prostitution. In 2014, a member of Basrah’s intelligence directorate was accused of being complicit in a criminal gang’s involvement in the kidnapping and attempted trafficking of an Iraqi girl outside of the country. NGOs allege some personnel from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Asayish internal security forces facilitate prostitution of women and girls in Syrian refugee camps in the IKR, primarily in Domiz refugee camp. Iraqi women and girls are sold into “temporary marriages”—for the purpose of sexual exploitation, prostitution, or domestic servitude—in exchange for settling tribal disputes. Likewise, Syrian girls from refugee camps in the IKR are forced into early or “temporary marriages” with Iraqi or other refugee men. KRG authorities allegedly ignore, or may accept bribes to ignore, such cases including those in which girls are sold multiple times. Some displaced Iraqi families reportedly sell their children to other families to secure better futures; these children are at risk of being subjected to trafficking. Criminal gangs subject children to forced begging and other types of forced labor in Iraq.
Men and women from throughout Asia and East Africa who migrate to Iraq are forced to work as construction workers, security guards, cleaners, handymen, and domestic workers. Some foreign migrants are recruited for work in other countries in the region but are forced, coerced, or deceived into traveling to Iraq. Some Syrian refugee men enter into employment without legal work contracts in Iraq, which increases their vulnerability to trafficking. Women primarily from Iran, China, and the Philippines are forced into prostitution in Iraq. Iraqi women and girls are also subjected to sex and labor trafficking in the Middle East and Turkey.
The Government of Iraq does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government’s abilities to combat trafficking were severely hindered by security challenges and budget constraints. The government made limited efforts to combat trafficking, including prosecuting suspected trafficking offenders and completing construction of the government trafficking shelter, while the KRG conducted operations to rescue Yezidi trafficking victims from ISIL captivity. Nevertheless, the government and the KRG failed to convict trafficking offenders and, as in previous reporting period, to identify or provide protection services to any trafficking victims. The government continued to harshly punish and deport victims of forced labor and sex trafficking, including children. Furthermore, complicity of some Iraqi and KRG authorities contributed to and exacerbated the trafficking of men, women, and children.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IRAQ:
Significantly increase investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes under the anti-trafficking law, including of complicit government officials; prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed groups and provide protection services to demobilized children; ensure trafficking victims are not punished for crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to

human trafficking, such as prostitution and immigration violations; institute victim identification and referral guidelines for officials, and provide unhindered access to protection services, such as adequate shelter, psycho-social and medical care, and legal aid, to all trafficking victims regardless of a victim referral from the court; provide adequate protection services to trafficking victims and their children, including trauma counselling, psycho-social and medical care, long-term shelter, reintegration services, employment training, and financial assistance; make the government-run shelter for trafficking victims fully operational and ensure shelter staff are adequately trained on victim identification and protection; establish a legal framework for NGOs to operate shelters for victims, and provide in-kind support to such organizations; regulate recruitment practices of foreign labor brokers to prevent practices facilitating forced labor; and strengthen anti-trafficking coordination with regional, provincial, and  local authorities.

PROSECUTION
The government demonstrated some limited law enforcement efforts. Iraq’s 2012 anti-trafficking law appears to prohibit some, but not all, forms of human trafficking. Inconsistent with international law, the law does not make facilitating child prostitution an act of human trafficking, and seems to require a transaction (buying and selling) for human trafficking to occur.The law prescribes punishments that appear to be sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes such as rape. Additionally, an article in the penal code criminalizes the prostitution of a child; the penalty is up to 10 years’ imprisonment, which is sufficiently stringent to deter this activity, though not commensurate with the penalties prescribed for rape. The KRG did not have a law that specifically prohibits all forms of human trafficking, nor did it endorse or adopt the Iraqi government’s anti-trafficking law.
The government did not investigate trafficking offenses, nor did it convict any offenders. It reported prosecuting 18 trafficking offenders in 2014 under Article 12 of Iraq’s Trafficking in Persons law; however, an unknown number of defendants were reportedly not convicted. It is not known if any were in fact convicted and sentenced.The government reported initiating a security operation in late 2014, which resulted in the rescue of a 15-year-old girl in Baghdad who was abducted and suspected of being trafficked by a criminal gang to the United Arab Emirates; it was unclear if any of the offenders were arrested or prosecuted.The government cooperated with the Indian embassy to resolve labor disputes between more than 100 Indian workers and their employers; however, none of these cases was referred for prosecution for potential trafficking crimes. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking, despite multiple reports of complicity. Judicial officials lacked understanding of the anti-trafficking law and failed to adequately implement it and protect victims during legal proceedings.To address this weakness, in January 2015, the chief justice appointed two judges to adjudicate trafficking cases on a full-time basis for the Iraqi judiciary. The government trained its officials on anti-trafficking measures and provided in-kind assistance for international organizations to conduct additional trainings.The KRG facilitated the release and rescue of hundreds ofYezidis held captive by ISIL, many of whom were trafficking victims.

PROTECTION
The government failed to identify and protect trafficking victims, while punishment of victims remained a serious problem. Neither