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Messages posted by Raymond Bechard directly from Iraq.

AHAVA KIDS IRAQ MISSION
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP.

Though it is not known to what extent, nor are cases being widely investigated or reported, child trafficking is increasing in Iraq. Trafficking is inevitable whenever any ONE of at least three conditions exists in a society:

1. Political chaos
2. Poverty
3. War
   Iraq has all three.

As he was researching his book, Unspeakable: The Hidden Truth Behind The World’s Fastest Growing Crime, Raymond Bechard, became frustrated with the lack of reliable information concerning the current status of children in Iraq. Even the U.S. State Department is unable to determine an accurate view of the situation, stating only that, “Iraq is faced with a growing problem of child trafficking to other Middle Eastern nations. Iraq is a country of origin for women and girls trafficked to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait Yemen, Syria, Jordan, and Gulf countries for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation.” That’s it. No solutions. No recommendations.

Further investigation has exposed evidence of worsening conditions. Ahava Kids has learned that the threat against children in Iraq is real and growing. Here is a summary:

1. Earlier versions of the Basic Police Course for Iraqi officers included a section on trafficking. However, this course was substituted with additional security training in order to address the ongoing insurgency and violence from terrorists. Currently, there is no anti-trafficking training or enforcement.
2. In Iraq, there are no Non-Governmental Organizations or international organizations working specifically on trafficking.
3. According to diplomatic and international organization sources in Syria and Yemen, there are thousands of young Iraqi women and girls working in prostitution in the two countries under conditions that constitute severe forms of trafficking in persons.
4. U.S. Military personnel, local officials and aid workers contacted by Ahava Kids have expressed concern over the alarming rate at which children are disappearing throughout Iraq on a regular basis. One source commented that, “We don't have access to government statistics, but we often receive information that young people are being trafficked to other areas in the Gulf and to Europe.”
5. The ongoing sectarian violence in Iraq leaves more children as war orphans every week. Ahava Kids contacts estimate that, in Baghdad alone, 5,000 orphaned children scavenge the streets to secure food and a safe place to sleep. Currently, there is no official organization that takes care of orphans in Iraq. This leaves them vulnerable to many forms of exploitation and abuse.
6. Islamic society considers it shameful to abandon children to public care, so, traditionally, most children who lose parents were previously absorbed into vast family networks. However, because of the death toll, mass migration, and poverty, traditional families are falling apart.
7. Advocacy groups are trying to set up safe-houses for children. Their locations are unknown to all but a very few volunteers. They attempt to keep children safe from trafficking gangs. However, the new Iraqi government has set up several bureaucratic roadblocks, preventing more safe-houses from being established.

The objective of the Ahava Kids Iraq Investigation and Rescue Mission is to:

• Determine how many children are at risk in Baghdad and throughout Iraq
• Determine what threats they face and from what groups
• Determine the best local organizations to work with in the future
• Determine the needs of the organizations most effective at saving children
• Provide for the needs of those saving and caring for victims of child trafficking.
• Conduct media campaign in the United States focusing on Child Trafficking in Iraq
• Raise greater international awareness of child trafficking and Ahava Kids.

We cannot allow the inherent dangers and related expenses associated with this mission to deter us from helping the children of Iraq and exposing the dangers they face. Their suffering must end. The secret must be exposed. No one else is doing this. Ahava Kids is the only organization attempting to expose trafficking in Iraq on a large scale. We must find the necessary resources to accomplish this while there is still time. This is our opportunity to do something positive and life-affirming in a horrible war-torn nation. This is our chance to truly make a difference.

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