TRAFFICKING OF ORGANS
In April 2010 an organ-trafficking ring was discovered in Israel when a victim from East Jerusalem filed a complaint with the Department for Fraud and Misappropriations in northern Israel. Members of the syndicate included two lawyers and a retired Israeli general as well as traffickers and their agents. All the donor-victims in this case were Israeli citizens, as were most of the transplant candidates. Thus far, the trafficking ring is known to be responsible for at least 10 transactions between victim-donors and organ candidates (Khoury & Ashkenazi, 2010). “The ring is operating throughout Israel and not only in the north, and appeals to the public through local media and internet,” a police official told the Israeli daily
Haaretz
. “The organ traffickers somehow receive details about potential transplant candidates and they offer them their services” (Ma’an News Agency, 2010). Having responded to an advertisement that promised $100,000 for the removal and use of a kidney, the first victim to complain to law enforcement underwent a medical examination and was subsequently flown to Azerbaijan, where her kidney was extracted. After surgery the woman was returned to Israel without the money she was promised (Khoury & Ashkenazi, 2010). The department received other similar complaints in which the syndicate demanded at least $120,000 for a kidney transplant from clients but offered to pay organ donors only about $10,000. Many donors received smaller sums or no pay at all. The donors also signed contracts and filled out fraudulent documents claiming a family relationship between the donor and the organ recipient (Ma’an News Agency, 2010).
The donors underwent medical screenings in which they were categorized by medical condition and blood type. If they were a match for a recipient, they were typically flown to eastern Europe, Ecuador, or the Philippines. They were then returned to Israel without medical documentation and often had untreated medical complications from surgery. In order to cover their tracks, the traffickers tried to hide the donors’ Israeli medical records, making it immensely difficult for donors to be treated if they became ill following the surgery (Ma’an News Agency, 2010; BBC News, 2010). During the investigation the police found transplant candidates on their way abroad to have surgery. Some were at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport awaiting departure. Other fraud victims were already abroad and due to return to Israel after police notified them that some of the traffickers had been arrested (Ma’an News Agency, 2010). “The defendants operated in an organized, systematic and ongoing manner, and traded in human beings like they were objects being passed from hand to hand, for the sake of harvesting their kidneys,” attorney Bassem Kandalaft of the Northern District Prosecution wrote in the indictment. “They succeeded in executing their plot by exploiting, for their own profit, the economic and social distress of their victims” (Roffe-Ofir, 2010).
Although organized crime rings perform much of human trafficking, it often could not occur without the collusion of official personnel. For instance, in this particular case, one of the suspects was a retired Israeli army reserve brigadier-general who had been awarded a medal of valor in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Other suspects in the case were two lawyers as well as organ traffickers and their agents (Ma’an News Agency, 2010; Khoury & Ashkenazi, 2010).
WHAT HAPPENS TO VICTIMS AFTER TRAFFICKING
Victims of international sex trafficking who manage to escape do have access to shelters and a variety of social services. The government has supervised and funded a local NGO shelter operation for foreign victims of sex trafficking. In 2008 it allocated $1.25 million to the shelter for the purposes of medical care, security, and operations. In the same year the shelter assisted 44 women, 12 of whom were referred by law enforcement. The shelter offers medical treatment, psychiatric and social services, stipends, temporary residency, and work permits to foreign female victims of sex trafficking. It has been reported that the shelter is reluctant to accept victims with children and that victims who attempt to access medical or psychological care outside the shelter cannot do so unless they have first paid for insurance (U.S. Department of State, 2009).
As with all nations, one challenge for prosecutors is convincing victims to testify against their traffickers. Many victims fear retribution if they testify, a concern that is not without merit. In the sex-trafficking case that involved Israeli mobster Rami Saban, the prosecutors and NGOs expressed concern that the suspects would use any means possible to harm the victims who testified or planned to testify against them. Their concerns were realized when a victim who planned to testify against the traffickers was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Uzbekistan. The traffickers allegedly arranged the murder (IRIN, 2009; Goren, 2009; Jerusalem Post, 2009). Fear of harm and retribution at the hands of one’s traffickers does not dissipate simply because the victim has been rescued. Intimidation and abuse are commonly used means to maintain control over victims during the trafficking experience—a technique that Saban and his colleagues relished. Police have in their possession recordings of Saban ordering the physical punishment and murder of victims who refused to prostitute (IRIN, 2009). A suspect turned state witness who had exclusive access to the syndicate and its operations provided the recordings (Goren, 2009; Jerusalem Post, 2009). Saban allegedly put a gun to one woman’s head and beat her when he suspected that she had tried to escape. He also allegedly assaulted two women for refusing to comply with his demands and locked one of the women in an office for a week as punishment (Jerusalem Post, 2009).
The government’s anti-trafficking efforts still focus primarily on foreign victims of sex trafficking. As a result, internal and international victims of forced-labor and internal sex-trafficking victims often go without shelter, medical, and psychological services. Fortunately, this situation is slowly changing. Protective services were made available for the first time to Israeli victims of sex trafficking and international forced-labor victims in early 2009. Additionally, in response to the growing issue of internal sex trafficking, the government has created two state-funded shelters for Israeli women forced into prostitution. The Knesset also passed the Legal Aid Law (Amendment 9), which grants free legal aid to victims of trafficking and slavery (U.S. Department of State, 2009; Zebede, 2009). Another positive step is that in February 2009 the minister of justice signed Penal Regulations 5769-2009, which allows the confiscated property and funds of trafficking offenders to be distributed to victims as well as NGOs and government agencies to support victim rehabilitation programs (U.S. Department of State, 2009).
Historically, male victims of human trafficking have not been acknowledged. For instance, all of the 382 trafficking victims who received shelter between 2004 and 2007 were women (UNODC, 2009). This fact further illustrates the marginalization of male trafficking victims, who are often victims of forced labor. Fortunately, this too is beginning to change: in 2008 the Ministry of Social Affairs solicited bids for the creation of three facilities for labor-trafficking victims and selected an NGO to operate them. The bids included a shelter for women, a shelter for men, and three short-term apartments. As a result, the Atlas shelter for male victims of slavery and forced labor housed 50 men during 2009. The Israeli government reports that all trafficking victims in the shelters received temporary visas and work visas upon request. Also, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) published procedures for granting temporary visas to victims of slavery and forced labor. This step resulted in temporary visa extensions for 27 victims trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and 17 victims of forced labor in 2008. Unfortunately, in January 2010 the MOI announced its intention to cancel the policy of issuing B1 visas to trafficking victims.
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It is unclear whether this decision will in fact be implemented. In 2010 and 2011, B1 visa requests continued to be approved by the MOI. NGOs note that some requests, including those by persons who entered Israel through Sinai, Egypt, have not been granted (U.S. Department of State, 2009, 2010a, 2011, 2012).
One concern is what happens to persons from the OPT who are trafficked to Israel. Typically, persons from the territories who are found to be in Israel illegally are summarily returned to the territories without an investigation as to whether they are trafficking victims. This practice makes victims vulnerable to potential retribution and re-trafficking when they are returned to the same set of circumstances that made them initially vulnerable to human trafficking. The most common patterns of trafficking movement between Israel and the OPT are from Israel to the West Bank; from the West Bank into Israel and East Jerusalem; within the West Bank; and from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Those trafficked into Israel and within the territories are predominantly from Nablus, Jenin, Hebron, Ramallah, Al-Ram, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. However, some of the women trafficked into the West Bank from Israel are from Russia and Ukraine (SAWA/UNIFEM, 2008).
The fragmentation and limited scope of the Palestinian judicial system often leaves Palestinian victims of human trafficking without legal redress. Persons who live in the OPT can be deemed internal or international victims of trafficking depending on how many authorities they encounter. For instance, if the victim encounters the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) at a checkpoint, then the act is considered international trafficking. If the victim just comes across the PNA then it is considered internal trafficking. Another critical concern is that the authorities in Israel and the OPT do not collaborate on anti-trafficking efforts or share investigative information (SAWA/UNIFEM, 2008).
WHAT HAPPENS TO TRAFFICKERS
Saban, the primary suspect in the sex-trafficking case, was charged in March 2009 with 23 felony offenses that included operating a brothel, managing a brothel, solicitation, conspiracy to commit a crime, assault, forgery, money laundering, forcing a person to leave her country of residence to work as a prostitute, and harassing witnesses. This was not the first time Saban had been accused of human trafficking. He was convicted and sentenced to 31 months in prison for human trafficking in 2001. He was also found guilty of operating a brothel a year later (Jerusalem Post, 2009).
In 2008 there were 9 cases investigated for alleged sex trafficking, 6 indictments filed, and 6 convictions obtained against traffickers in Israel. This is 32 fewer convictions than in 2007. Sentences ranged from 4 months to 7 years in prison as well as fines. During the same recording period, 12 prosecutions remained ongoing, and 8 cases were awaiting appeal (U.S. Department of State, 2009). From 2003 through 2006 there were 154 cases of human trafficking and 1,577 trafficking-related cases investigated; and 117 traffickers were convicted. Of persons who received sanctions during that time, 2 received less than one year, 56 received between 1 and 5 years, 50 received between 5 and 10 years, and 24 received more than 10 years (UNODC, 2009).
All trafficking offenders convicted in 2005 and 2006 were involved in trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. In 2007 two persons were convicted of trafficking for the purposes of organ removal (UNODC, 2009). The latter statistic may reflect the broadened reach of the 2006 anti-trafficking law and an increased awareness among law enforcement that other forms of trafficking besides sex trafficking do occur. Still, enforcement seems to lag behind realities. For instance, in 2010, although the government convicted seven persons under trafficking statutes, it did not secure any convictions for labor trafficking. The government also convicted six sex traffickers under nontrafficking statutes; although the cases were prosecuted under trafficking statutes, the charges were reduced during plea negotiations. The sentences for sex traffickers convicted under trafficking statutes ranged from 6 months’ community service to 8.5 years’ imprisonment, while prison sentences for those convicted under nontrafficking statutes were between 24 months and 7.5 years. Of precedential significance is that in 2011 the government convicted two labor traffickers under the trafficking statute for the forced labor of a Filipina domestic worker. The government also convicted an alleged labor trafficker under a non-trafficking statute. He was sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment. Fifteen sex-trafficking offenders were also convicted in 2011, some of whom were charged under the trafficking statute but convicted under reduced charges based on limitations of available evidence. Sentences for the sex traffickers ranged from 8 months’ to 5 years’ imprisonment. While labor trafficking convictions still lag behind those of sex traffickers, authorities are taking some measures to address the issue. Authorities revoked the recruitment licenses and special permits to recruit foreign workers of 18 recruitment agencies in 2009–2010, and investigations and prosecutions of labor traffickers are increasing. For example, during 2008 the government opened 24 investigations in alleged cases of forced labor and opened 48 investigations into the unlawful withholding of the passports of migrant workers (U.S. Department of State, 2009, 2010, 2012). During 2009 police opened 61 investigations of cases involving forced labor and 28 investigations of cases involving the withholding of passports. The government initiated the prosecution of 32 suspected offenders on charges of forced labor, exploitation of vulnerable populations, and withholding a passport. In 2010 the Israeli government obtained 3 convictions against those who extracted recruitment fees from foreign workers; sentences ranged from 15 to 50 months’ imprisonment. The government also revoked the license of one recruitment agency for charging migrant workers illegal fees (U.S. Department of State, 2010a, 2011).
INTERNAL EFFORTS TO DECREASE TRAFFICKING
The national coordinator for anti-trafficking efforts provides anti-trafficking lectures to army units, municipal workers, social workers, and students. The Authority for the Advancement of Women, the Ministry of Education, the State Attorney’s Office, and the Ministry of Justice’s Legal Aid Branch sponsor anti-trafficking lectures, seminars, and conferences throughout the country (U.S. Department of State, 2009). In an effort to decrease the demand for commercial sex in Israel, the Knesset drafted a private bill in 2008, the Prohibition of the Use of Paid Sexual Services Law, which would criminalize clients who pay for sexual services in the commercial sex industry. The bill prescribes six months’ imprisonment or enrollment in an education program for first-time offenders (Ministry of Justice, 2010). Another bill, Increased Penalties for Prostitution Advertising, passed on March 28, 2011, aims to reduce commercial sexual exploitation. Under the law, offenders who advertise or facilitate information for prostitution services face sentencing or a fine. The offense is punishable by 5 years’ imprisonment if the service advertised would be performed by a minor and 3 years’ imprisonment if the provider is an adult. Courts are authorized to double the fine on corporate offenders (Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2009; Knesset, 2011b).