Dubious matchmakers and criminal gangs are preying on the Syrian women and girls who have sought shelter in Turkey. The sexual exploitation ranges from illicit marriages to prostitution. October 26, In the refugee camps and crowded Turkish towns on the border with Syria , impoverished Syrian women and girls are falling prey to criminal rings that are forcing them into sexually exploitative situations ranging from illicit marriages to outright prostitution.
Girls are also targeted for early marriage or sexual exploitation. In some cases male relatives are complicit. Samaa, a woman who fled the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo with her family more than a year ago, lives in a rundown hotel in Gaziantep , a border city in southern Turkey flooded with Syrian refugees.
She lives completely isolated from the Syrian community, helping to provide for her family through sex work, a practice her husband overlooks out of a toxic mix of shame and necessity. The two boys now do odd jobs at the restaurant. Samaa, who has a urinary tract infection, works while they are away to make up the difference and tries to maintain a veneer of discretion. A Syrian pimp directs potential customers to her room. Living in a tented camp strikes her as an even less attractive option.
With the Syrian civil war now in its fourth year and having displaced millions of civilians and killed some ,, the plight of Syrian refugee women and girls living in the Middle East has been well documented by international organizations such as the International Rescue Committee IRC and the United Nations.
Early and forced marriages, sexual harassment from landlords or service providers, increased domestic violence, and lack of access to education and health care stand out as chief concerns in the Syrian refugee communities of Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey, according to an IRC report in September.
