Globes
Ran Dagoni
Ran Dagoni
The State Department report takes Israel to task for not complying with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
The State Department classifies countries with three ratings, "tier 1" countries that comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, mostly countries in Europe and North America; "tier 2" countries that not comply with the minimum standards, and have large numbers of human trafficking, but which make efforts to combat it; and "tier 3" countries that neither comply with the minimal standards and make no effort to do so. Israel is classified as a "tier 2" country.
Israel's "tier 2" peers include Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, Rwanda, Syria, as well as India, China, Russia, and developed countries such as Iceland, Japan, Greece, and Switzerland.
The report on Israel is little different from the previous reports. It says, "Israel is a destination country for men and women subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Low-skilled workers from Thailand, China, Nepal, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, and, to a lesser extent, Romania, migrate voluntarily and legally to Israel for temporary contract labor in construction, agriculture, and home health care provision.
"Some, however, subsequently face conditions of forced labor, including through such practices as the unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, inability to change or otherwise choose one’s employer, nonpayment of wages, threats, sexual assault, and physical intimidation. Many labor recruitment agencies in source countries and in Israel require workers to pay recruitment fees typically ranging from $4,000 to $20,000 - a practice making workers highly vulnerable to trafficking or debt bondage once working in Israel. One NGO noted that recruitment fees increased in 2010."
The report cites Ministry of Interior figures, which say that 14,000 migrants entered Israel from Sinai in 2010, up from 5,000 in 2009.
On the issue of sex trafficking, the report says, "Some women from the former Soviet Union and China are subjected to forced prostitution in Israel, although the number of women affected has declined since the passage and implementation of the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Legislative. Amendments) Law (5766-2006).
The State Department says that Israel government sustained its strong law enforcement progress against sex trafficking and that it also made initial progress against labor trafficking, as seen through the first prosecution under a labor trafficking statute involving a migrant worker. The government also continued to improve its protection of trafficking victims over the reporting period, although it lacked effective procedures to identify victims of labor trafficking.
The State Department advises Israel to significantly increase prosecutions, convictions, and punishment of labor trafficking offenders (including “employers”) and offenses. Israel should also ensure that labor trafficking crimes are prosecuted under labor trafficking statutes; ensure trafficking victims are not penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, such as immigration violations; and continue to investigate the incidence of Israeli nationals subjected to forced prostitution. Domestically, Israel should increase the number of labor inspectors and translators in the agriculture, construction, and homecare sectors, ensuring that they are adequately trained in identifying trafficking cases, and internationally, it should stop the practice of "hot returns" - immediately returning migrants back to Egypt.
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