“During the war we lost everything. We even lost our honor.”, says Umm Hiba , an Iraqi women in Damuscus and daughter of a teenage daughter who dances at nightclubs and is a prostitute.Several Iraqi women who had to flee to neighbouring Syria after the men in their family were either killed or kidnapped. Bereft of jobs and armed militia knocking at their doors, they had no other option.
In Syria, the reason of survival drove them to the oldest profession of the world. These women find work at casinos or openly solicit clients on the streets. Syria, though committed to help, seems overwhelmed by the Iraqi exodus. According to the United Nations commissioner for refugees, Syria has near about 1.2 million Iraqis women. Syria does not have the necessary infrastructure to deal with such numbers. Cheaply available Iraqi prostitutes have made the flesh trade here a big business luring Arabs from neighbouring countries. Most visitors are from Saudi Arabia, just a six-hour drive through Jordan. Image credit New York Times