TW: Prostitution and death
Did you know that ELEM is a member of the Israeli Coalition to Battle Prostitution? The coalition is part of the Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution.
In 2015, a young woman, Jessica, was found dead in a brothel in Tel Aviv. Ever since then, the coalition holds an annual vigil in her memory and the memory of another 109 women who lost their lives while working in prostitution in the last decade. They’ve never been treated with respect, not while they were still alive, and not after their deaths.
Participants at the vigil used art to remind us all that they weren’t prostitutes, as they so often were referred to, but women with lives, dreams, hopes, feelings, fears, like the rest of us. Their lives weren’t easy, but they had moments of beauty in them. It’s that beauty that helps many women in prostitution today to hold on. We hope that as a society we can create more beauty in their lives, and fight by their side for their right to live in peace, safety and respect.
Watch a video from the vigil below:
