Oppression and Exploitation: Sex Trafficking in Islam
by
Kendra Bakerink and Caitlin Hawes
WMS 350
Professor L. Knauer
December 16, 2004
It may seem as though Islamic cultures oppress their women because of the high regard for the hymen as a sense of honor, yet sex trafficking flourishes not only in the richer Gulf States but also in Islamic countries worldwide. Because “Islamic fundamentalism is a political movement with an ideology that considers women inherently inferior in intellectual and moral capacity,” sex trafficking is not seen as against the tenants of the religion but rather as acceptable because of the low status of women (Hughes). This paper will uncover some of the veiled secrets of the Islamic world and its darker side of sex work and trafficking. The common belief, especially in the Western world, is that terrorism is the main problem in regards to Muslim Fundamentalists, while some Western feminist groups have drawn attention to the plight of Islamic women; it is often ignored until the main stream media picks it up such as in the case of the Afghani women. The media mainly focuses on terror, marking its threats through a color coded system, yet totally disregards the red danger level that Islamic women face on a day to day basis.
The religion of Islam has gotten much media attention in recent years due to terrorist attacks executed by Islamic fundamentalists. It is important to note, however, that the media is failing to report about Muslim people as a whole. In fact, the fundamentalists are a minority of religious extremists, and to ignore the rest of Islamic people would be to leave out a huge part of the picture. Islam is the world’s youngest and fastest growing religion worldwide. Like Judaism and Christianity, it is monotheistic and even recognizes Jesus Christ as a prophet. The Islamic religion, however, expands upon this belief by worshipping the prophet Mohammed, an essential character to their belief system, due to his devotion to living a religious and moral life (Lippman 33).
Islam, like other monotheistic religions, is a faith of the book, known as the Koran. It is considered to be the literal translation of the word of God, and it is the successor to both the new and old testament of the Bible. In Islam there are no additional sacred scriptures to the Koran, for in the believer’s opinion, it is the final word of God. In addition to following the lessons taught in the Koran, Muslims also practice what is known as the five pillars of Islam. These are declaring the Shahada, or their faith in the religion, engaging in ritual prayer five times a day, paying a Zakat or alms tax yearly, fasting during the religious feast of Ramadan, and at least once in a lifetime making the holy pilgrimage or Hajj to Mecca, the home of the prophet Mohammed (Lippman 6-25). Islam is also split in to two distinct sects, the Sunni’s, who make up the majority of Muslims, and the Shiite’s, who are more literal and fundamentalists in their beliefs, and also believe in the prophet Ali, the son in law of Mohammed.
While the basic beliefs of the Islamic faith may not seem like they would directly oppress women, Islamic law does in fact support the subjugation of women. Known, as Sharia, Muslim law is exactly what it seems, legal codes and regulations based on the Islamic faith. This is because lessons from the Koran and Mohammed’s life reinforce the idea that religion in based upon behavior as well as belief, and this is seen as liberating, for Islamic Sharia does not forbid things simply for the sake of forbidding them Islamic law, does, however, offer very strict penalties for women, that are not in place for their male counterparts (Lippman 70-3). While many of the codes of the Sharia pertain to women, it is not to say that Islamic law is the last word on regulating the behavior of women. Local cultures and traditions play a part as well, and that is why there is a degree of variation with the treatment of Muslim women from country to country. Both the Koran and Sharia tend to be inconsistent with their dealing with women. On one hand, women are seen as equals in the faith, while on the other it takes for granted that women reproduce and tend to private, household duties (Lippman 95-6).
There is much controversy over the treatment of women in the Muslim world, especially since the American invasion in to Afghanistan. We see images of women in burqas with limited freedom, and one cannot help but think, “These women seem oppressed” However, long before the war in Afghanistan, many prominent feminist and human rights groups have illustrated the subjugation that Islamic women face on a daily basis, which is supported by religious tenets in the Koran as well as Islamic law. A very important passage in the Koran states that women are seen as having “nine parts of desire”, and men only one (Brooks xv). For this reason, a woman’s sexuality is seen as needing to be controlled, for otherwise she will tempt men into immoral and lustful acts.
Behind this belief lies the explanation for why Muslim women, generally, are much more oppressed and restricted from certain behaviors in comparison with Western women. The issue most directly linked to this is that of family honor, and a woman’s purity or virginity must to be maintained before marriage if her family’s honor is to be preserved (Brooks 49-53). Since Islamic culture is communal, putting emphasis on family and community rather than the individual, a woman’s actions have an effect on her family. It is also important to note that in many Muslim countries, a woman’s status in society is linked to male family members. That is, in some nations a woman cannot live by herself, or leave the household without having a male family member or husband present. In short, a woman is not an autonomous individual; she is a representation of her faith, family, and community.
For many Western people, the emphasis on the behavior of women seems strange and even extreme. However, this widely held Islamic belief is accompanied with some questionable and downright inhumane practices in the Muslim world. Among them are veiling in public to various degrees, which is perhaps the most noticeable. Covering of the hair and the body is only done in public or when strangers and guests enter in to the household (Warnock-Fernea 98). One sees this in its extreme when they encounter the women of Afghanistan who wear a burqa that covers all but their eyes, which are in fact swathed with mesh. Remember, these women wear these heavy coverings through cold and heat, all in an attempt to quash their sexuality.
The seclusion and segregation of women is also quite common in Islamic countries. Most public places are segregated so that some are for men and some are for women, like schools (Brooks 153-4). Even in the household, women have their own section of the house in which men do not enter. It is only here that women can be themselves, without the veils or male companions. Because of this segregation and seclusion, women have limited employment opportunities as well as limited access to higher education. Depending on what nation women live in, they may not even be able to go to college or get a job in the workforce, for both arenas are seen as primarily for men.
Another practice that Westerners find strange is arranged marriage. While it affects both Islamic males and females, this ritual is for the benefit of the family, not the participants actually marrying. The families, like in times of old, often sell their daughters in order to ensure status and economic stability. Arranged marriage has little to do with love, nor how the woman feels (Brooks 58-9). Girls as young as ten years old can be sold in to marriage by their families, well before their bodies are ready to reproduce, and well before they are mentally mature enough to tend to a husband in a strict patriarchal culture.
While all of these practices and rituals seem backwards and shocking, perhaps the cruelest of them all is what is known as Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM. It has gotten little media attention in the West, but when it does it is a firestorm. FGM is used as a way to control female sexuality at the onset of puberty, and it comes in many forms, ranging from female circumcision, or cutting off the clitoris, to sewing up the labia majora so the girls and women can only urinate. These surgical procedures usually are performed by the female’s mothers and aunts in the most unsanitary of manners and often the girls and women suffer irreparable damage to their bodies (Brooks 33-8). In the nations and cultures that this does take place, there is no choice for the young girls. Tradition and family honor is at stake, should they try to rebel and while many girls attempt to escape, few are successful.
When women do “rebel” against Sharia or Islamic society, they face severe punishment, even death. The phenomenon of “honor killings” or killing a female family member, who has disgraced the family in some way, is not unheard of. Honor killings are usually attempted when a woman is accused of having extramarital or premarital affairs. It does not matter if the female comes from a rich or poor family; all women are affected by honor killings, even princesses. The Saudi Arabian princess Mishaal bint Fahd bin Mohamed was murdered by her family in a parking lot in 1977 and it sparked a media firestorm when the British press became aware of it (Brooks 49-50). This is a sad example of how mistreatment of women affects all socioeconomic classes.
In order to better understand the levels of severity of trafficking in each country, there will be references to the US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report, in which “the report panel placed each of the countries that are included on the report into one of the three lists, described here as tiers, mandated by The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. This placement is based upon governments’ efforts to combat trafficking” (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 10).
Each Tier has specific requirements that a country must comply with in order to maintain its standing. In Tier 1,
governments of countries in Tier 1 fully comply with the Act's minimum standards. Such governments criminalize and have successfully prosecuted trafficking, and have provided a wide range of protective services to victims. Victims are not jailed or otherwise punished solely as a result of being trafficked, and they are not summarily returned to a country where they may face hardship as a result of being trafficked. In addition, these governments sponsor or coordinate prevention campaigns aimed at stemming the flow of trafficking (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 11).
In our research there were no countries which qualified for Tier 1 status; however a few did comply with the act enough to be classified as Tier 2. Tier 2 state that
The governments of countries in Tier 2 do not yet fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. Some are strong in the prosecution of traffickers, but provide little or no assistance to victims. Others work to assist victims and punish traffickers, but have not yet taken any significant steps to prevent trafficking. Some governments are only beginning to address trafficking, but nonetheless have already taken significant steps towards the eradication of trafficking (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 11).
Despite a few of the countries qualifying for a Tier 2 status, the majority of the Islamic countries discussed compliance with the Act only allowed a Tier 3 status, in which there are little changes being made. Tier 3 status is specifically defined as
the governments of countries in Tier 3 do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance. Some of these governments refuse to acknowledge the trafficking problem within their territory. On a more positive note, several other governments in this category are beginning to take concrete steps to combat trafficking. While these steps do not yet reach the appropriate level of significance, many of these governments are on the path to placement on Tier 2 (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 11).
Because of the great disparity between each country’s treatments of women, it is important that the different Tiers are understood. It is now possible to go more in-depth to the atrocities that occur in each of these countries. The regions where Islamic sex trafficking is most prevalent are in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, the Gulf States, Eurasian Islamic countries, and Southeast Asia.
While specific treatment varies from nation to nation, there are some basic principles of Islam that allow for the exploitation of women to occur. While “some may think a thriving sex trade in a theocracy with clerics possibly acting as pimps is a contradiction in a country founded and ruled by Islamic fundamentalists. In fact, this is not a contradiction” (Hughes). Because women are viewed as inferior to men, their oppression is inherent in Islamic beliefs. Where repression of a group occurs, exploitation can easily follow; “exploitation and repression of women are closely associated. Both exist where women, individually or collectively, are denied freedom and rights” (Hughes). In many of the countries where women are sexually exploited and trafficked there are extreme fundamentalists in power, which by nature allows for corruption and greed. Greed and corruption, especially when strict religious beliefs already propose inequality between the sexes, leaves those without power extremely vulnerable. Men are not singly responsible for exploitation, even women in some countries will traffic women and children as a means survival and potential prosperity.
The strange and even spiteful practices used to control women vary from nation to nation. To get to the bottom of how women are treated in the Muslim world, one must visit those various countries to get a clearer picture of how women are actually treated. There are distinct differences because of cultures and tradition, but also because of how strictly the various nations may follow Islam or how they interpret its teachings. The reader will now travel the globe in order to see how the Muslim treatment of women, while certainly different than their own, varies.
The journey begins in the Horn of Africa, including the countries of Egypt and Sudan, where a large amount of the mistreatment of women takes place. Within the Islamic nations of Africa there are dissimilarities in the handling of women, but there are some characteristic practices that take place on the “dark” continent. What is interesting, however, is that as this is being written, Egypt in undergoing a religious fundamentalist “revolution” Many of the freedoms that women once had are being taken away in the name of Allah. Universities are becoming segregated and the enforcement of wearing hijab in public is much stricter (Abdu 159). There has also been resurgence in female genital mutilation, which illuminates that female genital mutilation is not just an African cultural practice, but also helps reinforce the tenets of Islam (Horn).
Sudan is a Muslim nation that has been very prominent in the media due to the awful ethnic cleansing taking place there. This nation, as well as it is neighbor to the south, Eritrea, are known for engaging in arranged marriages of young girls as well as female genital mutilation (Horn). It is horrific to think about, and Brooks best highlights this horror when she witnesses the hospital run by a female doctor in Eritrea who performs safe female circumcisions in her book Nine Parts of Desire:
Outside, the next case, a thirteen year old
waited patiently for the operation that
would reconstruct her vaginal wall. The
girl, a Muslim nomad, had been married
at ten. Her husband’s rough intercourse
had been too much for her immature body,
tearing the tissue that divides the vagina
and the rectum. The girl had run away
from her husband, and joined the
Eritrean guerrillas (34-5).
Clearly, girls and women live no easy life in the horn of Africa, and this is only one example of how bad things can get when one is born female in a culture that is patriarchal, and in this case, arguably misogynist.
As rated by US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report, Sudan is a Tier 3 in terms of its policies and practices in regards to trafficking persons the prevention of. Sudan is both a destination country for trafficked persons as well as having internal trafficking of its own people. To be brought to Sudan “thousands of Ugandan men, women and children, have been abducted by rebel groups to be used as sex slaves, domestic helpers, child soldiers, and forcibly conscripted soldiers. Women and children have also been subjected to intertribal abductions for domestic and sexual exploitation in the southern part of the country” (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 99). Sudan’s old people are being “sold into slavery through Chad, to Libya” (99). Because there are no specific laws regarding trafficking or sex trafficking, those involved must be prosecuted under related laws that relate to “rape, abduction, torture, and unlawful detention” but the Sudanese “government has not made an effort to investigate and prosecute any traffickers or abductors” (99). Though Sudan has not taken strong actions to end trafficking, there have been outlines created by the government to create tribunals of citizens to bring to justice the perpetrators of trafficking.
Many Islamic nations exist in the Middle East and as a result trafficking runs rampant from country to country, and as a result “many people - men and women - are trafficked into the Middle East to work as domestic servants. However, their rights are not protected. Furthermore, there are social ambiguities when it comes to the issue of prostitution. Prostitution is actually legal in a number of Islamic countries: Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Lebanon” (Wilson Center Conference). Iran and Saudi Arabia have a growing human trafficking problem, while smaller Gulf States, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, have done little to contain and stop trafficking. Countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, amidst continuous political turmoil, continue to have people exported and imported illegally, but as commonly as nearly any other ‘good.’
The Middle Eastern nation of Iran is recognized as a source and destination in human trafficking. While the Bush Administration classifies them as part of an “Axis of Evil”, the treatment of women is not as harsh as it is in some countries. While women must wear a chador that covers all but their face, they can participate in the workforce, sports, and higher education as well as vote and have a political voice (Brooks 233). There is segregation, but the women of Iran may participate in many activities that other women would be denied. To the Western woman, they may seem oppressed, but to women in other parts of the Muslim world, they appear liberated. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran qualify as Tier 3 countries, as they have made little to no efforts to follow the minimum standards of The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
Iran is a country of origin and transit for trafficked persons. Iranian women and girls have been trafficked to the Gulf States and Turkey for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking of women and girls for purposes of sexual exploitation also occurs (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 64).
The Penal Code includes provisions that mandate the stoning of women and men convicted of adultery. It is difficult for women who are victims of male traffickers to obtain legal redress since a woman’s testimony in court is worth only half that of a man’s, making it difficult for a woman to prove a case against a male defendant. Victims are often jailed, flogged, and sometimes stoned to death for adultery (64).
The exact numbers of Iranian girls cannot be determined, however “according to an official source in Tehran, there has been a seven-fold increase in the number of teen-age girls in prostitution” (Sepehrrad). In Tehran alone there are close to 84,000 women and girls working as prostitutes, some working the 250 brothels operating in the city, the others working the streets. There have been reports of women being sold to Britain and France as well as Pakistan as sex slaves from the streets of Tehran; other Arab countries are also importing these women. Sex trafficking is a rapidly growing industry and “the head of Iran's Interpol bureau believes that the sex slave trade is one of the most profitable activities in Iran today, and government officials themselves are involved in buying, selling and sexually abusing women and girls” (Hughes). If these victims of trafficking are arrested there are reports that the arrested for prostitution women “must have sex with the arresting officer” and “there are reports of police locating young women for sex for the wealthy and powerful mullahs” (Hughes). If women are arrested or returned to Iran after being exploited worldwide, they are often punished or imprisoned because of the blame put on them by Islamic fundamentalists. When returned to Iran “the women are examined to determine if they have engaged in "immoral activity. Based on the findings, officials can ban them from leaving the country again” (Hughes).
Iran’s neighbor, Saudi Arabia, would definitely see the women of Iran as unshackled. One of America’s biggest allies in the Middle East is also one of the biggest abuser’s of human rights, and that does not exclude women. Women are not allowed to drive, vote, leave their house without a male family member, and every part of their body must be covered except for a small opening for their eyes (Warnock-Ferena 335). These restrictions, however, are only the beginning. Should a woman rebel, for example, have an extra-marital affair or premarital sex; she faces stoning or beheading at the hands of the government. For such a wealthy and powerful country, its treatment of women is anything but modern or just.
Saudi Arabia is a destination for trafficked women and children, whose countries of origin range from “Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines” who come to Saudi Arabia to “work as domestic servants and menial laborers” (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 91). Many of the people trafficked to Saudi Arabia are children and “girls as young as six are trafficked to work as maids in UAE and Saudi Arabia” (Aminmansour). Despite formally abolishing slavery by a royal decree in 1962, there are no specific laws regarding trafficking and little has been done to stop or prevent this modern day slave trade (91).
The smaller Gulf States like Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are less draconian in their handling of women, but the rights of females are still more restricted than women of the West. In the United Arab Emirates, for instance, women are allowed to vote and are demanded to serve in the armed forces on the front lines as part of their citizenship. In Bahrain, there has even been a women’s movement, a big step even if it was not one hundred percent effective (Warnock-Ferena 167). Despite these achievements, these Gulf States still expect women to marry, reproduce and be obedient to their husbands.
Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are all Tier 3 countries and do not follow the minimum standards of the act. Bahrain is a destination for trafficked individuals and “victims come primarily from India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka to work as domestic servants and in the construction industry” (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 28). The laws of Bahrain do not specifically ban trafficking but does prohibit “forced labor, forced prostitution, and withholding of salary” (28). Qatar is also a destination country for women trafficked for sexual exploitation, who come from “countries in East Asia, South Asia and Africa” (87). While Qatar’s laws have punishments that include fines and imprisonment, the investigations into these cases have not led to any convictions of those involved. The government of Qatar has made small steps in protecting the victims of trafficking providing “assistance to domestics who have suffered from abuse, in the form of payment of back wages and repatriation” (87).
The United Arab Emirates is a destination for trafficked persons, partly because “foreign nationals comprise about eighty-five percent of the population, and guest workers make up ninety-eight percent of the country’s private sector workforce; the low-skilled foreign workers forced into domestic servitude primarily come from South and Southeast Asian countries, primarily India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines” (108). Often times, with hopes of legal work, women and girls are lured to this rich Gulf country from as far away as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, East Asia and Eastern Europe, only to find upon arrival that they have been trafficked for sex. There are no specific laws in the UAE that pertain to trafficking, however traffickers caught bringing children into the country can be arrested for child smuggling. The victims of trafficking often face worse consequences than their traffickers, because of immigration laws and Islamic rule. “Prostitutes are either detained or arrested and prosecuted and then deported without regard to whether they are victims of trafficking” (108). Because of the illegal immigration involved in trafficking many of the women are “particularly vulnerable to attacks by customers and traffickers alike” (Aminmansour). There is a trend in Islamic countries in that they choose to prosecute the victims of trafficking rather than those responsible for the illegal actions. Many times the victims are under the impression that their legal documents are legit, when in fact they are falsified leaving the women particularly open to persecution regarding immigration laws.
In the last few years, the American people have come to know Pakistan and Afghanistan well, yet another section of the Islamic world located in Eurasia. Pakistan has an interesting history as a nation that was created expressly for Muslims who did not want to live inside the Hindu borders of India. The religious history of Pakistan has shaped the present, and even though it has had a female leader, Benazir Bhutto, its handling of women has been inconsistent. At one point Bhutto allowed a law to stand that punished rape victims as fornicators and let rapists go free, while at other times, she created all female police stations and appointed female judges (Brooks 184). There is no doubt that Pakistan has been in a back and forth on how to treat women. Afghanistan is classified as Tier 3 country and Pakistan is classified as Tier 2.
Afghanistan is notorious for its abuses of women, especially under the fundamentalist Taliban government and at the present time, things are not much better. There is media speculation over how effective the first free elections were, especially the female vote. While there is more freedom for women in areas where there is an American presence, like the cities if Kandahar or Kabul, in the rural parts of Afghanistan little has changed. Women must wear the burqa and like in Saudi Arabia, and face stoning if they “misbehave” in certain ways. The dramatized documentary, Stoning, illustrates a realistic example of how a woman who was raped while her husband was away was stoned to death by the male members of the village while pregnant with the rapist’s child. The situation in Afghanistan will need a miracle before the country could ever be considered “better-off”, especially for women.
Afghanistan is both a place of origin and transition for individuals being trafficked. Because of the ragged state of the Afghani government over the last few years, statewide regulation and rule, when in existence was inherently corrupt. Where the rule of the Taliban did not exist, tribal and Islamic law often times was the only form of justice. During the time of the Taliban, many of the officials were corrupt and directly involved with trafficking women and children. There were many disappearances of women and children under the Taliban rule, and it is believed they were
trafficked to Pakistan and the Gulf States. Under the Taliban, women and girls were subjected to rape, kidnapping, and forced marriage. Since the AIA took over, there are reports that Afghan women and children have been trafficked to Pakistan and the Middle East for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. There have been numerous reports that impoverished Afghan families have sold their children for purposes of forced sexual exploitation, marriage, and labor (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 23).
Because of the continuing unrest in Afghanistan, the problem of trafficking continues to exist; “Afghan girls and women have been trafficked from refugee camps in Pakistan to urban areas for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor” (83).
Pakistan, like Afghanistan, is a point of origin and destination for trafficking, but also has become a country of destination “for women and children who are trafficked from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Central Asia for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are trafficked from East Asian countries and Bangladesh to the Middle East will be brought through Pakistan” (83). Because of the Islamic principles Pakistan has in the basis of its laws, “if prostitution is prosecuted, victims are often reluctant to testify since, if the burden of proof is not met, the woman’s testimony is tantamount to an admission of adultery” (83). However, despite the unfair judicial system, Pakistan has laws
that criminalize kidnapping, abduction, slavery, prostitution, forced labor, and importing girls for sexual exploitation. Prosecution is possible under these existing statutes, but the government is drafting new laws that would deal more effectively with trafficking and conform its legal system to international conventions that address trafficking. Although law enforcement officials have successfully investigated and arrested traffickers, severely backlogged courts and local corruption slow convictions (83).
It is because of these existing laws as well as the Pakistani’s government’s goals of more effective trafficking legislation, that they have received a Tier 2 status.
The final destinations on this survey of Islamic women around the globe are the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia and Malaysia. In these island nations women are afforded much more freedom in dress, for they are able to wear tighter fitting clothing that is closer to contemporary American dress. Women are allowed in the workforce, can vote, go to school, drive, and do all of it alongside men. That is not to say that there is not a minority of Islamic fundamentalists in these countries that would not like to see women behave much like the oppressed women of Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan (Brooks 209). In parts of these nations where there are pockets of fundamentalists, this “Western” behavior would likely be shunned. Malaysia, like Pakistan is a Tier 2 country because of its efforts to eliminate trafficking, where Indonesia remains at a Tier 3 status despite government action to fight against trafficking, their efforts are “hampered by insufficient funds and porous borders. Corruption among local government officials is widespread” (US Department of State Trafficking Persons Report 63).
Indonesia is a nation of origin, where its citizens are trafficked to Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, Persian Gulf countries, Australia, South Korea, and Japan (63). Despite the lack of resources to help aid in the elimination of trafficking there has been an allocation for “an increase in the national budget to combat trafficking” (63).
Malaysia is both a destination and source for trafficked victims. Indonesia and Malaysia both traffic to each other, and origins for other Malaysian victims include Thailand, China, and the Philippines as well as a growing group from Uzbekistan (75). More established nations such as Canada, the US, Japan, Australia and Taiwan are destinations for the Malaysian victims. As a means to comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the government has initiated anti-trafficking programs for a small group of government officials (75). Non-government organizations have also made efforts to increase awareness of the trafficking problems that exist in Malaysia, yet no end to trafficking seems to be in sight.
As this paper has demonstrated, Islamic sex trafficking does exist, and is a growing problem. World wide, “the fast-growing trade [sex trafficking] is a seven-billion-dollar business, according to State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage “It is so lucrative that our intelligence community estimates it will outstrip the illicit trade in guns and narcotics in this decade,” he said” (Alternatives for a Different World). Without awareness and education, the problem will continue to flourish in silence.
This paper is a means to an end, bringing to light the poor treatment and exploitation of these women. If our society continues to live in a culture of fear that focuses primarily on terrorism, it is unlikely that the plight of women in Islam will deteriorate further. The world needs to de-myth the problems of Islamic terror and turn towards human rights in general. While on a day to day basis the average American lives in fear of far off plans of potential terror, the average Muslim women lives in constant fear and oppression, forced to live in a society that on one hand holds the hymen in great regard, but on the other disregards the rest of a women’s body and dignity. Awareness is key to change, and as in most feminist and social movements it is inherent that the personal become the political, and these atrocities occurring daily need to be brought to light, so that the Islamic women’s oppression can be eliminated.
Works Cited
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“Wilson Center Conference” Human Trafficking.org. Nov. 2004. Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. 29 Nov. 2004 <http://www.humantrafficking.org/events/archive/wilsoncenterconf.html>.