Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women

Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women

Info on the Committee

Currently Functioning Committees

A Word from the Committee Chairperson MK Zehava Galon

My conviction that the national authorities and specifically the legislature could not stand by and allow what had come to be known as the "modern slave trade" to take place in the State of Israel led me to initiate the establishment of the Parliamentary Enquiry Committee on Trafficking in Women in the year 2000.

Knowing there is total consensus on the view that trafficking in people is despicable and that we must make every effort to eliminate it, I set up the Committee so as to bring to the forefront of public debate the fact that such trafficking was taking place in Israel and to urge government ministries and law enforcement authorities to use all means at their disposal to put an end to it.

In an effort to advance this goal, the Committee holds regular meetings with representatives of relevant government ministries and of NGO’s that fight against trafficking. One could say that the Committee serves as a watchdog, ensuring that the national authorities pursue the path necessary to meet the standards set by the international community. The Committee also provides a venue where all organizations and individuals acting against trafficking in people can learn from each other and develop a basis for cooperation.

During the years the Committee has operated – today it has become a Sub-Committee of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women – its members have been exposed to the horrors experienced by trafficking victims.

The assessment is that some 3,000 women are trafficked annually in Israel for work in the sex industry, most of them brought here from countries of Eastern Europe where there is severe poverty and unemployment. This full scale "industry" that traffics women for sexual exploitation includes smuggling of the women into Israel, their incarceration, exploitation and extortion. The sex industry in Israel has an annual turnover of some billion dollars.

Most of the victims are women aged 18-35 who are smuggled into Israel over the Egyptian border and are frequently raped and beaten on the way by the Bedouin smugglers. They are sold at public auctions for sums varying, according to reports, from $1,000-$5,000. Most of them are forced to work a seven-day week and a 14-18 hour day. They usually receive ten to fifteen clients per day and are exposed to serious physical violence both from the trafficker and from the clients. The traffickers confiscate the women’s passports so that they cannot run away thus in effect turning them into slaves.

These women are denied their liberty, live in inhuman conditions and face cruel and humiliating treatment. They have no knowledge of the local language or culture and live in fear of the traffickers and thus under continual threat. They do not dare contact the police since most have been smuggled into Israel illegally and their traffickers ensure that they live in fear of the State authorities.

In addition to the suffering caused directly to the victims, the effects of trafficking in women radiate throughout our society. Treating women as a consumer product for sexual consumption embodies the message that it is possible to purchase women just like you purchase any other product. This approach serves to reinforce and even increase the inferior status of women.

I therefore see the fight against trafficking in women as part of the broader battle to advance the status of women. These two goals are in fact a part of the wider effort to protect human rights in Israel and to maintain a just and egalitarian society.

Looking back over the five years we have spent fighting trafficking, I know that there has been significant progress. There has been a clear change in the attitudes both of the decision makers and no less so of the general public. Intensive law enforcement efforts by the police have led to a significant reduction in the number of trafficking victims in Israel and to a rise in the number of traffickers convicted by the courts. Furthermore, after numerous debates on the issue in the Committee, we are now witnessing a rise in the severity of sentencing of convicted traffickers and a reduction in the number of plea bargains in these cases. Furthermore, in recent years the courts increasingly tend to order convicted traffickers to pay compensation to their victims.

New private legislation that I proposed includes provision for a minimum sentence for convicted traffickers and provides the police with tools that enable them to close down brothels where trafficked women are being held

In addition to stricter law-enforcement, over the past six years there has been a significant improvement in the options for rehabilitation offered by Israel to trafficking victims. This improvement arises first and foremost from the revolution in attitudes to trafficked women that has taken place among the population in general and the authorities in particular. Formerly, the authorities treated the women as illegal residents who should be expelled from the country as soon as possible after being detained. Today, following intensive pressure by the Committee, the State accepts their status as victims and recognizes its responsibility to help in their rehabilitation, since they were harmed within Israeli territory.

This acceptance of responsibility takes a number of forms: the establishment of a refuge for the women victims in 2004; the establishment of two special clinics that provide the victims with free treatment for venereal disease and related health problems; issuing of temporary residency and work permits by the Ministry of the Interior. Other private legislation I introduced gives the victims the right to receive legal aid.

In addition, following repeated demands by the Committee, the discrimination by the State against women who choose not to testify against their traffickers has now ended. Today, unlike in the past, all victims, both those who agree to testify and those who do not, are referred to the above-mentioned refuge. The Minister of the Interior recently announced in the Committee that temporary residence and work permits would be issued to the women victims on the basis of humanitarian criteria, without relation to their willingness to testify in court.

The Committee worked on three principle levels: the treatment and protection of victims of trafficking in women; the indictment of traffickers; preventive action. In addition to monitoring government action on trafficking in women, the Committee held debates on issues of principle such as the relationship between institutionalization of prostitution and trafficking in women, the relationship between publication of sex ads in the press and the increase in trafficking in women, and the status of the clients of the sex industry and the possibility of reducing demand for the services of the sex industry in Israel.

In 2005, we published a final report on the four years of activity by the Committee and included recommendations for action by the various government ministries. Through 2006, we monitored the implementation of the recommendations to the ministries and law enforcement authorities, and I can now say that most of the recommendations have been implemented. Nevertheless, there still remain urgent problems that must be dealt with. For example, despite several warnings and numerous Committee meetings on the subject, the legal processes against the traffickers are still very slow, so that the women victims remain in the shelter for long periods of time. In order to shorten the legal process, I am trying to push forward legislation that will allow cases against traffickers in women to be heard before a single judge [instead of the usual panel of three judges].

An additional area I would like to promote through the Committee is the status of the clients who purchase the services of the trafficking victims. The Committee regards the clients – who come from all levels of society, but are mostly Jewish Israelis – as collaborators in the "trafficking industry", who also bear responsibility for the horrors committed there. I therefore believe that in the future, following a gradual process of legislation and information, it would be appropriate to also press charges against the clients, as is already done in some countries. At a meeting the Committee held with the Attorney General, this option was not rejected out of hand.

It is important to understand that trafficking in women is one part of the broader phenomenon of trafficking in human beings. Even though the majority of trafficking victims are women who are in demand for the sex industry, over recent years there has been an increase of trafficking in people in Israel for other purposes, such as organ and baby trafficking and labour trafficking.

In October 2006, the Knesset passed a new law prohibiting trafficking in people that was proposed jointly by me and by the Government. This Law prohibits trafficking in people for any purpose and imposes a high upper limit on the level of sentencing for this crime. This is an innovative, revolutionary law that sets an important precedent and that will enable the State to take firm, uncompromising action against those who traffic in people – whether women or migrant workers – and against those who engage in organ trafficking.

The Law provides for severe punishment of traffickers both in terms of sentencing and in terms of the economic battle. One economic sanction is the confiscation of property connected to the crime of trafficking in people, or the crime of holding people under conditions of slavery. In parallel, the Law provides for the establishment of a special fund created from confiscated property, which, among other things will be used to fund the rehabilitation of victims. In addition, the Law instructs the courts to order compensation to victims of the crime.

This Law is intended to convey important messages: you cannot traffic in people or employ them under slave-like conditions and escape lightly; the enslavement of human beings whether for prostitution or for labour, that led us to formulate this law, de-humanizes men and women, turning them into marketable objects whose value is measured in terms of money. This legislation emphasizes the fact that this process changes a human being into an object which can be traded. This enslavement of men and women denies their right to human dignity, equality and physical and mental wellbeing. For these reasons a high maximum sentence of 16-20 years imprisonment has been set for this crime.

However, the pathway from the inclusion of the Law in the law books to the implementation of the Law’s provisions in practice may be long and paved with obstacles. The Committee I chair will monitor the actions of the authorities along this pathway, and will work in cooperation with the Special Committee on Foreign Workers to advance the comprehensive fight against trafficking in people.

Trafficking in people is without a doubt one of the most serious and despicable developments since the founding of the State. Israel’s democratic ideals, and even more than these, her Jewish values, demand that we fight to eliminate this stain on our society. Judaism has always recognized the special status of a human being, of any human being, created in the image of God. This recognition requires us to prevent any harm to a person’s liberty and physical integrity, to prevent humiliation, degradation or abuse. The Sub-Committee on Trafficking in Women, that I chair, will do everything it can to ensure the elimination of human trafficking in Israel in accordance with the fundamental values of the State.