Click here and watch an awareness-raising video that is featured on UN GIFT - The global initiative to fight human trafficking.

Via Uruknet:

Dubai is of course not the only place in the Middle East famous for sex-trafficking; it faces stiff competition from Israel. BBC reports, in 2006 ‘the United Nations named Israel as one of the main destinations in the world for trafficked women; it has also consistently appeared as an offender in the annual US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (Tip) report.’

Marina rarely leaves her two-room home in northern Israel these days. She is in hiding - wanted by the Israeli authorities for being an illegal immigrant, and by the criminal gangs who brought her here to sell her into prostitution.

Marina - not her real name - was lured to Israel by human traffickers.

During the height of the phenomenon, from the beginning of the 1990s to the early years of 2000, an estimated 3,000 women a year were brought to Israel on the false promise of jobs and a better way of life.

“When I was in the Ukraine, I had a difficult life,” said Marina, who came to Israel in 1999 at the age of 33 after answering a newspaper advertisement offering the opportunity to study abroad.

“I was taken to an apartment in Ashkelon, and other women there told me I was now in prostitution. I became hysterical, but a guy starting hitting me and then others there raped me.

“I was then taken to a place where they sold me - just sold me!” she said, recalling how she was locked in a windowless basement for a month, drank water from a toilet and was deprived of food.

MAIN ORIGINS OF WOMEN TRAFFICKED TO ISRAEL

-Russia
-Moldova
-Ukraine
-Uzbekistan
-Belarus

That part of her ordeal only ended when she managed to escape, but the physical and mental scars remain.

Last year, the United Nations named Israel as one of the main destinations in the world for trafficked women; it has also consistently appeared as an offender in the annual US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (Tip) report.

Read the rest of the report here.

From PBS Frontline:

Four years ago, I began a photo project on the sex trafficking of young women in Eastern Europe. I interviewed and photographed girls who had escaped. Some had been trafficked to Turkey and Russia. Others were taken as far as the United Arab Emirates, lured by the promise of legitimate jobs and a brighter future. Once they arrived in the new country, they were priced and sold, and their documents taken away. The young women told me they were forced to service mechanics, soldiers, priests, butchers, tourists, and even U.N. personnel who were supposed to protect them.

I grew up in Eastern Europe and met Vika on my second reporting trip to Moldova. (You can hear Vika’s story in the FlashPoint slideshow, Moldova: The Price of Sex.) She told me she had been trafficked to Dubai, at times serving 30 clients a day. She quickly learned the only English words necessary to keep her owner from hitting her: “How much?” and “With or without plastic?” Once, without plastic, her luck ran out and she got pregnant. It didn’t matter. Her pimp kept her working for the duration of her pregnancy.

After hearing Vika’s stories, Dubai became a place I felt I had to see to understand.

Read the rest of the article here.

Gulf Daily News reports this morning:

A HUMAN rights society is stepping up its campaign to combat sex trafficking in Bahrain through the Internet.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights is already investigating the perpetrators behind websites that are offering sex to customers here and in other Gulf countries, and now with the same technology it hopes to help solve the problem.

It believes raising awareness about sex trafficking and offering victims a way out are the keys to making a difference.

The society plans to approach companies, bloggers, recruiters, organisations and others to post on their website a banner in various languages that will contain information about sex trafficking and useful contacts for victims.

Similar information will be sent through an e-mail campaign.

The society also hopes to produce a film exposing sex trafficking in Bahrain.

“I want this issue to be discussed in the community, on websites and in the media,” said BYSHR president Mohammed Al Maskati.

“We opened the file and will continue to work on this. We want to do something to help these women.”

The move follows the group’s discovery that women from Europe, Middle East and Asia were being brought to Bahrain and advertised for sex through more than 50 Arabic and English websites.

The BYSHR’s investigation found more than 1,000 pictures of girls who were all below the age of 25.

The main website advertising sex in Bahrain is based in the US, but the GCC co-ordinator is thought to be operating from here, noted Mr Al Maskati.

It has more than 13,500 members, which includes pimps, prostitutes and customers.

“We are monitoring the sites and found within just two days 1,200 members had been added,” he told the GDN.

“Now we are starting to see websites advertising sex in Bahrain that are established Africa.”

Mr Al Maskati said Bahrain’s amnesty scheme that allows illegal workers and residents to leave the country without penalty is an ideal opportunity for victims of sex trafficking to free themselves.

However, he said, some of these women were unaware of the scheme and even if they knew about it they were prevented from going.

“Some women don’t know about amnesty, they don’t have access to a newspaper or TV, or speak Arabic or English, so how would they know where the ministry and police are?

“Also the women may owe the sponsor money for her ticket and visa and will be forced to pay him back before he lets them go.”

Mr Al Maskati called for authorities to implement a better monitoring system of expatriate workers in Bahrain.

He said authorities needed to conduct thorough checks to ensure expatriates were employed in the job for which they had been issued a visa.

“Someone called me to say an Indian sponsor had married an Indian women and brought her to Bahrain so she could work as a prostitute and every month she has to give him BD200.

“There are also some Bahrainis who marry four women and create a small network advertising them for sex.”

Anyone with information about sex trafficking through the Internet in Bahrain and the Gulf, or who needs help, should contact Mr Al Maskati on 39813867

Cross-posted on the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

Following up on this previous report, BYSHR notes:

The second report on Human Trafficking case
By: Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

August 15th, 2007

Introduction:

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) has recently published its first report on “Human Trafficking in Bahrain” (1). The report referred to Human Trafficking gangsters interested in misusing women all over Bahrain. One of the regular visitors of chatting websites told BYSHR about his own experience and how he discovered that they are prostitution websites. The moderators of these websites offered him girls for sex from Bahrain and from all over the world.

BYSHR believes that the prostitution business is organized by local networks in Bahrain that have strong ties with international networks. They provide prostitution service via the Internet. Therefore, BYSHR will continue its struggle to eliminate such networks by unveiling the files of “Human Trafficking – Sexual Misuse of Women” in Bahrain. The association shall reveal all the information it holds about sexual misuse of women on the World Wide Web.

How do women are misused for trafficking:

The victims coming from foreign countries are seduced with tricky plans. Usually, they arrive to Bahrain with gratefulness to those who brought them here. They can hardly identify where they exist because of their incapacity to use the local language. They do not have any one to resort to when the “Human Trafficking” hide their passports and identity documents. Then, they are seduced by offering to upgrade their living standard, provide appropriate job vacancy, and ensure a better future to their families in their origin countries.

Read the rest of the entry.

According to Gulf Daily News:

A BAHRAIN human rights group has launched an investigation to unmask the perpetrators behind more than 35 websites offering sex to customers here and in other Gulf countries.

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) president Mohammed Al Maskati said they were concerned about women who were being brought here on promises of lawful employment only to find themselves victims of sexual exploitation.

He said women from Europe, Middle East and Asia were being advertised for sex through more than 35 Arabic and English websites.

One of the main websites, he said, was based in the US, but the GCC co-ordinator was thought to be operating from Bahrain.

“We found that it is more difficult to access these sites in countries such as the UAE and Kuwait, but they are easily accessible from Bahrain,” he told the GDN. “We think the co-ordinator is from Bahrain, but we don’t yet know who it is.

“We know the network is registered in the US but we think there is an agency in Bahrain because girls living in Juffair, Manama and Adliya are being advertised for sex.

“Our team found more than 1,000 pictures of girls who were all below the age of 25.

“We think there is a Bahraini girl on the website, but we can’t confirm this because they only use nicknames.”

Read rest of the entry.

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights just published a report concerning human trafficking within Bahrain. It first introduces the problem as a very grave one, and then goes on to highlight a way in which local “gangs” are possibly using the internet for sexual exploitation:

The start – finding them:

“There are websites for dating between females and males in different countries all over the world. Some of these websites are interested in Gulf countries, including Bahrain. On one of these websites, there are more than 1000 photos for young ladies from different nationalities. Most of them are under 25 years-old,” (M.H.) told Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR).

“I signed up at one of these websites and I was happy to find a way to contact girls in Bahrain and in other countries so easily. When I reviewed the website, I found dozens of photos for various girls. I did not expect to see photos for naked girls. That is why I wonder how come this website is only for dating,” M.H added.

Websites:

BYSHR - with the help of a web navigation specialist – succeeded to discover the countries which launch such websites. BYSHR reached a conclusion that most of these websites are operated from the United States of America with nick names; so that the webmasters may not be arrested for Trafficking in human.

Advertising websites:

M.H told BYSHR that “some Arab and non-Arab websites – the nonsexual ones – post pop-up advertisements. These advertisements only appear when the user clicks a certain link. They include photos for naked girls and under the photo a sentence saying that they want to have sex. Most of the locations shown in these photos are in Bahrain.”

The report concludes with the following demands, which we wholeheartedly support:

BYSHR Demands:

1. Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights calls for unveiling the sources that misuse girls for prostitution in Bahrain.

2. Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights calls for legislating new laws to eliminate Trafficking in human in Bahrain, particularly those related to sexually misusing women.

3. Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights calls for discovering how such girls can access Bahrain to do their prostitution business.

Read the rest of the report here.

Gulf News:

Dubai: Police are investigating whether the door of a flat where a club dancer died when a fire broke out on Monday night was locked.

Aaina Malek, a Pakistani dancer, died in the apartment when the fire broke out as she could not escape. Another girl, Lucky, who was also trapped in the fire, was rescued by neighbours after they broke the door open.

“We are investigating the case,” said a senior police official.

He said that locking people up is a criminal offence and legal action can be taken against them.

The death of Aaina could have been averted if the flat had not been locked, said witnesses.

Two Pakistani girls, Aaina and Lucky (their stage names), were trapped and could not escape the flames because they did not have the key, Gulf News has learned.

Left behind for a rest

Aaina’s original name was Sana’a Malek while Lucky’s real name is Tahira Hajjab. Both are from Karachi.

Aaina was 19 and had been performing in Dubai for the last year and a half.

“While all the girls had been taken to perform in the club, both of them were supposed to join them later because they wanted to rest a bit after their flight for visa change on Monday evening,” a close friend of the girls told Gulf News.

“They normally keep the girls, who perform in dance clubs, locked in their flats during the day for ’safety’ reasons,” said a dancer, who works at another club.

“It is quite common and the management of many Indian and Pakistani night-clubs follows the same practice.

“We are taken to clubs around 8pm and brought back to flats after 3am when the clubs close. We are not allowed to go anywhere. We are given food in the flat and we live like prisoners,” she said.

Several girls and employees of other clubs also confirmed this.

When contacted, the management of the club refused to comment.

“We have given information to police. It is not our fault. Come with legal papers if you want information from us,” one of the top managers told Gulf News. The same management runs similar clubs in some other hotels in Bur Dubai and Deira.

The dance club where Aaina performed was closed for the last two nights.

Kiran, a bar dancer at a Deira club, said that there had been many incidents when girls have fallen sick but could not get the much needed medical attention on time.

“Such an incident was expected. We are always scared because we cannot get out of flats during an emergency,” she said.

There are more than 150 Asian dance clubs in Dubai where hundreds of girls perform every night. They are mainly brought from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

They normally come on a three-month visit visa and their visas are renewed if their performance is appreciated by customers, otherwise they are sent back.

“They are paid hefty salaries and a good performer earns up to Dh8,000 to Dh15,000 per month apart from gifts from customers,” said a manager of a night club.