Tricked and Trapped: Human Trafficking in the Middle East, ‎pdf 4.1 MB

3.2. SEX WORK
3.2.1. At a glance: Key findings on sex work
The 20 sex workers interviewed in Lebanon, Jordan and the UAE came from
Belarus, Jordan, Lebanon, Russia, Syria, the Philippines, Tunisia, Ukraine
and Uzbekistan. All were women, between 19 and 40 years of age. Most came
from urban areas, and identified themselves as coming from either poor or
middle-class families. The majority had completed secondary school.
A few had worked in the Middle East before, but most had migrated for the
first time. The majority of women interviewed claimed they had made the
decision to work abroad themselves. The research team also met with women
and men employed in the entertainment industry, including waitresses and
dancers, and the owners, managers and security staff of nightclubs. Sex
brokers (pimps) and clients of sex workers were also interviewed. Secondary
sources of information were used to provide further evidence and to show
the particular vulnerability of Asian and African women migrant workers to
being deceived and coerced into sexual exploitation.
Additional data were gathered from a variety of key informants, who shed
light on the processes involved in the trafficking of sex workers. These
informants included government officials from ministries of labour, interior,
justice, foreign affairs and social affairs, as well as government representatives
of countries of origin stationed at embassies and consulates. Information
was also collected from representatives of workers’ organizations, migrant
associations, and local and international NGOs in both countries of origin
and destination, as well as media professionals and academics.
The analysis of the data collected from both primary and secondary sources
revealed four main processes of human trafficking for sex work as forced
labour (table 3.2). The first process involves the voluntary recruitment of girls
and women as domestic workers. Once in the country of destination, they
leave their employers, lured by promises of love or a better job, only to be
subsequently forced by their ‘boyfriends’, taxi drivers or other intermediaries
into commercial sexual exploitation. The second process involves of women
who have migrated to work as domestic workers, nurses, teachers or waitresses,
and are abducted upon arrival by their freelance agents and obliged to provide
commercial sexual services to clients out of private or isolated apartments
or villas. The third process involves the recruitment of migrant women to
work in nightclubs and bars. These women, often referred to as “artists”,
believe they will work as dancers, waitresses or singers, but are deceived by
their impresario or employer about the real nature of the job and obliged to
provide sexual services. The fourth process involves women who are deceived
by relatives through the false promise of marriage and a better life in another
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