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On the black market, they’re the
third most profitable commodity, after illegal weapons and
drugs—the only difference being that these goods are
human, though to their handlers they are wholly expendable.
They are women and girls, some as young as twelve, from all
over the Eastern bloc, where sinister networks of organized
crime have become entrenched in the aftermath of the collapse
of Communist regimes.
In Israel, they’re called Natashas, whether they’re
actually from Russia, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, or Ukraine,
and whatever their real names may be. They’re lured
into vans and onto airplanes with promises of jobs as waitresses,
models, nannies, dishwashers, maids, and dancers. But when
they arrive at their destinations, they are stripped of their
identification, and their nightmare begins. They are sold
into prostitution and kept enslaved; those who resist are
beaten, raped, and sometimes killed as examples. They often
have nowhere to turn; in many cases, the men who should be
rescuing them—from immigration officials to police
officers and international peacekeepers—are among their
aggressors. The worldwide traffic in human beings is already
a crisis of epic proportions, and it continues to grow. The
Natashas is an indispensible and startling call to action.
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