Organized crime gangs behind foreign begging, says rights group

Shafaq News/ Organized crime gangs are behind the influx of foreign beggars in Iraq, a rights group said on Sunday, calling it the "most dangerous" form of human trafficking.

The Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq said in a statement that these gangs "smuggle beggars" into the country under various guises, including work, tourism, and pilgrimage.

The majority of foreign beggars in Iraq are from Asian countries, with Bangladesh topping the list, while Syria is the main source of Arab beggars in Iraq, the statement said.

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior deported more than 10,000 beggars in 2023 and 2024, but thousands more remain in the country, according to the rights group.

It estimated that the total number of beggars in Iraq, including both foreigners and Iraqis, exceeds 500,000, with children and women making up the majority.

The group said that new forms of begging have emerged, including online begging, medical begging, and exploiting a humanitarian or social cause.

Fadhel al-Gharawi, head of the rights group, said that organized crime gangs have exploited the legal, security, and economic situation in Iraq to boost the begging trade.

He called on the Prime Minister to launch a campaign to "repatriate all foreign beggars from Iraq and prosecute the crime gangs involved." He also urged the government and parliament to amend the penal code to impose harsher penalties on those involved in the trafficking of beggars.