The Islamic State Human Trafficking Circuit

Adeba Shaker is a 14 years-old and she is one of the few girls who was able to escape from ISIS.  On August 2, she and all her family fled from her village to a nearby town, hoping to escape the Islamic State. But the day after she was seized with 72 other women and children. She used to live near Sinjar province. Adeba travelled through out northern Iraq on a sort of human trafficking route. She made about seven stops before she arrived at her final destination in Raabia. There she was supposed to be forced into marriage with a front line jihadist. She was intended to be a gift for them, but she was lucky enough to escape.

She was held captive for twenty days. During this period Adeba met many other women in her same condition. They were imprisoned in what used to be schools or police stations in different cities. Once they arrived in a place, ISIS militants would enter a room and choose three or four girls. When they were gone, nobody would see them again.

Other witnesses believe younger girls were raped by the commander of the area, who had the privilege to take their virginity, before being violated by others. After that they were to be sold in the market. Women and girls are auctioned for as little as $10. Others, like Adeba, were sent to the battlefield.

“I heard many foreigners talking,” she said over the phone. These men were mostly Saudi and Moroccan.

At Badoosh prison, few miles from Mosul, her group was divided in three: older women, who later were sent to Tal Afar, girls and children. She went to Mosul. “There they took my sisters and niece,” she added. Reports indicate that at Mosul there is the girls auction. “These girls are sold for as little as $10,” said Farani a Yazidi who is living in an IDP camp in Kurdistan. “Many people complain because they believe the girls are too expensive since there are so many.”

Before arriving at her destination, Adeba was sent once again to Tal Afar and then travelled to Raabia with another girl from where she escaped.

Through her experience I was able to build this map. Yazidi women and girls are moved on those roads. The all region is controlled by ISIS.