One section of the article claims that:
"The Saudi authorities were interesting in pursuing the perpetrators, but they were more interested in keeping the story quiet and avoid embarrassment."
Later on, the article says that one of the woman who came forward with the issue was deported, possibly to prevent the Saudi police reputation from being "stained." This reminded me of what Rhiannon posted about the government not wanting to cause a "scandal." It seems to me that upholding a good reputation of the Saudi police is getting in the way of them earning the reputation.
The article also talked about how many women would not come forward and seek police help because of the strict Islamic law in Saudi Arabia which has "zero tolerance for any kind of interaction between men and women." The article also says that the women who remain in the prostitution ring are at risk for the severe punishment that is "applied to prostitution in compliance with Saudi law."
In this situation, there doesn't seem to be much hope for those women trapped in Saudi Arabia's prostitution ring. If they come forward, their story may be silenced by the Saudi police more than helped by it, or they may be subject to discrimination because of their relationships with men. If they do not escape the ring, not only will they continue to be sexually exploited, they could be prosecuted under Saudi law.
It really make me wonder how this practice can be stopped. I think one of the only ways to help stop this is increase global awareness to the problem, and try to stop the trade at all ends. Since many of the women are being brought in from other countries, like Morocco, awareness should be spread in these countries to prevent women from being trapped. While Saudi Arabia let's many people into the country to visit Mecca, more needs to be done to make sure sex slaves are not being smuggled in.
I agree that increased global awareness is necessary for the problem of forced prostitution to end. I would also add that there must be a willingness for Saudi authorities to see this as a problem (human rights, religious, etc) and not in terms of a "scandal" that needs to be silenced. I am actually surprised that the religious police that is mentioned hasn't tried to halt this practice, especially as the situation is taking place under the cover of a religious duty.
ReplyDeleteI think that poverty also plays a role in the recruitment of the women, thus issues of poverty and education need to be further addressed to end this practice. The fact that the women who are, to us in the West, victims can be punished for something they probably did not want to become involved in anyway. The adherence to a strict form of Islam covers all shades of gray into a negative black, which has tragic results for many people involved.
I wonder if there is another reason they import these women in, aside from satisfying the market for the "exotic". I think when presence of foreigners working in the sex trade is widely-known, it allows you to detach your country from the responsibility for the sin: "Saudi Arabia would be pure if it were not for the infiltration of these foreign prostitutes corrupting the morals of our men!" It is also a sad truth that people at all levels of society are less sympathetic to the plight of foreigners and migrants. Probably there will be very little popular outcry against the kidnapping of girls from Moroccan university campuses as compared to the kidnapping and enslavement of Saudi college girls. That is why I agree that the advocacy for these women's rights will most likely have to come from the countries whose citizens are affected and the global community as a whole.
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