Prostitution in Jordan is technically illegal, [1] [2] but in practice, tolerated, with authorities turning a blind eye to the act. Local residents have tried to stop prostitution in the area. In , in an attempt to limit the number of prostitutes in Jordan , Jordan's Ministry of Interior announced a special visa scheme for women aged 17—40 travelling alone from Ukraine, Estonia , Russia, Romania , Bulgaria , Moldova , Tunisia, Algeria , Morocco, Belarus , Uzbekistan and Armenia.
Protests from the tourist industry resulted in the scheme being withdrawn. Jordan is known for sex tourism within the middle east. Some Syrian refugees in Jordan have been reported to be working as prostitutes, [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] including in the Zaatari refugee camp. Jordan is a source and destination country for adults and children subjected to sex trafficking. Syrian refugees in Jordan continue to be highly vulnerable to trafficking.
There have been reported cases of Syrian refugee women and girls sold into "temporary" or forced marriages to Jordanians and men from the Persian Gulf for the purpose of forced commercial sex.
For example, in the government reported a case involving three Syrian girls and one Syrian woman who were forced by their father into temporary marriages—for the purpose of sexual exploitation—with a national from Saudi Arabia. Syrian, Lebanese , North African , and Eastern European women may be forced into prostitution after migrating to Jordan to work in restaurants and nightclubs; some Jordanian women working in nightclubs may also be forced into prostitution.
As reported by an NGO in , some Egyptian women are forced into prostitution by their Jordanian husbands. Some out-of-status domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh , and Sri Lanka have been reportedly forced into prostitution after fleeing their employers.
