The existence of an ISIS pricing list, detailing the prices for young women in the sex trafficking market, has been confirmed on the authority of a United Nations official.
The pricing list, which was previously reported on in 2014 by Iraqi News, has now been confirmed by United Nations special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Bangura.
The pricing list confirms that ISIS militants capture girls as young as one year old to sell into sex slavery.
"The girls get peddled like barrels of petrol," Bangura said. "One girl can be sold and bought by five or six different men. Sometimes these fighters sell the girls back to their families for thousands of dollars of ransom."
Younger girls are sold for more money in the markets than older women, according to The Christian Post. Girls ages one to nine bring in the highest price--about $165, while women ages 40-50 are sold for about $40.
The majority of young girls who are captured and sold are part of minority sects in the area dominated by ISIS. Most young girls and women are either Yazidi or Christian.
In another article, The Christian Post reports that the Islamic State justifies this horrific practice by referring to religious reasoning, as seen in an article in the fourth edition of the ISIS English-language digital magazine called “Dabiq.”
The article states, "Before Shaytan [Satan] reveals his doubts to the weak-minded and weak hearted, one should remember that enslaving the families of the kuffar [infidels] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shari'ah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Qur'an and the narration of the Prophet … and thereby apostatizing from Islam."
Publication date: August 7, 2015
