Human Trafficking in Israel

01 November 2007 - Young women from the countries of the former Soviet Union are being lured to Israel on the promise of jobs with good salaries - but instead are abused and forced to work as prostitutes.

This is according to Hila Tene, a lawyer at the Department for International Agreements and Litigation at the Israeli Ministry of Justice, who recently took part in an expert group meeting at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.

Ms Tene was one of several legal experts invited by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to provide guidance on the development of anti-trafficking legislations.

She said: "Israel is primarily a destination country for victims of trafficking, mostly for prostitution. Most of these women come from countries of the former Soviet Union. They're mainly aged between 18-25 and answered very impressive ads in local newspapers."

"Whether or not they knew they came for prostitution, most of them encountered very difficult conditions in terms of abuse, not being paid and debt bondage."

When asked about the traffickers and their backgrounds Ms Tene replied: "A lot of them are former Soviet Union citizens who came via our law allowing Jews to come to Israel and receive citizenship."

"Many are part of international rings of traffickers who have people in Israel and in former Soviet Union countries. And some of them are Israelis who want to make quick money, regardless of who stands in their way and who they hurt."

Since 2004, rescued victims of trafficking can find refuge in a shelter that houses up to 50 women and currently is also home for five babies who were born in Israel.

"They're given permits to stay in Israel for a year, based on humanitarian grounds, if they testify or not. They're given working visas, and the shelter organises jobs. And they get full medical, psychological and psychiatric care, when needed," said Ms Tene.

"There's also a lot of emphasis now on vocational training, because even if a woman stays here for a year, if she doesn't have some kind of basic vocational training she might end up being re-trafficked."

She added that in order to provide appropriate training courses for rescued victims, a representative from the shelter was sent to the origin countries to explore vocational options, and the training courses were conducted accordingly.

Hila Tene said Israel has undertaken several campaigns to raise awareness of human trafficking among the general public: "We had a survey a few years ago to find out people's attitudes towards trafficking and we got some very disturbing responses, such as 'it's their problem, they wanted to come and they made a choice'. The endless myths about trafficking."

"There was a lot of work via the mass media and campaigns to teach people. And we're now doing projects aimed at children and soldiers. It's going to take time, but we are seeing gradual improvement."