Published: 3 July 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
ISRAEL HAS DECIDED to grant a one-year residency visa to a 44-year-old Hungarian born survivor of human trafficking, who has resided in Israel since she was forcibly brought to the country in 1997.
Chile Ezra has become a symbol in the struggle against trafficking of women in Israel. A recovering drug addict and survivor of a violent sexual assault, Ezra stopped working as a sex worker, began a rehabilitation process and has been drug-free for 12 years.
The Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority intended to deport Ezra, but the humanitarian committee that advises the Interior Ministry decided to extend her residency visa and work permit after reviewing her case last week.
Population and Immigration Authority Director General Shlomo Mor-Yosef decided Monday to extend her visa by one year and then re-examine her status in Israel.
Ezra had been a victim of domestic and sexual violence as a girl and had a child at young age. She abused alcohol and tranquilizers and fell prey to a criminal organization that trafficked in women when she was 22.
She was forcibly brought to Israel in 1997, at the peak of human trafficking to the country. Ezra's passport was taken from her and she was trapped in a brothel where women were under strict control under threat of violence. She was forced to work as a prostitute for 20 hours a day, seven days a week.
FULL STORY Israel grants residency to human trafficking survivor leading fight against prostitution (Haaretz)
Photo: Chile Ezra, protesting in front of the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority in Jerusalem, June 2020.
