ISRAEL: SIXTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000916

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
(4 OF 4)

REF: A. SECSTATE 03836

B. TEL AVIV 596

(SBU) This cable forms the fourth 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.

-- C. Is there a screening and referral process in place,
when appropriate, to transfer victims detained, arrested or
placed in protective custody by law enforcement authorities
to NGO's that provide short- or long-term care?

-- Sex Trafficking:

Detained foreign nationals suspected of violating immigration
law undergo several screening and monitoring procedures.
After arresting a foreign national, a police officer,
accompanied by an official from the Interior Ministry,
conducts a hearing, during which the officer and official
determine whether to send the suspect to an immigrant
detention center. NGOs claim that, during the year, the
officials did not usually provide interpreters at these
hearings, which they frequently conducted in Hebrew.

If the officer and official decide to send a suspect to the
detention facility, a judge of the Tribunal for Detention
Review then interviews the detainee at the detention facility
to evaluate the merits of the case and to determine whether
or not to deport him/her. Both the GOI and NGOs reported
that the government consistently provided foreign nationals
an immigration hearing before a tribunal judge within four
days of detention.

At any point during this process, an official who identifies
a trafficking victim can contact the police, who can
investigate trafficking charges, obtain information from the
victim, and/or send her to the shelter. The GOI and NGOs
noted that this procedure, during 2005, began to take hold
and consistently functioned effectively. NGOs observed,
however, that the procedure relied heavily on a few effective
policemen who responded rapidly and humanely to referrals of
trafficked women. Since the government has not created a
clearly documented and official referral process, the
procedure may suffer if key individuals leave their current
positions.

The IA claims that it referred minors staying illegally in
Israel to NGOs or local social service agencies for
assistance instead of detaining them. Post interviewed
several minors from western Africa whom officals at the
Tzochar Detention Center, who reported that due to
difficulties with their travel documents they had been
detained for several months. They explained that they
traveled illegally to Israel in search of work.

NGOs aver that officials at the detention centers often
deport victims before referring them to police officers.
NGOs also claim that while officials do conduct these
hearings systematically, the interviewers do not receive
adequate training on TIP and do not consistently refer
victims with health problems to the appropriate
professionals. Also, according to NGOs, officials at the
detention centers fail to follow-up individual cases
consistently.

The IA generally grants NGO representatives access to
detention facilities, where they can assist victims.

-- Labor trafficking:

The procedures described above apply equally to victims
trafficked for prostitution and for labor, as police officers
send all foreign nationals to the same detention centers.

The GOI says that an ITL Ministry inspector conducts an
additional interview for laborers, to determine whether their
employers owe them money and, if so, to facilitate its
collection. They have the right to, but, in practice, no
guarantee of, legal representation. Workers may contest
deportation orders, but they often lacked the fluency in
Hebrew, placing them at a considerable disadvantage.
Deportation tribunal judges reported three times during the
year that the lack of interpreting services hindered the
judicial process. On September 25, in response to an NGO
petition to the Supreme Court, the government indicated that
work continued on the draft of a tender for interpreting
services. According to NGOs, the government has spent three
years drafting the tender, and at year,s end, had still not
completed it.

According to NGOs, the IA rarely released foreign detainees
pending judicial determination of their status. Moreover, if
the detainee,s country of origin had no diplomatic or
consular representation, detention could last months,
particularly when the detainee needed new travel documents.
During the year, according to NGOs, the police detained and
deported legal foreign workers to meet so-called quotas to
reduce the foreign worker population. The Hotline claimed
that IA police often detained properly documented asylum
seekers, but did not specify how many times the police did so.

-- D. Are the rights of victims respected, or are victims
also treated as criminals? Are victims detained, jailed, or
deported? If detained or jailed, for how long? Are victims
fined? Are victims prosecuted for violations of other laws,
such as those governing immigration or prostitution?

NGOs report that police and immigration authorities often
treated victims of trafficking as illegal foreign workers and
quickly detained and deported them. The GOI acknowledges
that it failed to identify some victims before deporting
them. The government did not fine trafficking victims,
according to both NGOs and the government. Except in two
instances, described below, police and prosecutors did not
indict TIP victims for crimes integral to their trafficking.

-- Sex trafficking: During the year, prosecutors indicted
for the crime of illegal entry two trafficking victims, after
these victims returned several times to Israel. In response
to the indictments, the de facto coordinator requested that
the government re-examine this policy. The government
decided that as a rule victims should not be indicted on
crimes integral to their trafficking, even if they have
returned to Israel several times. In addition, the
government decided that women meeting certain minimum
criteria of trafficking victims should be considered victims
even if they did not so admit.

According to GOI and NGO sources, the government deported
many sex trafficking victims soon after their discovery. The
government reports that it deported a total of at least 682
women who met the minimum criteria of trafficked women, a
total which, officials claim, amounts to fewer identified
victims than it did in previous years.

-- Labor trafficking: Government officials deported most
labor trafficking victims for violations of immigration laws,
but did not prosecute them. The IA detained most workers for
an average of two weeks before deporting them. During the
year, the government deported 7,235 workers. In many cases,
according to GOI and NGO contacts, the government subsidized
the workers' airline tickets home. NGOs noted that the
government deported most victims of labor trafficking before
identifying them as victims or allowing them to testify
against their traffickers.

-- E. Does the government encourage victims to assist in the
investigation and prosecution of trafficking?

-- Sex trafficking: Police say that they always try to
convince victims of sex trafficking to testify. NGOs claim,
however, that the police often fail to identify trafficking
victims as such, deporting most before they have a chance to
testify, thereby losing valuable evidence against
traffickers. The government estimates that at least 682
women in detention centers during the year met the minimum
criteria to be classified as cases of trafficking victims,
even if they did not so admit.

Police claim that because traffickers have begun to realize
that the police encourage women to testify against them, and
because women are increasingly inclined to do so, the
traffickers refrain from extremely violent abuse of women
that might cause the women to seek to escape from their
captors and complain to the police.
In a letter dated January 27, 2005, the state attorney
instructed prosecutors to maintain close channels of
communication with the residents and staff in the shelter,
keeping them apprised, for example, of developments in the
trials of their traffickers. On August 30, the state
attorney,s trafficking liaison officer visited the shelter
to meet the victims and to improve communication between
prosecutors and the shelter.

-- Labor trafficking: Police say that they also try to
convince victims of labor trafficking to testify. NGOs
dispute this claim, and maintain that the general requirement
to remain in the detention center during the course of the
trial deters labor trafficking victims from testifying
against their traffickers.

-- May victims file civil suits or seek legal action against
the traffickers? Does anyone impede the victims' access to
such legal redress?

Trafficking victims have a legal right to initiate civil
suits against their traffickers, including suits in labor
courts for labor law violations and suits in civil courts for
contract and tort violations.

NGOs say that in practice victims face obstacles to legal
action. Many victims do not have access to legal
representation and therefore do not know that they may file
suit. The necessity of remaining in Israel to conclude
lawsuits deters many from filing an action in the first
place.

-- Sex trafficking: Between the opening of the shelter in
September 2004 and November 2005, Legal Aid lawyers assisted
64 women in civil legal proceedings, 11 victims waived the
assistance, and 27 cases are pending before the courts.
Victims also have the right to initiate petitions to the
Supreme Court against government agencies. They have
initiated several such petitions.

The attorney general decided during the year to support an
appeal against awarding an accident victim, suffering from
sexual malfunction, compensation in the form of permission to
visit a brothel (in the case of Perdo v. Migdal Insurance Co.
et al. (Supreme Court)). He cited in the decision his
concern about the connection between trafficking and houses
of prostitution. (Note: The Attorney General, as a matter of
policy, intervenes in private cases only when he believes
they involve an issue of public importance. End note.)

-- Labor trafficking: NGO representatives reported that they
have provided legal representation to labor trafficking
victims and other foreign workers who have suffered physical
or economic abuse at the hands of employers. They claim to
have won cases for about 300 foreign workers a year in recent
years, with judgments for all their clients combined totaling
$500,000 to $1 million each year.

-- Does anyone impede the victims' access to such legal
Redress?

No, although NGOS point out that the government deports many
victims before the victims have the opportunity to seek legal
redress.

-- If a victim is a material witness in a court case against
the former employer, is the victim permitted to obtain other
employment or to leave the country?

Please see answer, above, to question A in the section on
protection and assistance to victims.
-- Is there a victim restitution program?

The government does not operate a victim restitution program,
but victims may seek redress in the court system. Section 77
of the Penal Law includes among its sanctions compensation
for the victim of a crime up to the sum of approximately
$50,000 (228,000 NIS) for each crime.

In letters to prosecutors dated January 27 and February 9,
2005, the state attorney stressed the importance of
requesting criminal compensation for victims of trafficking
according to section 77 of the Penal Law. During the year,
criminal courts awarded financial compensation to victims in
sex trafficking cases. In one notable case, on February 23,
2006, a court awarded a victim $66,000 (300,000 NIS). In
another case, the court ordered the two defendants to pay the
sum of approximately $9,000 (40,000 NIS) to each of their
trafficking victims. On March 3, 2005, the Labor Court of
Beer Sheva obligated a company to pay its Nigerian foreign
worker full remuneration for overtime, annual leave and
recuperation benefit totaling approximately $84,000 (354,185
NIS). The government provided summaries of 18 cases in which
judges ordered traffickers to pay compensation to their
victims. In addition, foreign workers may file petitions
directly to the Supreme Court. In four major cases during
2005, foreign workers filed suit against the Interior
Ministry, IA, and the GOI. The cases are still pending.

NGOs claim that the state attorney does not make victim
compensation a priority, and thus victims often receive
either no compensation or very low sums (equal to the
profits, NGO workers claim, earned through one week of
exploiting the victim). NGOs also note that it proved very
difficult for victims awarded compensation actually to
receive the money because their lack of suitable
identification prevented them from opening Israeli bank
accounts, into which the state has always deposited
compensation payments.

In response to NGO and victim complaints, the de facto
coordinator worked with the director of the Courts
Administration to allow payment of criminal compensation to
trafficking victims by means of checks which are not &for
deposit only.8 The resolution of this technical issue at
the end of 2005 has greatly enhanced the ability of victims
to receive both criminal and civil compensation, according to
NGOs and the GOI.

-- F. What kind of protection is the government able to
provide for victims and witnesses? Does it provide these
protections in practice? What type of shelter or services
does the government provide? Does it provide shelter or any
other benefits to victims for housing or other resources in
order to aid the victims in rebuilding their lives? Where are
child victims placed (e.g. in shelters, foster-care type
systems or juvenile justice detention centers)?

The police report that they provide physical and legal
protection to approximately 100 witnesses in trafficking
cases per year. On July 25, 2002, the state attorney and the
Commissioner of police appointed an inter-ministerial
committee, headed by the former district attorney of
Jerusalem, to develop a witness protection plan. The
inter-ministerial committee issued a recommendation in
September 2004 that the government establish an authority to
protect witnesses. On January 1, 2006, the GOI created the
Authority for the Protection of Witnesses in Israel, to
protect witnesses in utmost peril and, at the same time,
allocated the responsibility for protecting witnesses not in
such peril to the INP. The Authority will also be
responsible for initiating legislation necessary to its
functions and encourage international cooperation in this
area.

The IA usually places in the Tsohar Detention Center detained
persons identified as minors. Such detainees do not receive
special attention from social workers or psychologists.
Moreover, trafficking victims must prove to officials that
they are minors; generally, NGOs facilitate this process by
contacting the relevant embassies and consulates for
confirmation of the detainees, age. When this process
fails, IA officials send the minors for a bone check, which
they claim serves as a reliable tool for age confirmation.
Since 2004, NGOs report, they have come across 77 minors in
the immigrant detention centers.

NGOs also report that the IA and the Interior Ministry deport
minors back to their home countries without making
arrangements for a reliable adult to meet them upon arrival.
NGOs have petitioned the courts against what they claim is
the mishandling and irresponsible deportation of minors. The
case is still in court.

The GOI reports that it discovered during the year that
Israeli companies regularly sought to earn illegal
recruitment fees by defrauding Chinese foreign workers with
promises of jobs in the nursing sector that proved
non-existent. Officials from the ITL Ministry, Interior
Ministry, and the MFA say they discussed this issue together
with the Chinese Embassy. They reportedly reached a joint
decision that, due to the possibility of trafficking, the GOI
would no longer allow Chinese workers to be recruited for
work in the nursing field.

-- G. Does the government provide any specialized training
for government officials in recognizing trafficking and in
the provision of assistance to trafficked victims, including
the special needs of trafficked children? Does the
government provide training on protections and assistance to
its embassies and consulates in foreign countries that are
destination or transit countries? Does it urge those
embassies and consulates to develop ongoing relationships
with NGOs that serve trafficked victims?

The government provides specialized training in recognizing
trafficking victims to inspectors of the enforcement division
of the ITL Ministry, police officers, and investigators in
government departments that handle trafficking cases. The
government provides training on the provision of assistance
to trafficking victims to officials who work in the Ministry
of Social Welfare and the IA. NGOs claim that the government
offers inadequate training to IA officials who work at the
detention centers.

For more information on training provided to government
officials, please see answers, above, to question B in the
overview section, to question C in the prevention section,
and to question H in the section on the prosecution and
investigation of traffickers.

No evidence exists of any child trafficking in Israel.
Accordingly, the government does not provide specialized
training to handle trafficked children.

NGOs maintain that inspectors from the ITL Ministry continue
to improve their ability to investigate allegations of
trafficking and labor law violations, and that they receive
adequate training. NGO representatives charge, however, that
the Ministry does not have enough inspectors, and that not
all of them receive the requisite training.

The GOI reports that the de facto coordinator briefed Israeli
diplomats serving in countries of origin on the issue of
trafficking in women as part of their pre-departure training.
According to the GOI, the ambassadors and consuls serving in
Tashkent, Almaty and Minsk received this instruction in 2004.
During 2005, the coordinator briefed the Israeli ambassadors
to Moscow and Kiev on the subject. The MFA reports that it
decided in 2005 to include the topic of trafficking in
persons as an integral part of the training course provided
to all diplomats posted abroad in relevant countries.

MFA officials say that Israeli diplomats abroad raise the
issue of trafficking in their meetings with relevant foreign
governmental officials. The officials report that Israeli
diplomats aim to reach the highest level of their host
governments. They cite, as an example, the success of the
Israeli Embassy in the Ukraine in persuading the wife of the
President, Viktor Yuchenko, to become involved in the fight
against trafficking in women.
The GOI does not currently conduct training for diplomats on
protection and assistance at its embassies and consulates in
transit countries, such as Egypt. The government did not
develop relationships with trafficking NGOs in source
countries, according to government and NGO contacts, although
government officials met with NGO representatives from the
Ukraine in a visit sponsored by an Israeli NGO. MFA
officials claim, however, to raise the subject of trafficking
in women regularly with their Egyptian counterparts. At the
bi-annual military liaison meeting held in March 2005, in
which officials from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry also
participated, the MFA provided their Egyptian guests lectures
from the INP on the subject of trafficking, and took them on
a tour of the shelter.

NGOs maintain that the GOI does not coordinate effectively
with foreign NGOs and governments to reintegrate trafficking
victims into their home countries. NGOs say that some
victims of sex trafficking often return home without money or
social support to face violence and intimidation, and that
sometimes traffickers send them back to Israel. Some victims
of labor trafficking also return without money or social
support to face violence from debtors, according to NGOs.

-- H. Does the government provide assistance, such as medical
aid, shelter, or financial help, to its repatriated nationals
who are victims of trafficking?

Israel is a destination country, not a source country. The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued an informational
campaign in most source countries to distribute brochures to
potential victims of trafficking. Israeli Embassy and
Consulate staffs distributed these informational brochures to
visa applicants whom they suspected might become trafficking
victims.

-- I. Which international organizations or NGOs, if any, work
with trafficking victims? What type services do they
provide? What sort of cooperation do they receive from local
authorities?

The Hotline for Migrant Workers, based in Tel Aviv, provides
assistance to victims of both sex and labor trafficking
through legal representation and counseling; coordination of
their return home; medical services, books and clothing; and
liaising with the INP and MOJ. Kav LaOved, also based in Tel
Aviv, provides legal assistance, translation and interpreting
services, and advocacy for victims of labor trafficking.
Isha LaIsha (Woman to Woman) plays an important role in the
north of Israel, where it assists sex trafficking victims
through individual case management, visiting detention
centers, liaising with the government and police, and
monitoring developments in the field. Local authorities
generally cooperated with all of these organizations,
although NGOs complained that, in some instances, officials
responded slowly or denied the magnitude of the problem.

The International Organization for Migration has worked with
the GOI to design a new recruitment program to fight labor
trafficking. Amnesty International has taught hundreds of
high school students about human rights and has begun to
develop a program to teach about trafficking in persons,
pending applications for financial support.

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

7. (U) NOMINATION OF HEROES AND BEST PRACTICES
-------------- --

HEROES. For the past two TIP Reports, the TIP Report's
introduction has included a section honoring Anti-Trafficking
"Heroes" who came to G/TIP's notice during the preceding year
as individuals or representatives of organizations that
demonstrate an exceptional commitment to fighting TIP.
Department would encourage post to nominate such individuals
for inclusion in a similar section of the 2006 Report.
Please submit, under a subheading of "TIP Hero(es)," a brief
description of the individual or organization's work, and
note that the appropriate individual(s) have been vetted
through databases available to post (e.g. CLASS and any law
enforcement systems) to ensure they have no visa
ineligibilities or other derogatory information.

Rochelle Gershuni has proven that committed individuals can
lead the fight against trafficking from within the government.

Since 2002, Mrs. Gershuni has tirelessly, resourcefully --
and diplomatically -- led the Israeli effort to fight
trafficking in persons. She first learned about the issue by
helping an individual victim to navigate the government
bureaucracy of which Mrs. Gershuni herself is a part, as a
lawyer in the MOJ. While still handling the cases of many
individual victims, she soon developed into the unofficial,
or de facto, anti-trafficking coordinator for the entire
government of Israel.

Mrs. Gershuni helped convince Israeli officials in at least
ten government departments to perceive trafficked women as
victims instead of criminals, while simultaneously
negotiating with these same officials vital changes in
anti-trafficking policy. She drafted and amended legislation
in cooperation with leaders in the parliament. She developed
trusting relationships with Israel,s anti-trafficking NGOs,
filtering their on-the-ground knowledge into sound government
policy.

In 2005, Mrs. Gershuni persuaded the police intelligence unit
and the deputy attorney general to conduct risk assessments
for trafficking victims; the deputy state attorney to change
the policy on indicting trafficking victims; the Courts
Administration to enable payment of court-awarded
compensation to trafficking victims; the Ministry of Justice
to provide translators in the immigrant detention tribunals;
and the Ministry of Public welfare, the Immigration
Administration and the Prisons Service to provide social
workers in the detention facilities. This list of
accomplishments represents only a fraction of the
coordinator's achievements during the year.

Mrs. Gershuni played a constructive, behind-the-scenes role
in almost every single anti-trafficking policy of the
government of Israel during the past three years )- during
which period Israel moved from Tier 3 to Tier 2.

She changed countless attitudes, shaped countless polices,
and, most importantly, saved countless lives -- all without
an official appointment, without an assistant, and while
holding a full-time job unrelated to her work as the de facto
anti-trafficking coordinator.

********************************************* ********************
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.
********************************************* ********************
JONES