Sex Trade in Saudi Arabia

This article includes elements of many previous posts, such as Saudi "embarrassment" regarding crimes and religious pressure.

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. 

Saudi Arabia Clamps Down on Red Roses

Main Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7239005.stm

Other Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/12/saudiarabia.religion

Black market activities, in the American mind set, often connotates activities involving porn and drugs. In "Saudi Arabia's Sleazy Underworld", Natasha makes the point that these activities also exist in Saudi Arabia despite their strict adherence to Islam. After scouring the net, I've discovered that while the definition of illicit material in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are sometimes similar, there are also differences; this was highlighted when Saudi officials banned the sale of red roses. This reportedly happened in the weeks following up to Valentine's Day (2008). To quote BBC News, because of this ban, "black market prices for roses were already rising ".

According to the BBC, "Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic.'

"In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock - punishable by law...".

Despite this ban, orders of roses are being delivered stealthily in the night while some couples are contemplating celebrating Valentine's day in another country.

It's strange for us to see how our traditional holiday can be deemed dangerous from the perspective of other cultures. I've come to realize that what gets put on the black market is often a reflection of a society's standards (versus a universal standard). For example, I often assumed drugs and porn belonged on the market, but never in my dreams would I have thought to include red roses.

Saudi Arabia's "sleazy underworld"

This article from the BBC is old, written in 2001, but I think it still conveys a lot of the (mis)perceptions regarding Saudi Arabia and "seedy underculture." Popular perceptions of Saudi Arabia include strict adherence to Islam. Yet this article indicates that, as in many other places, an underculture of alcohol, drugs and sex is present, if one knows where to look.

I found two sections particularly interesting. The first is that these vices are "assigned" to specific ethinic foreigners. "Filipinos brew the illicit alcohol, he said, while Yemenis and Indians sell it. The prostitutes tend to be from Nigeria and Ethiopia, the drug peddlars are from Pakistan," Khaled told the BBC reporter, Frank Gardner. Although this is probably not true across the kingdom (or even eight years later), I found the fact that certain ethnic groups were identified with particular forms of illicit activities interesting.

The second section I found interesting was the punishment for crimes in illicit activities. "Jail and eighty lashes with the cane for alcohol, a serious prison sentence for drugs, and deportation for foreign prostitutes. Drug smugglers are executed." The thought of a jail sentence and whipping is somewhat incomprehensible to an American, as are the other punishments.

Even in areas not part of what is often characterized as a "seedy underculture," punishments are harsh. One case that I recalled reading in the news a few years ago was the punishment of a Saudi rape victim sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail (her attackers, once convicted, received prison sentences ranging from two to ten years, still low considering rape is a capital offense).

The strict adherence to religious prescriptions, by the state itself, is very different for an American where there is the (supposed) separation between Church and State. Yet, as the first article indicates, strict punishment and enforcement does not stop an underculture from taking root.

Abuse of Foreign Domestic Workers

There are an estimated 1.5 million foreigners working as domestic servants in Saudi Arabia, mostly from South/Southeastern Asian countries like Indonesia, the Phillipines, and Sri Lanka. The vicious abuses that they sometimes suffer and the difficulties they have in escaping these abusive environments are the subject of an open letter from Human Rights Watch to the governments of Indonesia and S.A. Saudi employment visas work in such a way as to prevent foreign workers from changing jobs or leaving the country until their employer allows them to. Saudi labor law does not apply to migrant workers, so they have no entitlement to time off and hence little opportunity to talk to law enforcement authorities and file a complaint.



The Saudis are not ignorant of the problem. A Saudi company is even sponsoring a media campaign about the abuse of foreign workers, appealing to religious decency with the exhortation: He who shows no mercy, will receive no mercy. What really struck me in the BBC reportage is that some Saudis seemed more upset about the abuses being revealed than about the abuses themselves. Campaign critics point out that domestic workers are abused in other countries too (as if this were an excuse) or say that "discussing domestic problems on satellite channels turns them into a scandal [for Saudi Arabia]". And why should it not be a scandal? Can't a scandal be a good thing if it finally forces a government to correct hidden actions that would be considered shameful according to international norms? The argument that many foreign domestics are treated just fine by their Saudi employers and therefore it shouldn't be broadcast as a serious problem is not very forcible, in my opinion. So long as any domestic workers are being abused and, just as importantly, are allowed to be abused by a fundamentally inadequate legal system, how can complacency be an option?

And, if anyone's interested, here is another little BBC article about the treatment of migrant laborers working outside the domestic sphere.

Bluetooth Used Mostly for Swapping Porn in Saudi Arabia

After embarrassingly scouring the web at the library searching for terms such as "porn Saudi Arabia", I found this article to be rather interesting. It is how men who bluetooth connectivity are abusing the technology against girls.

A recent study found that pornographic material accounted for nearly 70 percent of messages exchanged by teenagers. Abdullah ibn Mohammed Al-Rasheed, associate professor at the College of Dawa and Information in Riyadh, who conducted the study, said 88 percent of girls had been victims of such misuse.

It seems that human nature takes over no mater how strict things may get. It reminded me of something I heard last year about how boys and girls use bluetooth to check each other out and flirt.

There seems to be no real rules of conduct of bluetooth in Saudi Arabia because it is not being discussed about. All of it is underground in a way. Innocent flirting to pornographic messages all seem to be too taboo to establish what is okay and what is not. It is also harder to punish those because of how mobile and "minor" in a sense the infraction can be. While there seems to be some policing of this, it may not be enough. In a place that is very conservative, ingenious technology use is thwarting known social codes. As huge shocker to all of us, they are even on it in the mosque.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything the government is able to do about such technologies and incorporating them in sharia law.

Blogging a Theme

Thanks Danny for getting this new blogging experiment rolling! I'd just like to remind everyone what we are doing (and get it in writing). I would like you to each post something related to your theme and the country we will be discussing in the upcoming week. So for this week what can you find about the 'seedy underbelly' of Saudi Arabia? Then the following week your post would be related to Iraq, etc. With this structure you will get a deeper understanding of your theme, and how it relates to different countries, while still staying focused on a particular place so we can have conversations across the different groups.

So the assignment itself is at least 1 primary post and 1 comment. You may use your text from the blog within your moodle 'reflection paper' without penalty (not double dipping), but your reflection paper should also reflect on the reading assigned to the whole class.

If you have any questions, put them in the comments! :>

Black Markets Bringing Us Together

Hey yall,

Well, I was beginning to regret choosing the theme of black markets in our discussion, because I presumed that most of the relevant articles would be about Opium in Afghanistan.  Well, this one is too, but it gets a little bit more interesting than that.  It seems that Iranian officials have said that they would be willing to cooperate on the recently intensified drug war in Afghanistan.  In fact, the last time that our two nations cooperated was in the immediate aftermath of the ouster of the Taliban way back when you guys were in Junior High.  Seems a lot longer ago if you think about it that way.