asianaffairs

A voice for the voiceless

A new programme was recently unveiled at the House of Lords, designed to extend international awareness of the harsh realities of sex trafficking around North Africa and the Middle East. Linda Lloyd attended the launch.

By Linda Lloyd

On Wednesday November 9, the House of Lords played host to the launch of 'Karamatuna — Our Dignity', a report issued by Social Change through Education in the Middle East and North Africa (SCEME). Established in 2010, SCEME aims to empower women and young people from migrant communities and impoverished backgrounds throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The Karamatuna programme addresses the endemic problem of human trafficking — mostly of women and children — in the MENA region for the purposes of sexual exploitation. It focuses in particular on the trafficking of Iraqi refugees, an issue that receives limited domestic and international exposure.

The launch was chaired by Lord Dubs of Battersea, who gave a brief introduction to the theme of human trafficking, noting how women and children are usually the greatest victims in any conflict situation.

Five speakers then made short but impassioned presentations. The first was Iman Abou-Atta, founder and director of SCEME, who said that she had set

up the organisation in order to give a voice to those women who were trafficked throughout the MENA region, and whose plight receives little or no coverage in the UK and global media. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, she said, had left women deeply vulnerable to trafficking, which often happened by way of fake job offers and 'mut'ah' or temporary marriages that then led to the women being forced into sexual slavery — a situation which, said Ms Abou-Atta, the authorities refuse to address.

In his talk, Dr Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, drew attention to the enduring and widespread problem of slavery, including the trafficking of women from Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, which he attributed to three main factors: prejudice, government inaction and human vulnerability. The problem is exacerbated by war, which creates circumstances whereby perpetrators of human trafficking can act with impunity, and those engaging in war, said Dr McQuade, should consider its aftermath. He questioned what the former Iraq allies were doing to countenance the trafficking that had resulted from the invasion, and also asked what action the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and UN were taking to tackle the problem.

Bringing the issue centre-stage was the main focus of Dr Maha Azzam from Chatham House, who spoke of how traffickers exploit the ongoing instability of the MENA region. In Iraq, the removal of Saddam Hussain has brought about greater political flux, which has in turn led to an increase in trafficking. While this is illegal in Iraq, said Dr Azzam, no real system exists to prosecute it. Greater political will is needed, she insisted, with NGOs and governments coordinating at international levels, and training, education, shelters etc being made available to those affected, while religious figures, too, must play a key role in breaking down the cultural taboos that view trafficked women as criminals rather than victims.

Houzan Mahmoud, a representative of the Organisation for Women's Freedom in Iraq, also spoke out against the criminalisation of the victims of trafficking rather than its perpetrators, and condemned the stigma surrounding the issue that prevented people from even talking about it. She highlighted the links between the traffickers and government officials, revealing that the Iraqi government had tried to block her organisation's access to the media, and she urged Western governments to put pressure on their Arab counterparts to tackle sexual exploitation, so that vulnerable asylum seekers are not returned to situations where they may be trafficked again. Perhaps most damning of all, Ms Mahmoud asserted that change would not be easy as long as demand existed and profits could be made from the trafficking of vulnerable women and children.

Finally, Sherif Elsayed-Ali, head of Refugee and Migrants' Rights, offered an overview of the refugee situation in the MENA zone, and how it relates to trafficking. Few countries, he said, were party to the UN refugee convention, with many failing to fulfil their responsibilities towards refugees. He also underlined the role of trafficking in bringing about forced immigration, which renders the victims illegal 'immigrants' and hence criminals.

Comments from the floor included the potential role of NGOs and the more liberal Arab nations in the fight against trafficking, and the possibility of re-education through religious leadership.

Lord Dubs ended the session by urging all those present not to simply go home and forget about the issues that had been discussed, but rather to lobby their MPs and MEPs, thus increasing public pressure on governments to take action, and giving a voice to the disempowered women of Iraq and the rest of the MENA region.

Hopefully the launch of the Karamatuna report will be a vital first step.

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