What are odalisques?

Odalisques: the Modern Slaves of North Africa and the Middle East

Young women are frequently trafficked to the Middle East and North Africa from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.

A woman may be sold for between $3,000 and $10,000. The women who are purchased outright in this fashion are kept in the room of a house owned by their new owner for his sole use. The client who has purchased her may forcibly inject her with drugs continually so that she is always out of her mind and unable to escape.

These women have very short lives — approximately two years. When the client becomes bored with her, she is abandoned and left to die from the sadistic abuse which he and his friends have subjected to her or from the effects of drug abuse. The client will then simply purchase another young woman.

A woman may be sold for an amount of between $3,000 and $5,000 or $10,000. The women who are purchased outright in this fashion are kept in the room of a house owned by their new owner for his sole use. The client who has purchased her may forcibly inject her with drugs continually so that she is always out of her mind and unable to escape.

These women have the shortest lives — approximately 2 years — and are disposed either when the client becomes bored with her, or from the sadistic abuse he and his friends have subjected to her, or she dies from drug abuse, when the client will purchase another young woman.

THE SOCIETY IN ACTION

The Society has embarked upon a program for the suppression of the trafficking of women and girls from South Asia to the Middle East, details of which are discussed on the pages dealing with the international trafficking of women and children.

THIS IS THE SOCIETY IN ACTION

Links to the Society's programs:

Overseas programs

Links to pages dealing with related issues:

Trafficking of women

Servile Concubinage

Trafficking of children

Links to other sites dealing with slavery:

Does slavery still exist?

What is slavery?

The modern African slave trade

Child Hierodulic Servitude in South Asia

Links to sites dealing with other servile conditions falling short of slavery:

t sites.