Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
1
The Geography of Sex Work in the United Arab
Emirates
PARDIS MAHDAVI
OnMay11,2009,thedoorsof“CityofHope,”aUnitedArabEmirates(UAE)basedwo-
men's shelter, were closed following almost two years of public controversy. Beginning
stant battle with locals, the government, and other activists that was staged at the global
level through the use ofmedia outlets such as
The New York Times
,
The New Yorker
,and
the BBC. An American woman who had married an Emirati and created the organization
“inherlivingroom,”CherylwasaveryvocalandoutspokenactivistinDubaiwhobegan
with domestic violence as her primary cause, but became passionate about “fighting traf-
ficking”whentraffickingbecamepartofasensationalizedmediaandpoliticalfrenzyfol-
lowing the passage of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000 and,
later, its international component, the
Trafficking in Persons Report
(TIP) (U.S. Depart-
ment of State 2001). Through conversations with reporters, researchers, and antitraffick-
ing advocates in EuroAmerica, Cheryl publicly castigated the UAE for what she viewed
as major governmental shortcomings in the “war on trafficking.”
In early 2007 Cheryl partnered with the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), a
development initiative founded and funded by the Cheney family, which only heightened
the negative attention she had been receiving from locals and locally based grassroots
activists. Throughout the course of her work with City of Hope, Cheryl worked with sev-
eral antitrafficking groups from the United States and secured funds from a variety of
American development agencies. In 2008 Cheryl was accused of abusing the women in
hershelter,sellingtheirchildren,andoftensubcontractingtheirservices.Thoughshedis-
missedtheclaimsasdefamation,severalreportersandresearchers(myselfincluded)who
spokewiththewomenfromhershelterconfirmedreportsofabuse.InMayofthefollow-
ingyearshewasexiledfromtheUAEandtoldthatshecouldneverreturn.Subsequently,
