More than half a million panhandlers, beggars in Iraq: SCHR
"The organized crime groups, and mostly human trafficking gangs, under pretexts of job opportunity, tourism or sanctuary seduce people from other countries and traffic them into Iraq and then force them to beggary,” says SCHR.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – According to the researches by the Strategic Center for Human Rights (SCHR) in Iraq, there are more than half a million panhandlers, or beggars, in Iraq, according to the Strategic Center for Human Rights.
Despite high poverty and unemployment rates in Iraq, the majority of the detained beggars is of foreign countries and has been brought to Iraq via organized crime groups.
SCHR has also indicated that, “Although there are more than half a million beggars in Iraq, the organized crime groups, and mostly human trafficking gangs, under pretexts of job opportunity, tourism or sanctuary seduce people from other countries and traffic them into Iraq and then force them to beggary.”
The study highlighted that most of the detained beggars are of Asian citizens, in particular Bangladeshi and Syrian nationals.
The head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights said the Iraqi Interior Ministry has returned more than 10,000 foreign beggars to their countries since 2023 and early 2024, but another 1,000 foreigners continue in the profession.
The Strategic Center for Human Rights reaffirmed the number of foreign and Iraqi beggars, and stated of the given number, the majority are women and children.
Regarding the latest forms of begging, the center explained that digitalized begging (AKA online begging), begging under the pretext of health problems (health schemes), and fake humanitarian and social schemes are the latest forms of begging in Iraq.
Read More: More than 10,000 illegal immigrants entered Iraqi since 2023
Meanwhile, the Strategic Center for Human Rights called on the Iraqi prime minister to launch a massive campaign to send back foreign beggars and declare 2025 as the year to eradicate begging in Iraq.
Since 2003, the process of human trafficking for various purposes has increased significantly in Iraq as a result of the security, economic, and political situation in the country.
For the first time in 2021, the Iraqi government revealed the types of human trafficking offenses perpetrated in the country and reported that 169 people were being investigated for sex trafficking and 14 others for forced labor.
A law was passed in 2012 by the Iraqi parliament to prevent human trafficking after child labor, begging, forcing women to work in prostitution groups, and organ trafficking increased.
