Rape and Related Issues by Bassam Imam - HTML preview

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Luckier victims stay at the Maagan Shelter located in Tel Aviv. According to the Maagan Shelter website it was created according to the decision of the government of the State of Israel (decision N 2806 dated 1/12/2002). The Maagan Shelter officially opened its doors on February 15, 2004.

The Maagan Shelter is a safe haven for former victims to live in. Medical care and psychological counselling are provided. Residents receive therapeutic care and can be actively  involved in the decisions pertaining to the internal operations of the shelter.

Not all sex trafficked women in Israel can make it to a shelter. Some women who are able to escape hide. The criminals within the sex trafficking network are so horrid, they'll rape, beat, torture or kill a trafficked woman without shedding a tear.

Prostitution in Israel is legal; brothel operations and pimping are illegal though.

Wherever trafficked sex workers may be, foreign women are often most sought after. Clients want a Jdifferent flavour'. The women often appear run-down, used and in dire straits. Clients don't seem to care. In December of 2011, Guatemalan authorities announced they disassembled an international sex trafficking network that enticed Guatemalan women to Jordan, wherein they worked as prostitutes.

Two nationals and two Jordanians were arrested. Guatemalan authorities said that the arrested persons were big players belonging to a sex trafficking network. The unsuspecting women were enticed by false promises of work in Jordan with good pay (relative to Guatemalan salaries; $400 per month). Upon arrival to Jordan, the women were beaten and then forced to work long hours as prostitutes. Their food supply was severely restricted. Not understanding the language or the culture, these women were helpless.

Human sex trafficking, unlike other kinds of illegal trafficking is not viewed as a threat to national security.

Today, major illegal trafficking  networks deal in drugs, weapons, animals or animal by-products and human trafficking. There's big money in each of the aforementioned activities. But be careful if you get in their operator's way.

Saudi Arabia has a human trafficking problem. Boys, in particular from Bangladesh and India are brought into the country forcefully to work as jockeys. They are commonly beaten, brutalized, underfed in order to maintain a proper jockey weight, and sexually violated. The Saudi authorities couldn't care less about these young victims.

In addition, men and women from India, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Philippines and parts of Africa are trafficked to do forced labour. They have little or no recourse if they aren't paid, abused, or sexually violated.

Cases of physical or sexual abuse can also occur for Legally bound domestic workers and servants. As the law stipulates,  passports of foreign nationals are always confiscated by their Saudi sponsor. Strict measures for all workers, regardless of status include entry and exit visas, and passport requirements to travel from one city to another.

 Domestic women servants from the Philippines appear to be the hardest hit. Sponsors' payment for work rendered can be shaky. Domestic workers fear the Saudi Authorities,  and rightfully so. In this brutal regime, complainants from Third World countries may face stiff penalties, severe punishment, imprisonment, or deportation. The word of a Saudi national is almost always enough. He need only say, "I am a Saudi". It has worked many times.

Wealthy employers may feel that they have a right to sexually violate their domestic workers; sexual slavery. The withholding of payment is one of the weapons used by them.

Decades ago poor Muslim African nationals were enticed to go to Saudi Arabia by providing free transportation for the Hajj Pilgrimage, upon arrival the victims were thrown into the pit of slave-like conditions.

Western women in Saudi Arabia can also be physically abused, forced into seclusion and sexually violated, but at a significantly lower rate than their Third World counterparts.

Without a passport, and the fact that Saudi Law prohibits women from leaving the country without permission or escort of a male guardian, it's very difficult to escape. The authorities don't care; western governments apply little or no pressure for change. In addition, the so-called religious authorities (who are usually  puppets  of the regime)  don't appear to be protesting.

I was told a story by a Muslim woman domestic worker who had been chased within a mansion by a friend of her employer. He was trying to rape her. She was lucky to have been able to strike the assailant and neutralize him.

Another case in Saudi Arabia that occurred in 2005 involves a Muslim woman who was thrown to the ground and then bitten on the face. The perpetrator attempted to rape her. Luckily, she was able to ward him off. After notifying the authorities the perpetrator was apprehended.

The authorities claimed that the perpetrator was mentally ill. Often-times when the authorities make this kind of a statement it means that the perpetrator will likely not be punished. The woman was from a Third World country.

Sexual traffickers don't care if the women they traffic are co-religionists, co-nationals or if they share a common race or culture. The women are lifeless sexual commodities  to be profited from. Besides, as far as sex traffickers and pimps are concerned these women are replaceable. Sexual trafficking is a brutal form of slavery. The women who are victimized are treated like chattel.

Street Walkers (Street Prostitutes), including those that aren't trafficked, can be faced with dangerous Johns at any  time. Furthermore, the life of this kind of a sex worker is very strained; illicit drug use and addiction, STDs, alcohol, chain smoking, working long and odd hours and violent pimps, constant run-ins with the law, most of or all of the cash earnings may go to the pimp.

Rape for a prostitute is just as painful as it is for a non-prostitute. Street walkers (Street Prostitutes) are similar to sex trafficked women in the sense that they're treated the worst of any category of sex workers. A minority of street walkers are men.

Street prostitution is not a victimless crime. Every single time that a woman or teen girl sells her body she has become a victim, even if she's too high or drunk to realize it.

PTSD  is  quite  prevalent   among  street  walkers. Unfortunately, because of the kind of work done the prostitute almost always cannot recover from PTSD, for the simple fact that she is violated on a regular basis. As soon as she makes a serious attempt to recover from a horrible event another one occurs. Worse yet, society as a whole is merciless.

On August 26, 2012 a prostitute named Celeste F