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שלכם,
צוות המטה למאבק בסחר בנשים ובזנות
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Dear Project 119 Activists and Participants,
On July 10, 2020, Israel’s Prohibition of Consumption of Prostitution Law will finally come into force. For the last 18 months, the Task Force on Human Trafficking has worked preparing for this moment, which will likely bring measurable reduction in the consumption of prostitution. Though it has been exceedingly difficult without a stable government in place for the past year and a half, we harnessed considerable energy and resources to support optimal preparation for effective enforcement, timely extension of aid to those seeking to exit prostitution, and sensitive, dignified police interaction with its victims.
Below are an update and a call to action.
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Continued Action – Engaging the 23rd Knesset
As Knesset committees resume meeting, we are focusing on how best to recruit as many Members of Knesset as possible to either lead or join our efforts to eradicate human trafficking and prostitution in Israel. Our agenda with the current Knesset includes:
- Ensuring enforcement of the new Law by monitoring police issuance of fines to johns and shuttering of brothels
- Implementing the government’s national plan, approved in January 2019, to combat human trafficking
- Intensifying enforcement by the police, and penalization by the Attorney General, for the offences of human trafficking and pimping
- Urging immediate reinstatement of the Subcommittee on Combating Trafficking and Prostitution
- Raising public awareness about the ravages of prostitution and its links to human trafficking
- Introducing radically new sex-education programming into school curricula to discourage future consumption of prostitution by better defining and demonstrating its inherently abusive nature
- Establishing an early detection system in the education and welfare systems to identify young people at risk of entering prostitution
To secure this progress, we are reactivating our successful online Project 119 campaign and ask for your timely assistance. We request you write to all MKs, using the prepared text below, urging their support to eradicate trafficking and prostitution from Israel’s streets.
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Coronavirus Crisis – Coalition Against Prostitution Work
In recent months, in the wake of the pandemic, members of the TFHT-facilitated Coalition Against Prostitution responded to growing numbers of urgent requests from victims and survivors of prostitution for food, grants to pay rent/utilities, medical advice, and other lifeline assistance. In collaboration with our Coalition partners, THFT issued a position paper to Israel’s National Security Council regarding the effect of the health crisis on those trapped in prostitution and seeking its exit, and proposed government directives in response.
To read more about the Coalition’s work during the coronavirus crisis, see the digital issue of We Power NGO here. (Hebrew)
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Alleged Human Trafficking Ring is Shutdown
News broke in June that Tel-Aviv police uncovered a human trafficking network and prostitution ring operating for a number of years under the guise of providing massage services. The purported head of the operation and her accomplices are suspected of multiple counts of sex trafficking, solicitation for prostitution, money laundering, and tax evasion. It is thought the ring recruited Russian-speaking women from abroad for legitimate work. However, once in Israel, these women were coerced into prostitution.
TFHT Director Ayelet Dayan was quoted extensively in both Hebrew and English media acknowledging the importance of the investigation, but cautioning far more need be done, both by the new government and law enforcement. “The successful police action proves our contention that trafficking is ongoing and that Israel is not doing enough to stop it. In January 2019, the government approved a multi-year plan to combat human trafficking, but to date has neither budgeted nor implemented the scheme. We call on police and prosecutors to bring the network operators to justice, not settle for more minor charges of causing a person to leave his state for the purposes of prostitution, but file serious charges of trafficking in human beings."
To read more in English:
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TFHT is a multi-pronged initiative engaging the Israel Government, enforcement agencies and the public to confront and eradicate human trafficking by lobbying for reform in the areas of prevention, border closure, prosecution of traffickers and pimps, and the protection of trafficked and prostituted women. For more information please visit us at www.tfht.org
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