A/HRC/4/23 page 13 women to Israel for the purpose of prostitution. The State of Israel is aware of approximately four or five such cases. Moreover, the Government reported that “Israeli men, often handicapped, marry women from poor countries in order to have them work as service providers. The women consent in the hope that this will enable them to break the cycle of poverty”. 35. In addition, the Government of Mexico reported that cases of forced marriages that led to trafficking in persons for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation had been detected in several states/municipalities of the country. Data indicate that some families traffic their minor daughters to be married to older men with economic resources. The girls are too young to be able to make a decision, and in some cases the consent is given by the family. The Iraqi NGO, SOITM Foundation reported that owing to the current situation in Iraq, a large number of Iraqi women were being recruited by sex traffickers and that some who had been taken to the Gulf States as wives were later used in the local prostitution industry. 36. Moreover, there is evidence that adolescent females have been trafficked over international borders between polygamous communities in the United States and Canada to enter into arranged polygamous marriages.10 A 2005 Canadian report on polygamy challenged the idea that “women who participate in polygamy actively consent to this, given the social isolation and religious indoctrination to which they have been subjected throughout their lives”.11 Polygamy could, therefore, be seen in certain contexts as akin to a forced marriage and thus akin to slavery and bondage, when women and girls are married without their free and full consent. 37. The NGO La Strada in Moldova informed the Special Rapporteur that in the years 2002-2004, it registered two cases of forced marriage for the purpose of trafficking in human beings: in one case the victim “married” a United States citizen, and the other case involved a Moldovan citizen in Germany. In addition, the Serbian NGO ASTRA-Anti-Trafficking Action reported that in its work it had come across women who had been forced into marriage with a pimp following their sexual exploitation. The marriages had been concluded to conceal a criminal offence, eliminate a potential witness or misrepresent the situation of the woman. The ASTRA legal team is currently seeking to annul the forced marriage of a victim to her trafficker. A Norwegian research report of 2004 concluded that a large number of women trafficked to Oslo for prostitution originally arrived in Norway through marriage with a Norwegian man.12 E. Forced marriage in the context of trafficking in persons, especially women and children 38. There is a clear recognition in United Nations and regional agreements, as well as in national legislation, that many women and girls around the world live under conditions where, 10 Angela Campbell, et al., Polygamy in Canada: Legal and Social Implications for Women and Children - A Collection of Research Papers (Ottawa, Canada: Status of Women, Canada, 2005). 11 Ibid. 12 Anette Brunovskis and Guri Tyldum, Crossing Borders, Oslo, Fafo-report 426, 2004.