Fighting the flesh trade
News Source
By Marion Marrache
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/12/02/Features/Features.39142.html
from the Jerusalem Post
8 Tevet 5762 02:09 Sunday December 23, 2001
(December 5) - Although new laws are in the works to stem the
white-slavery trade into Israel, Marion Marrache explains why the
authorities must do more to treat the prostitutes as victims rather
than criminals
"Woman's flesh for sale, woman's flesh for sale," yells a man in front
of the Hamashbir department store in downtown Jerusalem, offering up
to passers-by the young woman standing next to him.
Although trafficking in women is very much a reality in Israel, this
scene was a protest staged two weeks ago by the Jerusalem Women's
Center as part of the International Day of Protest Against Violence
Against Women.
"Instead of just protesting rape and domestic violence as we do every
other year, we could not ignore the terrible issue of thousands of
women being trafficked annually into this country to be used as
prostitutes," says Adi Kunstman, coordinator of activities at the
center, adding "Trafficking is modern slavery."
Local organizations dealing with the issue, such as the Hotline for
Migrant Workers and the Awareness Center, believe that some 3,000
women are smuggled into the country every year for the purpose of
prostitution. The majority of these women are from Moldavia, Russia
and the Ukraine. They are approached in their countries of origin -
where they earn $20 to $30 a month - with the promise of employment
which will bring in a magical monthly $1,000.
According to a report issued by the International Abolitionist
Federation, an estimated one-fourth of these women are unaware that
they will be working in the sex trade, believing instead they will be
employed as waitresses, cooks, au pairs, models or masseuses. None are
prepared for what they eventually encounter. Most suffer beatings and
repeated rape. The women are viewed and bought at pimping auctions -
during which they are forced to undress - at prices ranging from
$4,000 to $10,000.
According to attorney Nomi Levenkron of the Migrant Hotline, those who
fetch the lower prices end up working in the slum area around Tel
Aviv's old central bus station. Their passports are taken from them,
and they are often kept locked up in apartments with barred windows.
This was the case with the four prostitutes who were trapped and burnt
to death when a religious fanatic torched a Tel Aviv brothel in
August, 2000.
That incident briefly raised public awareness of the issue, and
sparked calls for the authorities to start treating the problem
seriously. But it is only in the past month that two bills that might
alleviate the situation began to make headway in the Knesset.
Last week, a private member's bill entitling women who were sold into
prostitution to public legal aid, passed its preliminary reading in
the Knesset. Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On, sponsor of the bill and head of
the parliamentary commission of inquiry into trafficking in women,
notes that these women, when arrested, usually find themselves
represented by their pimps' attorneys, an obvious clash of interests
that goes against the principle of fair representation.
Two weeks ago the Knesset passed, in its preliminary reading, a bill
that mandates a four-year minimum sentence for traders in women.
Currently, there is a 16-year maximum sentence, but no minimum jail
time, and many white slavers end up getting off with relatively light
sentences.
"Israel has become a convenient center for pimps who trade in women,"
says Gal-On, who also proposed this bill. "It is modern-day slave
trading, and the sentences for the pimps are not harsh enough, as
judges still do not take this matter seriously enough. The courts give
the criminals ridiculous sentences, rendering the current law
meaningless. At the worst, the pimps spend a couple of years in jail,
but they make a fortune. But from now on, criminals will know that you
cannot trade in women and get off lightly."
AN ILLUMINATED sign reading "Palace Club" flashes outside a seedy
brothel in south Tel Aviv. A group of journalists joining Gal-On's
committee on a recent fact-finding mission, head down a few flights of
dark stone stairs to the reception area where three young women sit
huddled in a corner waiting for clients. Beside them stands their
portly pimp dabbing the sweat from his forehead with a large silk
handkerchief.
There are approximately 250 such brothels in Tel Aviv, an increase of
100 since last year. This is by far the largest number of brothels in
the country; in other parts of the country trafficking exists, but it
is less common and there is far less awareness of the problem. Some of
the women live in brothels, others have a room elsewhere.
If business is good, a shift can last from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. They are
paid at the end of the month after expenses and "fines" have been
deducted - prostitutes can be fined by their pimps for almost
anything. And this is only once the girls have paid back their
purchase price, during which time they are extraordinarily lucky if
those who are pimping for them give them a daily allowance of NIS 20
for cigarettes.
Often, by the time they have finished buying themselves out of their
slavery, they have been resold and must begin again. These women are
told so often that they are the property of their pimps that they do
not even stop to think whether or not they have to have sex with them
as well. Although clients generally have to use protection, the pimps
usually don't. Gal-On says one pimp told her his women make NIS 120
for a half-hour, "NIS 100 for me, NIS 20 for them." Many brothels also
have a kitty into which the girls have to put NIS 30 to 50 per client
in order to cover the brothel's tax bill (declared income is credited
to "massages").
These women are often lured into prostitution in their native
countries by misleading job advertisements in the papers. They often
have very young children who they have left behind with their
families.
"Some have artistic careers, others are academics who want to make
some money to pay for their studies," explains Levenkron. "Those who
have children generally have not been part of the work force yet
because they have married young."
Many of the women travel from Moscow to Sharm e-Sheikh, and then are
taken to the Israeli border. They are met by there by Beduin guides,
who smuggle them across the border and deliver them to an agent acting
on behalf of procurers.
They are also provided with false documentation, needed for those
times when the police raid brothels, check the womens' identification
papers and ask to see if they have valid visas. But according to the
prostitutes, they rarely enquire whether they are being held against
their will. In any case, the women admit, they are usually too
frightened to answer truthfully.
Although prostitution itself is not a crime in Israel, such groups as
the Migrant Hotline and the Awareness Center accuse the authorities of
treating the trafficked women as criminals, instead of victims,
interested simply in deporting them - as has been the case with more
than 1,000 such women in the past three years. These organizations
also accuse law enforcement of generally ignoring the crimes of pimps
and traffickers, even though they "buy, sell, rape and torture women,"
because they sometimes cooperate with the police by providing
information about other criminal activities.
There have also been at least a half-dozen cases of sex trafficking
involving policemen as suspects, and one policeman was charged with
managing a brothel. In four cases, policemen informed the pimps of
expected raids on their premises, and in one instance a policeman was
accused of selling a woman to another pimp following her arrest.
One prostitute, Sonya (not her real name), says she went to a police
station and asked to be arrested because she had just ran away from
the brothel where she was held against her will. The policemen turned
her away, and as she left she heard them saying (in Hebrew) they were
going to call her pimp.
ONE OFFICER who does care is Tel Aviv Police Superintendent Pini
Aviram, who heads a special investigative team dealing with the
trafficking issue. But Aviram complains that he does not have anywhere
near the manpower need for the job.
"My team consists of only five Russian speakers," he says, "We need
people who can speak to the women in their own language, and interview
them adequately."
This adequate interviewing is actually taking place, but unfortunately
not until the women have already found their way into jail. They are
held, usually at the Neveh Tirza prison but alternatively at Abu
Kabir, Kishon, Negev or others, for weeks and sometimes for months,
awaiting deportation. Levenkron or other volunteers from Migrant
Hotline visit Neveh Tirza every Sunday taking a translator and
additional student volunteers with them. Hotline is the only
non-governmental organization which has been allowed access to the
prisons, and they bring the women phone cards and clothing.
"One women sticks in my mind," says Levenkron; "She wore one green
satin pyjama for three weeks straight, until we were able to bring her
clothes."
Now, thanks to Neveh Tirza warden Debi Sagi, Hotline has better and
easier access to the women. "Debi doesn't think they should be in
prison," says Levenkron, "but as long as they are she wants to make
life as easy as she can for them."
In general, the prostitutes are housed separately from the hardened
criminals, but that is not always possible due to space restrictions.
Levenkron worries about this because of the danger of the women being
influenced to take drugs by their cellmates. Eastern European
prostitutes, unlike their Israeli counterparts do not generally take
drugs. In fact, Levenkron has only come across one such case among all
the women she has met and whose interviews she has looked over.
Another difference between foreign and Israeli prostitutes is that the
latter get to keep a larger percentage of the takings. Sadly, says
Levenkron, one girl's ambition was to "become an Israeli prostitute."
When asked whether they had tried to run away - and if not why not -
many of the women explain that they are afraid for the safety of their
families back home. Some have tried to escape, and were later caught
and beaten. One women presently housed at a hostel waiting to testify
against her pimp, told the Hotline that a man who had befriended her
was supposed to meet to help her escape but when she arrived at the
prearranged meeting point, her pimp turned up instead. She began to
scream and the police came and took her into custody.
In many cases when a woman is arrested, her pimp will pay an NIS
30,000 bail pending her deportation, so that she can go back to work.
Thus, says Levenkron, "these women, who were raped, trafficked and
exploited before their arrests, were in fact sold once more, this time
by the state itself."
Police Deputy-Commander Avi Davidovitch, head of an inter-ministerial
team dealing with the trafficking issue established at Attorney
General Elyakim Rubinstein's recommendation, says that although the
number of trafficked women is growing alarmingly high, few complaints
are filed against pimps, and many women either refuse to complain or
later retract earlier statements they have made to the police out of
fear of reprisals.
Police investigations head Cmdr. Moshe Mizrahi also expresses concern
about how to protect women who decide to testify against their pimps.
If they are simply repatriated, those who imported them will be able
to find them; additionally, many are supporting children in their home
countries whom they fear may be harmed. Mizrahi calls for a "serious
international operation" that would extend to the women's countries of
origin.
For example, in some countries of the Former Soviet Union, a poster
campaign has sprung up and women are able to read on buses and other
public places about the dangers of falling for the offer of a
well-paying job abroad. But, Mizrahi insists, much more still needs to
be done.
At least now, thanks to the Hotline's intervention, every woman who
does come forward is provided with some assistance at the state's
expense. This came about after four women filed a petition through the
Hotline requesting the court instruct the police to seriously
investigate their complaints against their procurers. The women stated
they would be ready to testify against the pimps in court, provided
they did not have to spend the intervening months in jail until called
upon to give evidence at the trial. As a result of the petition, the
police questioned the girls, and those who agreed to testify were
provided with a safe place to stay and living expenses until the time
of their testimony.
But Hotline insists that even this aid (said by police to cost NIS
6,000 a month per woman, a sum with which Hotline disagrees) is
inadequate, especially when it comes to medical expenses. Many of the
women come out of the brothels with serious health problems; one
21-year-old former prostitute is now unable to have children because
of untreated gynecological problems. According to Shuki Baleli, Vice
Squad Chief for the Tel Aviv District, they rarely even go to a doctor
unless they are in pain. "If they die, no one will even know who they
are," he adds.
Even when under police protection, almost every medical incident needs
to be appealed separately by Hotline on behalf of the women. The
humanitarian group Doctors for Human Rights treats these women for
free or for nominal sums in the NIS 30 to 50 range, but serious health
problems sometimes require the women to seek other sources of
treatment.
So far, despite the provision providing them with a place to stay
outside of prison, only a few dozen of the trafficked women have
agreed to testify against their pimps. What they need, says Levenkron,
"is a reason to come forward and to give evidence against these
criminals."
She recommends that instead of threatening these women with
deportation, they be given work or student visas for a specified
amount of time in order to make the ordeal worth their while.
"Legalization of their status is the only real option," she says, an
issue that applies to all foreign workers in this country. "If there
will be further laws written," adds Levenkron, "they should insure
that these victims get effective legal representation, medical
treatment and a proper place from them to stay."
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