Human Trafficking Report Slaps Israel
By Ori Nir
June 9, 2006
WASHINGTON — The State Department has put Israel on a special "watch list," citing its "failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking" in human beings.
In its annual Report on Human Trafficking, published Monday, the State Department contended that "the Government of Israel does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking" and has failed to show efforts to address "conditions of involuntary servitude allegedly facing thousands of foreign migrant workers." Specifically, the report chides Israel's government for not pushing to pass legislation criminalizing all forms of trafficking. It states that Israel "should also more vigorously enforce existing bans against charging recruitment fees and withholding passports, factors that contribute to the trafficking of workers."
This is the first time in four years that the administration has downgraded Israel's ranking, putting it in the unflattering company of Third World, mostly non-democratic regimes. The report classifies 149 countries into four groups. Most countries are in Tier 1, which means that they are effectively fighting human trafficking and reducing it to a minimum. A small minority, 12 countries that include Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, are in the lowest, Tier 3. These are governments that have not made "significant efforts" to bring themselves "into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons." Such countries may face the withholding of American foreign aid. In between, there is the Tier 2 category and the even more negative Tier 2 Watch List for countries that are seen as not doing enough to improve.
Trafficking is one of several areas in which Israel has come under U.S. scrutiny. Others include religious freedom, human rights generally and money laundering
In 2001, when the first trafficking report was published, many were shocked to see Israel ranked in Tier 3.....
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Or if you prefer the Yiddish edition...
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On the bright side. You and Nikole have job opportunites awaiting you in Israel.
RE: The very indignation your're trafficking in belongs to the West.
That makes no sense gramatically or otherwise. It's a global problem.
jttmab |
