Human Trafficking in  [Israel]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Israel]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Israel]  [other countries]
 

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

State of Israel                                                                                [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The State of Israel [map] is a republic located in SW Asia on the Mediterranean Sea and is bordered by Lebanon (N), by Syria and Jordan (E), by the Mediterranean Sea (W), by Egypt (SW), and by the Gulf of Aqaba (an arm of the Red Sea) (S).  The capital and largest city of Israel is Jerusalem.  Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years.

Israel is a destination country for low-skilled workers from People's Republic of China (P.R.C.), Romania, Jordan, Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India who migrate voluntarily for contract labor in the construction, agriculture, and health care industries. Some are subsequently subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, such as withholding of passports and other restrictions on movement, threats, and physical intimidation. According to the Government of Israel, women working in the health care field are particularly vulnerable to trafficking for involuntary servitude. Many labor recruitment agencies in source countries and in Israel require workers to pay up-front fees ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 - a practice that may contribute to debt bondage and makes these workers highly vulnerable to forced labor once in Israel. Israel is also a destination country for women trafficked from Eastern Europe - primarily Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Russia - for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.   - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007   [full country report]

 

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Israel.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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Israel's fight against sex trafficking

CHANGING TACTICS - Campaigners say things began to change for the better in 2004, when the government opened a shelter in north Tel Aviv for women who had been trafficked for sex.  It marked a change in the way the state perceived them - as victims of a crime rather than accomplices.  There are some 30 women at the Maggan shelter - most from former Soviet states, but also five from China.

Police say their actions have led to a significant drop in the number of women now being trafficked into Israel for sex.

 

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The Hotline for Migrant Workers (HMW)

The Hotline for Migrant Workers (HMW), established in 1998, is a non-partisan, not for profit organization, dedicated to (a) promoting the rights of undocumented migrant workers and refugees and (b) eliminating trafficking in women in Israel.  Call  03-560-2530

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – The law guarantees foreign laborers legal status, decent working conditions, health insurance, and a written employment contract; however, some employers forced individual laborers who entered the country, both legally and illegally, to live under conditions that constituted trafficking. While law enforcement agencies have successfully prosecuted employers for labor law violations, including for violations that were tantamount to trafficking, they have not severely penalized labor agencies for trafficking because legislation does not make trafficking illegal if it is for purposes other than prostitution. There were numerous documented cases of foreign laborers living in harsh conditions, subjected to debt bondage, and restricted in their movements.

Organized crime groups trafficked women, primarily from the former Soviet Union, sometimes luring them by offering service sector jobs. Foreign workers came mainly from Southeast Asia, East Asia, Africa, Turkey, Eastern Europe (Romania), and South and Central America. Some traffickers reportedly sold foreign-origin women to brothels, forced them to live in harsh conditions, subjected them to beatings and rape, and forced them to pay for transportation costs and other "debts" through sexual servitude. According to local NGOs, during the year traffickers brought between one thousand and three thousand women into the country for prostitution. The government reported that during the year, 59 trafficked women resided in the "Maggan" Shelter, and an additional 128 trafficking victims stayed in the detention facilities. The government estimated that at least 682 more women met the basic criteria to be classified as cases of trafficking victims even if they did not so admit.

In October, 2 NGOs claimed there were 200 thousand foreign workers in the country and that 20 percent of these workers were trafficking victims. During the year the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor (ITL) revoked 185 permits to hire foreign workers, opened 1,220 files against employers suspected of violating foreign worker employment laws, and imposed 8,356 administrative fines on employers. Also during the year, the ITL filed 208 criminal indictments against employers, including manpower companies, for violations of labor laws and won 38 judgments against violators.

NGOs warn against plan to increase Russian visas

However, Russia is considered a transit destination for trafficking operations, with many men, women and children from neighboring countries arriving there before being transported elsewhere.  Egypt has no visa requirements for Russian visitors, and its border with Israel is considered to be a main entry point for human traffickers.

A spokesman for Aharonovitch told the Post zthat the minister was aware of the problems of human trafficking in Israel and that the issue needed to be tackled; however, he added that there was little connection between the trafficking and the cancellation of visa requirements for Russian visitors.  He also said that the number of women arriving from Russia was much lower than those from other countries and that countries with border policies stricter than Israel's still had to contend with women and men being smuggled in for illegal work purposes.

ISRAEL: Shelter tries to rehabilitate victims of human trafficking

Foreign women who are victims of trafficking can now get support at a special shelter - the Maagan shelter - in Tel Aviv dedicated to cater for their needs.  In 2002 the Israeli government, in an attempt to encourage these women to testify against the people who bought and sold them, decided to offer them work visas in return for sworn statements detailing their tribulations. The visas run until one year after the end of their trials.

Women protest Ha'aretz sex ads

TFHT filed a report in June demanding an investigation into the paper and its owner, Amos Schoken. The advertisements in question offer the services of prostitutes, while other ads call for women to work in prostitution in Israel or abroad.  According to TFHT head Roni Aloni Sedovnik, advertisements related to prostitution are far more expensive than standard ads and therefore could not be the initiative of prostitutes advertising privately. The ads could only be funded by wealthy organized crime syndicates, she maintained.

Freedom of expression, Sedovnik said, "is subservient to a person's right not to be enslaved ... By giving a stage to pimps and other human traffickers, [the paper is allowing] organized and efficient trading in trafficking victims." The ads "make the paper complicit in the crime," she added.

Israel's fight against sex trafficking

CHANGING TACTICS - Campaigners say things began to change for the better in 2004, when the government opened a shelter in north Tel Aviv for women who had been trafficked for sex.  It marked a change in the way the state perceived them - as victims of a crime rather than accomplices.  There are some 30 women at the Maggan shelter - most from former Soviet states, but also five from China.

Police say their actions have led to a significant drop in the number of women now being trafficked into Israel for sex.

Ukrainian national says employer raped her, confiscated passport

Two years ago, S., 47, came from Ukraine to work as a domestic in the home of an Israeli businessman. The employment company abroad that contracted her told her she had "nothing to worry about," with respect to her new boss. However, according to S., her employer - a resident of a wealthy Tel Aviv suburb, who works at a foreign consulate in Israel - withheld most of her salary, took her passport, did not let her leave the house unless he was with her, and raped her. In many cases, S. says, her employer's friends who came to dinner or parties sexually molested her, and one of them also raped her.

Today, the police, who are concluding their investigation of S.'s charges, are arranging a confrontation between the suspect, who has denied any wrongdoing, and the alleged victim. According to the suspect's lawyer, Yehoshua Resnick, S. made up the whole story to avoid deportation.

Eight Israelis charged with trafficking human organs

Israeli police have broken up an organ transplanting ring that persuaded dozens of Israelis to have their kidneys removed in Ukraine. But, because Israeli law does not explicitly forbid the trafficking of organs, police may have to release the suspects.

It’s not difficult to become an organ donor. Ads have appeared in both the Russian and Arabic press. Dozens of people are believed to have been duped into donating their body organs.  We are co-operating with the Ukrainian justice system. In Ukraine and Israel, there is no law that a person cannot sell body organs. But what police are charging is that they were trafficking organs, which is illegal,” said Lizzy Troend, defence lawyer.  Israel allows transplants from relatives or anonymous donors, but the law forbids anyone to buy organs. - IsUkr

Sex slavery: Israel’s low but thriving trade

Rachel Benziman the legal advisor to the Israeli Women’s network backed up Menuhin’s words by explaining how difficult it is to find witnesses. “It's not a problem of finding the right section in the criminal code. It is more a problem of finding the women who will testify and finding the motivation”, Benziman said, according to Reuters.

What’s more shocking is that, since 1994, no single woman has testified against any trafficker. Many say this could be attributed to the fact that although women are the victims here, trafficked women are the ones usually arrested as illegal workers, while the men who brought them to Israel, who are usually Israeli, are not.

Virtual pimps may pay the price

In December 2000, Zohar set up the Escort Plus Web site, which featured the details of women who could be ordered for paid sex. Zohar received a commission on every order from the site, which was deducted from the fee paid by the clients.

The enterprise, however, did not end there. In 2001 Zohar began traveling to European countries to hire young women. He housed them in apartments in Israel and "marketed" them via the Web site. The indictment details how he purchased two Ukrainian women from a man named Igor, and two Moldavian women from a man named Pasha.

U.S Orthodox rabbis urge Israel to crack down on human trafficking

A prominent organization of U.S. Orthodox rabbis has called on Israeli authorities to step up their fight against trafficking in women, urging "action to put an end to this shameful practice by whatever legal means necessary."

The statement of the Rabbinical Council of America, the rabbinic authority of the Orthodox Union and a partner organization of Israel's Chief Rabbinate, cited Knesset statistics reporting that "some 3000-5000 women in Israel are currently enslaved, in violation of Israeli law, as prostitutes as a result of human trafficking."

The RCA stated that it was taking the position, in part, because "Judaism affirms the right of each individual to a life of personal freedom, dignity and a duty of national holiness, particularly regarding sexual conduct" and because "our Torah stresses no less than 36 times the overarching importance of treating the stranger with compassion and kindness."

The group also noted that Israel's Declaration of Independence emphasized that the state "will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel.

Brothel owner sentenced to five years in jail for human trafficking

In 2002 Reizin, who was the owner of a Haifa brothel, reached an agreement with the owner of an Acre brothel to sell him a prostitute in return for a part of his establishment's profits. Reizin later sold the Acre brothel two more women for $10,000.

The women were forcibely held and required to have intercourse with some 25 clients a day. They were paid NIS 50 daily. In November 2002 they managed to escape.

Human trafficking report: Courts are too lenient

The Hotline for Migrant Workers also reported that the courts did not sufficiently exercise the right to extract compensation from the traffickers for their victims. The court awarded compensation in only 11 of the 17 trafficking convictions in 2006 for a total of NIS 314,000, which was NIS 18,500 less than the previous year.  The courts also do not make sufficient use of their powers to fine traffickers or seize their property, the report stated.

National Geographic Slave to Bias

National Geographic’s September 2003 article by Andrew Cockburn entitled “21st Century Slaves” fails to mention the world’s leading human-rights and slave-trafficking offender, Sudan, while unfairly highlighting with a double-page photograph Israel’s relatively insignificant prostitution rings.

Though forced prostitution in Israel is a grave problem, its scale compared to the extensive abuses elsewhere hardly merits the attention National Geographic gives it. By contrast, the omission of Sudan, a country that has enslaved and exploited an entire people in its southern region, is inexplicable.

Unlike the other countries discussed in the article, with the exception of the United States, Israel has significant anti-prostitution legislation it enforces

Israeli women being trafficked abroad

While police have struggled to cope with the growing problem of human trafficking through Israel, human traffickers have begun to ship Israeli women to foreign countries, said MK Zehava Gal-On Tuesday. Gal-On also said that the country is unprepared for this new trend.

"There has long been an active ring of people using Israel as a stopping point in the trafficking of women from foreign countries to other foreign countries… what we are seeing now is Israeli women themselves being targeted and shipped to other places," Gal-On said.

Analysis: Israel has stepped up the fight against human trafficking

Gershuni's office researches matters related to human trafficking, represents Israel in international forums dealing with the problem and is now waiting for the chance to get the state to prosecute traffickers according to the new legislation. Until now, there have been a fair number of indictments and convictions in trafficking for the purposes of prostitution, but none regarding the new forms of slavery recognized by the recent legislation.

"Our first cases must be extreme, so that they will guarantee convictions," she told the Post, adding that the courts will have to learn to discern between slavery indictments and lesser charges of work exploitation.

Government drafts national plan for combating human trafficking

The government has drafted a national plan for combating human trafficking for the purposes of slavery and coercion, including steps in the areas of enforcement, prevention, and protection.

The purpose of the plan is to eliminate the phenomena of holding migrant workers in slavery conditions, through forced labor, coercing them to provide sexual services or collecting large sums of money from workers.

Israel hosts human trafficking seminar

In October, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) passed a bill banning human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution and forced labor.

“We are talking about an innovative and revolutionary law, which deals harshly with traffickers of people and body parts,” said Zahava Gal-on, member of Knesset. “The law will provide law enforcement officers better tools to combat the phenomenon.”

There are an estimated 3,000 women in Israel, according to Amnesty International, involved in trafficking rings and Israel wants to help these women, many of whom are victims of extreme violence.

Knesset passes human trafficking bill

In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the Knesset approved a law to strengthen and broaden laws against human trafficking.  The bill, which was drafted by MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) and supported by the government, increases the time served for involvement in human trafficking to 16-20 years. It also broadens the definition of trafficking in men, women and children.

Gov't, NGOs still find time to fight against human trafficking

Despite the current war on the home front, government officials and representatives of the US Embassy and the US State Department took time out of their busy schedules last week to discuss practical recommendations for how to address sex trafficking and labor trafficking in the country.

3 arrested on suspicion of human trafficking

Tel Aviv Police succeeded in tracing the steps of the group after spotting a notice published in a Russian language newspaper advertising employment in Canada for "young, beautiful girls."

Israel among worst human traffickers

Tal Eisenberg, the organization's legal advisor and coordinator for the center's Fighting Against Trafficking in Women project told The Jerusalem Post, "It is excellent that the United Nations has recognized that there is such a problem in Israel. I hope that we can learn from the report and that the government will now take more notice of the problem." She said that many countries did not even know that trafficking takes place within their borders and that Israeli rights organizations had made great progress in combating the problem.

Meet Svetlana

But perhaps in honor of International Women's Day, let me introduce the woman you'll have such a good time with tonight. Here's 10 things you never knew about her.

1. Her name is Svetlana. Like most whores, she's from Eastern Europe. She's 22-years-old.

2. Misha, Svetlana's boss, bought her for 5,000 dollars from an Egyptian Mafioso who smuggled her across the border tied to a camel after he and his friends "checked her out" to see if she was worth the effort.

Women leaders gather in Israel to combat crime of trafficking

"The committee set itself a goal to serve as watchdog over the authorities and has compelled the state to act in accordance with international standards," said Gal-On. "Today women are treated as victims of a crime, and as people whose human rights have been breached. Those who traffic and pimp in the bodies of women are treated severely."

´He Was Taking Over My Mind´

"There was always violence, always humiliation" says Miriam [not her real name], who spent 12 years with a Palestinian-Arab, the last four in his village over the Green Line in southern Israel. "First he would hit me with his hands. Then he moved on to using small objects, and finally iron rods and a metal rake. He broke all of my teeth with the rake and then refused to give me any medical attention."

Art exhibit takes behind scenes look at Israeli sex trade

The distressed expression on the face of an anonymous woman peering out from behind a barred window in a Tel Aviv building triggered curator Revital Ben-Asher Peretz to launch her own private investigation behind the scenes of the Israeli sex trade.

Bad Traffic

With approximately one million visits to prostitutes each month, the Israeli sex "industry" generates an estimated billion dollars a year, Gal-On reveals.  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared last month that this "despicable phenomenon completely contradicts Jewish tradition and the values of dignity."  Yet, despite repeated criticism by the State Department and human rights organizations, Israel has not established a central authority to cope with the problem.

August 16 Proposed as International Day Against Trafficking

On August 16, it will be five years since two trafficking victims from the former Soviet Union were burned to death in a brothel in Tel Aviv. The tragedy occurred because the women were locked in the house and had no way out, which is common in the trafficking business. There are also three other known cases of deaths of trafficking victims in Israel: one woman from Ukraine and two others from Russia. In memory of the harrowing event that took place on August 16, 2000, the Israeli Coalition Against Trafficking in Women has proposed to proclaim this date as the International Memorial Day for Trafficking Victims.

Briefing to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women - June 2005

TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS (ARTICLE 6) - Amnesty International published a report on the trafficking of women into Israel's sex industry in 2000.  Trafficking of women for forced prostitution has occurred over a number of years but appears to have been compounded in the past 15 years by several factors, including increased links between traffickers in Israel and former Soviet republics, in the wake of the large wave of immigration of citizens of these countries to Israel, following of the break-up of the Soviet Union.  These combined factors seemingly resulted in an increase in the vulnerability of women from this region to trafficking, and in an increase in the demand for such sex workers in Israel.

Trafficking in Persons for the Purpose of Prostitution: The Israeli Experience [Restricted]

THE CHANGE IN ATTITUDE TOWARD TRAFFICKING - With time, as the phenomenon became more prevalent, and its distinguishing characteristics were identified, the attitude changed. Law enforcement agencies began to focus on trafficking as a serious crime distinct from prostitution offenses, and victims began to be viewed first and foremost as victims rather than illegal immigrants. As a consequence, a specific trafficking offense was legislated,12 law enforcement authorities began to initiate investigations, victims were encouraged to testify against traffickers, and courts began to detain traffickers until the conclusion of the criminal trial against them and to mete out more severe sentences.

Israel Women Trafficking Soars

Between 3,000 and 5,000 women have been smuggled into Israel in the past four years to work as prostitutes, according to a parliamentary inquiry.  The report described how the women are sold at public auctions for as much as $10,000 and forced to work up to 18 hours a day.

Russian Girls Eager To Work Abroad, Despite The Danger Of Sex Trafficking

It is really difficult for such girls to escape when they reach Israel; many of them appeal to the Russian Embassy for help. However, as correspondents of the Novye Izvestia newspaper learnt in Tel-Aviv, people connected with recruiters of sex slaves stand close to the Embassy in wait for fugitives and do not let them escape.

Interior Minister to Expel 15 Prostitutes Who Testified

According to the charge sheet against her procurers, she was sold at a Tel Aviv parking lot to the owner of an escort agency, where she worked without being paid, ostensibly to pay for her travel expenses.  The young woman cooperated fully with the police and the prosecution, and provided evidence concerning several suspects. As a result, she has received threats and is scared to return to the Ukraine. She also tried to sue Sholkin in a labor court for not paying her, but withdrew her lawsuit after her family - including her 10-year-old half-brother - was threatened.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 1   Civil Liberties: 2   Status: Free

Human Rights Overview by Human Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide

U.S. Library of Congress - Country Study

2005   Thousands of foreign women have been smuggled into Israel and sold into prostitution

2004   Hotline for Migrant Workers in Israel promotes civil & human rights of migrant workers

2004   Jewish Wives Are Arab Husbands' Prey

2004   6000 Jewish Israeli women marry Arab men each year, unknowingly entering into a trap

2004   “There was always violence, always humiliation"

2004   A trap of torture - When Israeli Women Marry Arab Men

2004   Response to U.S. State Dept criticism of Israel in its 2004 report on trafficking in women

2004   4th annual report on trafficking in women and prostitution in Israel

2004   Over 1,000 minors around the country are involved in prostitution

2004   Prostitution in the Land of the Maccabees: Trafficking in Women in Israel

2004   3,000 prostitutes in Israel today … many "imported" into the country against their will

2004   [DOC] Actual facts on the Trafficking in Persons for the purpose of prostitution in Israel

2004   Women bought & sold into indentured servitude of the sex industry

2004   Women As Commodities: Trafficking in Women in Israel 2003

2004   Fighting the flesh trade By Marion Marrache

2002   Last year, Israel made an extraordinary effort to clean up the problem of trafficking

2002   3,000 women, mainly from former Soviet Union, sold each year into Israel's sex industry

2000   Dead women came from Ukraine, like most of those brought from FSU for prostitution

1998   Traffickers' New Cargo: Naive Slavic women

1996   16-year old European girl deported from Israel

All material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use

 

 

Human Trafficking in  [Israel]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Israel]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Israel]  [other countries]