Often called as the cradle of some of the earliest civilizations, Iraq now has become a battlefield for challenging forces after the US-led war to oust President Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Once the heartland of the Islamic Empire, Iraq now is known more for increasing prostitution and trafficking of women. Violence of military across the nation is such that it has ruined the national institutions, torn apart families and neighbourhoods. Over 100,000 civilians have been killed and an estimated 4.4 million Iraqis displaced since 2003.

As situation has worsened, a large number of girls, many of them in their early teens, have been forced into prostitution and sex trafficking. Girls are trafficked to destinations like Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

Reportedly the brothel owners in Iraq mention that during US raids in Iraq in 2003, transporting girls to and from the US air bases was a common practice.

Research reports say that the US-led war cemented a way for insecurity and lawlessness, corruption, religious extremism, poverty and gender-based violence. This led to kidnappings of girls and women for money and sex and the trade was supported by the development of new technologies associated with the globalization of the sex industry. Although the Iraqi constitution considers trafficking unlawful, still in the absence of criminal laws the offenders are let free easily. Shockingly, it is often the victims of trafficking and prostitution that are penalised.

It is sad that the country that once enjoyed the highest female literacy rate across the Middle East is now in the shackles of evil practices like prostitution and human trafficking. The Gulf War in 1991 changed the whole picture especially for women in Iraq. Though the Iraqi women boasted of 35 per cent of national working power in various fields of work, sadly that has not translated into more rights for women across the nation.