Fatima, the new face of sex trafficking victim-Iranian girls trafficked into Europe by the husbands

Have you ever heard of Mutah marriage? It is a temporary marriage based on a contract between a couple in Shiite tradition. Mutah is popular among Shiites who look for a sexual relationship with a women without a lasting commitment to their brides. Mutah marriage can last as short as a few hours depending on what the couple agreed to do so on the contract. Many people in Islamic countries find Mutah a useful tool since adultery is strictly forbidden by the authorities in Islam. Men enter the Mutah marriage to enjoy sexual relationships with different partners while many women use it to financially support themselves and their children. Sunni muslims fiercely criticize the practice and call it a legal prostitution, But, the practice seems to become even more popular as many Muslim countries like Iraq and Iran experience economic downturns. 

However, the greater problem lies in that the contract is used by the pimps to traffick children in Islamic world. The Mutah allows the pimps to traffick children domestically but also internationally for exploitation as it is recognized as a legitimate practice in some countries in Middle East. 

Mutah as a sex trafficking tool  for Middle Eastern pimps

While Mutah attract many females to find a husband to meet their financial needs, too many women and children have become victims of human trafficking through this practice. As a matter of fact, many young girls are sold by their family members for Mutah and trafficked again by their husbands for prostitution abroad. Therefore, Iranian women gained a notoriety in European countries as prostitutes. As  Iranian women make up 10-15% of prostitutes in Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands, Fatima from Persia has become as familiar as Natasha from Russia. [1]  According to a report, children in the age between 13 and 17 become victims of human trafficking after entering the Mutah marriage contract. Pakistani men marry them temporarily and take them to the brothels to work. Thousands of Iranians girls are sold to Turkey through this practice though their final destinations are unknown. The report further says that the girls who became orphans after the earthquake were contracted out by the Iranian foreign traders and sold to Europe, Persian gulf, France, UK, and Pakistan. The same report also says that the children are sometimes as young as 8 years old. 

The government the paper tiger and an increasing number of Fatima in Europe

When it comes to combating human trafficking, the authorities in Middle Eastern countries could not have been any more negligent than that they have been. In case of Iraq, for instance, 2009 US. department of trafficking in person report states as follows: 

The government did not prosecute trafficking cases in the past year. There were no mechanisms to collect data on offenses or enforcement. Although no single law defines trafficking in persons or establishes it as a criminal offense, various provisions of Iraqi law apply to trafficking. 

Another report further points out that the immigration authorities rarely question the victims' status as long as  their husbands are standing next to them even if they are as young as 14 years old. Meanwhile, the husbands often divorce and put them to work in brothels upon arrival in foreign countries after passing the immigration control. their legal status of forced marriage and Mutah marriage on the passports and travel documents certainly are not helping the authorities to recognize the victims, either. Yet, when they were domestically trafficked, the victims are more than likely to be punished for the crimes that they were committed against. For instance, if the victim's family learns that she was sold into prostitution or raped, she is likely to be at risk of honor killing by her family members.

Solution is to remember Fatima when thinking about Natasha

The oppression of children and women in Islamic world is not anything new that anyone ever heard of. While it is subject to many different interpretation, Many Islamic believers have justified their oppression of women based on  Quran : 

Surah 4:34: Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other.