Prostitution in Iraq is illegal. Punishment can be severe, including life imprisonment. Many women fleeing the war in Iraq have been forced into prostitution.
Some sources claim up to 50 thousand Iraqi refugee women in Syria , many of them widows or orphans, have been forced into prostitution. The Iraqi Kurdistan region has reportedly received "women and children trafficked from the rest of Iraq for prostitution ". Soran Mama Hama , a young reporter for Livin Magazine wrote an article entitled "Prostitutes invade Kirkuk", which was published on June 15, Hama was shot and died in front of his home in Kirkuk.
In some cases, Iraqi teenage boys and young men are the prostitutes. In these cases the prostitutes are typically motivated by poverty and are mostly heterosexual. Iraq is a source and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking.
Refugees and IDPs face heightened risk of trafficking due to their economic and social vulnerability and lack of security and protections.
NGOs report trafficking networks in the IKR target refugees and IDPs, operating with assistance from local officials, including judges, officials from the Asayish forces, and border agents.
