NGOs held a mock trial to highlight violence against migrant women, which they say the state has ignored.
Sponsored by the Isha L’Isha Haifa Feminist Center and the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, the Tuesday mock trial included testimonies of three female migrant victims, which were presented by actresses in order to protect the women from risk of retaliation.
The females represented included an Eastern European migrant, an applicant for refugee status, and a Palestinian woman. All women were tricked into exploitation and/or the state allegedly undermined their rights and abilities to care for their children.
As part of the “trial,” attorney Stav Paskay described the situation before a district court, which compelled the state to admit – after extensive attempts to avoid discussing the issues – that it does little to nothing to follow up with such problems in the lives of migrants and undocumented workers.
The woman who is an Eastern European migrant told about being an adolescent who relied on an Israeli man who promised he would find her work and care for her. The man had smuggled her to Egypt against her will, where she was brought to a 70-year-old man who, she said, “took my passport, enslaved me and did anything he wanted with my body.”
The woman who was a refugee applicant explained that, due to a complex documentation issue, she was forced to be in touch with her daughter’s father – who was in jail – in order to get just the basic healthcare services from the state.