THE UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, has registered 2.6m Syrians, the vast majority of whom are women and children. A member of the agency, who wished to remain anonymous, says human trafficking and sexual exploitation are widespread in refugee camps and beyond.
Most stories come from refugees in Jordan. But abuse of Syrian women and girls is not confined to one country, nor one class. The story of Nadine, a 24-year-old graduate from a middle-class family, is an example of the vulnerability of Syrians who seek refuge in the Gulf.
Nadine got a job working in a tourist office in Qatar last year when her employer-to-be sponsored her visa. This process, known as kefala, is demanded of all foreigners working in the Gulf. It has come under criticism for leaving people at the mercy of their sponsor. Nicholas McGeehan, a Gulf researcher for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby, says the system is “extremely exploitative". "It places an inordinate amount of control in the hands of employers,” he says. Workers are unable to change job or leave the country without their sponsor’s permission.
Nadine was worried about taking the job. “Gulf men have a bad reputation and I would be there alone,” she says. “But I had to think of my family and my future; there are no opportunities in Syria.” After a few weeks Nadine’s boss began to sexually assault her, culminating in rape. In response to her protest he threatened to cancel her visa. She says he told her: “If you don’t like it, go back to the war.”
Since 2011, when Syria’s uprising-turned-war started, the Gulf states have backed the Syrian opposition, both political and military. They have donated money to humanitarian agencies, but they have have not softened their immigration policies for Syrian refugees. None of the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council is a signatory to the 1951 convention that defines who is refugee and gives them rights in the country they have fled to.
Nobody knows how many Syrians have moved to the Gulf. Nadine was a refugee—the definition does not rely on financial resources—but her lack of legal status left her unprotected. “The consequences of [possible] deportation to a conflict zone increase the level of a Syrian workers’ vulnerability quite significantly,” says Mr McGeehan.
The Gulf states have mooted reforming the kefala system but progress is slow. Nadine did not report her abuse. She returned to her home in the outskirts of Damascus. “I would rather be risking my life here in Syria than suffer more humiliation elsewhere,” she says.
