PROTECTION
The government continued to improve efforts to identify and protect trafficking victims, yet unidentified victims among the African migrant population remained vulnerable to the government’s policy of detaining migrants.The government continued to widely circulate victim identification guidelines to government ministries, which regularly referred potential victims to the police to open an investigation and ensure the provision of protective services. Authorities also continued to cooperate with NGOs on victim identification and referral.The police continued a program with an NGO to help identify and refer to protection sex trafficking victims picked up during police raids of brothels; police identified 28 victims during brothels raids in 2014. The government continued to fund the 35-bed Maagan shelter for female trafficking victims, a 35-bed Atlas shelter for male trafficking victims, and an 18-bed Tesfa shelter specifically catered to the cultural and social needs of female victims from Eritrea and Ethiopia; all shelter residents were provided work permits and allowed to leave freely. These

shelters offered one year of rehabilitation services, including job training, psycho-social support, medical treatment, language training, and legal assistance. The government also funded transitional apartments with 18 beds for trafficking victims, and, in December 2014 it opened a six-bed transitional apartment for male trafficking victims. In 2014, the Maagan shelter assisted 58 victims, including 27 who were newly referred to the shelter. Authorities referred 17 women to the Tesfa shelter. Transitional apartments housed 38 women, and the Atlas shelter assisted 79 men. The Ministry of Social Affairs continued to operate a day center in Tel Aviv for male and female African trafficking victims, some of whom were awaiting space at the shelters.The center provided psycho-social services and food aid and identified individuals at risk of trafficking and referred them to shelter services. In 2014, the center provided services to over 100 African men and women, primarily from Eritrea, who police identified as trafficking victims abused in the Sinai. Additionally, the government continued to provide trafficking victims who opted not to live in shelters an official letter that protected them from potential arrest and emergency contact numbers of the shelters and relevant ministries.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) legal aid branch continued to provide free legal aid to trafficking victims. In 2014, the branch received 88 legal aid requests from victims, including 47 African men and women who were trafficking victims in the Sinai. In 2014, the government issued 111 B1 visas—unrestricted work visas—and one-year rehabilitation visas to trafficking victims.The government encouraged victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers, but did not require their participation as a condition for receiving visas and protective assistance; victims could also opt to leave the country pending trial proceedings. The government allowed trafficking victims to work during the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers.
Though most trafficking victims were not punished for acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking, unidentified trafficking victims among the irregular African migrant population were regularly detained for immigration violations under the Law of Infiltration. In December 2014, the government amended the law, which determined irregular African migrants remain in prison for three months, followed by 20 months in the Holot holding facility.Though the government characterized Holot as an open facility, an international organization and Holot residents claimed it was a de facto detention center due to its remote location in the desert, poor access to healthcare, and restrictive requirements on movement.Though the government identified and released from detention four trafficking victims in 2014, an NGO identified and referred 29 trafficking victims among those in detention facilities to the MOJ legal aid branch; at the end of the reporting period, the government granted only eight of these referrals trafficking victim status.

PREVENTION
The government continued its efforts to prevent and raise awareness of human trafficking.The anti-trafficking unit met on a regular basis with government ministries, NGOs, and the Knesset (parliament); conducted trainings for officials; advised officials on labor practices in the agricultural sector and fishing industry; and maintained a website on human trafficking.The anti-trafficking unit also continued to chair an inter-ministerial committee appointed to study women and children in prostitution in Israel and, in 2014, it formed a working group with various ministries and an NGO to address child prostitution. The Knesset Subcommittee on

Trafficking in Women and Prostitution and the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers met several times during the reporting period. In December 2014, the government presented its seventh annual awards to individuals or organizations making a significant contribution to combat human trafficking.
PIBA continued to monitor recruitment agencies and manpower companies for labor law violations, and the government produced and distributed a victim identification pamphlet to manpower agencies. In accordance with PIBA procedures for recruitment agencies in the caregiving sector, it required every agency to hire a licensed social worker responsible for supervising the conditions of foreign caregivers, including home visits, and for informing relevant authorities about labor violations. In 2014, the Ministry of Interior reported an increased focus on training social workers to identify potential cases of human trafficking among caregivers. In 2014, the police charged 26 individuals for alleged crimes against foreign workers, such as inflated brokerage fees and fraud. The Ministry of Economy, which employed 274 labor inspectors and contracted translators during routine inspections, initiated 796 investigations and issued 982 administrative warnings against 413 employers for labor violations in 2014. The government continued to operate a 24-hour hotline for foreign workers to lodge complaints. The government reported efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and forced labor. In 2014, the government prosecuted nine defendants and convicted two individuals for purchasing commercial sex with children, while it also initiated the prosecution of a potential forced labor case that included elements of exploitation. The government also made efforts to prevent potential trafficking of African migrants who had been abused—or affiliated to persons abused—in the Sinai; it prosecuted four and convicted two offenders for crimes committed in the Sinai, some of which may have included trafficking. The government made significant efforts to address sex tourism. The Ministry of Tourism adopted the Global Code of Ethics in Tourism in January 2014, and throughout 2014 it implemented awareness raising of trafficking in the tourism sector and anti-trafficking training on this issue for government officials, tourism industry representatives, and NGOs. Israeli law prohibits Israeli nationals from engaging in child sex tourism abroad. The government provided anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.