מכון תודעה

םלועב םישנה רחסו תונזה תעפות רקחל העדות ןוכמ
leah2000@bezeqint.net :לאוד 03-6045128 :סקפ/לט ;61221 ביבא-לת 22197 .ד.ת

Third Chapter : Situation in Israel- Actual facts

Actual situation based on data received from Isha Le Isha Feminist Center Haifa,
Elem, Kol Ha Isha Feminist Center Jerusalem, GLBT of Israel, Hotline for Migrant
Workers and data collected by Machon Toda`a - Awareness Center.

Israel is a destination country for women trafficked for prostitution. Though the
official numbers of women trafficked for prostitution purposes per year remain
3000, there are signs of improvement in the implementation of the "Protocol to
prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and
children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational
Organized Crime".

Until the beginning of 2002 trafficked women for prostitution purposes were
trafficked to Israel through the legal entries (airports and seaports) as well
as through illegal ways. Since 2002 the main passage of most trafficked people,
both women trafficked for prostitution purposes and foreign workers, is the
Egyptian border. Since the issue of trafficking through the Egyptian border
became a serious one it has been decided to give the responsibility of this
area to a special unit called "Magav Ramon- Ugda 80" (Border- Guard). Magav
Ramon is using new methods of action to identify and stop the trafficking not
only of trafficked women for prostitution purposes but also of illegal immigrants
and of drugs as well as to prevent terrorists from entering the country.

According to Meir Azulai, Information Officer of Magav Ramon, during a session
of the Knesset Committee on the Drugs issue held in 30th of December 2003 each
night there are 4 to 5 violations of the Israeli border with Egypt by traffickers
both of people and of drugs. The special unit "Magav Ramon" has invested 20
Million NIS in a pilot project for the border area of "Haluza Sands" which
consists of high technology radars and other equipment that enables the unit
to spot 90% of the border crossings, but since there are more than 2 to 3
crossings per night the unit cannot handle all of them. Due to budget cuts
the project could not be developed to the rest of the border. During this
session both Meir Azulai and Uri Astlin, the Head of the Department of Law
Enforcement from the Authority Against Narcotics stated that despite the fact
that the unit has some collaboration with the Egyptian Police, the Egyptian
Army is turning a blind eye to the trafficking in Sinai. Due to a demographic
reality the collaboration on the two sides of the border is easy as on both
sides of the border are Beduin tribes that are related and that are using
trafficking as a means of livelihood. The social issue is not treated both
in Israel and in Egypt.

According to an article in "Maariv" (an Israeli newspaper) on the 30th of January
2004 during the last 2 months the trafficking in women from Egypt to Israel
through the border was almost stopped due to the fact that the Egyptian
Authorities started to cooperate with the "Magav Unit" after the US government
threatened Egypt with economic sanctions. This change has not yet been checked
by Machon Toda`a but in any case Israel should not rely on the good will of the
USA or of the Egyptian Authorities in order to fight against the trade that
fuels its sex industry and should continue with the pilot project that started
on the "Cholot Chaluza" section on the entire length of the border with Egypt.

In 2003 , mainly in the second half of the year , we also see an improvement in
the way the police tackles the issue of the sex industry.

At the beginning of 2003 an Israeli police unit called "Etgar" started to tackle
the issue of trafficking on a national level. As a national unit, "Etgar"
initiates investigations regarding women trafficking. In 2003, this unit
initiated 44 investigations.

Table 1: Data received from the Police.

Regarding enforcement we can see a visible change from previous years.

Table 2: Police files opened for trafficking in women and related
offences for 2003 as per data received from the Ministry of Justice:

Table 3: Deported women vs. Prosecution witnesses 2000-2003
Data extracted from the Police data and
the report of Isha LeIsha Feminist

Center Haifa and the Hotline for Migrant Workers [3].

Although we do not have the number of witnesses for 2001 we see a considerable
growth in the number of witnesses in 2002, probably due to the fact that in
July 2000 passed the law against trafficking in women. Nevertheless we can see
that the number of witnesses diminishes in 2003 both in absolute numbers and in
percentage. This is a worrisome tendency as it shows a weaker implementation of
the existing laws and directives. We believe that in the year 2004 there will be
again a change of tendency since the shelter for victims of trafficking opened
in February 2004 but this point will be checked next year.

It is sad but important to note that in some cases some police units forced
victims to witness against their will and as a result at least one of these
women tried to commit suicide. More than that, some women told the volunteers
of the Hotline for Migrant Workers that if they did not give a testimony on
being locked and/or raped and/or submitted to other types of violence but
"only" being trafficked, the police unit did not bother to continue the
investigation considering that trafficking per se, according to this police
unit, has to be violent in order to be considered trafficking.

This shows a lack of understanding of police units on trafficking and how
necessary it is to train them. It is only in February 2004 that the first
police training on trafficking in women was organized. NGOs representatives
were also requested to lecture. Machon Toda`a hopes that these training
sessions are going to be developed and will include all police units.

The Judicial System:

The law against trafficking in human beings calls for a maximal sentence of
16 years imprisonment. Though the law against trafficking in human beings
was passed in July 2000 it is only during 2003 that we could see that the
punishments given were significantly heavier and this is especially true when
the cases are appealed before the Supreme Court.

Although the law provides for compensation to victims of TIP, once more we
could see that in 2003 most of the victims were not awarded compensation by
the Court in criminal proceedings against traffickers. In the cases in which
compensation was awarded to the victims ( 25% of the cases in 2003) the money
is deposited in the Court of Justice and can be withdrawn only by a legal
resident who holds a bank account. If no other arrangement is settled the
victim is not able to withdraw the money. This is especially problematic
when we know that during 2003 only 3 victims received a temporary residency
permit for a year.The Ministry of Justice works to provide a different
procedure to solve the issue.

On the 29th of July 2003 the Knesset passed a law that legal assistance would
be provided for the victims of TIP. This law is to be implemented progressively
until August 2006. Still, most of the witnesses are deported immediately after
testifying, and so they are denied the possibility of filing a civil suit
against the perpetrators who were convicted as a result of their testimony.

Details of the courts decisions during 2003 can be seen in the tables below:

Almost half of the trials are appealed before the Supreme Court and the
sentence usually is not only maintained but is increased. See table below:

We can see how the situation improved in 2003 when we compare the situation
in the end of 2003 with the quotation of Super Intendant Eshed in March 2003
in an article published by the review of the Police " Marot Mishtara". Super
Intendant Eshed , Information officer in the Sharon District , is quoted as
saying that " Lately escort girls that were illegal residents were arrested
and gave exact details on their traffickers and pimps but were released due
to the fact that there were no detention places to hold them there until
their expulsion from Israel".

Since this article in March 2003, the creation of the special police unit "Etgar",
the opening of the shelter for trafficked women, the decision to pass the
responsibility for the border with Egypt to the "Magav Ramon" unit show that
it is possible to efficiently fight against trafficking in women and that it
is only a matter of political decision. Machon Toda`a just regrets that it
has taken so long until the Israeli authorities have reached this political
decision and hopes that this decision continues to be implemented forcefully.

In the graph below we can see a sample of what can be done on the judicial
level with an increase in punishment. Please note that for Criminal Case 910/02
the Supreme Court still did not pronounce the sentence and therefore it appears
as "0" in the graph:

For more details regarding the sentences see Annex 1.

Another progress to be noted is the beginning of the use of the Prohibition on
Money Laundering Law 5760-2000 for the crime of TIP :

The first indictment using the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law 5760-2000
was issued by the public prosecutor in March 2004 against Semion Livshiz from
Haifa who was indicted with Trafficking in Persons. This indictment is based
on a diary written by a woman from Uzbekistan who was sold several times and
ended by being freed by the Immigration police. In the diary she noted 4 months
of her "work" with many details during 2003. She also reported of other women
who "worked" for Semion Livshiz. Livshiz will be judged for TIP , pandering and
money laundering. During his arrest his property, including an appartment, a car
and other properties were confiscated.

Assistance to Victims of trafficking

Shelter for victims of trafficking:

The shelter for victims of trafficking, which was originally meant to open
on March 2003, was finally opened on the 15th of February 2004. The
management of the shelter is assured by a leading committee of government
representatives of the relevant Ministries: Super Intendant Meir Cohen from
the Ministry of Interior Security, Dr. Miki Dor from the Minisry of Health,
Adv. Rachel Gershoni , representative of the Ministry of Justice, Adv. Ada
Pliel Trosman representative of the Ministry of Welfare, Adv Rinat Davidovitch,
the manager of the shelter. The committee is chaired by Mr. Menachem Vagshal,
head of the "Service for Women and Girls in Distress" in the Ministry of
Welfare. During the meeting of the Investigative Parliamentary Committee
regarding trafficking in women Mr. Vagshal declared that the two main
goals of this shelter are :

to create a comfortable place for women who are ready to testify
in trafficking files.
Create the beginning of a recovery process in regard to the physical
and mental state of the women as a result of the situation in which
they found themselves, and to provide them with a beginning of a
process to prepare them to return to their country of origin.

The shelter is built to harbour up to 50 women awaiting to testify before
being sent back to their country of origin. The staff of the shelter
includes the manager(Adv. Rinat Davidovitch) , 2 social workers, 1 freelance
psychiatrist, 11 mentors, all of them speaking also Russian and working in
shifts, and a house mother who is responsible for the equipment and the food
supply. All health issues are taken care of by the Ministry of Health and all
medical checks and treatments are done in the Ichilov Hospital which is
situated not far away from the shelter.The place is secured by the Ministry
of Interior Security in a way that is not disturbing the day to day life of
the women. An Advocate that represents the Ministry of Justice meets with
every woman in the new shelter in order to see how to legally assist her.
Before entering the shelter each woman is subject to a risk evaluation, and
there is a re-evaluation every 2 weeks. There is also a new risk evaluation
procedure when the women return to their country of origin to see if their
lives are not endangered by doing so.

Adv. Rinat Davidovitch and a social worker responsible of all the activities
that are prepared for the women met with the representatives of Machon Toda`a
and explained what has already been done and how they see the future
activities and the daily plannings of the place. The women are asked what
are their wishes as to learning professional qualifications and there is
a plan to start a project with the Joint regarding the development of
their working skills. They have the possibility to leave the shelter everyday
for a few hours if they want. On 19/03/2004, when the representatives of
Machon Toda`a visited the shelter, there were already 17 women. On the
3/3/2004 Intendant Pini Aviram declared that there were 84 women awaiting
to testify against their traffickers. 9 of the women were already in the
shelter, 25 of them were still in hotels and the rest were harboured in
secret private appartments.

On the 3/3/2004 Herzel Gadge, the head of the Population Registration in
the Interior Ministry informed the Parliamentary Investigation Committee
that the victims of trafficking that would be held in this shelter would
receive work and stay permits for a year. On Monday 29th March the Interior
Ministry MK Avraham Poraz signed authorisation to issue temporary work
permits for the victims of TIP who decided to testify and are staying in
the shelter until they finish testifying.

A Hot Line for Trafficked women

In January 2003 the Ministry of Labor decided to add to a national emergency
hotline in Haifa an additional hotline for trafficked women. The hotline is
working every day from 08:00- 20:00, but due to budgetary cuts the future of
this hotline is in question.

Detention Centers:

Apart from the detention center "Michal" in Hadera which was opened in
November 2002 and is still working there are another 2 detention centers:
"Renaissance" in the north and "Zohar" in the south. The conditions in the
detention centers are not known to Machon Toda`a as the requests to visit
the first detention center were never answered. According to the representatives
of Isha LeIsha in the north and the Hotline for Migrant Workers in the central
part of the country the conditions of the victims of trafficking are not better
than they were in the report issued last year.

In the detention center "Michal" the victims of trafficking receive fliers
in Russian explaining their rights whereas in the other 2 detention centers
apparently they are still considered as illegal migrants. This is a flagrant
violation of the "UN Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in
persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime" signed by the government
of Israel in November 2001.

Machon Toda`a received information stating that in some cases victims of
trafficking still undergo pressure from the lawyers of their traffickers or
their traffickers themselves even though these women are in the detention
center and are supposed to be protected. In one of the cases a victim even
tried to commit suicide due to the pressures from her trafficker`s lawyer.
The only reaction from the authorities was to transfer her to another
detention center without any appropriate treatment regarding her psychological
condition. The result was that when she testified she was unable to express
herself properly.

Another worrying point is the lack of collaboration between the authorities
and the NGOs prior to the deportation of the victims. This is an extremely
important point because it prevents Israeli NGOs from organizing together
with NGOs from the countries of origin the arrival of the victims in a safe
way. This lack of collaboration not only prevents the victims from being
taken care of when they arrive in their country but even exposes them
to vengeance.

Embassies of Countries of Origin

The travel documents of the victims of trafficking are usually confiscated
by their traffickers. This leaves the women to the mercy of their traffickers
but also to the mercy of their own embassies. Some of these embassies tend
to exploit the victims as they demand a fee for the issuing of new travel
documents. Since July 2003 the Embassy of Moldova demands US $80 and only
through a bank account. The Embassy of Uzbekistan requests US$25 for the
documents and also lengthens the necessary time for consular treatment of
the documents.

In previous years the Moldovan Embassy noted on the travel documents of the
victims of trafficking that they used to work as prostitutes in Israel.
Following pressures from various NGOs the consul of Moldova recently agreed
not to write these notes on the travel documents anymore. However Machon
Toda`a has no evidence yet that this practice has been cancelled.

Attitude of the media towards prostitution and TIP

The media remained silent during the 90`s in front of the crime of TIP.
In 2000, when Amnesty International decided to make a report on trafficking
in women and at the end published a report on Israel only, the Israeli media
started talking about the issue claiming that Israel was the worst destination
country in the world. Since the report of Amnesty separated trafficking and
prostitution, the media concentrated as well on the issue of trafficking and
continued to be silent regarding prostitution. Several journalists who followed
the issue of trafficking insinuated that in some cases and despite the bad
treatment they suffered, part of the trafficked women preferred what they
went through in Israel than their lives in their countries. From these articles
and documentaries, spectators and readers could deduce that the problem was
not trafficking in itself but the harsh conditions in some of the brothels.
Even the articles that opposed trafficking per se used to remain silent on
the issue of prostitution.

During 2003 a new tendency appeared and we started to see articles on
trafficking that raised the question whether legalizing prostitution would
help to control the sex industry and improve the conditions of trafficked
women. Other articles and documentaries started to "investigate" the local
prostitution, emphasizing the issue of free choice. Some of the articles even
directed the interviews so that the interviewees would talk about the
necessity to legalize prostitution in order to control the industry and
improve the "work conditions".

It seems that one of the reasons for this tendency is the fact that the
newspapers earn a lot of money from adds for prostitution. The law against
advertising for prostitution is of no help as the words to describe the
proposed activity do not refer directly to prostitution but to "escort services"
or "health spas". These advertisements are very expensive so that only the
organized prostitution can afford them.

It is reasonable to think that the presentation of the issue by the media has
consequences that can be perceived in the results of the public opinion survey
done by the Knesset research center in December 2003.

Public opinion survey:

The Knesset Information and Research Center issued a Public opinion survey on
8th December 2003 by Ella Heller, Senior researcher:

"Public position and awareness regarding the phenomenon of Trafficking in women
and the public perception how Trafficking in Women is a violation of human rights"

To the question have you heard about trafficking in women 90% of the interviewees
answered yes and 76% of them could note without help the characteristics of
the phenomenon.

To the question that checked the characteristics of the phenomenon 54% noted
spontaneously that Trafficking in women for prostitution purposes is exploitation,
degradation and violence against the victims of trafficking.

Though 76% of the interviewees affirmed knowing how degrading and violent the
phenomenon of trafficking is, to the question "about which phenomena of violation
of human rights that happen in Israel have you heard" only 5.6% noted spontaneously
trafficking as a violation of human rights:

6.4% of the Jewish interviewees (2.2% women and 10.6% men)
1% of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union
1.3% of the Arab interviewees

To the question of violation of women`s rights in Israel only 8% noted
trafficking as violation of women`s rights in Israel:

9.3% of the Jewish interviewees(5% women and 14% men)

3.1% of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union
not mentioned by Arab interviewees

In public awareness trafficking in women is linked more to a lack of morality
than to the issue of violation of human rights.

62% separate trafficking in women and prostitution.

The question what differentiates trafficking in women and prostitution was
addressed to these 62% interviewees. 85% of them noted the free will parameter.
Though in both cases the women end up in prostitution, a large part of the
public tends to differentiate prostitution from TIP by the "fact" that women
in prostitution chose this situation while the trafficked victims did not choose
from their own free will.

Regarding the three "actors" of the phenomenon (traffickers, trafficked
women and customers):

87% of the interviewees see the traffickers as serious criminals who
should be punished severely.
57% see the women as victims only
13% see them as collaborators
16% of the interviewees see the trafficked women as both victims and
collaborators
5% note that the women are criminals

As a whole almost 40% of the interviewees consider the women as active par
t of the issue mainly as collaborators but also as criminals.

As for the clients:

40% see them as collaborators
20% see them as criminals
4% see them as criminals and collaborators
21% cannot give a clear definition (28.5% men 20.5% women)
4% do not know

It is interesting to note that 4% of the interviewees saw in the clients as
both criminals/ collaborators and victims at the same time. And women see
clients as criminals more often than men ( 23% vs. 11%) and more men see the
clients as victims ( 7.5% vs 1.1%)

43% of the interviewees (men and women alike) think that trafficking in women
always was and always will be.

To the question "what is the right way to adopt in the fight against TIP":

95% are determined to fight against traffickers and to punish them.
83% support the deportation of the victims to their country of origin.

Regarding the question of legalizing prostitution:

85% of the interviewed refuse to express an opinion.
Of those who do respond almost 60% are in favour of legalizing prostitution
(68% Jewish men, 58% Jewish women, 41% Arabs, 68% immigrants from the Former
Soviet Union)
32% are against (25% Jewish men, 31% Jewish women, 56% Arabs, 23% new
immigrants from the Former Soviet Union)
8% do not know.
Interesting to note that most of the interviewees from the Arab sector
are against legalizing prostitution.

To the statement "The Police is too lenient towards traffickers":

20% do not agree (17% Jewish men, 21% Jewish women, 29% Arabs, 68% new
immigrants from the Former Soviet Union)
62% agree with the statement (68% Jewish men, 57% Jewish women, 57% Arabs,
19% new immigrants from the Former Soviet Union)
18% do not know.

This research shows that a public campaign by the authorities and NGOs through
the media explaining the connection of TIP with human rights as well as the
fact that legalizing prostitution will not decrease TIP is vital. It is striking
to notice the lack of public awareness that trafficking is not only a phenomenon
that occurs on the international level. Machon Toda`a has encountered cases where
Israeli women were sold between pimps and were considered as merchandise going
through the same hell as the trafficked foreign women: rape, kidnapping, physical
and mental violence, threats, starvation conditions, detention, etc.

Local Prostitution

Machon Toda`a does not have yet any statistics regarding Israeli prostitution
as it is difficult to accumulate them. Israeli prostitution is to be found in
discreet apartments, in the streets, in saunas and in brothels and the
prostitutes are women, men and transgender persons of all ages.

Local prostitution in discreet apartments

One of the most striking phenomena in the development of local prostitution
is the discreet apartments prostitution. The majority of these apartments is
managed by women known as "Madame" and of whom some are former prostitutes but
more and more young women find in this activity an easy way to earn a high
income.

The recruitment for the apartments is done through adds in the local and
national newspapers and usually the "managers" do not accept trafficked women
in order to avoid problems with the police. These apartments usually cater for
the wealthy sector of society. This type of prostitution is generally not
perceived as a problem though reality shows otherwise.

The women "employed" in these apartments are submitted to violence from
customers, "Madames" and the cashiers. This violence is physical, financial
and psychological:

Physical violence comes mainly from the clients who more and more request
BDSM acts. Some of the apartments are even specialized in hard BDSM.
Financial violence since the "Madame" imposes fines for each and any
"misconduct" done by the "employees" such as refusal to go with a customer,
refusal to perform certain acts, when they come late to "work", for taking
a break on an inappropriate moment. Employees who use drugs without the
agreement of the "Madame" are fined up to a few hundred shekels but on the
other hand if the "Madame" decides that her "employees" need vitamins, she
forces them to undergo injections of vitamins she gets from an unknown
supplier and forces them to pay a lot of money for this. They cannot refuse
as this is considered as part of the rules of the establishment [5].
Psychological violence through humiliations either from the "Madame" or
among the "employees". This violence can be expressed by the fines that
"employees" get for misconduct or even by the possibility for the "Madame"
to "dry" the "employee", which means preventing the "employee" from getting
customers for a certain period. At the beginning the "Madame" presents
herself to the new "employees" as a nice and caring person. As most of the
new "employees" have already a history of exploitation they are trapped
very easily so that when the "Madame" reveals her exploitative personality
they are unable to cope with this, they think they are the ones to be blamed
and act as she wants them to in order to be able to regain her "care" [6].

When an apartment is succeeding there is always a moment when it attracts the
attention of the big sharks of the sex industry, who send criminals working
for them to "convince" the "Madame" to pay them protection fees and to become
a branch manager in the net [7]. What might have started as a "private business"
becomes part of the organized crime and finances it.

Street Prostitution in Tel Aviv

Main known areas of prostitution: Tel Baruch (according to GLBT were
observed 300 persons in prostitution) , the Diamonds Exchange Center, the
Northern Railway Station, Gan Hachashmal ( according to GLBT were observed 60
boys and transgenders and 4 girls) and the Old Central Bus Station in the
south of Tel Aviv.

Types of prostitution: local women and trafficked women who escaped from
brothels, male prostitution mainly youth, transgender prostitution.

Drug users: some of the street prostitutes are using drugs but not
necessarily heroin. Heavy users can be found mainly in the Central Bus Station.
According to GLBT in the area of "Gan Hachashmal" were observed "pushers"
(drug dealers who use the boys to close drug deals).

Prices: 50 NIS (1US $ =4.5 NIS)for oral sex, 100 NIS for a "quicky". Also
depends whether the amount needed for the drug or the pimp is at hand. Minors can
and ask for higher sums.

Pimps; most of the prostitutes have a pimp/ "friend"/ dealer. According to
GLBT more than third of the persons in prostitution in the area of "Gan Hachashmal"
are pimped.

Due to the harsh economic situation: more and more Israeli women can be seen in
the areas of prostitution. According to GLBT some of the persons in prostitution
in the area of "Gan Hachashmal" do not have homosexual tendencies and more and
more come from families facing harsh economic situation and sometimes even hunger.
GLBT observed many examples of boys entering prostitution in order to support their
families, which are composed of mothers and younger brothers and sisters.

Violence: Violence is quite spread in the prostitution areas. GLBT
observed in the "Gan Hachashmal" area many problems of violence from gangs of
drunk persons and other hoodlums who use to rob the boys, beat them and also
abuse them sexually. Example for this is V. who was found by GLBT volunteers,
beaten and bleeding after three men attacked him and robbed his earnings of his
last two hours of work. V. refused to go to hospital and when he recovered kept
on working saying that he needs money for the day after. According to information
received later GLBT volunteers realized that V. brings money to his grandmother
and his ill mother and by prostituting himself he helps financing his family.
Other forms of violence exist in the area of "Gan Hachashmal " : among the boys
themselves, from pimps and sponsors towards the boys, from the police towards
those who are found in the area including the boys (for further details see
below), from customers towards female prostitutes when they find out that they
are transgenders.

In the "Tel Baruch" area GLBT observed other forms of violence such as violence
from customers towards the persons in prostitution, from pimps and sponsors,
personal quarrels, due to control over certain "territories", as "punishments"
for performing unsafe sex.

Attitude of the police towards street prostitutes: this attitude depends
on the internal political struggles. For example on May 2003 the police in
Tel-Aviv started to harass minors in Gan Hachashmal asking them every 10 to
15 minutes for their identity cards (as they are no longer allowed to arrest
for soliciting). One night as representatives of Machon Toda`a were talking
to two young boys prostitutes in the area, three different teams of policemen
came 3 times within half an hour and checked the identity cards of the
youngsters. When the third team asked for their identity cards, the Machon
Toda`a members complained about this harassment saying that the young boys
were already checked twice. As a result the members of Machon Toda`a were
asked to hand over also their identity cards and were threatened to be charged
for procuring. At the same time the police in Tel Aviv also harassed gay men
in their habitual meeting places, which shows that this attitude was linked to
an internal problem in the Tel Aviv police. Lately the situation slightly
improved both for gay men and for street prostitutes.

Lately, as the police forces started to close many brothels in the area of the
Central Bus Station, we could witness a decline in the number of customers in
this area both for brothel prostitution and street prostitution. Prices are
dropping and therefore prostitutes are ready to do things that they were not
ready to do before. They are also obliged to accept customers that they were
not ready to accept before.

Health problems:

According to GLBT in "Gan Hachashmal" there are many health problems due to
lack of information on safe sex and STDs, therefore there is a propagation of
all kinds of herpes, lice and other sorts of parasites. Many though they know
they have health problems do not stop working due to economic distress and
endanger both themselves and the customers. GLBT report mentions both "Levinski
108 clinic" and " Doctors without Borders" that helped a lot some of the boys.

In the "Tel Baruch" area the persons in prostitution try to respect safe sex
rules but still a propagation of STDs can be observed. This rises the question
of the role of the customers in the propagation of STDs.

The problem of STDs does not only exist in street prostitution but also in
brothel prostitution.In the years during which the police could not close the
brothels due to the legal situation an acute problem was raised: how to enter
the brothels and get in touch with the women and receive their trust. Also there
was a need to help the women receive assistance and a way out. A beginning of
an answer to this situation was found in the work of the STDs clinic in Tel Aviv.

Medical Center Levinski 108 [8]

In the last years a considerable spread of sexual diseases has been observed
in Israel. As most of the infected persons were young males who, for half of
them, were infected during an intercourse with a person in prostitution, the
medical authorities of Tel Aviv decided to check the situation in the brothels.
The medical teams visited 72 brothels where 300 women were checked and the
findings brought about the establishment of the Levinski Medical Center, where
the tests and the treatment are free and anonymous.

The goals of the center are:

to identify and treat those who have a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD);
to carry out periodical check ups for the persons in danger;
to increase awareness of the public regarding the possibilities of being
infected, the ways to avoid infection and the cures.

The clinic is located in the Central Bus Station of Tel Aviv, not far from
an area of many brothels and is targeting all persons whose sexual behaviour
is risky, whether because of multiple partners or because they sell or buy sex.
The Clinic is managed by Yael Gur, a social worker, who has established during
the 15 months of its opening a very interesting working module with volunteers
who spread the knowledge about the existence of the clinic through outreach work
in the prostitution areas of Tel Aviv.

The first stage of getting in touch with the women in the brothels was done by
the team of the clinic.This team tried to make contact with the women in the
brothels and to distribute leaflets. In cases where the owner , the pimp of the
brothel was around it was very hard to get any concrete conversation, the women
were either indifferent or not interested. In cases where the women were by
themselves in the place , without clients or other witnesses the team received
the following attitudes:1. Disbelief that the clinic is really free and anonymous
and is not cooperating with the police. 2. Disbelief that the clinic services are
professional since these are given free of charge. 3. Joy and greatfulness for
the information, sometimes the women promised to visit the clinic. The visits
are usually done during midday and in the afternoon.

The second stage of the outreach activities was to arrive to the brothels in
the evening and at night. For this purpose were drafted the volunteers of
"ELEM" who are already participating in the project "ERIM BALAYLA" which is
already taking care of minors in prostitution. The volunteers distributed the
leaflets and postcards of the clinic in the brothels. This gave them the
opportunity to enter the brothels, spread the knowledge about the existence
of the clinic to women in late night shifts as well. Due to the fact that
despite these two stages not many women did arrive to the clinic it was
decided to introduce a third stage.

The third stage: since the beginning of 2003 the Central Bus Station presented
a non secured place for the women to visit as many immigration police persons
were circulating and frightening the immigrants. This fact urged the clinic
team to try and issue medical tests inside the brothels only with the consent
of the women without any pressure from the pimps.

The clinic also formed a forum on the issue of trafficked women which goal
was to find new effective ways to give medical aid regarding STDs to trafficked
women. The participants were the manager of the clinic, the managers of Machon
Todaa, and a representative from Doctors for Human Rights. The decision was
to make a research among the women in the brothels with the following purposes:

deepening the knowledge of the clinic concerning the needs of the trafficked
women in order to find out how to fit the services of the clinic with these needs
increasing the trust of the women in the clinic.

The research is not intended to be used for academic purpose that might
recommend to legitimize prostitution. The first target group that will be
addressed will be the prostituted persons in the streets. The forum also decided
to check ways to use the research as a platform to establish a support group for
trafficked women and concerning the medical checks in the brothels it was
decided that the checks will be held without the participation of a police
officer. A day or two before the date of the medical tests the volunteers of
the clinic will visit the brothels and inform that at the following date a
team from the clinic (including a doctor) will visit the brothel and propose
free anonymous checks for all STDs. It will be evident that the women that
will be found ill will get free medical treatment on behalf of the clinic.

In September until November 2003 the Clinic team visited over 25 brothels in
the area of the Central Bus Station - In those brothels where the women stayed
without the chaperoning of a pimp the women were usually very keen and agreed
to pass the health tests.

During its 15 months of existence more than 170 women came to the clinic for
tests. These women could also speak with the manager of the clinic who is also
a social worker. The women stressed the need to come and talk with somebody on
a permanent basis, several women talked about their fright to loose their minds
and wanted to talk to professional staff. These conversations allowed the
clinic not only to help some of the women but to have an insight to the
problems of the trafficked women. This allowed the clinic to efficiently
take part in the meetings of the Parliamentary Investigation Committee and to
be involved in the law proposal for the reinsertion of trafficked women.

Prostitution and Trafficking in Jerusalem

There are no actual numbers of the prostituted persons in Jerusalem yet but
during a first assessment and mapping of the situation in Jerusalem by Kol
Ha- Isha team the following observations could be made:

Prostitution and TIP in East Jerusalem:

According to the information gathered there is a lively sex industry in East
Jerusalem. There are several known brothels run by women near Jaffa Gate and
Sichem Gate. The persons in prostitution are students as young as 16 from
the Palestinian territories (Napluse and other areas) from very poor
families. There are many cases of selling trafficked women to Palestinian
cities such as Hebron and Ramallah. There is a known example of a woman who
was sold to Ramallah and disappeared and of whom no information was received
until today. Women in prostitution in East Jerusalem are mainly trafficked
women, then Arab women, then Jewish women. Specific information was received
regarding a brothel in Beith Hanina (near Jerusalem) which is managed by a
highly respected Palestinian family where when raided 6 to 7 girls and
students as young as 16 were found. In another case in the Old city of
Jerusalem a brothel with 16 girls, students from niversities were found
when the son of the owners raped one of the girls. The girl complained and
the police raided the establishment and sent the girls home.
No one knows what was their fate afterwards.
From a source in the Central Unit of the Jerusalem Police the following
information was received about trafficking in women:
- Trafficked women are brought to Jerusalem usually when the deal
  was already done with the traffickers in other parts of Israel.
- No brothels are to be seen. The women are held in private apartments.
  Those apartments are not known.
- The deal with customers is done through adds in the local newspapers.
  When the customer calls the woman is sent to him if he is already located
  in a hotel room or in his own apartment. Otherwise he is directed to one
  of the hotels specified by the pimp.
- There is a problem of kidnapping and swapping of women among rival gangs.
  (An example was given by another source about a judicial case of a
  religious Jew and an Arab who kidnapped trafficked women and passed
  them from one brothel to another).
- Trafficked women are reluctant to testify against their trafficker
  unless they were neglected or locked.
- Process of the police raids: Every raid is executed only after the
  information on apartments is received. The first stage is to check if
  the case is related to an investigation on trafficking. The women are
  questioned and the illegal ones are sent to the Detention Center "Michal"
  to be deported to their countries of origin. The legal women are freed.
  95% of the women do not agree to testify against their traffickers. Those
  who agree to testify are sent to the shelter in Tel Aviv.
Another source checked the adds in the local newspapers and gathered
the following information:
- The act of prostitution is done either at the client`s location or either at
  the client`s location or proposed known hotels. This shows that there is a
  large collaboration in regard to trafficking in women including hotels
  and local newspapers.
- The women proposed were mainly from the following countries: Russia,
  Ukraine, Romania.
- Prices are: Usually 250 NIS per hour. One place also offered 10,000 NIS
  for 40 hours.

Youth prostitution in Jerusalem

The mapping of the prostitution of minors in Jerusalem just started and
therefore Machon Toda`a has no accurate statistics but a first information
shows specificities linked to the particularity of the city. To the
"classical" prostitution scene we have to add the issue of young religious
persons leaving the ultra orthodox community and finding themselves in a
secular environment unknown to them and sometimes hostile. We also have to
add the special composition of the city that seems to allow a flow of young
persons from one community to another, completely different one.

Youth prostitution in Israel:

According to the report of "Service for girls in distress" from the Ministry
of Welfare there are officially 17,000 girls up to the age of 21 who are
considered needy for welfare assistance. According to the official data 3,500
girls are from the Arab sector but former MK Hosnia Jabara stated that this
number is minimizing and she stated a figure of 10,000. The Minisry of Welfare
reported in November 2003 that 600 girls of Russian or Ethiopian origin were
kept as sex slaves around the southern city of Beer Sheva in the Beduin
settlements. In Jerusalem an unknown number of prostitutes, boys and girls.

In the city of Bat Yam, near Tel- Aviv , there are 350 known girls aged 13-14
that are prostituting themselves at extremely low prices.

These are only a few examples of the development of prostitution of minors in
Israel. Similar situations can be found in other cities in the country.

Facing this terrible situation, there are only very few shelters. For example
in Bat Yam to assist 350 girls in prostitution there are only 4 social workers
in the Municipality unit in charge of boys and girls, 1 transit apartment,
1 "Hot house", 4 girls places opened after school for girls and some community
projects. There are always minors who do not find a place that suits them and
it is true not only for Bat-Yam but for the whole country.

In Tel-Aviv, for example, ELEM started the "Erim Balayla" project during 2001,
which is a reinsertion project for prostituted minors and young persons.

During the time that the project is active 90 young persons at the ages of 13-21
were helped. 13% girls; 74% boys and 13% Transgenders.The volunteers keep
intensive contact and accompany on a long term basis 31 young persons.
Last month( March 2004) Dorit Friedman pointed out whille starting an
awareness campaign that the number of known prostituted minors in the
TelAviv area reach 200.

For more data on the "Erim Balayla " project see chapter 5

According to the GLBT association report of 2003 were observed 11 teenagers
from the Palestinian Authority, who are involved in the sex trade. GLBT has
noted that until now no program is taking care of them. In most of the cases
these Palestinian youngsters are gays, a fact that endangers their life in the
Palestinian Authority. In order to escape torture and possible death they come
to Tel-Aviv where they practice prostitution in order to survive. Though they
are illegal in Israel the Police does not deport them because of the threat
for their lives. This figure might be under-estimated as we know that hundreds
of Palestinian gays found a shelter in Israel as homosexuality is punished
by death penalty in the Palestinian Authority. Since May 2002 it is not
possible to issue stay permits for them due to a law that denies it from
Palestinian persons as in the last years dozens of thousands of Palestinians
from the Palestinian Authority asked a stay permit in Israel. Any solution
for the issue should involve a third harbor country. All attempts to find
such a country were unsuccessful.

Crossroads

As far as Trafficking in Women and prostitution are concerned Israel is
currently at a crossroads. Until 2003 the country concentrated its efforts
on the issue of trafficking but ignored the issue of prostitution itself
except prostitution of minors. Since 2003 the prostitution itself is aborded
on the political level . Now there are two directions that are proposed:

The first direction is proposed by MK Zehava Galon, who links prostitution
per se and trafficking and believes that in order to fight trafficking
effectively there is a need to break the infrastructure of organized
prostitution. Many law proposals of MK Zehava Galon have already passed
as laws, as can be seen in chapter 4 and lately another law proposal
passed already at preliminary hearing and is helping the police to
close places of prostitution.

Preliminal hearing of law proposal of MK Zehava Galon : Amendment to
the criminal law 2003- Closing of places where pandering and TIP takes
place. (P/1316)

" The second direction is proposed by MK Reshef Chen, who on behalf of a
liberal feminist approach would like to see prostitution legally recognized as
a legitimate activity. Basing his arguments on the report of Judge Hadasa Ben
Ito that was issued in 1977 and claiming that the women in prostitution have
nowhere to practice prostitution but in the street "behind the garbage bins",
MK Reshef Chen presented in July 2003 a law proposal that would have changed
the whole situation. The amendment to article 199 of the Penal Code was destined
to enable a landlord to receive a rent from a woman working in prostitution as
far as the price is acceptable. The amendment to article 204 stated that
keeping a place for prostitution purposes would be an offence punished by
a penalty of one year (instead of five years currently ) only if a police
officer decides that the activity represents a nuissance or endangers the
public. The amendment to article 205 stated that the renting of a place to
a prostitute for prostitution purposes would be an offence only if the police
sends the landlord a letter requesting to stop the renting.

As this law proposal was rejected by the Ministry of Justice MK Reshef Chen
changed his proposal into a new one. This time there was only one amendment
to article 204:

Law proposal presented by MK Reshef Chen: Amendment to the Penal Code
article 204: Renting or running a place including cars and boats for
prostitution purposes of another person - is punishable by a term of
imprisonment of 5 years (P/1350)

N.B.: In this law proposal MK Reshef Chen just added "of another person"
to the existing article.

The Ministry of Justice opposed this amendment as well stating that it is in fact
a legal recognition of prostitution as a legitimate activity which is opposed to the
spirit of the Israeli Law based upon the UN Convention of 2nd of December 1949.

Machon Toda`a agrees with the Ministry of Justice and notes that anyway it is
never possible to know whether the person in prostitution is actually the real
owner of the place or is just a screen behind which a pimp is hiding.

Machon Toda`a would like to remind that prostitution is a result of social
and gender inequality and that this situation worsens during times of war and
economic depression. In a country such as Israel where:

Between 15% to 17% of the minors are considered at risk
83% of these minors will not receive institutional aid.
A large part of the population is composed of recent immigrants
facing harsh economic difficulties
A large portion of the women who are single parents do not succeed to
break away from the poverty circle
60% of the unemployed are women
2/3 of those who depend on social welfare are women
1 in every 4 women will undergo sexual harassment or rape during her life
( knowing that in most of the cases it happens in families and against minors)
1 in every 7 women is a battered woman which means that the woman and her
children live in an atmosphere of violence and fear
The difference between the richest and the poorest part of the population
is one of the biggest in the western world and only grows from year to year
and so is the difference in salaries between men and women
And to top it all the government and the Knesset agreed to important
budget cuts especially in the welfare and education systems.

Facing this situation Machon Toda`a does not think that it is relevant to
talk about improving the "work" conditions of persons in prostitution by
legalizing prostitution. It would be better to improve the general social
welfare and education in order to prevent the development of prostitution and
to create a safety net for those who are already trapped in prostitution.

Anyway there is no need to change the law as the legal directives of the Public
Prosecution have already taken care of the issue (as can be seen in chapter 2).
The actual situation is illustrated by the following sentence said by "Dina",
a prostitute from Jerusalem:

" There is no law against prostitutes in Israel, when
the police comes I just tell them that I am a prostitute, do not employ
anybody and does not operate appartments. An average enquiry takes around
3 hours and in the end they just nicely say goodbye." [9]

[3] "Isha Overet LaSocher" (Trafficking in Women in Israel) 2003, Hotline for Migrant Workers, Isha LeIsha Feminist Center Haifa, Adva Center.

[4] NIS = New Israeli Shekel ( 4.5 NIS =1 US $)

[5] Article in Ma`ariv by Sari Makover Blikov, " Ba`a lot Ha-Bait" ( The "Madames") on March 2004

[6] Private conversations of Machon Toda`a representatives with women "working" in private apartments. The parallel with the situation of battered women seems strong and needs to be researched.
[7] Sari Makover Blikor, 'Ba`a lot Habait" , Maariv 2004
[8] Report of Yael Gur for the Medical Center Levinski 108, Ministry of Health, March 2004
[9] Article in Kol HaIr Jerusalem by Amir Shoan "The war on escort girls", March 2004

Contents | Introduction | Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Annex

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