Scandal of beauty centers in Baghdad: Human trafficking and money laundering under the guise of beauty.

Near the heart of the capital Baghdad, the beauty centers sector is growing noticeably, no longer just a field for enhancing appearance, but has turned into a focal point of wide debate, amidst revealed violations threatening public health and social security, raising questions about the absence of oversight, and linking to serious crimes affecting the justice system. In a concerning development, the Ministry of Health in the Kurdistan region of Iraq announced the registration of three cases of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among foreign workers in women's beauty salons. These cases were discovered during routine health permit renewal inspections, without disclosing the names or locations of those centers, causing increasing concerns among citizens and clients of these salons, especially in Baghdad, where there is a rapid proliferation of such centers without sufficient health supervision. However, the issue goes beyond the health aspect, as security sources revealed that some beauty centers have turned into fronts for illegal activities including money laundering, dollar smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking and abuse. These activities are sometimes conducted under political and militia cover, complicating accountability measures and weakening the state's ability to enforce the law or shut down the implicated centers. Sources also indicated that some workers in these centers lack any genuine medical or cosmetic qualifications, leading to hundreds of medical errors resulting in physical deformities and severe damages to clients without holding those responsible for these errors accountable, due to protection provided by influential entities for these centers. Additionally, some of these salons, despite their large size and luxurious locations, were opened in upscale areas at very high costs that do not match the returns of the natural beauty sector, raising widespread suspicions about their true sources of funding and their connection to suspicious activities. These developments have sparked a wave of public anger and increasing calls from civil society to tighten legal and health oversight on the operation of these centers, regulate the sector more strictly, and hold accountable those exploiting beauty salons for conducting illicit activities that harm public health, the economy, and even moral security. Many Iraqis have also called for activating the judicial role to pursue and legally punish those responsible for these centers, ensuring the restoration of the state's authority and protecting society from the consequences of these violations.