Israel, Egypt Placed on U.S. Trafficking Watch List

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Israel and Egypt, both U.S. allies, were demoted in a State Department ranking of countries judged on efforts to combat forced labor and other forms of exploitation.

Israel was put on a "watch list" because the government failed to provide evidence that it is addressing conditions of involuntary servitude "allegedly facing thousands of foreign migrant workers," the State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" said.

Egypt was put on the same list, a step that can lead to U.S. financial sanctions, because it didn't show that law enforcement efforts had been stepped up to fight the smuggling of Eastern European women across the Sinai Desert to work in the Israeli sex trade, the report said. Trafficking concerns about Iran and the World Cup soccer tournament also were highlighted in the report.

Placement on the watch list "stands for worry, it stands for warning," U.S. Ambassador John Miller, an adviser on international slavery, told reporters at the State Department in Washington today.

Countries on the watch list are in jeopardy of being dropped the following year into the lowest ranking, where they face the possibility of U.S. sanctions relating to foreign aid. Support from the U.S. government for loans from the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank may also be withheld."


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=avHegq9859C8&refer=us

[Scurrilous]

1. Israeli-Canadian women trafficking ring busted

According to suspicions, ring members placed ads in Russian newspapers in Israel offering escort services in Canada

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3259333,00.html

<snip>

"The police have busted an international women trafficking ring between Israel and Canada. Details of the ring were released by police Tuesday morning, with the arrest of three suspects in the case. The suspects are a couple from Ariel, aged 40 and 26, and a 40-year-old Lod resident."

<snip>

"Police Supervisor Stoklov told Ynet Tuesday morning that "this is an international network for selling women. The network was active in Russia, Israel, Canada, and the United States. This is a slave trade. They take the women and check them, their bodies, like they check slaves."

"We have made arrests in the early morning and are holding three suspects, one of whom is known to us from the women trafficking field, while the other two are not known to us."

The investigation was coordinated with law enforcement agencies in Canada and the US, where arrests are expected shortly."