Iran's IRGC exploits women through sex trafficking, uses children to fund proxy wars, report finds

A new analysis by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs alleges that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps profits from sex trafficking of women and girls, and exploits Afghan and Pakistani refugees and children as young as 12 to fund its proxy wars. Researcher Ella Rosenberg says the IRGC taxes the commercial sex trade and uses temporary marriages to facilitate exploitation, while sanctions focused on nuclear issues miss these networks.

A new analysis by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) alleges that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) profits from human trafficking, including sex trafficking of women and girls, and the exploitation of undocumented migrants, refugees, and children to fund its proxy wars. Senior research fellow Ella Rosenberg, a member of the Dvorah Forum, authored the report. She argues that Iran's legal framework projects compliance with international anti-trafficking standards while failing to protect victims, and that the IRGC directly benefits from the sex trade through taxation and complicity in cross-border trafficking. The report also claims the IRGC's Quds Force and Basij recruit Afghan and Pakistani refugees through deception and coercion into proxy militias like the Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun brigades, and that the Basij recruits Iranian children as young as 12 for military roles. Rosenberg estimates these practices save Iran billions in military expenditure. She recommends the US Treasury use the Global Magnitsky Act to designate IRGC officials and that the EU leverage anti-money laundering directives to monitor illicit financial flows.