The Task Force on Human Trafficking (TFHT) is pleased to announce that Israel’s government has taken the first step towards passing legislation prohibiting the purchase of sexual services. This progressive legislation, already implemented with great success in Sweden, Iceland, and Norway attacks the demand side of the sex services ‘industry’, and thus acts as a powerful deterrent. Every measure which attacks prostitution immediately attacks sex trafficking, a major goal of this effort.
The struggle to pass this legislation has been a long one, for which TFHT laid the foundations and lobbied for every step of the way. The process began when Knesset Member Zahava Gal-On first proposed the bill and MK Orit Zuaretz took on the bill’s sponsorship. This January, the legislation came before the Ministerial Committee, where it was reviewed for a month.
During that month, TFHT and its many dedicated volunteers initiated Project 119 to lobby the Committee to support MK Zuaretz’s proposed bill. With the help of volunteer organizers such as Peggy Sakow in New York and Leonie Fleischmann in London, demonstrations in London, Jerusalem, New York, and Washington, D.C. were organized.
The Task Force also conducted a letter writing campaign, sending hundreds of letters to the Committee members; collected thousands of petition signatures; contacted international community leaders, such as Mark Lagon, the former U.S. Ambassador to Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. Department of State, who agreed to appeal directly to the Committee; and paired Israeli volunteers with specific members of the Committee to intensively lobby for the legislation. In large part a result of this campaigning, on February 12 the Ministerial Committee voted unanimously to support Zuaretz’s proposed legislation, and on February 15 the legislation passed its pre-reading in the Knesset.
The legislation will now go before a committee for review and to ascertain the funding it requires. After the Committee has finished its review, the legislation will be returned to the Knesset for its first, second, and third readings. Due to coalition obligations, Knesset members are expected to vote in favor of the legislation at these readings, though TFHT is taking nothing for granted.
Thus, it is important to note the legislation has still not been passed into law. It is possible that some MKs or ministers will stall indefinitely to delay the process, allowing Israelis to continue to purchase sex at the expense of the suffering of thousands of women and children.
It has been an extraordinary effort to get the bill to this point; we have not yet reached the end. Let’s not lose momentum. To find out how you can help make this legislation a reality, please visit our website and “Like” our Facebook page. Help us secure passage of this progressive legislation that will put Israel at the forefront of the fight against sex trafficking and forced prostitution.
Kayla Zecher
Projects Coordinator for ATZUM’s Task Force on Human Trafficking
