MORE and more teenagers are working as prostitutes around Israel, according to the nonprofit organization Elem – Youth in Distress.
According to a news report in Haaretz, Elem has recorded a five-fold increase this year in the number of young people working as prostitutes, though it says that some of the rise can be attributed to the group’s stepped-up efforts to find victims of prostitution. Elem will present the data today at the Knesset’s Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women.
This year Elem has identified about 620 young people as young as 12 who have been involved in prostitution, compared with 126 last year. The organization believes the scope of the problem is much wider, involving thousands of young people whom the social welfare agencies don’t even know about.
Elem says Israel lacks a central government agency responsible for identifying and treating these young people, about 75 percent of whom are girls. Another 20 percent are boys and the remaining 5 percent are transgender.
“Most young people who fall into prostitution have experienced great distress, physical, sexual or emotional abuse, a major rejection or serious neglect,” said Reli Katzav of Elem.
“Unfortunately, we encounter many cases in which prostitution begins at 12,” she said, adding that the state only provides treatment to girls working as prostitutes but not boys or transgender youth.
“Our clients, who come from all strata of society, are breaking the law, but they are not punished and most of the [legal] files opened by the police and the prosecution are closed on the grounds of a lack of public interest or a lack of evidence.”
According to Messiah’s Mandate (MM), a group that works to end human trafficking and prostitution in Israel, while most orthodox Jews do not engage in prostitution, the prostitution market in Israel is defined by three groups: Foreign workers, Arabs and Orthodox Jews.
“An Orthodox Jew is not allowed to have relations with his wife for a minimum of 12 days after the beginning of her monthly cycle. He can receive a temporary divorce that somehow allows him to use a foreign prostitute,” the MM website said.
Know God | Who is Jesus Christ | How is Jesus Christ unique? | Who will be saved?
