Iraqi Refugees Turn to Prostitution

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iraq-refugees-prostitution,1,426035.story

DAMASCUS, Syria - The Iraqi women jump onto the stage at the al-Rawabi club, their long black hair swinging, their young faces caked with makeup. Iraqi pop music booms out as they sway and dance under strobe lights.

Nearby, a woman nicknamed At'outa meets her paying dates -- men who hand over $90 a night for companionship and sex.

This club in northwest Damascus represents one of the most troubling aspects of the Iraqi refugee crisis -- Iraqi women and girls who are turning to prostitution to survive in countries that have taken them in but won't let them or their families work at most other jobs. snip

Iraqi women whose husbands or fathers are dead or wounded from the war are most at risk, al-Kadi said.

"These women are being left with no supporter, under tremendous pressure and severe conditions," he said. "Thus they are being forced to do that, to fetch bread for their families."