about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce
Supervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem monitor
ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated
incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the
region

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 150,000-420,000 (Arab villagers displaced from homes in
northern Israel) (2006)

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Israel is a destination country for low-skilled
workers from Eastern Europe and Asia who migrate voluntarily for
contract labor in the construction, agriculture, and health care
industries, some of whom are subsequently subjected to conditions of
involuntary servitude; many labor recruitment agencies in source
countries and in Israel require workers to pay large up-front fees
that often lead to debt bondage and vulnerability to forced labor;
Israel is also a destination country for women trafficked from
Eastern Europe for the purpose of sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Israel is placed on the Tier 2
Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts
to address trafficking, namely the conditions of involuntary
servitude allegedly facing thousands of foreign migrant workers

Illicit drugs:
increasingly concerned about cocaine and heroin abuse; drugs arrive
in country from Lebanon and, increasingly, from Jordan;
money-laundering center

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Italy

Introduction Italy

Background:
Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the
peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King
Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a
close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist
dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to
Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the
monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter
member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has
been at the forefront of European economic and political
unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.
Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime,
corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low
incomes and te