Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TELAVIV915
2006-03-06 15:46:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

ISRAEL: SIXTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 000915 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR G/TIP: GAYATRI PATEL; NEA/IPA: JOSHUA DAVIS;
NEA/RA: JOHN MENARD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB IS ISRAELI SOCIETY GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: ISRAEL: SIXTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT
(1 OF 4)

REF: A. SECSTATE 03836

B. TEL AVIV 596

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 000915

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR G/TIP: GAYATRI PATEL; NEA/IPA: JOSHUA DAVIS;
NEA/RA: JOHN MENARD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB IS ISRAELI SOCIETY GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: ISRAEL: SIXTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT
(1 OF 4)

REF: A. SECSTATE 03836

B. TEL AVIV 596


1. (SBU) This cable forms the first part of a four-part
message in response to reftel A. Embassy point of contact is
poloff James Miller, phone (972)3-519-7437, fax
(972)3-519-7484. Poloff spent approximately 120 hours in
preparation of TIP report; deputy polcouns spent six hours,
polcouns spent six hours, DCM spent two hours, and Ambassador
spent two hours. The Government of Israel (GOI) has provided
for the past four years extensive written answers to post's
questions about its efforts to combat trafficking. This year
the GOI provided the answers on March 1, 2006. The responses
in this cable draw from these answers, from a series of prior
meetings with GOI officials, from meetings with and reports
by NGO representatives, and from press reports.

-------------- --------------

2. (SBU) OVERVIEW OF ISRAEL,S ACTIVITIES TO ELIMINATE TIP
-------------- --------------

-- A. Is the country a country of origin, transit, or
destination for international trafficked men, women, or
children?

Israel is a country of destination for victims of TIP,
primarily for the purpose of prostitution, according to
statistics compiled by the GOI and NGOs. NGOs claimed that
some employers forced adult laborers who entered the country,
both legally and illegally, to live under conditions that
constituted trafficking, but presented no evidence of the
trafficking of children. GOI officials acknowledge that
Israel's population of foreign workers sometimes suffers from
exploitative work conditions, failure to pay proper wages,
and physical and emotional abuse, and that some employers
trafficked foreign workers, especially from China and
Thailand.

-- Specify numbers for each group; how they were trafficked,
to where, and for what purpose.

-- Sex Trafficking: According to local NGOs, during 2005
traffickers brought between 1,000 and 3,000 women into the

country to serve as prostitutes. The government reported
that 60 trafficking victims resided in the "Maagan" Shelter,
and an additional 130 trafficking victims stayed in the
detention facilities. The government estimates that at least
682 more women in the detention centers met the minimum
criteria the GOI applies to identify likely trafficking
victims, even if they did not so admit, including place of
entry (Egyptian border),age (between 15 and 30 years old),
and place of origin (former Soviet Union Republics).

Police intelligence sources report that during 2005 the
number of women trafficked into Israel decreased
significantly, due to the closure of many brothels, stiffer
sentences for traffickers, and increased police vigilance at
the borders.

NGOs concur that the number of victims appears to have
decreased, but question the extent of the decrease. NGOs
claim that many traffickers shifted victims from open
brothels to private apartments and escort agencies, a move
that makes it difficult to identify victims and to estimate
accurately the numbers of victims. Some police investigators
also questioned the purported decrease. Police contacts
reported that the Israeli National Police (INP) concentrates
its anti-trafficking resources in Tel Aviv; Jerusalem
commands the second most police resources to combat
trafficking, but fewer than Tel Aviv; police in Haifa operate
with even fewer resources than Jerusalem; and the rest of the
country has fewer still. According to police sources,
traffickers have responded to this imbalanced distribution of
police resources by moving their victims to suburban areas
and to small- and medium-sized cities, where it is hard to
estimate the extent of the problem.

According to the GOI, most victims come from the former
Soviet Union, primarily from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine and
Russia. The GOI and NGOs maintain that Uzbekistan has become
the leading source country, based on police intelligence data
and information about the nationalities of women that the GOI
deports. Traffickers send the women to brothels or private
apartments to serve as prostitutes. To bring the women into
the country, traffickers use a variety of methods, including
false documents and fraudulent claims of Jewish identity, to
enter through Israel,s ports and airports. Police and NGOs
claim but do not provide conclusive evidence that most often
the traffickers transport women illicitly through Israel,s
desert border with Egypt. NGOs also say that some enter
through Ben Gurion airport, and others through the ports.

-- Labor Trafficking: The GOI claims, although it does not
maintain or provide reliable statistics, that trafficking for
the purpose of labor is not a widespread problem. In its
official anti-trafficking report, the government states that
"there are cases of abuse of foreign workers, but they do not
amount to trafficking, except in very extreme cases
(estimated at 15-20 per year)." Often police and immigration
authorities categorize trafficked workers who come to their
attention as illegal foreign workers, unless, as in rare
cases, the workers take legal action against their
traffickers.

In 2005, the the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor (ITL
Ministry) issued 78,719 permits for employment of foreign
workers. In addition, the GOI estimates that between 50,000
and 70,000 illegal foreign workersresided in Israel during
the year, and government officials claim that very few of
those have been trafficked. Two NGOs claim that
approximately 200,000 foreign workers live in Israel and that
20 percent of these have been trafficked into Israel
(approximately 16,000 to 20,000 people),although these NGOs
do not provide evidence to support their claim. Former
Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Workers Committee, MK Ran
Cohen, stated in February 2005, "To talk of one hundred cases
of trafficking in human beings, or of abuse and coercion and
debasement and exploitation, is ridiculous. Indeed thousands
of workers in Israel are working, when there is actually
someone out there in China or Bulgaria, or somewhere else,
that extorted them before they even got here... and here they
are in effect being held hostage for the monies they owe.
There are thousands of cases here."

GOI data indicate that foreign workers come primarily from
China, Romania, Jordan and Turkey (construction sector);
Thailand (agricultural sector); the Philippines, Nepal, Sri
Lanka, and India (care giving sector). NGOs, and the daily
newspaper Maariv, allege that Israeli and foreign traffickers
lured approximately 400 foreign workers to the country with
promises of jobs that proved non-existent; one NGO reports
that all of the Nepalese and Chinese nationals in the nursing
care sector whom the NGO's representatives met in the
detention centers found themselves in this situation. Some
foreign workers reportedly paid up to $10,000 (45,000 NIS) to
employment agencies for work visas. These fees are illegal
under Israeli law. According to NGOs, employers dismissed
approximately 1500 workers workers shortly after arriving.
Allegedly, some Israeli manpower companies responsible for
recruiting foreign workers cooperated with authorities to
deport the newly arrived workers, who were then replaced by
others, earning the companies additional fees for the new
workers. NGOs note that most workers expected to work for
the two-year duration of their visas in order to recoup their
initial payments. Dismissed foreign workers who avoided
deportation often sought illegal employment, where they
became even more vulnerable to other forms of abuse from
employers, such as withholding their passports, limiting
their movement, and forced them to work and live in inhumane
conditions.

NGOs claimed that traffickers smuggled into Israel an
increasing number of workers, among them minors. Between
March 2005 and February 2006, NGOs found 55 minors in the
immigrant detention centers.

Israeli law makes it very difficult for foreign workers to
change employers. Human rights groups claim that since
foreign worker visas tie them to a specific employer, even
legal foreign workers had little influence on their work
conditions. The law does not permit foreign workers to
obtain citizenship or permanent residence status unless they
are Jewish.

-- Does the trafficking occur within the country's borders?

According to GOI and NGO contacts, trafficking of Israelis or
other legal residents of Israel or the occupied territories
does not occur within the country's borders. Evidence
presented in court cases suggests that pimps sometimes "sell"
foreign women trafficked into Israel for prostitution to
other pimps within Israel. NGOs allege that manpower
agencies and employers sometimes sell or lend their
trafficked foreign workers to other agencies or employers.

-- Does it occur in territory outside of the government's
control (e.g. in a civil war situation)?

The GOI controls the entirety of Israel.

-- Are any estimates or reliable numbers available as to the
extent or magnitude of the problem? Please include any
numbers of victims. What is (are) the source(s) of available
information on trafficking in persons or what plans are in
place (if any) to undertake documentation of trafficking? How
reliable are the numbers and these sources?

The figures cited above are generally reliable, although the
government and NGOs differ in their estimates. To determine
their estimates, NGOs do not compile specific data, but rely
instead on largely anecdotal evidence drawn from interviews
and observation. The GOI relies primarily on data collected
by the INP, including the Border Police, as well as
intelligence sources, the Knesset Committee on Trafficking in
Persons, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Industry,
Trade, and Labor, and the Immigration Administration (IA).
(Note: The GOI established the Immigration Administration in
September 2002. End note.)

-- Are certain groups of persons more at risk of being
trafficked (e.g. women and children, boys versus girls,
certain ethnic groups, refugees, etc.)?

Foreign women are at risk of being trafficked into Israel for
the purpose of prostitution. The government maintains that
Chinese workers are at risk, since traffickers have defrauded
and abused them in the past. NGOs claim that male and female
Filipino and Thai workers are also at risk, as traffickers
have brought them into Israel under conditions that
constitute forced labor.

-- B. Please provide a general overview of the trafficking
situation in the country and any changes since the last TIP
Report (e.g. changes in direction).

-- Sex Trafficking: Israeli police claim that trafficking of
persons for prostitution is decreasing, due in part to the
closure of numerous brothels and the deterrent effect of
longer sentences for traffickers. NGOs and some police
officers assert that two new patterns have emerged: the
movement of traffickers and their victims from brothels into
private apartments, and from major urban areas to smaller
cities and suburbs. GOI and NGO data indicate that
Uzbekistan continues to be the number one source country for
victims of trafficking for sex/prostitution.

-- Labor Trafficking: No reliable data documents the
scale of labor trafficking, and NGOs and the GOI differ in
their estimates of the problem. NGOs argue, with support
from some public officials, including Members of Knesset,
that the number of trafficked workers has increased. Of
those workers identified as trafficking victims, most still
come from China, the Philippines and Thailand.
-- What kind of conditions are the victims trafficked into?
What methods are used to move the victims (e.g., are false
documents being used?).

-- Sex Trafficking: NGOs claim that most women enter Israel
through the border with Egypt and hence do not need false
documents. Those who enter through Ben Gurion Airport, NGOs
aver, often claim false Jewish identity, which, under the
&Law of Return,8 enables them to obtain automatic
citizenship.

According to the GOI, most victims recently trafficked for
prostitution now work in apartments and escort agencies,
although NGO workers report that many women still work in
brothels. Each woman services an average of five to seven
clients a day, according to the GOI. The GOI also claims
that prostitutes in the apartments (whether living and
working in the same place, or traveling to visit clients,
apartments) experience better conditions than do prostitutes
in brothels. As a rule, the GOI reports, the women live in
pairs in apartments, and receive better wages.

NGOs say that traffickers and pimps threaten the lives and
safety of victims, as well as of relatives the victims have
left in their countries of origin. Many brothels have barred
windows and other security measures to prevent escape.
Reports from NGOs and the GOI indicate that when trafficking
victims are permitted to leave the premises, they usually do
so under the supervision of the pimp or his associates. In
those cases where pimps permit victims to leave the brothel,
the victims, lack of fluency in Hebrew, combined with the
threats against their families, deters them from going to the
police.

-- Labor Trafficking: Most trafficked workers enter Israel
legally with valid work visas, NGOs claim, unaware of the
conditions that await them. Some enter Israel as tourists
and work illegally when they find a job, according to NGOs
and the GOI.

Some employers forced individual laborers who entered the
country, both legally and illegally, to live under conditions
that constituted trafficking. Taking advantage of debt
bondage and the restricted mobility of foreign laborers, some
employers coerced workers into accepting inhumane working
conditions through confiscation of documents, confinement,
threats of deportation, and physical abuse. Journalists and
NGOs documented several cases of migrant workers living in
harsh conditions, subjected to debt bondage, restricted in
their movements, and lured to Israel under false pretexts
regarding their work terms and legal status. NGOs report
that some employers withheld a portion of workers' salaries
as a guarantee that the workers will comply with employer
demands.

-- Which populations are targeted by the traffickers? Who
are the traffickers? What methods are used to approach
victims? (Are they offered lucrative jobs, sold by their
families, approached by friends of friends, etc.?)

-- Sex trafficking: Israel is not a country of origin,
according to the GOI and NGOs, and available evidence
supports this claim. According to the GOI, small-scale
international crime groups conduct most if not all of the
trafficking in persons in Israel, and most criminals involved
in trafficking are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Some NGOs believe, however, that individual freelancers, as
well as small groups that work in cooperation with freelance
agents and organizations in Eastern Europe and the Former
Soviet Union, comprise most of the traffickers. Evidence
from police and court records indicates that Israeli Bedouin
play a part in smuggling women across the border from Egypt.

In some cases, NGOs aver, traffickers lure women by offering
them service sector jobs. NGOs claim while traffickers
employ a wide variety of such recruitment ploys, most often
women know they will serve as prostitutes in Israel, but
traffickers mislead them about the pay and conditions.

-- Labor trafficking: NGOs charge that some
employment/manpower agencies engage in activities that meet
the definition of labor trafficking. The GOI maintains,
however, that government officials have not seen evidence
that Israeli employment, travel and tourism agencies or
marriage brokers facilitate trafficking.

Available evidence does not indicate that government
officials are involved in trafficking. For more information
about this issue, please see responses, below, to question C,
and to question L in the section on investigation and
prosecution of traffickers.

-- Also briefly explain the political will to address
trafficking in persons.

During 2005, the government continued its good faith and
collaborative efforts to fight TIP, according to the GOI and
NGOs, and built on policies it adopted in previous years.
NOTE: Prior annual reports detail further evidence of GOI
determination to fight TIP. END NOTE.

-- Sex trafficking: Post provides below an overview of the
government,s demonstrated political will to combat sex
trafficking.

Prevention

In October, the MFA re-established an inter-ministerial
committee to address trafficking in persons for the purposes
of prostitution and labor. The committee draws members from
the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Interior,
Industry Trade and Labor, Social Affairs, as well as the
Police and the IA. The committee has met three times since
its inception and has begun to prepare preliminary
recommendations for the Directors General Committee charged
with leading Israel,s anti-trafficking efforts.

During the year, according to the GOI, cooperation between
government agencies and NGOs working on the TIP issue
improved and expanded. The GOI invited NGOs to help train
government officials to fight trafficking. GOI,s de facto
inter-agency TIP coordinator, who works in the Ministry of
Justice (MOJ),collaborated with the Israel Defense Force
(IDF) to introduce an informational article on trafficking in
women in the IDF,s monthly circular. A representative of
the IDF Education Corps also worked with the coordinator and
NGOs to begin developing anti-trafficking seminars and
lectures for IDF soldiers.

The GOI provided evidence of its increased efforts to
identify victims of sex trafficking in detention centers. As
part of a pilot program, officials in the IA solicited input
from various government agencies and NGOs to create a
questionnaire that assists in identifying trafficking victims
among detained illegal residents. Officials distributed the
questionnaire to women in the country,s three immigration
detention facilities. Also, judges of the Tribunal for
Detention Review, which adjudicates the status of alleged
illegal residents, have begun to identify victims of
trafficking. They received a two-day seminar on trafficking
in June, and, in cooperation with officials at the IA, the
MOJ, and the INP, instituted a referral procedure to send
suspected sex trafficking victims directly to the shelter.

Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers

During 2005, the state attorney established guidelines
stipulating that, in general, prosecutors should not take
legal action against trafficking victims for offences the
victims committed while being trafficked, even if the victims
return to Israel several times. The deputy attorney general
directed prosecutors to conduct a risk assessment for all
illegal residents who raise substantial allegations that they
or their families may face danger if returned to their
countries of origin, regardless of their status as a state
witness.

In November, a comprehensive law to forbid all forms of
trafficking passed its first reading (of three) in the
Knesset, a crucial step on the way to becoming a law. The
Knesset passed a law in April that gives the police and the
courts the authority to limit the use of properties that
previously served as brothels if there is a reasonable basis
to suspect that they will continue to serve that purpose.
The GOI also submitted an amendment to the Courts Law to the
Knesset, which allows one judge, instead of a bench of three
judges, to hear criminal trials regarding trafficking in
persons. This amendment aims to expedite trafficking cases,
as in the past the necessity to convene three judges
consistently caused delays. It has also passed its first
reading. The Courts Administration issued guidelines
enjoining judges to expedite trafficking cases. Also, as a
result of coordinated international police efforts during the
year, several governments extradited individuals to Israel on
charges of trafficking in persons (for further details about
these extraditions, please see response, below, to question H
in the section on the prosecution and investigation of
traffickers.)

Assistance to victims

During the year, the government or a constituent element
thereof transferred 46 women to the government-run shelter,
36 of whom agreed to testify against their traffickers.
Israeli law stipulates that victim testimony must be taken
within two months of the indictment of suspected traffickers.
Chief Justice of the Tel Aviv District Court Justice Edna
Beckenstein told post that she and all the judges under her
authority strictly adhere to this law. The government
reported that during the year victims waited an average of
two months, in all court districts, from the time of filing
the indictment until the first court hearing. The Director
of the Courts Administration also appointed a judge in the
Tel Aviv District Court to be responsible for hearing the
testimony of trafficking victims.

The government also made progress during the year in
assisting victims by obtaining more resident visas than
previously, and helping more victims to find jobs in the
framework of the shelter program. The state-funded &Legal
Aid8 program based in the MOJ helped women in the shelter to
apply for visas, protect their privacy, file civil suits, and
communicate with prosecutors in criminal cases. The Ministry
of Social Welfare funded the shelter to provide women
psychological and psychiatric counseling and extensive
medical care. In addition, the courts awarded more victims
financial compensation for the crimes committed against them
(for more details about financial compensation, please see
response, below, to question E in the section on protection
and assistance to victims). The de facto coordinator
continued to help individual trafficking victims.

-- Labor trafficking: Post provides below an overview of the
government,s demonstrated political will to combat labor
trafficking.

Prevention

The Knesset has made significant progress toward passing
legislation that will prohibit all forms of trafficking,
including for the purpose of labor exploitation. Currently,
Israeli law prohibits trafficking only for the purpose of
prostitution. The government,s re-established
inter-ministerial committee to fight trafficking combines,
for the first time, officials with expertise in both sex and
labor trafficking. In addition, the GOI has made significant
strides toward implementing a pilot program for recruiting
foreign workers that is designed to prevent trafficking. The
International Organization for Migration (IOM) agreed to
facilitate the pilot program in Thailand, where the GOI will
grant IOM exclusive authority in recruiting, selecting and
preparing Thai laborers who seek to work in Israel. GOI
officials say the program ran into last-minute delays when
the Government of Thailand proved unable to sign the
agreement. The GOI hopes to launch the program in 2006.
NGOs claim that the GOI played a part in causing the
program,s delay by refusing to sign a bilateral agreement
with Thailand about the employment of foreign workers,
insisting instead that the Thai government and IOM sign the
agreement. A February 26, 2006 article in Haaretz also
states that &the Foreign Ministry refused to join a treaty
that the International Organization of (sic) Migration was
ready to sign with the Government of Thailand.8 In
addition, NGOs aver, the GOI neglected to approach other
source countries about this program.

In the meantime, GOI officials drafted in 2005 an official
proclamation of workers, rights, which they then translated
into 14 languages, distributed to manpower agencies and
employers, posted in Israel,s immigrant detention centers,
and displayed on the website of the ITL Ministry.

Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers

The INP, IA, and the ITL Ministry implemented during 2005
improvements in their efforts to prevent labor trafficking by
more effectively monitoring and prosecuting employers and
manpower companies that traffic or abuse foreign workers. In
March 2004, in response to judicial criticism concerning
protracted detention of foreign workers, the attorney general
ordered that such workers be brought before the court within
four days of arrest. The government generally honored the
attorney general,s directive during 2005, according to the
GOI and NGOs. The Prosecution Division of the ITL Ministry
filed 206 criminal indictments in 2005 against employers of
foreign workers, including manpower companies, for violations
of the labor laws.

While law enforcement agencies have successfully prosecuted
employers for labor law violations, including for violations
tantamount to trafficking, they have not severely penalized
labor agencies for trafficking because trafficking for
purposes other than prostitution is not illegal. NGOs
maintain that a high deportation "a8 encourages the
police to allocate far more resources to deporting workers
than it does to investigating traffickers. NGOs also claim
that the GOI has exacerbated labor trafficking in Israel by
failing to enforce laws against accepting fees for foreign
laborers, and by limiting the freedom of foreign workers to
change employers. These two government actions lead to debt
bondage for foreign workers who must tolerate appalling
conditions in Israel to pay off the debt they acquired to get
to Israel.

NGOs noted that when investigators from the Crime Unit of the
IA caught employers confiscating the passports of their
foreign workers, the investigators most often merely
instructed these employers to return the passports, rather
than arresting or prosecuting the employers for breaking the
law. Foreign workers who had informed the IA about this
illegal practice then had to return to work for an angry
employer who had broken the law with impunity.

Assistance to Victims

In May 2005, the government made a concerted effort to combat
labor exploitation and trafficking in the construction
sector. It launched a new system of employment for foreign
workers at construction firms. The new system ties workers
to manpower companies instead of their employers. The
manpower companies pay the workers their salaries, and the
construction firms pay the manpower companies for the service
of the workers (the firms &rent8 the workers). The workers
may change employers while working for the same manpower
company, and they can also change manpower companies. The
ITL Ministry has licensed 40 manpower companies to hire
foreign construction workers, and has required each of them
to post a bond of 4 million NIS to ensure the rights due to
their workers; if the company fails to pay a worker, then the
ITL Ministry can pay the worker by drawing on this bond.

As part of this system, the ITL Ministry reports that it has
also developed a mechanism for automatic payment for overtime
work, ensuring that workers receive payment every month for
236 hours, regardless of how many hours they have actually
worked. Ministry officials believe that this approach
eliminates the possibility that a manpower company will not
pay his workers for overtime hours, and stems from the
realization that foreign workers tend to work many overtime
hours and often do not receive the pay stipulated by law for
those additional hours. In addition, the system requires
manpower agencies to pay a special monthly deposit for
employees over and above monthly wages, to be paid when an
employee leaves the country. Ministry officials say they
designed this bonus to serve as an incentive for foreign
workers to leave when their visa expires; for each month
beyond the expiration of their visas that workers remain in
Israel, they lose a part of this bonus pay.

Following an evaluation of this new system for the
construction sector, GOI officials say they plan to implement
it in all fields that employ foreign workers.

NGOs report problems with this system, including the
government,s failure to inform workers about the structure
of the system and their rights within it. Workers face
limitations in their ability to change employers, since
construction firms often own the manpower companies and
therefore refuse to send workers to rival construction firms.
Workers may only change manpower company every three months,
and hence must wait up to 12 weeks while continuing to work
in sometimes intolerable conditions, say NGOs.

The GOI appointed in July, 2005 an ombudswoman to investigate
workers, complaints, and she has energetically advocated on
behalf of workers. Between July 15 and December 31, 2005,
the ombudswoman reports that she received 265 complaints; she
has handled 178 of these complaints, and continues to examine

85. Workers in the construction sector who seek to change
employer before the end of three months may appeal to the
ombudswoman. She claims to have approved the requests of
most workers who applied to change employers. NGOs noted,
however, that she faced significant limitations: the GOI has
failed to specify the ombudswoman,s responsibilities and
budget, to publicize her availability, phone number,
location, and office hours, and to provide her with
translation services. In practice, the NGOs claim, the
ombudswoman takes, on average, more than three months to
process complaints, and she often requires NGOs to provide
translation.

-- C. What are the limitations on the government's ability
to address this problem in practice? For example, is funding
for police or other institutions inadequate? Is overall
corruption a problem? Does the government lack the resources
to aid victims?

Available evidence indicates that official corruption in this
sector is not a widespread problem. The government has
limited financial and human resources available to combat
TIP, in part due to the ongoing security threat and
developments with the Palestinians, according to GOI sources.
Disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank required
an enormous expenditure of human, political and financial
capital. INP sources claim funding for police and law
enforcement has generally proved adequate, although some
police officers maintain that the government does not direct
enough INP resources to combating TIP. NGOs believe that the
GOI could increase funding for the prevention of TIP in the
country. NGOs pointed specifically to the failure of the GOI
to fund the position of the GOI TIP coordinator and her
assistant. (Note: The GOI has made strenuous efforts at
budget reform, including adherence to limitations on the
budget deficit, agreed to as part of the terms of the U.S.
loan guarantees agreement. End note.)

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