.”
Countries that are given the grade of Tier 2 are: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.[24]
“For the third consecutive year, the State Department report fails to give hard figures on the number of people being trafficked,” said LaShawn R. Jefferson, executive director of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. “The report gives undue credit for minimal effort and ignores government practices, such as summary deportation and incarceration, that effectively punish trafficking victims.”
As noted repeatedly in this paper, serious questions are asked why the US Department of State raised Pakistan’s Tier level from 3 to 2. One speculative answer would be that this move was influenced by Pakistan’s cooperation with the US Bush Administration in their fight against terrorism. If there is any truth to this possibility if raises the final question, “which are worse, suspected terrorists or known victimizers of innocent women and children?”
The Zina Hudood Ordinance (1979)
The Hudood Ordinance criminalizes Zina, which is defined as extra-marital sex including adultery and/or fornication. It criminalizes Zina-bil-jabr, which is defined as rape outside of marriage.
According to the Holy Qu’ran (Sunnah), Zina is punishable by Hadd or tazir. The Hadd punishment is stoning to death, and the tazir punishment for Zina is up to ten years imprisonment and whipping – up to 30 lashes and/or a fine. The tazir punishment for Zina-bil-jabr is up to 25 years imprisonment and whipping up to 30 lashes.[25]
Thousands of women have suffered from the Hudood Ordinance. The legal basis for gender discrimination and punishment of women for asserting their own will and choices was created by the state. The law equates rape with adultery. It requires four adult Muslim male witnesses to prove adultery in cases of rape. This means, in practice, that the law protects rapists. In addition, it excludes the testimony of women and minorities in awarding Hadd punishment. It does not recognize the rape of a minor wife as an offence; removes the legal protection given to children; and makes them liable for punishment of these offences under the law.
According to Dr. Farzana Bari, “Hudood laws are clearly in conflict with the principle of gender equality that is enshrined in Article 25 of the constitution that does not permit discrimination based on sex alone. Despite the fact that women constitute fifty percent of the population, they are not a powerful constituency due to their dependent and subordinate status vis-à-vis men. Their electoral behavior is primarily determined and influenced by the male members of their families.”
The majority of people who have been tried so far under Hudood laws are primarily women. Only women have been awarded the maximum punishment of Zina (adultery) by Pakistan’s male-dominated judiciary system. This included a case of a blind woman raped by her landlord and his sons and sentenced to stoning to death because she was not able to provide male witnesses to prove otherwise.
Statistics on Human Trafficking in Pakistan
Further stated by Dr Bari, “there is hardly any city in Pakistan where brothels or red light areas do not exist”, however no statistics are available either from the Trafficking Report of the US Department of State or from the Federal Investigative Agency (FIR) on human trafficking in Pakistan. This lack of reporting adds emphasis to the need for more direct involvement from the leadership of the government to fight this problem. In the region of Punjab, statistical records are available for a number of criminal acts under investigation by the FIR. These statistics are made available on the Website of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA).[26] According to the LHRLA, in the first seven months of 2003, the Federal Investigative Agency (FIR) reported that there were 186 episodes of sexual abuse against children, including 103 girls and 83 boys. Of those abused 17 were killed. In the same period, 69 girls and 24 boys were abducted, three of which were raped and sodomized and two kidnapped for ransom. Only six of the 93 children that were abducted were found. Additional statistics are available for adults abducted during this period with a total of two hundred fifty five victims including a reported 16 rapes and 2 cases of kidnappings. Of these 255 adult abductions, six were recovered. According to the FIR, only nine persons were arrested but no convictions were returned in the courts.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also reported that in the first nine months of 2003 there were 128 cases of sexual harassment reported in Punjab with 83 attempted rapes, 36 cases of victims being stripped of their clothing and 10 sexual assaults. There were four arrests with no convictions.
Although the investigators of these statistics do not show any correlation with the statistics noted above, they report that in these same period reports of one thousand one hundred and sixty attempted suicides (430 women and 730 men). Two hundred sixty one women and four hundred forty three men succeeded in their suicide attempts. The leading reason for suicide amongst both sexes was domestic disputes. Other reasons included arranged and forced marriages, illnesses, poverty and financial situations. In reviewing statistics from the last five years, the numbers suggest that cases of harassment, abductions and suicide have leveled off but the cases of rape have more than doubled since General Pervez Musharaff became president of the country.[27]
In Pakistan, victims are primarily of Bangladeshi and Burmese origin, ranging in age from infants to elderly women. Of the many cases actually pursued by the LHRLA, there was a gross violation of basic rights in the case of 16 Bengali women who were arrested when discovered in the custody of a pimp. The police, on discovering them, rather then using them as witnesses against the pimp, arrested them and charged them under the Hudood Ordinance. LHRLA decided to plead their case and as a result, these women were finally acquitted. In another instance, Advocate Zia Ahmed Awan, the President of LHRLA, filed a petition for the release of thirty Bangladeshi women and children from jail. They had been imprisoned for four years on a trafficking charge. The release orders were given on 13 March 1997, and they returned home on March 16.
Bonded Child Labor
Bonded labor takes place when a family receives an advance payment (sometimes as little as U.S. $15) to hand a child—boy or girl—over to an employer. In most cases, the child cannot work off the debt, nor can the family raise enough money to buy the child back. The workplace is often structured so that “expenses” and/or “interest” are deducted from a child’s earnings in such amounts that it is almost impossible for a child to repay the debt (also refer to the story of Masha, p. 11).
In some cases, the labor is generational—that is, a child’s grandfather or great-grandfather was promised to an employer many years earlier, with the understanding that each generation would provide the employer with a new worker—often without pay.
Bonded labor, commonly referred to as debt bondage or peonage, was outlawed by the 1956 U.N. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. Bonded labor in Pakistan continues to be a growing problem today.
Camel Kids (Camel Jockeys)
The tradition of camel racing dates back hundreds of years. However, the jockeys were not children. Poverty, greed and sport have turned young children into valuable commodities. The deceived parents, in the hope of a better future for their children, are unaware of the dangers involved. The jockeys are mostly children from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sudan. The age of a camel jockey is between 2 and 10 years old.
Although the victims are just children, the reasons their parents allowed them to be taken is not very different to the same reasons families let their Russian daughters accept invitations to travel outside of their homelands for better futures. The LHRLA decided to investigate further and learned that camel kids had been used for organ transplants and drug trafficking as well. It was revealed that 19,000 children had been taken from rural and coastal areas. The outcry raised by LHRLA, other NGOs and international heads of states put pressure on the UAE to ban the import of camel jockeys; however very little has been done to date.
According to a recent article in the Islamabad News, “due to concerted efforts of the Embassy of Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 86 children were recovered and repatriated to Pakistan in 2002”. In order to curb the illegal business of human trafficking, the UAE government has affected stricter rules to regulate the work of camel jockeys in the popular sport of camel racing. Under the new regulations, children below 15 years of age and 45 kg weight are not allowed to be used as camel jockeys. Strict penalties, including imprisonment, have been laid down for any violation of this law.
Another case of “camel kids” was reported on May 6, 2003 by the Islamabad News about six Pakistani children who were deported from the UAE as illegal immigrants. Two of the children were interviewed in the article. They said that when they were taken to the UAE, they were first afraid of the camels and they used to cry and would not even go near them, but gradually their fears subsided. “Later, we were taught how to ride. Soon we were seen participating in races. The Sheikhs would give us prizes – Dirhams 50 or 100[28] – when we won, or would beat us severely if we lost a race. We never got any salary during our stay of nearly a couple of years. Our father might have received it,” they said.
Their father, Mohammed Siddique, said he met a Sheikh who was visiting Rahimyar Khan for houbara hunting[29]. “I was jobless and had six children – four boys and two girls – I asked him for a job and he offered three jobs – two for my young boys, Irshad and Shakeel, and one for me. The boys would get Dirham 300[30] each and I would get Dirham 400 per month[31], the Sheikh had told me. I, accompanied by my wife Parveen, took my children to the UAE nearly two years back and worked at the Sheikh’s farms near Al-Ain.
I used to look after the camels at the farm and my children started taking part in races. My wife returned home leaving the children, who were entered in her passport. She was caught on her return at the airport here, but after some understanding, she was let go and she went home. Now I have brought my children back,” he claimed. According to one of the fathers, “during our over a couple of years’ stay there, I saw many young children being crushed to death when the camels fell down. I used to pray for the safety of my children as I had seen many being crushed, and luckily during our over stay there, nothing serious happened to them,” he added.
According to various descriptions of camel racing, the child is strapped to the camel with a rope; the camel is whipped into frenzy and further propelled by the petrified shrieks of the confused and frightened child. In this business, where, according to a Newsline article, the preferred weight of jockeys is 19 to 20 kilograms and the limit is 40 kilograms, the younger and lighter the child, and the louder the scream of terror, the greater the speed of the camel. Many children die before the race is over either from fear or from being tossed by the animal or being dragged to death after being partially dislodged from the security rope binding the child to the animal. Prior to 1993, on average, a dozen innocent children lost their lives every week as camel jockeys. Arab Sheiks began purchasing children from Pakistan in the mid-1970s up until the late 1990’s when using young children for the sport were outlawed in the UAE.
NGOs and Human Trafficking
Local, regional and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been at the forefront of efforts to raise awareness of trafficking and to press for accountability. NGOs, particularly local groups, are carrying out desperately needed programs to warn girls and their families of the dangers of trafficking, shelter those who have managed to escape, provide urgent medical and psychological care, assist in repatriation, and press governments to strengthen domestic laws against trafficking.
NGOs in Pakistan have been instrumental in improving protections for trafficking victims, by raising public and official awareness of the trafficking of Bangladeshi women and girls into Pakistan. The Edhi Center in Karachi and Lahore, have helped to bail women out of jail and provide otherwise unavailable shelter to more than a hundred women at a time.[32]
Conclusion
Millions of workers in Pakistan are held in contemporary forms of slavery. Throughout the country, employers force labor from adults and children, restrict their freedom of movement, and deny them the right to negotiate the terms of their employment. Employers coerce such workers into servitude through physical abuse, forced confinement, and debt-bondage. The state offers these workers no effective protection from this exploitation. Although slavery is unconstitutional in Pakistan and violates various national and international laws, state practices support its existence. The state rarely prosecutes or punishes employers who hold workers in servitude. Moreover, workers who contest their exploitation are invariably confronted with police harassment, often leading to imprisonment under false charges, and min may cases punishment under the Hudood Ordinance.
Contemporary forms of slavery, which are set forth and defined in international law, include debt-bondage, serfdom, the trafficking of women, and child servitude. All of these forms of slavery exist in Pakistan. The International Labor Organization (ILO), in its World Labor Report 1993, assessed the problems of debt-bondage in Pakistan to be among the worst in the world. There are no reliable statistics on the number of bonded laborers. While some NGOs estimate that the numbers range into the millions; there is little doubt that at least thousands of persons in Pakistan are held in debt-bondage, many of them children. Bondage is particularly common in the areas of agriculture, brick-making, carpet-weaving, mining, and handicraft production.
Like Russia, this illicit trade in persons is a multibillion-dollar, criminally organized global industry. Traffickers use deception, force or coercion to move people into situations in which they are vulnerable and easily held in conditions of forced labor and slavery. Trafficked persons are often treated as criminals, rather than as victims of crime, while traffickers escape prosecution. Those who try to escape or seek help risk retaliation from traffickers.[33] Moreover, for those that are caught by the authorities they risk being punished under the Hudood Ordinance.
Bibliography (only including footnotes)
- (March 12, 2003) in Article 205, Sec. B of the Model Law to Combat Trafficking in Persons. US Department of State
- Angel Coalition website
- Binoo Sen, National Commission for Women India, Paper on Political Commitment
- CATW – Asia Pacific Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific (Excerpts taken from the Fact book on Global Sexual Exploitation, published by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women).
- CATW – Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific
- Copyright 2002 UN Foundation, UN Wire, April 19, 2002
- Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State, March 31, 2003
- Department Of Criminal Investigations, Homicide Division, Moscow Region, St. Petersburg Police. June 1, 2003 St. Petersburg 10:55 pm
- Crisis Center for Women, Institute of Non-Discriminative Gender Interrelations, St. Petersburg June 4, 2003.
10. Estimates by Human Rights organizations in Pakistan, Trafficking in Women and Children: The Cases of Bangladesh, p.14, UBINIG, 1995
11. http://www.hrcp-web.org/women.cfm#
12. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2003/21262.htm#tiers
13. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2003/21276.htm
14. Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave 34th Floor New York, N.Y. 10118
15. Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP India, Paper on Globalization & Human Rights
16. Kyle and Koslowski, 2001
17. Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid are a leading NGO headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan.
18. Masako Iijima, S. Asia urged to unite against child prostitution, Reuters, 19 June 1998
- Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
20. Nabi Abdullaev, The Moscow Times, 2001-2003
21. Nausheen Ahmed, Rights-South Asia: Slavery Still A Thriving Trade, IPS, 29 December 1997
22. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons is a Presidential task force under the auspices of the Under Secretary for Global Affairs, US Department of State; CIA reports;
23. President Bill Clinton, October 28, 2000 Victims of Trafficking and Violence Act
24. Russia battles its sex trade, Fred Weir, the Christian Science Monitor, May 15, 2001.
25. Trafficking in Persons Report, US Department of State, Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. June 11, 2003
26. Trafficking in Women and Children: The Cases of Bangladesh, p.8, UBINIG, 1995
27. Tyranny of Hudood Laws, by Dr Farzana Bari. Publication: “The News”. May 14, 2002. [The
28. Websites for the US Department of Justice, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI and CIA, the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, United Nations International Children’s Fund, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Protection Project, Anti-Slavery International and many others.
29. Without a law, sexy slavery flourishes, Nabi Abdullaev, The Moscow Times, June 15, 2003.
Islam on Prostitution
Question
We are looking for material related to prostitutes and prostitution. What does Islam say about prostitution?
Answer
To fully understand the view of Islam regarding prostitution, I would first like to give you an example of a crime that would be more easily comprehendible for the modern world.
We all know that drinking alcohol is not a crime in the modern western world. However, even the greatest of the advocates of human freedom agree that driving an automobile in a state of drunkenness be considered a crime. The reason is quite simple. A drunk driving an automobile does not only endanger his own life, but is also a threat to the life of others. Thus, to save others from a potential harm, we do not permit him/her to drive an automobile in such a state. Likewise, although we allow a person to carry on any business to better his financial position, but we do not allow him to sell drugs (like heroine etc.). The reason again is quite simple. Such drugs are prone to cause great harm to those who use them. All such prohibitions are not only easily comprehendible but also necessary for the well being of the community.
Islam takes a wider perspective of the phrase “well being of the community”. According to the Islamic philosophy, “well being of the community” should not focus only on the physical and material well being of the community. Another important aspect (if not more important) of this well being, according to Islam, should include the moral and ethical well being of the community. It is on the basis of this fact that Islam prohibits prostitution. It holds a prostitute to be a person, who not only endangers her own morals but also that of the community. In view of this fact, the Prophet (pbuh) subjected such people who endangered the moral standards of the Muslim community to punishments of “Fasaad fil Ardh“[1].
Thus, prostitution can be severely punished by the Islamic State considering it a crime against the community, rather than an individual.
An important point that needs to be stressed is that the punishments under the Islamic law should be implemented, keeping in view not only the nature of the crime, but also other situational and contingent factors surrounding the crime and the particular criminal. Thus it is quite possible that a particular person, because of his peculiar circumstances, be allowed to correct his/her behavior and no punishment be implemented on him/her. For example, if the court of law is satisfied that a particular woman was forced into prostitution and was left with no option but to submit to the circumstances and if given a chance, she is likely to lead a good life, it may give her a chance of correction, rather than subject her to a severe punishment.
5th June 1999
Reference: Understanding Islam
The Holy Qu’raan
Discover the Holy Quran project. In this part we will read Surah Al-Munafiqun. Surah Al-Munafiqun is the 62nd Surah of the Holy Quran and is comprised of 11 verses. Let’s begin:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
1- When the Hypocrites come to thee, they say, “We bear witness that thou art indeed the Messenger of Allah.” Yea, Allah knoweth that thou art indeed His Messenger, and Allah beareth witness that the Hypocrites are indeed liars.
2- They have made their oaths a screen (for their misdeeds): thus they obstruct (men) from the Path of Allah. truly evil are their deeds.
3- That is because they believed, then they rejected Faith: So a seal was set on their hearts: therefore they understand not.
4- When thou lookest at them, their exteriors please thee, and when they speak, thou listenest to their words. They are as (worthless as hollow) pieces of timber propped up, (unable to stand on their own). They think that every cry is against them. They are the enemies; so beware to them. The curse of Allah be on them! How are they deluded (away from the Truth)!
5- And when it is said to them, “Come, the Messenger of Allah will pray for your forgiveness,” they turn aside their heads, and thou wouldst see them turning away their faces in arrogance.
6- It is equal to them whether thou pray for their forgiveness or not Allah will not forgive them. Truly Allah guides not rebellious transgressors.
7- They are the ones who say, “Spend nothing on those who are with Allah.s Messenger, to the end that they may disperse (and quit Medina).” But to Allah belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth; but the Hypocrites understand not.
8- They say, “If we return to Medina, surely the more honorable (element) will expel therefrom the meaner.” But honor belongs to Allah and His Messenger, and to the Believers; but the Hypocrites know not.
9- O ye who believe! Let not your riches or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. If any act thus, the loss is their own.
10- and spend something (in charity) out of the substance which We have bestowed on you, before Death should come to any of you and he should say, “O my Lord! why didst Thou not give me respite for a little while? I should then have given (largely) in charity, and I should have been one of the doers of the good.”
11- But to no soul will Allah grant respite when the time appointed (for it) has come; and Allah is well acquainted with (all) that ye do.
[1] That is, creating disturbance in the land. The punishments for ‘Fasaad fil Ardh’, as shall be explained in a later response, may vary from slightly lighter to extremely strict punishments. Furthermore, ‘Fasaad fil Ardh’ is one of the only two crimes with that of murder, which may be punishmed by death.
Human Trafficking: Facts & Figures
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Sex Trafficking: Facts & Figures
The Protection Project
Sex Trafficking: Facts & Figures
– The United Nations estimates that 700,000 to 4 million women and children are trafficked around the world for purposes of forced prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation every year. Trafficking is estimated to be a $7 billion dollar annual business.
– Victims of trafficking are subject to gross human rights violations including, rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation, and threats of torturing or murdering family members.
– Nearly every country is involved in the web of trafficking activities, either as a country of origin, destination or transit. Countries of destination include Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, France, India, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
– Traffickers recruit women and children through deceptive means including falsified employment advertisements for domestic workers, waitresses and other low-skilled work. Traffickers include those involved in highly sophisticated networks of organized crime and may be as close to home as a relative to the victim.
Women And War
– In August 2001, soldiers with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Eritrea were purchasing ten-year-old girls for sex in local hotels.
– Before the arrival of 15,000 UN troops in Cambodia in 1991, there were an estimated 1,000 prostitutes in the capital. Currently, Cambodia’s illegal sex trade generates $500 million a year. No less than 55,000 women and children are sex slaves in Cambodia, 35 percent of which are younger than 18 years of age.
– Over 5,000 women and children have been trafficked from the Philippines, Russia and Eastern Europe and are forced into prostitution in bars servicing the U.S. Military in South Korea
Who Are The Traffickers?
– Traffickers are … members of highly sophisticated networks of organized crime. Ukrainian officials uncovered and detained a criminal group in the city of Dnipropetrovsk, which trafficked Ukrainian girls and women to the United Arab Emirates. They made $2,000 on each girl forced into prostitution. This gang managed to traffic more than 15 Ukrainian young women aged between 16 and 30 to the United Arab Emirates.
– Traffickers are … family members and friends of the trafficking victim. A six-year-old boy, Mohammad Mamun, was taken from his poor Bangladeshi parents by a neighbor, and ended up in a foreign desert land being exploited as a camel jockey. Mamun is one of hundreds of young Bangladeshi boys who are trafficked into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) either after being abducted or sold by impoverished parents to human traffickers.
– Victims of trafficking are later used to traffic other women and children. Traffickers from Benin see themselves as helping the home community–facilitators for families looking for some extra income. One trafficker commented, “Every girl who travels and who doesn’t get deported is a potential sponsor for more.”
The Pay Off: Trafficking and Corruption
– Allegations have been brought against top Montenegrin government officials for their complicity in the forced prostitution, illegal detention, rape and torture of a 28-year old Moldovan woman, Svetlana. Six high-ranking government officials, and the country’s Deputy State Prosecutor, Zoran Piperovic, were arrested in December 2002 after Svetlana identified to the police names of traffickers, clients, and details of the nightclubs and cafes where the incidents took place. She has also testified that she had been routinely beaten, drugged, and had been returned by the police upon trying to escape on several occasions. Although the government has assured that the case will be fully investigated, all the detained officials have been since released from custody. Svetlana herself is being held under protection in a western European country.
– Victims of trafficking are afraid to testify or contact law enforcement due to their complicity with traffickers and pimps. In Israel, the Hotline for Migrant Workers made an appeal on behalf of three women who had testified that the same men that arrested them, had been clients at the brothel from which they were detained. In March 2002, a policeman charged with the buying of a trafficked woman and tipping brothel owners of police raids was sentenced to only six months of community service.
– In interviews carried out for an International Organization of Migration report, 10% of the women who had been trafficked to Albania stated that law enforcement officials had directly participated in the trafficking process.
Children Are Not Protected
– Children from Pakistan and Bangladesh are kidnapped or sold by their parents to traffickers who take them to Persian Gulf States including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, to work as camel jockeys. These children 3 to 7 years of age and are malnourished to keep their weight below 35 pounds. They suffer physical abuse from the traffickers and work all day training camels. Many of these children suffer extreme injuries or death from falling off camels during the races.
– Child victims of trafficking are very vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Misconceptions that having sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS have fueled an increased demand for child prostitutes.
– Girls from 15 to 17 years of age are trafficked from Thailand and Taiwan to South Africa. Traffickers recruited these girls to work as waitresses or domestic workers. Once they arrive in South Africa they are forced into prostitution.
– Filipino children are trafficked to countries in Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and Southeast Asia, where they are sexually exploited. Traffickers loan parents a sum of money, which the girl must repay to the trafficker through forced prostitution. In one case, a Filipino woman rented her 9-year-old niece to foreign men for sex, and eventually sold her to a German pedophile.
Close to Home in the USA
– 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States from no less than 49 countries every year. As many as 750,000 women and children have been trafficked into the United States over the last decade.
– Women and children as young as 14 have been trafficked from Mexico to Florida and forced to have sex with as many as 130 clients per week in a trailer park. These women were kept hostage through threats and physical abuse, and were beaten and forced to have abortions. One woman was locked in a closet for 15 days after trying to escape.
– Cases of trafficking into the United States include women and children who are trafficked from Honduras to Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas; Latvia to Chicago; Mexico to Florida; Korea to Michigan; Japan to Hawaii; Cameroon to Maryland; Taiwan to Seattle; India to California; Vietnam to Atlanta.
– In Fresno, California Hmong gang members have kidnapped girls between the ages of 11 and 14 and forced into prostitution. The gang members would beat and rape them into submission. These girls were trafficked within the United States and traded between other Hmong communities.
Sexual Slavery, In The 21st Century
– The Cadena smuggling ring trafficked women, some as young as 14, from Mexico to Florida. The victims were forced to prostitute themselves with as many as 130 men per week in a trailer park. Of the $25 charged the “Johns” the women received only $3. The Cadena members kept the women hostage through threats and physical abuse. One woman was kept in a closet for 15 days for trying to escape. Some were beaten and forced to have abortions (the cost of which was added to their debt). The women worked until they paid off their debts of $2,000 to $3,000.
– Domestic servants in some countries of the Middle East are forced to work 12 to 16 hours a day with little or no pay, and subject to sexual abuse such as rape, forced abortions, and physical abuse that has resulted in death.
– Traffickers in many countries in West Africa take girls through voodoo rituals in which girls take oaths of silence and are often raped and beaten, prior to their leaving the country. They are also forced to sign agreements stating that, once they arrive in another country, they owe the traffickers a set amount of money. They are sworn to secrecy and given detailed accounts of how they will be tortured if they break their promise. Traffickers have taken women and young girls to shrines and places of cultural or religious significance; they remove pubic and other hair and then perform a ceremony of intimidation.
___________________________________________________________
Copyright 2010- The World Revolution & The Protection Project. All rights reserved. Protected through the Fair Use provision of the United States Copyright Law, Intellectual Property law, and international law.
For more information and a breakdown of human trafficking statistics by country, please visithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Human_trafficking_by_country
Most academic associations do not allow the use of Wikipedia due to the fact that anyone can edit documents on Wikipedia. However, those sentences with footnotes are backed by other sources as well.
13 JANUARY, 2009
Possibly not putting himself in line to win one of DTCM’s 2009 Excellence in Journalism awards, Yusuf Abdulla tells it like it is:
“There is also another side to Dubai’s booming market. Most large hotels are little more than dens of prostitution. Hotels are permitted to issue guest permits to bring people from outside. In order to attract customers, many hotels bring girls from Central Asia, Russia, Romania and Western Europe. These girls are provided free accommodation in the hotel for three months while they are expected to service hotel guests. Each hotel has a club where girls enter for free while men must pay 100 dirhams. Alcohol is available and consumed in large quantities. Customers come to these clubs to pick up foreign girls. It has been pointed out to the authorities in Dubai that they are sitting on a time bomb. Girls with such loose moral character are likely to be infected with the AIDS virus. There are already reports of AIDS spreading among the local population because of the behavior of emirati men who then infect their wives.”
Interesting how the “girls” are the ones accused of “loose moral character”. Not the pimps and slavers that traffic them to Dubai. Nor the hotels who act as brothelmasters. Nor their clients. Or even the unnamed people who “expect” them to provide this service.
An interesting choice of nationalities too. Along with Russia and the CIS: Eastern Europe, Morocco, Africa and China would be more like it.
Comments
Labels: sex, tourism
POSTED BY SECRETDUBAI AT 3:14 PM
57 COMMENTS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxl176p05rw
Later!
Dear Secret Dubai Diary,
Would you please post the web link of where this article appears.
Thank you.
Also from the article:
“Whether Dubai will achieve its dream of becoming the hub of property and tourist attraction is debatable. What is becoming certain is that it is leading the way in becoming the AIDS capital of the Middle East.”
Biggest man made islands, tallest towers, most disease-ridden ho’s, most cases of aids !!!! Wow, Dubai really is the bestest and has the mostest in everything… Dubai, the winningest capital of winningy capitals.
What are you smoking? Anyone who has been in Dubai over three days knows women were born sinful. Only Man was created in God’s image, therefore can do no wrong.
**
Of course there are a lot of girls from western europe, everybody knows that western europe is a den of iniquity.
I am only surprised that there was no mention of girls from america, but perhaps an author could not imagine anybody so evil to be in dubai.
** sarcasm off
Prostitution is not a bad things. Uneducated prostitutes and no regulations for testing is what causes the spread of STD. All residence get tested in the Emirates every three years. But the working ladies come on visit visas and renew for several months thus are not tested. The Dubai government should take steps to test these girls or open anonymous testing centers.
But in the dubai logic disappears. I see it in all Muslim countries. Problems exits but are hidden or shied away from in order to keep their so called honor. Like Irans huge heroin problem, Duabi will not admit there is a problem because acutally there are no prostitutes here and HIV only infects infidels.
Wake up Dubai and regulate prostitution!
BTW the most expensive prostitutes on the market are Emirati women. Hard to find but very delicious and fun. And everyone knows emirati men like little boys.
For second “anonymous” commenter:http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/58509
Generally following hyperlinks is quite easy, & I am concerned at lack of response by Secret Dubai.
Is she one of thos Western Women, hence unavailable overnight?! lol
This site is becoming so tabloid in nature!
The article is primarily about the Dubai property market, whereas SD reads to bottom of article, well actually penultimate paragraph, and posts that.
Why did SD not post final sentences?
Whether Dubai will achieve its dream of becoming the hub of property and tourist attraction is debatable. What is becoming certain is that it is leading the way in becoming the AIDS capital of the Middle East.
it’s her blog mate, and she will post whatever jackshit that takes her fancy, with or without the final paragraph. just like dubai PR makes up all the bullshit.
Hey. Nice post. love the blog BTW SD
Dragon,
Muscat
@13 January, 2009 16:16
Haha, nice video. No FEMALE prostitutes though.
when westerners hate you, you know you’re doing well.
Unfortunately your neighbour – Oman – is also swamped; the Chinese girls tout for men at Coffee shops during the football and in the main up-scale shopping are (SABCO) what appear to have been Omani girls were soliciting. Their Pimps are so powerful they think they can stand up to ex-ministers
Dear SD,
I have been following your blog for the last year (2008). That was the time that I thought of moving to Dubai from Ottawa. Well Im here now, have been for the last six months. In that time I think I have witnessed everything this blog talks about. I must say I am disappointed. Yes prostitution is more prevalent than in Amsterdam, its practically legal, but what worries me is the lack of respect between people. It is very disturbing that such a prosperous society has no regard towards any form of human decency. I could not believe that what I read on your blog was true. I always give the benefit of the doubt but Dubai, wow! Dubai is not compatible with the norms of society I have lived with. In fact I could never bring up my children here. Yes, I am leaving, not because of the tough economic times but because Duabi has only one direction, that is profit and greed. I cannot and will not bring up my children up in a society that is devoid of any kind of cultural norms or decency. The first time i herd of the term “hyper capitalism” was when I was in high school, it refers to a flawed society in which money rules above all. It was science fiction then. When I moved here, it became science fact. Anyway, wish I took your blog seriously it would have saved me lots time. To all those out there, this blog gives you a true idea of Dubai, what ever it may try be. Just want to tell those parents who think that this is paradise, its not. I think its a regression from humanity, you owe it to your children not to bring them up here. Canada gives so much more and ask so little. We cant wait to move back.
Best of luck to all.
Anyway, wish I took your blog seriously it would have saved me lots time. To all those out there, this blog gives you a true idea of Dubai, what ever it may try be.
The sad thing is that you never got the chance to experience Dubai of six or seven years ago, as I did, when it was a much nicer place than now. The boom was just beginning, DMC and DIC were new, there was a real sense of optimism and growth.
Of course none of us really knew what it would mean.
If you ever do get the chance to read some of my earliest entries, there are many things that I loved and adored about Dubai back then. Partly I had the rose coloured glasses of novelty on, everything was new and different and it was a huge adventure.
And partly – regrettably – it was because I had the glasses of ignorance on. I wasn’t looking behind the scenes and thinking what led to the five star treatment for expats, or the speed in which they could put up a new building, or the cheapness of taxi cabs or cleaners or workpeople.
All that dawned just as Dubai exploded into the megapolis of consumerism, traffic, concrete hell towers, greed, racism, exploitation and inequality that it is today. That is not what the vision should have been. There should have been a clearer vision for the sustainable, the meaningful, preserving traditions while being progressive in a measured and compassionate way.
Sure those things have always been there – they are there in any society – but the Vision led their expansion, intensification and exacerbation when it should have done the reverse. There should have been no workers still living in slum like conditions, not hundreds of thousands more.
I am sorry you got the worst of it. But I am glad that you are the sort of person that was able to see the reality so quickly and clearly. I do think it is possible to live in Dubai and raise a family in a healthy way. I just think that it is infinitely harder to do so than in any country with proper social equality and political accountability.
Dear SD,
Thank you for your reply. Keep up the good work on the blog, I will continue to visit it hoping that things get better for all those living in Dubai.
Not only local emirati men but foreigners from all over the world, specially europe and US use these girls. Dubai is decaying not only financially but morally too.
My blogs:
http://next-world-war.blogspot.com
http://current-financial-crisis.blogspot.com
ah alas the long debated issue.
how is it possible that porn channels on youtube are blocked (heck the entire site is) yet you can do down your building, walk across the corner and hire 7 prostitutes?
can someone spell hypocrite?
unbelieavable
People, you have missed the point. Prostitution is not the problem. God bless these ladies whom have decided, for better or for worse, to work in the sex trade. The issue is exploitation and the lack of regulation. i have seen in dubai these free spirited ladies get abused and molested and they have no legal recourse. In fact they are not even treated as humans buy the dubai government. They are people whos rights need to be respected. Until their profession is regulated they will continue to be the big losers.
Only a small percentage like there job and thats all they have. They come from abused backgrounds and dubai to them is a fantasy. Dubai feeds on their misfortune. God bless them all.
It is very disturbing that such a prosperous society has no regard towards any form of human decency.
This is the norm in all the GCC sandpits. It has nothing to do with greed or consumerism; it is an Arab cultural aspect.
funny that prostitution is kept alive to promote tourism
well some people are finally getting the reality. and to think some still say all this is written because westerners hate dubai’s success….:-)
SD, how do I get in touch with you via email? Your blog has no contact info. If you don’t feel comfortable listing your ID (understandable) kindly click on my name and it will lead to my website. You can contact me there and I can reply. I live in the USA and operate a high traffic website on dubai city. thanks
Funny thing is that booze and whores launched Dubai. This place had brothels under tents by Port Rasheed in the 70s. The genius of H.H Shk. Maktoum was to move the whores indoors in prefab, air conditioned, barracks. The rest as they say is history. Oh, and the fact that Sharjah decided to go dry and Dubai opened the booze taps also helped.
Then came the money laundering banks but that is another story folks.
Prostitution is universal. It has always existed and always will. It thrives in the west and the east, in wealthy and poor countries, and, no matter what the prevailing religion might be. Prostitution is part of all human societies, though through the years, some societies have repressed it somewhat, by criminalizing it and imposing harsh penalties. Like death.
The more significant issue in Dubai, I believe,is the fact that in one generation, the local culture went from being a closed, traditional society to being a very open and modern society. The adjustment has, of course, been difficult. Some people have easily adapted to a new reality, while others are struggling to keep a hold on past ways. Then you pour foreigners from all corners of the globe… and tons of money… into the country. This will inevitably create a volatile mix.
And then, along comes a dire world economic crisis. One has to hope that there are smart, benevolent, respectful people in power paying attention as this all unfolds.
My goal is to play golf in Dubai in 09. Hope it works out. :o)
The vision is dead!
Hi Sunil,
You can reach me at my username here at gmail.
yours
SD
Of course prostitution is universal.
The problem with prostitution is not a prostitution by itself but the refusal to acknowledge that in your country you have a prostitution. The problem is not prostitutes but the people who use them and do not want to admit that they do. The problem also lie with people who want to use prostitutes but blame their “want” on prostitutes not on their own hormones/lack of restraint. The problem is that the prostitutes are looked on as something not human or at best partly human and blamed for things which are not their faults.
I am also not sure if local society become so open and modern. The emirati have all gadgets of modernity but I believe that majority of emirati society itself is neither modern nor open.(by ermirati I mean citizens of UAE)
I think not many ex-pats have emirati close friends and not many emirati have many western or non-emirati friends.
I don’t know if I am right, am I?
That clip is sooooo funny !
Well done, whoever made it !
Which hotels and/or areas are the most affected by prostitution?
Hi SD
Good Blog….
I think that you should be careful not to become very negative about everything. This may blind you and lead to hatred.
……………………………
I agree with the comments. You cannot regulate somehting when you do not admit it exists !!
The main cause of all sort of problems in the UAE is the fact that self interests come first, especially in Duabi, where no body cares about the public interest.
I have to assure you all that the majority of Emaraties are not happy with whats going on in Duabi (we all share that). But in a complicated system like ours which is based on loyalty it is hard to do anything about it.
The Emaraties still have a long way to go in regard to understanding and becoming more aware of what equality and human rights means. They also need some time to get red of the religious and tribal shackles, which are the main cause of racism and inequality(even among Emaraties).
It is a matter of time and improvement of the educational system.
First step is to accpet crititism (not to take it personally)and admit the mistakes and defects.
To sheanonymous:
I am an Emarati (Citizen) and i have western friends, not colleagues but actuall friends who i hang out with and exchange family visits.
Emarati
no prostitutes, no dubai, lets face it, there are hundreds of thousands of prostitiutes, just go to rattle snake its full of whores! or any bar in bur dubai, and those are the cheap ones, go to the nice nightclubs and u get the more expensive russians, and offcourse the emiraties love the morroconas cos they can dress them up in abaya and they will look local, every english man and western man uses prostititues, why do you think there are so many STD’s amongst expat western men, and lets not forget the emiraties, and little labourers, who use the 10dhs ones on bank street..even the airhostess for emirates are big whores, not in the conventianl way, but find a rich boyfriend, sleep with him, get him to buy her(or him, just check out gaydar its full of nasty EK male hos) loads of presents, then ditch him! but if dubai didnt have its prostitutes, it wouldnt be as fun and crazy, thats why we like it no?
Hey SD,
Regular reader, first time commenter. Please don’t stop what you do – even though the blog is blocked in Dubai. That is exactly what they want to happen. You bring fresh perspective and inside information on the real Dubai. Once I finally move back to Dubai (this September) I intend to continue reading this blog, Etisalat be damned. Keep it up.
S. P. D.
I have lived in Dubai for 5 years out of the last nine and I have often visited the bars where there are many prostitutes.
I made good friends with several groups of African women – from Ethiopia, Uganda and Nigeria. They are just normal human
beings doing a really tough job for the sake of their families back home. They are not evil, they are not immoral. The huge
majority of them have a plan and a mission to send money home and set up their families with a home and a business, then,
with luck, they can return after more than 10 years doing that awful job, without their families knowing what they were really doing. If you are serious about helping them, do what I am doing and put your money where your mouth is. I have now sent 4 girls back to their country – one in Ethiopia, two in Uganda and one in Nigeria. I have built the house / funded the business and educated the children. I have changed their lives and set them free. The families are so happy and see that they have a future which is of their own making. I visit them all several times a year to see that the money is being well spent and to offer advice if it is requested, but mostly to be part of a family who has been given a small chance and made the most of it. The best thing you can do for these girls is to get them away from Dubai, back home, and assist them to be independent and most important of all to support the education of the children. All the kids I see in these families want to be at school, but often their parents cannot afford the simplest things like shoes, uniforms, books and pens. It is a ridiculously small amount of money needed to ensure a child is educated. Similarly it costs very little to fund a simple business of THEIR choosing. Do it now, believe me I know how joyous it is to change the lives of these brave people.
to the above comment. God bless you.
Shitty city full of radars and ignorant yemeni police that are afraid of sheiks and other towel heads with influence.
Not worth visiting, just a 1hr transit piss in the airport and leave
I’ve put a link up to the Dubai Info site seeing as it’s relevant to the main subject here.
I’ve deleted a link to a non-related site about cars, sorry, but that’s just not relevant material for a link swap.
I’ve also deleted a post in Arabic with a link to a site that is also 100% in Arabic. I can’t read Arabic (save for a few words – hummous, dubai, and my own name) so I can’t check what’s being said.
I can just about manage French. If you want to comment in French feel free, and I’ll do my best to post an English translation.
And thank you every one else for all the great comments!
We love u SD. Keep doing what you are doing. Yes, your blog is a blessing. Keep it up.
Saludos desde venezuela. He visitado tu blog. Muy bueno. No olvide visitar el mio www.lapatriagrande.net
Regards from Venezuela. I visit your bolg. Very Good. Visit my blog http://www.lapatriagrande.net
What do you think about the crisis?
Red my articole about the crisis in www.lapatriagrande.net or www.folliero.it Thanks
Thanks for all that I did not know about Dubai. Somebody mentioned in one of the blogs about most Emarati men going after young boys. I can second that and would like to add that this is not only in UAE but very prevalent in countries like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq,Kuwait, Qatar (most Arab countries). In Saudi, it is very risky to leave your child – boys especially (girls are safe) out of site even for a short time. If you are living in a building, your neighbour could target your boy. Abuses happen everywhere and everytime and who will you complain to? The police? they are also of the same type and take it very lightly. Most boys targeted are Indian, Pakistani, Bengali ones that are helpless and weak. It does not mean Arab boys are safe and have immunity from these boy rapers and molesters. Arab schools are where boys get badly abused by the teachers and principles and fellow students. Especially,if your boy is good looking, he is not safe. Arab boys too, when they have to take revenge, they gang rape boys.
They prey on boys and threaten not to speak or complain.
Not safe countries for young boys or even bring up your children.
May these people who prey upon and abuse innocent and take advantage of helpless kids and people pay a heavy price one day. Amen.
Man against Child and Human Abuse
The govt of dubai has mixed progression with prostitution and alcohol.The next generations of UAE,specially of dubai will not remember the tallest, the longest, the biggest, the widest but the CANCER that was willfully brought by rulers of this time.Dubai would be held responsible by historians for this crime. They should have concentrated on becoming a technological hub in the region with transfer of technology like singapore, malaysia,,,rather they chose night clubs, pretty girls, alcohol and social immorality…Let the history shape up true comments
Of course there is another side of Dubai, like any other residence in the world. I have not only lived in Dubai for the past two years, but lived throughout Europe, South and North America; are things that very different in these other places? NO. A centuries long tradition of prostitution exists everywhere; observed by my own two eyes, but after reading this thread, I have found myself asking tow distinct questions; Dubai HIV rates through prostitution, and cultural adaptation due to prostitution.
In regards to HIV, this is a global pandemic that effects all walks of life; I agree there are professions of higher risk, prostitution being one of them. Most of these girls are well aware of the risks associated with their line of work; therefore, are HIV rates greater in Dubai beyond what is being observed on a global scale? NO. Majority of these woman require a condom being used at all costs. Essentially, most professionals are very educated and test themselves regularly, unlike the general population, as they are very concerned about this pandemic as well. As I am well educated on the risks and transmission of HIV, it is my opinion, of those who contract the disease fail to use condom sense; a practice again used wisely in the UAE; a very educated Expat community.
In regards to cultural adaptivity to prostitution? I have to wonder why, we as a society should blind ourselves or our children from such activities. If I do not educate or inform my 2 year daughter that young women sell themselves for sex; do they simply not exist at this point? This type of rhetoric and methodology is misinformed and causes sever consequences in the future; why should we not educate our young on the true atmosphere that we have created as human beings. You may reiterate all kinds of gospels from all races and religions, but yet again, indications that prostitution was a well established entity of any century is well established. Simply abandoning the fact does not obscure the fate of our children, but educating our young will change the future on what other opportunities are outside of this type of profession. For the guy who previously posted, Canadian, who abandoned his position here in Dubai due to the number of sex workers and raising a child; open the internet back in Montreal or Quebec, 30 minutes or less, you too will have a hooker at your door; only exception here is that they have moved to the digital age; you are an idiot. As i have stated before, i have lived here for the past 2 years, and yes, if i wanted a hooker, I can easily get one; bur Dubai for example; yet, I do have a wife and family, and I have no problems going out on the town or having a drink without being propositioned; liked anywhere in this world, you can find a hooker if you look for them. You will not cultural adapt to become a prostitute because others around you have chosen this profession; again economics and family upbringing. Unfortunately, we cannot all be welcomed to the world with a million dollars, so finally look into yourself and the history of the world, in regards to the, fact that prostitution is well in Demand globally. Ultimately, Stop going to hooker bars if you do not want to get propositioned. You are an idiot if you believe that prostitution is an isolated event and that you can shelter your family and friends beyond your home town, so I must reiterate that education is the best key for both our young to choose other options in life and for the people who choose to have sex with hookers for sex; use a condom.
Inshallah.
I am an American woman working in Kuwait. I have taken several trips to Dubai, Qatar, and Bahrain. Let me just say I have been so disturbed by what I have seen in these areas. I question whether I would ever be able to trust a man. I know not all men are cheaters and liars, but based on what I’ve seen here, most are…
I am even more embarrassed by the amount of men from the U.S. partaking in the sex industry. I do believe that most people are capable of anything, and it is up to society to keep each other in check. I do NOT believe that prostitution is inevitable, and we should just except it. Slavery was the norm for quite sometime, and still is in a few areas, more like indentured servitude now, but does that mean we should just except it and regulate it?? Abusing women is common all over the globe, and yes prostitution is a form of abuse on women, should we just except it??
I REALLY don’t believe you can compare doing a search online and seeing some pictures, to watching 3teenager hookers walk out of an apartment with a 70 year old man. Not even in the same ballpark. Or not being able to leave a grocery store without being propositioned. I can honestly tell you, prostitution isn’t nearly as common in the U.S. You have to look for it, it doesn’t find you. I can’t leave my apartment building in Kuwait with out seeing a bunch of Asian/Phillipino women hailing cabs outside used up from the night before. Then the next week I watch the wife and children of these men walk in to the same apartment several young girls were just in the week before. It makes my stomach turn, and my heart grows colder everytime.
A guy I work with said he had never used a prostitute and never would. He was spending a lot of time with a group of guys that said “it is the norm, everybody does it, it isn’t cheating, it is the worlds first profession”, and a month later watched him walk in a back room with a hooker his friend had reccomended. His wife showed up two weeks later none the wiser. My blood begins to boil just writing this. If you need to have sex with multiple women, then don’t get married, or get in a relationship. It seems that people lose all sense of morals when over here.