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

By contrast, there are those who insist that the women working in the
nightclubs are deceived. After visiting Lebanon, the UN Special Rapporteur
on Trafficking expressed concern about the considerable number of trafficked
women who are misled about the type of work they will be asked to do or
the exact conditions of their involvement in the sex industry. “Many have
been made to believe, for instance, that they would be expected to perform
striptease dances but not that they would be expected to have sexual relations
with customers. The visa system designating the women as artists facilitates
the deception.” 149 Immigration officials also acknowledged that they had dealt
with several cases of deception. “In 2011, we had three women who came
to Lebanon thinking they would be secretaries but ended up as dancers,”
recalled one official of the GDGS. “They came to us and we facilitated their
return home with the help of the International Organization for Migration.” 150
Recruitment of women deceived by fathers and husbands
The fourth process of trafficking in this area involves the deceptive recruitment
of girls and women into commercial sex work by relatives, particularly fathers
or husbands. Fathers can be involved either directly, as perpetrators, voluntarily
trading their daughters in exchange for financial benefits, or indirectly, being
themselves deceived into letting their daughters travel abroad on the false
promise of other work. A study by Heartland Alliance in Iraq found that
“a majority of Iraqi victims of trafficking identified while researching this
report were initially forced into labour or prostitution by family members
and subsequently fell under the control of third party criminals”. 151
The research team was unable to interview women who had been caught in
this trafficking process but did obtain detailed information on recorded cases
from several service providers in the region and key informants. The Dubai
Foundation for Women and Children received three victims of trafficking
who had been forced into sexual exploitation by their parents. 152 Other cases
were recorded in Lebanon (see box 3.11). In Lebanon, the ISF dealt with
several cases involving parents. During a nightclub inspection visit in
149
J. Ngozi Ezeilo, The UN Special Rapporteur in Trafficking in Persons, especially
Women and Children concludes her country visit to the United Arab Emirates, Abu
Dhabi, 17 Apr. 2012, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.
aspx?NewsID=12062&LangID=E 9 [accessed 5 Mar. 2013], p. 15.
150
Interview with an official of the GDGS responsible for the artist department, Lebanon,
24 Jan. 2012.
151
Heartland Alliance: Human trafficking in Iraq: Patterns and practices in forced labour
and sexual exploitation (Chicago, May 2007), p. 5. It is important to note that several
Iraqi women who were in the process of being transported to Syria, Iran or the UAE
were victims of kidnapping. Interview with an official from Heartland Alliance,
18 Sep. 2012.
152
Dubai Foundation for Women and Children: DFWAC 2011 Report on Victims of
Human Trafficking, p. 15.
83