You know, in this episode, we're basically looking at
the impact that war has on a black market.
[ Speaking Arabic ]
You got this war in Syria
that makes these women flee to Lebanon for a chance to live --
not even a better way of life, just so they don't die
as collateral damage.
When they get to -- to Lebanon,
you know, you can't work, you have no rights,
and they're forced into this black market
of selling themselves.
Dina Amer found out when she went to Lebanon
that some of the world's most vulnerable outsiders
are turning to the black market just to survive.
Our goal is just to simply show the world a window
as to why people do the things they do,
where that desperation comes from.
It's like they say,
when the system fails you,
you create your own system.
[ Car horns honking ]
We're here in Beirut to uncover a thriving black market
that is based on the buying and selling
of young Syrian refugee women into the sex trade.
[ Horn honks ]
As the sun sets over the city,
these markets close, and another one opens.
The cabbies here often double as guides
for Beirut's sex tourists.
So I found one to show me around.
We're gonna go with Muhammad to check out all these super clubs.
He's gonna give us a tour because this is his, like,
hangout area every weekend.
¶¶
Super nightclubs are fronts for prostitution
found on the outskirts of Beirut.
Oh.
Dina: Muhammad's been driving around guys looking for sex
in Beirut for 20 years.
So I wanted to know what changes he's seen.
Dina: Muhammad agrees to take my local producer Rami to a club
that is known to hire out Syrian women.
We give our team hidden cameras and some spending money
to see how the system works.
Dina: Prostitution is illegal,
so the super clubs don't allow sex on their premises.
The exchange goes down outside the club.
Rami and Muhammad have bought two hours of the girl's time
to be redeemed at a nearby hotel.
In our case, we just want to talk.
Dina: Rami and Muhammad make an excuse to leave and say goodbye.
This woman is one of more than 4 million Syrians
who have fled the bloody civil war in their home country.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Nearly a 1.5 million of them
ended up here in neighboring Lebanon.
But the Lebanese government bars these refugees
from legally working,
and that's fueling their desperation.
How are you? Thank you for having us.
Maya Al-Ammar is a local activist
who focuses on women's rights.
The whole Lebanese state is benefiting from the exploitation
of women in general, and especially
Syrian women and girls, refugees.
It's true that we have a trafficking law in Lebanon,
but the police cannot shut them down
unless it's a witnessed crime of a monetary transaction
between the woman and the client.
These women are locked inside rooms,
and the only time when they can go out
is the time when they can see the client.
That's it.
Dina: In an upscale apartment building,
I meet another young sex worker who goes by the name Eman.
Eman grew up just 90 miles over the Syrian border in Homs.
[ Shouting in Arabic ]
In 2011, Homs became one of the first cities
to rise up against the Asad regime,
leading to a three-year siege on rebel forces
that killed thousands and left the city destroyed.
With her parents likely dead
and separated from a husband and a newborn baby,
she fled to Lebanon.
¶¶
Dina: Lebanon has long been the unofficial brothel
of the Middle East.
But since the Syrian war began,
the flood of refugees has provided a new supply
of desperate, young women.
I meet with a young Syrian sex worker, who I'll call Carol.
She asked that her identity be concealed.
Dina: Carol's story is common in the refugee camps
outside of Beirut.
Knowing that they are not allowed to work legally,
sex traffickers routinely recruit young girls
with promises of menial jobs in the city.
But these turned out to be cover-ups for the real offer.
Dina: As desperate young refugees like Carol
turn to prostitution,
the sex-work industry is changing drastically
here in Lebanon.
So what does that mean for the market?
To find out, I tracked down Carol's pimp, a nightclub owner.
He's agreed to talk to me,
but it have to sneak into his club unseen during off hours.
[ Bell jingles ]
Dina: But the reality of the sex trade
has turned out to be far different.
This pimp used to charge up to $700
for a three-hour date with the club's most desirable girls.
But with refugees saturating the market,
Syrian girls can now go for as little as $50.
And once the pimp takes his cut,
the girls often take home little to nothing.
Hm.
Dina: This pimp may have accepted his fate,
but here in Lebanon, there are many potential customers
who still hope to find favor with God.
So as the market here changes,
pimps come up with new scams to keep the clients coming.
And that includes selling sex under the guise of Islam.
[ Arabic call to prayer ]
Dina: In Lebanon, like the rest of the Islamic world,
conservative religious men
aren't comfortable picking up a woman at a bar,
let alone hiring a prostitute.
[ Prayer call continues ]
But those who want to pay for sex
are able to get around this rule.
They use one of the most controversial parts
of Lebanon's sex trade -- the mut'ah --
a religiously sanctioned temporary marriage.
Most Islamic scholars consider it a sham.
These so-called marriages can be as short as three days.
They are set up by men who call themselves sheikhs,
who arrange the sale of Syrian refugee girls
to older, wealthy men.
I'm going undercover to meet one of these sheikhs,
posing as a personal assistant to a rich Egyptian businessman
who's looking for a wife for his upcoming two-week visit
to Beirut.
All right, so we're miked up.
We're gonna go meet the sheikh now,
and I'm feeling a little anxious
because I'm worried that he might kind of get the sense
that this is just a dupe
and we're not actually gonna get any girls from him.
Our local producer, Rami, joins me, acting as my guide.
Dina: The term "sheikh" was once a reserved for
a leader of a Muslim community.
But this one acts as a priest, matchmaker, and pimp.
He'll get a feel for what kind of girl
the client is looking for
and then offer up potential brides for sale.
Dina: The sheikh promises virgins
with no long-term risk to the client.
For $9,000,
a sheikh will provide my fictional boss with a wife
for two weeks, after which he'll declare the marriage
null and void.
He'll pocket a 75% finder's fee,
and leave $2,000 for the bride,
or in many cases, for the family that sold her off.
¶¶
That night, I go to meet the sheikh...
and three Syrian refugees, each under the age of 18.
They believe I'm looking to hire someone
for a short-term marriage with my fictional boss.
Dina: Giving little more than "yes" or "no" answers,
the girls are all nervous and scared.
The sheikh hadn't told them what they would make
or what was even expected of them.
But they are all willing to go through with it.
It's devastating,
but for the sheikh, it's good business.
And the guy who chaperones them
sits with them with his prayer beads
while he negotiates prices.
I'll call off the bogus deal.
But what happens when a girl is married off to a real man
seeking a religious pass on a teenage sex slave?
Dina: I'm in the poor beachfront area of Jnah in southern Beirut.
I'm about to meet with a girl who is originally from Homs,
and she was tricked into a temporary marriage.
And the consequences of it
she's going to have to live with forever.
The so-called sheikh I met earlier
approached her father with a proposition.
Dina: Her father had brokered the deal as a temporary marriage
behind her back.
She thought she was getting married
for the rest of her life.
After the wedding, dad kept the money
while his daughter fulfilled the contract.
Mm-hmm.
Hm.
[ Sighs ]
Dina: In the Middle East, the perception of honor
is everything.
Once these girls enter the sex trade,
reintegrating into society will be extremely difficult.
It's almost impossible to get out of prostitution on your own.
Uh, one, because of the social stigma that is there.
Two, because of lack of options and support.
And three, you have the -- the realities they live in
and the material conditions.
Unfortunately, it is very hard unless, one,
the state does not criminalize her
and criminalizes those who exploit her.
And two, you have more social systems
for these women and girls.
Dina: Since we finished filming,
this girl has given birth to her child,
but her father is raising him.
The girl I talked to on the Ferris wheel
got out of Lebanon.
And aid organization
arranged for her to move in with a family in the West.
But the vast majority of sex workers
are still stuck in Lebanon,
where the situation is getting worse.
And many young women will have to make a choice --
struggle to survive on aid
or turn to the sex trade.
¶¶