Anya told us that ten years ago she met an intelligent and very impressive woman who offered her a job in Israel as a caretaker for a salary of 1000 dollars a month. Anya came to the Land through Egypt with another friend. For six days, they walked from Egypt to Israel; on the way, were beaten and severely humiliated by the Bedouins. When they reached the border, they were picked up in a van, their eyes were covered and they were transported on side roads and over open sandy tracts towards Rishon LeTzion. By the time they arrived, their bodies were bruised both from enduring constant bouncing along the road while lying on the floor of the vehicle with the constant bouncing on the road, as well as from the beatings they had suffered. In Rishon LeTzion they were imprisoned in an apartment with other girls. Some of the girls had to present themselves naked to pimps who came and bought some of them.
After many days of being forced to provide prostitution services to clients, the police caught the men who traded them. By that time the girls’ passports had already been taken away. They stayed in Israel in a shelter for female victims of human trafficking. Still today, many years later, Anya is fighting legal matters in order to be able to live with dignity in the country where she has been so horribly abused.
“Abundant Life” is an organization that works to protect the child in the mother’s womb, and to promote the safety and well-being of women. In 2007 the organization began its involvement with women who were trafficked for prostitution, and with women in prostitution generally. The question we asked ourselves was, ‘How can we meet these women when they are kept prisoners in apartments and trafficked secretly?’ To my surprise, the first woman with whom I made a connection was a trafficking victim from Uzbekistan, whom I will tell later.
Since the nineties, Israel has become one of the main destinations for trafficking in women. The phenomenon of human trafficking has increased in the wake of global developments, such as the breakdown of the Soviet Union, which led to economic and social changes around the world. The social security of millions suddenly became uncertain to the point of endangering their livelihood and existence. The social safety nets that had functioned in the former Communist countries fell apart. The indifference of the public and the law enforcement agencies in those countries enabled trafficking in women to thrive. Of those women in Israel who work in prostitution now, only 9% report having worked in prostitution before coming to Israel.
Twenty-nine percent report being unemployed in their country of origin, and those that did work as secretaries, teachers, seamstresses, etc. for the average wage of 38 dollars a month.
Most of the women traded by the sex industry were trafficked through the Israeli-Egyptian border, a border also used for weapons and drug smuggling. They are trafficked by car or on foot, via what is often an exhausting journey. It has been reported that they are also sometimes raped and beaten up by the Bedouins responsible for smuggling them over the border. Upon entering Israel they are sold to pimps. In Israel, the price for a woman is between 4,000 and 10,000 dollars, according to the woman’s appearance, age, skin imperfections, number of births, and previous experience in prostitution. The next stage after being bought is the start of their employment. By this time their passports are no longer in their possession, which complicates any plans they might have had to run away, leaving them without identity or any human rights in a foreign country.
