Subject: [Fwd: ISRAEL: Dozens protest over lax anti-pimping laws]
From: Kinsey Dinan (dinank@hrw.org)
Date: Sun Mar 05 2000 - 20:25:11 EST
According to the article pasted below, women are being trafficked into
forced sex work in Israel from Japan (as well as from the former Soviet
Union). I've done research regarding the trafficking of women into
Japan but -- until now -- have not heard any reports about women being
trafficked out of Japan. Has anyone else?
- Kinsey Dinan (dinank@hrw.org)
Dozens protest over lax anti-pimping laws
HEIDI J. GLEIT
03/02/2000
The Jerusalem Post
Daily
Page 05
(Copyright 2000)
Several dozen protesters gathered outside Tel Aviv police headquarters
yesterday afternoon to protest the lax enforcement of laws against
pimping.
"Police say that they can't do anything because there's no interest,"
said
Leah Gruenpeter Gold, one of the activists who organized the protest in
the
hope it would show that there is an interest.
Gold explained that women from the former Soviet Union and Japan are
often kidnapped, smuggled into Israel, and forced to work as
prostitutes.
Other women are tricked, she said, explaining that "some are beautiful
women who went to [fake modeling] agencies and were told they are being
sent abroad to model."
When they arrive, the women are sold to pimps for thousands of dollars
and
are threatened, beaten, or raped until they agree to work as
prostitutes. She
added that some women are chained to beds in brothels to keep them from
running away, adding: "I don't understand how a customer can go to a
woman when he sees this."
The women, who are generally smuggled into the country illegally,
rarely
turn to police for help out of fear they will simply be sent home,
where the
pimps who originally kidnapped or tricked them can track them down and
harm them and their families, she continued, adding that steps must be
taken
to protect them.
According to the Israel Women's Network, 2,000 to 2,500 such women are
brought here each year and sold to pimps for as much as $20,000 each.
The
pimps make between $50,000 and $100,000 a year off each woman.
Esther Herzog, of Shin (Equal Representation for Women), called on the
police to change its policy and crack down on pimps, adding that the
fact
that police policy allows trafficking in women demonstrates the extent
that
society allows women to be exploited.
Veteran women ' s rights activist Esther Elam said the problem has only
gotten worse since she wrote an article about prostitution in Israel 12
years
ago, because it has become part of organized international crime
involving
large amounts of money.
According to Israel Police assistant spokesman Dep.- Cmdr. Ofer Sivan,
the police is not indifferent to the problem and recently considered
ways to
deal with it more efficiently. Police both respond to complaints and
initiate
operations against forcing women into prostitution. He cited an
increase in
the number of cases opened against pimps: 279 in 1997; 370 in 1998; and
506 in 1999.
He added that "most of the victims chose, for various reasons, not to
complain or to cooperate with police, something which makes dealing
with
this more difficult, but the numbers show a definite increase in
enforcement
in this area."
-- Laura Ioana Rusu Associate Women's Rights Division Human Rights Watch 1630 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 Tel: 202-612-4350 Fax: 202-612-4333 http://www.hrw.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a22 : Sun Mar 05 2000 - 20:26:14 EST