June 24, 2009

The latest US State Department report on human trafficking in Israel includes both positive and negative observations. The report says, “The Government of Israel does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Israel continued law enforcement actions against sex trafficking, and provided victims of sex trafficking with shelter and protection assistance.”

Until 2000, the US government had placed Israel in Tier III, reserved for the world’s worst offenders in the area of human trafficking. The situation improved significantly following new legislation in 2001 specifically outlawing the trafficking of people.  And amendments in 2003 and 2006 introduced harsher punishments for traffickers and compensation for their victims. As a result Israel was promoted to Tier II.

The NIF family, including grantees Hotline for Migrant Workers in Israel, Isha L’Isha and others have been a dominant force in this campaign, lobbying for and formulating much of the legislation.

Police estimate that approximately 3,000 female victims of sexual trafficking were brought into Israel annually until 2003; that number has now been reduced to several hundred.