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Israel is under fire for a whole new set of reasons. According to a report by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the state has a serious problem and inability to deal with child prostitution within its borders.

An unnamed source told Israeli newspaper Haaretz, that although there is an increasing awareness of the problem, helping juvenile prostitutes “still falls between the governmental cracks.”

The issue stems from an inability to coordinate between state agencies and a lack of official data being kept by the Israeli government. Prosecution and punishment of Israeli purveyors of child prostitution is also seriously under resourced, according to the report.

The Israeli parliament, or Knesset, was expected to discuss the report last week.

The UN committee charged Israel with failing to establish a state agency devoted to child rights, against its recommendations.

People suspected of sex crimes against minors are investigated at a low rate, and more often than not the accused do not go to trial .

Israel officially ratified the piece of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that focuses on child trafficking and child prostitution in 2008, yet the most recent UN evaluation shows that the country has not taken the proper and immediate steps toward dealing with the problem.

The Knesset’s research center released data of sex crimes against minors in 2014, showing that only 11 percent of 2,349 cases have resulted in a verdict.

Staggeringly, nearly 45 percent of Israeli police investigations into child prostitution were closed in the past year. 30 percent of these because the criminal was unknown and 13 percent due to lack of public interest, according to Haaretz.

Chair of the Knesset Committee on the Rights of the Child, MK Yifat Shasha-Biton from the center-right Kulanu party, expressed outrage at the lack of interest in prosecuting offenders. Shasha-Biton said “A sentence of up to three years for obtaining sex services from a minor is ridiculous.”

A member of the Israeli Education Ministry told Haaretz, “It’s preferable to speak with the students first about healthy, normative sexuality before we get into the issue of prostitution.” But she made it clear that there are not specific lesson plans to deal with prostitution in Israel’s schools, only those dealing with “healthy sexuality.”

Haaretz reported three months ago that the Social Affairs Ministry is aware of the exploitation of about 970 children, but estimates of the actual numbers are near 1,250.

An official in the Social Affairs Ministry seconded the criticism of the UN report, saying the ministry "works to rehabilitate minors employed in prostitution, but doesn't coordinate with the Education Ministry on preventing [minors] from sliding into prostitution or on locating minors employed in prostitution."

A source with knowledge of the issue said “Despite the progress that has been made, there’s still no known, agreed figure on the number of minors exploited for prostitution,” adding “This is in gross contradiction of a series of public and governmental committees which said that gathering data is the essential first step in dealing with the problem.”

The Israeli city of Tel Aviv’s south side is notorious for its brothels and rampant prostitution, as well as the state’s inability to aid and protect the most vulnerable in that part of the city.