Student Prostitution

Arab tourism in Azerbaijan has its own peculiarity, which is not discussed in the government, but the problem is so obvious that an unending discussion platform - "Arabs in Baku brothels" - has opened in the forum www.disput.az.

Officially there are no brothels in Azerbaijan, but in Baku there are so many so-called massage salons in the cellars of old multi-storey apartment houses, and so few of Baku residents who received a medical massage there, that the true meaning of these salons is understandable. Prostitutes trade quite openly also in nightclubs, and the most convenient ones for tourists come to hotels.

What are groups of Arab men looking for on the central Nizami (Torgovaya) Street and the neighboring streets late at night and what are they talking about with local women coming up to them? The tourism of the Arabs to Azerbaijan took a specific touch. "Now I have some vague doubts and wonder if all these are really Arab tourists. Autumn has come, but their number does not become less. Apparently, they are not going to leave. Either they do not have children going to school, or they do not have to work themselves," a Baku resident asks. "I live in the city center, where there are many Arab tourists. And very often I notice that girls try to pick up Arabs," another Baku resident writes.

In government reports on the growth of tourism it is not spoken about the "specific feature", reporting on 450 US dollars, which the average Arab leaves in Azerbaijan.

For 11 months of 2017, Azerbaijan was visited by more than 87,000 Arabs from the UAE, which is the fifth indicator after Russian, Georgian, Iranian and Turkish tourists. This year, Iraqis joined the visitors from the Emirates. "If several years ago the number of Iraqi tourists visiting Azerbaijan was about 2-3 thousand people per year, then in 2018 this figure has increased to approximately 65,000 people," an Iraqi official in Baku said. The President of Azerbaijan promises to increase the number of Arab tourists by 25%.

Some of the Arabs (of course, not all) come to Azerbaijan for sexual entertainment. And this is even done by those who come to Azerbaijan with their families. After completing the "cultural program" of the day's visit, they leave the family in the hotel and in the evening with friends rush to the "hot spots", the addresses and telephones of which they were given by friends who had already visited Baku.

About how they spend time there we learn from criminal chronicles. This January, it was reported about a fight between an Arab tourist and a prostitute in Baku. The Baku Nasimi district police department reported that the 25-year-old Bahrain citizen Mohammed Haggmed Algaser started a fight with a 31-year-old Baku resident who was invited to his room to provide sex services. Without agreeing on the price, Algaser began to argue with the woman, and then attacked her and struck her on the face. The woman in return caused the tourist a few slaps and also hit him with a teapot on the head.

Loud music and shouts of Arabs fighting with prostitutes harass the Baku people and they complain to the police. In the summer of 2017, the Baku Main Police Department commented on the information spread by a number of Internet media that in the center of the capital prostitutes "hunt" rich Arab tourists, obsessively offering them their services. The press service of the Baku Main Police Department said the police fight this negative phenomenon.

"But to forbid any girl to approach a tourist, communicate with him or walk around the Fountain Square is impossible, as there is no legal basis for this. Only after appeals by tourists or dissatisfied citizens, police officers can take specific measures in such cases. But so far no appeals of the sort have been received," the Main Police Department said.

The problem of sex tourism of the Arabs grows and annoys the Baku residents. The state and private companies make money on this - the state sells visas, and hotels, restaurants and transport companies sell their services. And the residents of Baku, far from the tourist sector, have to watch the most unpleasant part of this business. Everything happens in the sight of children - this is particularly annoying to the townspeople.

When writing this article, an interesting fact emerged. Sources report on the growing involvement of first-year and second-year girl-students of Baku higher schools in sexual tourism. Among the "involved" there are students living in Sumgait. They often serve tourists in hotel rooms.

The society is arguing about the need to fight this evil. But how could this fight succeed, while in the conditions of hidden unemployment in Azerbaijan prostitution is the only source of good earnings for some people? And how could this happen, while the tuition paid in universities is becoming more expensive every year?

The media have published a conversation with the prostitute Parvana. She sits on a bench in front of a fountain on Parapet (Fountain Square), where in the evening you cannot get through crowds of tourists, who sometimes are even more than local people. Parvana works with the Arabs. She says that sometimes there are Iranians and our own people. But she says the Arabs pay more. "Everyone understands the word money. I just open the application Calculator on the phone and enter the numbers. If they shake their head as a sign of disagreement, I delete the numbers and write others. If we go with another "girlfriend", the price doubles," Parvana says.

The price, she says, is AZN 100 ($ 59) per hour, or AZN 150 ($ 88), if she is lucky. Working only five days a week and serving only one customer per day, Parvana can earn $ 1,260 a month - an amount that is absolutely unbelievable for work that does not require education or special skills. For comparison, the cleaning lady receives USD 12 a day at the best.

With such earnings a conditional Parvana can pay the police to guard her and not to interfere with her "work." So, sex tourism also involves law enforcement officials, which means this problem does not have a solution in Azerbaijan. Moreover, prostitution is not punished in our country, which means the law protects prostitutes. Prohibited are only propaganda of prostitution, pimping, the organization of this business, and violence against women.