Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: israhell e i diritti delle donne

Israhell e le donne...
Altro che segregazione delle donne islamiche...
http://cgis.jpost.com/cgi-bin/General/printarticle.cgi?article=/Editions/2001/12/02/Features/Features.39142.html
Fighting the flesh trade
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By Marion Marrache December, 02 2001
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(December 5) - Although new laws are in the works to stem the white-slavery
trade into Israel, Marion Marrache explains why the authorities must do more
to treat the prostitutes as victims rather than criminals
"Woman's flesh for sale, woman's flesh for sale," yells a man in front of
the Hamashbir department store in downtown Jerusalem, offering up to
passers-by the young woman standing next to him.
Although trafficking in women is very much a reality in Israel, this scene
was a protest staged two weeks ago by the Jerusalem Women's Center as part
of the International Day of Protest Against Violence Against Women.
"Instead of just protesting rape and domestic violence as we do every other
year, we could not ignore the terrible issue of thousands of women being
trafficked annually into this country to be used as prostitutes," says Adi
Kunstman, coordinator of activities at the center, adding "Trafficking is
modern slavery."
Local organizations dealing with the issue, such as the Hotline for Migrant
Workers and the Awareness Center, believe that some 3,000 women are smuggled
into the country every year for the purpose of prostitution. The majority of
these women are from Moldavia, Russia and the Ukraine. They are approached
in their countries of origin - where they earn $20 to $30 a month - with the
promise of employment which will bring in a magical monthly $1,000.
According to a report issued by the International Abolitionist Federation,
an estimated one-fourth of these women are unaware that they will be working
in the sex trade, believing instead they will be employed as waitresses,
cooks, au pairs, models or masseuses. None are prepared for what they
eventually encounter. Most suffer beatings and repeated rape. The women are
viewed and bought at pimping auctions - during which they are forced to
undress - at prices ranging from $4,000 to $10,000.
According to attorney Nomi Levenkron of the Migrant Hotline, those who fetch
the lower prices end up working in the slum area around Tel Aviv's old
central bus station. Their passports are taken from them, and they are often
kept locked up in apartments with barred windows. This was the case with the
four prostitutes who were trapped and burnt to death when a religious
fanatic torched a Tel Aviv brothel in August, 2000.
That incident briefly raised public awareness of the issue, and sparked
calls for the authorities to start treating the problem seriously. But it is
only in the past month that two bills that might alleviate the situation
began to make headway in the Knesset.
Last week, a private member's bill entitling women who were sold into
prostitution to public legal aid, passed its preliminary reading in the
Knesset. Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On, sponsor of the bill and head of the
parliamentary commission of inquiry into trafficking in women, notes that
these women, when arrested, usually find themselves represented by their
pimps' attorneys, an obvious clash of interests that goes against the
principle of fair representation.
Two weeks ago the Knesset passed, in its preliminary reading, a bill that
mandates a four-year minimum sentence for traders in women. Currently, there
is a 16-year maximum sentence, but no minimum jail time, and many white
slavers end up getting off with relatively light sentences.
"Israel has become a convenient center for pimps who trade in women," says
Gal-On, who also proposed this bill. "It is modern-day slave trading, and
the sentences for the pimps are not harsh enough, as judges still do not
take this matter seriously enough. The courts give the criminals ridiculous
sentences, rendering the current law meaningless. At the worst, the pimps
spend a couple of years in jail, but they make a fortune. But from now on,
criminals will know that you cannot trade in women and get off lightly."
AN ILLUMINATED sign reading "Palace Club" flashes outside a seedy brothel in
south Tel Aviv. A group of journalists joining Gal-On's committee on a
recent fact-finding mission, head down a few flights of dark stone stairs to
the reception area where three young women sit huddled in a corner waiting
for clients. Beside them stands their portly pimp dabbing the sweat from his
forehead with a large silk handkerchief.
There are approximately 250 such brothels in Tel Aviv, an increase of 100
since last year. This is by far the largest number of brothels in the
country; in other parts of the country trafficking exists, but it is less
common and there is far less awareness of the problem. Some of the women
live in brothels, others have a room elsewhere.
If business is good, a shift can last from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. They are paid
at the end of the month after expenses and "fines" have been deducted -
prostitutes can be fined by their pimps for almost anything. And this is
only once the girls have paid back their purchase price, during which time
they are extraordinarily lucky if those who are pimping for them give them a
daily allowance of NIS 20 for cigarettes.
Often, by the time they have finished buying themselves out of their
slavery, they have been resold and must begin again. These women are told so
often that they are the property of their pimps that they do not even stop
to think whether or not they have to have sex with them as well. Although
clients generally have to use protection, the pimps usually don't. Gal-On
says one pimp told her his women make NIS 120 for a half-hour, "NIS 100 for
me, NIS 20 for them." Many brothels also have a kitty into which the girls
have to put NIS 30 to 50 per client in order to cover the brothel's tax bill
(declared income is credited to "massages").
These women are often lured into prostitution in their native countries by
misleading job advertisements in the papers. They often have very young
children who they have left behind with their families.
"Some have artistic careers, others are academics who want to make some
money to pay for their studies," explains Levenkron. "Those who have
children generally have not been part of the work force yet because they
have married young."
Many of the women travel from Moscow to Sharm e-Sheikh, and then are taken
to the Israeli border. They are met by there by Beduin guides, who smuggle
them across the border and deliver them to an agent acting on behalf of
procurers.
They are also provided with false documentation, needed for those times when
the police raid brothels, check the womens' identification papers and ask to
see if they have valid visas. But according to the prostitutes, they rarely
enquire whether they are being held against their will. In any case, the
women admit, they are usually too frightened to answer truthfully.
Although prostitution itself is not a crime in Israel, such groups as the
Migrant Hotline and the Awareness Center accuse the authorities of treating
the trafficked women as criminals, instead of victims, interested simply in
deporting them - as has been the case with more than 1,000 such women in the
past three years. These organizations also accuse law enforcement of
generally ignoring the crimes of pimps and traffickers, even though they
"buy, sell, rape and torture women," because they sometimes cooperate with
the police by providing information about other criminal activities.
There have also been at least a half-dozen cases of sex trafficking
involving policemen as suspects, and one policeman was charged with managing
a brothel. In four cases, policemen informed the pimps of expected raids on
their premises, and in one instance a policeman was accused of selling a
woman to another pimp following her arrest.
One prostitute, Sonya (not her real name), says she went to a police station
and asked to be arrested because she had just ran away from the brothel
where she was held against her will. The policemen turned her away, and as
she left she heard them saying (in Hebrew) they were going to call her pimp.
ONE OFFICER who does care is Tel Aviv Police Superintendent Pini Aviram, who
heads a special investigative team dealing with the trafficking issue. But
Aviram complains that he does not have anywhere near the manpower need for
the job.
"My team consists of only five Russian speakers," he says, "We need people
who can speak to the women in their own language, and interview them
adequately."
This adequate interviewing is actually taking place, but unfortunately not
until the women have already found their way into jail. They are held,
usually at the Neveh Tirza prison but alternatively at Abu Kabir, Kishon,
Negev or others, for weeks and sometimes for months, awaiting deportation.
Levenkron or other volunteers from Migrant Hotline visit Neveh Tirza every
Sunday taking a translator and additional student volunteers with them.
Hotline is the only non-governmental organization which has been allowed
access to the prisons, and they bring the women phone cards and clothing.
"One women sticks in my mind," says Levenkron; "She wore one green satin
pyjama for three weeks straight, until we were able to bring her clothes."
Now, thanks to Neveh Tirza warden Debi Sagi, Hotline has better and easier
access to the women. "Debi doesn't think they should be in prison," says
Levenkron, "but as long as they are she wants to make life as easy as she
can for them."
In general, the prostitutes are housed separately from the hardened
criminals, but that is not always possible due to space restrictions.
Levenkron worries about this because of the danger of the women being
influenced to take drugs by their cellmates. Eastern European prostitutes,
unlike their Israeli counterparts do not generally take drugs. In fact,
Levenkron has only come across one such case among all the women she has met
and whose interviews she has looked over.
Another difference between foreign and Israeli prostitutes is that the
latter get to keep a larger percentage of the takings. Sadly, says
Levenkron, one girl's ambition was to "become an Israeli prostitute."
When asked whether they had tried to run away - and if not why not - many of
the women explain that they are afraid for the safety of their families back
home. Some have tried to escape, and were later caught and beaten. One women
presently housed at a hostel waiting to testify against her pimp, told the
Hotline that a man who had befriended her was supposed to meet to help her
escape but when she arrived at the prearranged meeting point, her pimp
turned up instead. She began to scream and the police came and took her into
custody.
In many cases when a woman is arrested, her pimp will pay an NIS 30,000 bail
pending her deportation, so that she can go back to work. Thus, says
Levenkron, "these women, who were raped, trafficked and exploited before
their arrests, were in fact sold once more, this time by the state itself."
Police Deputy-Commander Avi Davidovitch, head of an inter-ministerial team
dealing with the trafficking issue established at Attorney General Elyakim
Rubinstein's recommendation, says that although the number of trafficked
women is growing alarmingly high, few complaints are filed against pimps,
and many women either refuse to complain or later retract earlier statements
they have made to the police out of fear of reprisals.
Police investigations head Cmdr. Moshe Mizrahi also expresses concern about
how to protect women who decide to testify against their pimps. If they are
simply repatriated, those who imported them will be able to find them;
additionally, many are supporting children in their home countries whom they
fear may be harmed. Mizrahi calls for a "serious international operation"
that would extend to the women's countries of origin.
For example, in some countries of the Former Soviet Union, a poster campaign
has sprung up and women are able to read on buses and other public places
about the dangers of falling for the offer of a well-paying job abroad. But,
Mizrahi insists, much more still needs to be done.
At least now, thanks to the Hotline's intervention, every woman who does
come forward is provided with some assistance at the state's expense. This
came about after four women filed a petition through the Hotline requesting
the court instruct the police to seriously investigate their complaints
against their procurers. The women stated they would be ready to testify
against the pimps in court, provided they did not have to spend the
intervening months in jail until called upon to give evidence at the trial.
As a result of the petition, the police questioned the girls, and those who
agreed to testify were provided with a safe place to stay and living
expenses until the time of their testimony.
But Hotline insists that even this aid (said by police to cost NIS 6,000 a
month per woman, a sum with which Hotline disagrees) is inadequate,
especially when it comes to medical expenses. Many of the women come out of
the brothels with serious health problems; one 21-year-old former prostitute
is now unable to have children because of untreated gynecological problems.
According to Shuki Baleli, Vice Squad Chief for the Tel Aviv District, they
rarely even go to a doctor unless they are in pain. "If they die, no one
will even know who they are," he adds.
Even when under police protection, almost every medical incident needs to be
appealed separately by Hotline on behalf of the women. The humanitarian
group Doctors for Human Rights treats these women for free or for nominal
sums in the NIS 30 to 50 range, but serious health problems sometimes
require the women to seek other sources of treatment.
So far, despite the provision providing them with a place to stay outside of
prison, only a few dozen of the trafficked women have agreed to testify
against their pimps. What they need, says Levenkron, "is a reason to come
forward and to give evidence against these criminals."
She recommends that instead of threatening these women with deportation,
they be given work or student visas for a specified amount of time in order
to make the ordeal worth their while.
"Legalization of their status is the only real option," she says, an issue
that applies to all foreign workers in this country. "If there will be
further laws written," adds Levenkron, "they should insure that these
victims get effective legal representation, medical treatment and a proper
place from them to stay."
K
-- 
And Moses looked upon the Lord and said:  "We are your
chosen people and you want us to cut the tips off our
WHAT?!!!"

 Altro che segregazione delle donne islamiche...
La situazione italiana non è affatto diversa ... anche qui è pieno di donne
extracomunitarie vendute e comprate come schiave per farle prostituire.
E' un fenomeno comune ad alcuni paesi occidentali, mentre tutt'altro
discorso merita la condizione femminile in paesi dove vige (o vigeva) la
Sharia come l'Afghanistan dei talebani o la Nigeria.
Ciao
Arturo

 Altro che segregazione delle donne islamiche...
Guarda che la prostituzione c'e' ovunque nel mondo, mica solo in Israele
:)
C'e' anche li dove nascono i Kiwi! :)
*LOL*
-Stefano

E' un fenomeno comune ad alcuni paesi occidentali,
A praticamente tutti i paesi occidentali.  Lasciagli credere pero' di
aver scoperto l'acqua calda e sfogare cosi' tutto il suo antisemitismo
verso gli ebrei :)
-Stefano

 Altro che segregazione delle donne islamiche...
Eh sě... Israel č un postaccio per le donne, pensate che c' č addirittura lo
sfruttamento della prostituzione.... Se fossi una donna israeliana mi
trasferirei immediatamente in Iran (o in Arabia Saudita). Lě' sě che le
sarei davvero rispettata.

 Altro che segregazione delle donne islamiche...
Ma un po' di amor proprio non ce l'hai?
Ma cosa cazzo posti? Almeno un minimo ti rendi conto della figura da idiota
che fai?

 sarei davvero rispettata.
Ma nooo, meglio in  Afghanistan o Sudan. Almeno mi mettono un bel sacchetto
della pattumiera in testa e se dico beh mi lapidano.
Certo che ce ne sono di deficienti su sto ng...

 Altro che segregazione delle donne islamiche...
Difatti le donne ebree scappano tutte in arabia per avere più diritti.
Ad'I

 wrote in message
news:Ynddc.44424$rM4.1...@news4.tin.it...

Molti cercano di far passare israhell come il faro della civilta e
democrazia in Middle East.
E' chiaro che esistera' sempre una 'cacca' piu' puzzolente... Ma sempre
cacca e'...
Mi limito solo ad evidenziarla...
K

democrazia in Middle East.
E lo e'.  Il fatto che ci siano criminali come ve ne sono in Italia non
vedo come possa renderla meno "democrazia" o meno "civile".
-Stefano