ISRAEL PASSES NEW TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS LAW

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 004155 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB GTIP PHUM IS KCRM KJUS SUBJECT: ISRAEL PASSES NEW TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS LAW ¶1. (SUMMARY) The Knesset approved October 17 a law to strengthen and broaden penalties for human trafficking, an objective that Post has been advocating for and that the Olmert government strongly embraced. MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) drafted the law, which was supported by the government and passed in a unanimous vote. The law broadens the definition of trafficking in men, women and children to include labor and other forms of exploitation; establishes a fund consisting of property confiscated from traffickers and fines assessed to them; and increases to 20 years the maximum prison term for human trafficking, similar to other serious crimes such as rape. The media quoted Gal-On as saying "We are talking about an innovative, revolutionary and precedent-setting law that deals harshly with traffickers of people and body parts. The law will provide law enforcement officers better tools to combat the phenomenon." (END SUMMARY) ¶2. The new law stipulates trafficking offenses for the purposes of stealing organs, kidnapping newborn children, slavery, forced labor (including the taking of passports), prostitution, pornography and sexual abuse. The definition of slavery, the first in the Israeli legal system, is "a situation in which authority normally exercised over property is imposed on a person." An unofficial translation of the draft law (no official translation of the final law is yet available) said that the existing Legal Aid Law will be amended to provide legal aid to all victims of trafficking and slavery, including those trafficked for the purposes of labor. Previously, legal aid was accorded only to victims of trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. According to the unofficial translation, the victim does not have to meet economic criteria to receive the aid. ¶3. Highlights of the new law include increased sentences for trafficking and compensation to victims. -- The maximum penalty for trafficking in persons under the law is 16 years, increasing to 20 years if the victim is a minor. -- The maximum penalty for kidnapping for any of the purposes of trafficking is 20 years, with a maximum penalty of 10 years for taking a person outside the borders of the country in which they reside for the purposes of trafficking. -- The law increases from one to three years the penalty for withholding a passport, increasing to five years with certain aggravated circumstances, such as placing the person deprived of their passport in jeopardy. -- The law instructs the court to grant to trafficking victims compensation to be paid by the offender or through a dedicated fund to be set up for such purposes. -- The courts will be authorized to hold trials involving trafficking in persons behind closed doors and to prevent the publication of details that identify the victims. ¶4. When the bill passed a committee reading in September, Justice Ministry Trafficking Coordinator Rachel Gershuni described the initiative as a pilot program -- to be reviewed after two years -- that will expand legal aid to all trafficking victims, not just those trafficked for prostitution. After the law was approved October 17, the media quoted Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima) as saying "this law places Israel in line with the world's most enlightened nations, and deals with one of the worst problems in crime and corruption worldwide." ¶5. Anti-trafficking NGO Hotline for Migrant Workers praised many aspects of the new law, calling it comprehensive and an important tool in the prevention of trafficking in persons, notably increasing the prison terms for trafficking and expanding the definition of trafficking to include all forms of trafficking, including trafficking in labor, organs and children. The Hotline did criticize the law for allocating confiscated property and fines from traffickers to the government rather than directly to the victims, and for failing to include in the expanded definition of trafficking the charging of fees for job placement absent a legal job to offer in Israel. The Hotline also urged stronger steps for the rehabilitation of victims, notably clearer policy for the issuance of visas to encourage victims to testify against their traffickers and to assist in the rehabilitation process. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** CRETZ