Iraqi refugees turn to sex trade in Syria

By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A score of young Iraqi women in tight, shimmering gowns shuffle across the nightclub dance floor under the hungry eyes of Gulf Arabs at nearby tables.

The band blasts out Iraqi songs into the early hours as the watching youths join the dancing or summon girls to sit with them -- there is little pretence about what gets transacted at this neon-lit nightspot half an hour's drive north of Damascus.

The dancers, some in their early teens, do not want to talk, but one said she had no other way to support her family. "My father was killed in Baghdad and our money is finished," muttered the dark-haired girl in a black and silver dress.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR calls it "survival sex", a desperate way to cope for Iraqi refugees whose savings have run out since they escaped the violence at home.

The idea repels many of the 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria, but the struggle to make ends meet has forced some to share tiny apartments with other families in the slums of Damascus, put their children out to work or marry off teenaged daughters.

Sometimes such early marriages are simply a cover for prostitution as young brides are swiftly trafficked, according to Hana Ibrahim, head of the Iraqi Women's Will Association.

She also cited a growing incidence of temporary marriage, accepted in Shi'ite Muslim tradition, as another common route into the sex trade. "Mut'a (temporary) marriage is just for Shi'ites, but who said the Sunnis don't have other ways?"

UNHCR representative Laurens Jolles said survival sex was directly proportional to general refugee impoverishment.

"We are more and more confronted with examples of young girls or women who have decided on their own or through their families to get involved in night clubs to supplement the family income or just to look after their children," Jolles added.

Some end up in Syrian detention. Those who get out are often bailed out by their exploiters and returned to the streets.

Impoverishment is also the main factor driving refugees to return home -- about 1,500 a day are crossing back into Iraq, compared to up to 500 daily arrivals, the UNHCR says.

A survey in November showed 46 percent were returning due to financial hardship and 26 percent because their visas had run out -- Syria has recently tightened entry and residence rules.

STRUGGLE FOR DIGNITY

But among the myriad Iraqi refugee families who have sunk into poverty are many determined to get by without dishonor.

"We don't think of our future, only of our children's future," said Rukkaya Fadhil, a 34-year-old woman in a green headscarf who keeps smiling despite the grim reality around her.