The security situation in Baghdad has not improved. Families are living in fear because of a dramatic increase in the number of cases of child abduction.
Hanaa Edwar, General Secretary of the non-government organization, Iraqi Al-Amal Association, told Al Arabiya. Edwar, also founder of Iraqi Women’s Network, sounded the alarm about attempts to force women to wear the hijab, especially in government offices.
Thousands of Afghan girls and boys are trafficked into neighboring countries and sold into slavery each year. Though it is taboo, prostitution is alive and thriving - at the cost of those forced to work in it.
Underage marriage is still a problem in Iraq. But attitudes toward it differ – with some locals saying it’s positive and legal according to religious law, and others criticising it as an abuse of minors’ rights.