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PALESTINE - TRAFFICKING &
PROSTITUTION OF
PALESTINIAN WOMEN &
GIRLS - REPORT
By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent
9/12/2009
Young
Palestinian women are being forced to into prostitution in brothels, escort
services, and private apartments in Ramallah and Jerusalem, including areas
inhabited by Jews, according to a report released Wednesday. The Palestinian
organization SAWA (All Women Together Today and Tomorrow) published the paper,
the first of its kind, urging Palestinian society to break its silence over its
sex industry.
The report was compiled with support by UNIFEM, the United
Nations Development Fund for Women, which allotted resources for research on
the subject. SAWA conducted research and interviews for the study in the
beginning of 2008, but for a variety of reasons has only now been published.
The report, which is titled "Trafficking and Forced Prostitution of
Palestinian Women and Girls: Forms of Modern Day Slavery," was released in
conjunction with the ?Global 16-day Campaign to Combat Violence Against
Women."
The report claims that women are trafficked from different
areas of the West Bank, in particular urban areas, as well as from the Gaza
Strip and Jerusalem. Women from Eastern Europe who are sold into the sex trade
in Israel are also occasionally brought to the West Bank, where they work in
designated apartments. There are a number of legally registered hotels and cleaning
companies that offer "double services," which include sexual services
for men.
Researchers only spoke with a small number of people for the
study, among them several women, cab drivers, lawyers, hotel owners, and
Palestinian police investigators, and came away with the impression that
trafficking in the Palestinian territories is not run by a sophisticated
network. Researchers also spoke with Palestinian women pimps in their 40s and
50s, who themselves are former prostitutes. One of these pimps had a Jerusalem
identity card and owned four apartments. She allowed the women working for her
to go out freely, but used intimidation to ensure that they would return. She
also supplied them with customers from cities inside Israel.
The report notes that like in other places around the world,
women are forced into prostitution due to economic hardship, the Palestinian
cases brought to their attention mainly stemmed from incidents of sexual
violence, and occasionally forced marriage at a young age. Some of the women
mentioned in the report are students at institutions of higher education in the
West Bank, and some are high school students. In a number of cases that came to
the authors' attention via the press, fathers sold their daughters through
"back door" marriages, in which an announcement of marriage is made
without the involvement of a religious official. When one girl is seen to be
married repeatedly in the same way, it is clear that it is a cover for sex
trafficking.
While the authors of the report stress that the prostitutes'
clients range from "rich businessmen to young people," they do not
give any further details as to their identities and backgrounds.
The report urges the Palestinian authorities and Palestinian
society to acknowledge the existence of the problem. It calls on Palestinian
non-governmental organizations to propose a bill that would treat prostitution
as sexual violence and to work for the enactment of this law. The report also
encourages the rejection of the stance that prostitution is a
"choice;" and proposes the training of law enforcement authorities to
treat the women with respect and fairness. The report also calls for the
creation of shelters, as well as more support for existing shelters, where
women forced into prostitution can find refuge.
Sawa was founded in 1998, and provides services, including an
emergency hotline for women and children. It provides teaching and training in
schools and with the police on the issue of violence against women
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