WUNRN
ISRAEL:
Shelter Tries to Rehabilitate Victims of Human Trafficking
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Israeli has set up a specialist unit to try and
rehabilitate trafficked women from the former Soviet Union |
TEL AVIV, 5 September
2007 (IRIN) - 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.
About 250 of these women have been through the Maagan
shelter in the last few years. Overall, several thousand have been trafficked
into and within Israel since the 1990s, according to estimates.
Those who cooperate become eligible for rehabilitation
through the shelter, which is funded by the Israeli Ministry of Welfare.
Earlier this year, the government changed its position,
and agreed to offer a one year visa and rehabilitation to all women who could
prove they were trafficked.
The work visas are vital for many of these women, who
paid smugglers on average about US$4,000 to get to Israel in the hope of
finding jobs, and need to recoup the fee and help their impoverished families.
The women come mainly from Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova and other former Soviet
states.
More often than not, experts say, the women were not
aware they would become commercial sex workers. Many thought they were going to
work in hotels, private houses or in the catering industry in Israel and other
Middle East countries.
An additional tragedy, Rinat Davidovich, director of
Maagan, told IRIN, is that some of these women end up in Israel more than once.
"If they are [arrested and deported] before they
have managed to pay back the entire sum, they might be brought over again once
they return to their homeland," she said, adding that the traffickers
threaten their families and force them, once they are back home, to return for
another round, until they pay back all the money.
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Rinat Davidovich, the director of the Maagan shelter for
trafficked women |
"I cannot imagine
how hard it must be for a woman who already underwent such abuse to know she'll
be subjected to the same ordeal again," she said.
Job training
The shelter, which opened three years ago, currently
houses some 35 women and five children under three.
"The women receive different kinds of services at
the shelter, such as medical help, social services, psychiatric and
psychological services," Davidovitch explained.
Social workers say the women are almost always victims
of abuse and neglect, both physically and mentally.
The trafficked women, who pledge upon entering the
shelter not to work as prostitutes any longer, are able to find jobs as
labourers, mostly working in restaurants, thanks to their work visas.
The downside to working in Tel Aviv is their exposure to
the world outside the protective environment of Maagan. In many cases, the
women's pimps are not arrested. They still operate and are able to locate and
coerce them into returning to work for them.
The shelter also offers job training courses, to help
the women find employment when they return to their native countries. Two women
will attend a prestigious culinary school this year.
More work needed
Israel does not fully comply with the minimum standards
for the elimination of trafficking, a 2007 US State Department report said.
However, it is making significant efforts to do so.
During the reporting period, Israel conducted 352
criminal investigations of sex trafficking, although only 13 individuals were
convicted. An additional 43 trials were pending.
Although local activists mostly agree that Israel has
progressed, they say it still has a long way to go before it can claim success.
"The prices [for sexual services] remain the same
and the number of 'visits' [sexual encounters between sex worker and client]
remain the same. Therefore, we believe that the same level of trafficking is
being maintained," said Ronni Aloni Sadovnik, of Atzum, a non-governmental
organisation which works to decrease human trafficking.
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A
view of the Maagan shelter for trafficked women in Tel Aviv |
Another major issue is determining who is eligible
for the visa and rehabilitation.
"Some women are rescued from active brothels yet
they do not receive visas, as the authorities claim they were merely pimped,
not trafficked," said Sigal Rozen from the Hotline for Migrant Workers,
which recently published a report claiming that every month over a million
prostitution acts are preformed in Israel.
Joining the shelter programme, however, is not a
guarantee for success. "Many of these women come from abusive homes. This
shelter is the first place they learn to trust other people" Davidovitch
said.
Even so, some of the approximately 250 women who have
passed through the shelter have disappeared.
"I want to think that they found a happy end, yet
my experience tells me many were forced back into the sex trade or into abusive
relationships, with men taking advantage of their fragile situation," she
said.
Furthermore, the visas are temporary and eventually run
out. If, when that happens, the women have not managed to pay back their debts
or are unable to provide for their families back home, they are susceptible to
being trafficked again upon returning home.
One woman currently residing in the shelter is there for
the third time, Davidovitch said.
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