INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Nea: Instructions for 2009 Tip Interim Assessment

Published: Fri 30 Oct 2009 10:48 PM
VZCZCXRO5277
PP RUEHTRO
DE RUEHC #2489/01 3032310
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 302248Z OCT 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 5387
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3804
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 9298
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1589
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 3778
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA PRIORITY 1501
RUEHMK/AMEMBASSY MANAMA PRIORITY 6909
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT PRIORITY 1379
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA PRIORITY 0174
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY 0605
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 3305
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 112489
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KTIP KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG AG BH EG AE LY MU LE
TU, QA, YM,
SUBJECT: NEA: INSTRUCTIONS FOR 2009 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT
REF: NONE
1.(U) This is an action cable; action request in paras 5 and
6.
2.(SBU) The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended in
2003, requires the Secretary of State to submit a "Special
Watch List" of countries on the TIP Report that either 1) had
moved up a tier on the TIP Report over the last year or 2)
were ranked on Tier 2 but a) had not shown evidence of
increasing efforts to address severe forms of TIP from the
previous year, b) were placed on Tier 2 because of
commitments to carry out additional future actions over the
coming year, or c) had a significant or significantly
increasing number of victims of severe forms of TIP.
3.(SBU) The "Special Watch List" has been submitted to
Congress, as required, along with the President's
determinations for sanctions of Tier 3 countries. The TVPA,
as amended, now requires the Secretary to submit to Congress
an Interim Assessment on the Special Watch List countries no
later than February 1, 2010.
4.(SBU) The Interim Assessment, which the Department plans to
release on January 5, 2010, will serve as a narrowly-focused
progress report, assessing only a country's key deficiency(s)
highlighted in the June 2009 TIP Report. Measuring progress
or lack of progress in addressing these deficiencies (the
basis for which the country was placed on the Watch List
initially) is the main purpose of the Interim Assessment.
This will not/not serve as a large-scale analysis of
anti-trafficking efforts in the relevant country. Similarly,
it will not describe the trafficking problem in that country
(readers can refer to the 2009 TIP Report for that).
Finally, it will not mention Tiers or allude to progress in
achieving a higher tier or, conversely, forecast a fall to a
lower tier.
5.(U) Action Request for Action Addressees: Please answer
the questions addressed to your Post in para 6 in concise
analytical terms, citing examples of the progress (or lack
thereof) sparingly. Post's submission should not exceed four
or five paragraphs. The final Interim Assessment will
include a narrative of no more than half a page on each
country's progress. Please provide these responses to the
Department via front-channel cable -- slugged for NEA/RA and
G/TIP -- no later than November 16.
6. (U) Interim Assessment Requirements:
A: FOR EMBASSY ALGIERS: Please summarize the progress, or
lack thereof, the Government of Algeria has made in (a)
implementing Algeria,s new anti-trafficking law through
training of law enforcement and judicial officials,
investigating potential offenses, and prosecuting offenders;
(b) strengthening institutional capacity to identify victims
of trafficking among illegal migrants; (c) improving serves
available to trafficking victims, such as shelter medical,
psychological, and legal aid; (d) ensuring victims are not
punished for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of
their being trafficked; and (e) undertaking a campaign to
increase public awareness of trafficking. Please report on
any other significant developments.
B. FOR EMBASSY MANAMA: Please summarize the progress, or
lack thereof, the Government of Bahrain has made in (a)
significantly increasing investigations and prosecutions of
trafficking offenses ) particularly those involving forced
labor ) and convicting and punishing trafficking offenders;
(b) instituting and applying formal procedures to identify
victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as
domestic workers who have fled from abusive employers and
prostituted women, and referring identified victims to
protective services; (c) and ensuring that victims of
trafficking are not punished for acts committed as a direct
result of being trafficked, such as illegal migration or
prostitution. Please report on any other significant
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developments.
C. FOR EMBASSY CAIRO: Please summarize the progress, or lack
thereof, the Government of Egypt has made in (a)
substantially increasing law enforcement activity against
trafficking, including the growing problems of the
involuntary domestic servitude of children and child sex
trafficking; (b) drafting and enacting legislation
criminalizing all forms of human trafficking; (c) instituting
and applying a formal victim identification procedure to
ensure that trafficking victims are not punished or otherwise
treated as criminals for acts committed as a direct result of
being trafficked; (d) providing in-kind or financial support
to NGOs providing protection services to victims; and (e)
implementing a comprehensive public information campaign to
educate the public on the definition and dangers of
trafficking. Please report on any other significant
developments.
D. FOR EMBASSY BAGHDAD: Please summarize the progress, or
lack thereof, the Government of Iraq has made in (a) enacting
and implementing a law that criminalizes all forms of
trafficking; (b) investigating, prosecuting, and punishing
trafficking offenders; (c) providing protection services to
victims, ensuring that they are not punished for acts
committed as a direct result of being trafficked, and
encouraging their assistance in prosecuting offenders; (d)
training officials in methods to identify victims; (e)
undertaking a campaign to raise public awareness of
trafficking; (f) taking measures to screen migrant workers to
identify human trafficking; (f) taking steps to end the
practice of forced marriages and curbing the use of temporary
marriages that force girls into sexual and domestic
servitude; (g) considering measures to reduce abuse of
migrant workers who learn upon arrival in Iraq that the job
they were promised does not exist; and (h) regulating
recruitment practices, including recruitment fees, of foreign
labor brokers to prevent practices that facilitate forced
labor. Please report on any other significant developments.
E. FOR EMBASSY BEIRUT: Please summarize the progress, or
lack thereof, the Government of Lebanon has made in (a)
Criminalizing all forms of trafficking in persons; (b)
investigating and prosecuting trafficking offenses under
existing law and convict and punish trafficking offenders;
(c) developing and instituting formal procedures to identify
victims of trafficking among vulnerable populations, such as
women holding work permits and foreign domestic
workers who have escaped from abusive employers; (d)
considering measures to lessen the abuse of the
work permit as a conduit for sex trafficking; (e) enforcing
Lebanese law prohibiting the confiscation of passports of
foreign maids; (f) implementing the March 2009 Labor Code
revision that provides a unified contract; and (g) ensuring
that victims of trafficking are referred to protection
services rather than detained for crimes committed as a
direct result of being trafficked, such as immigration
violations and prostitution. Please report on any other
significant developments.
F. FOR EMBASSY TRIPOLI: Please summarize the progress, or
lack thereof, the Government of Libya has made in (a)
criminalizing all forms of trafficking; (b) increasing law
enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking
offenses; (c) increasing training of government officials to
identify and provide protection to victims; (d) developing a
program to assist victims; and (e) undertaking an information
campaign to raise public awareness of the problem of human
trafficking. Please report on any other significant
developments.
G. FOR EMBASSY MUSCAT: Please summarize the progress, or
lack thereof, the Government of Oman has made in (a)
increasing investigations and prosecutions of trafficking
crimes and convictions and punishment of trafficking
offenders; (b) continuing the training of government
officials in all relevant departments to recognize and
respond appropriately to human trafficking crimes;
(c)instituting formal procedures for identifying trafficking
victims among women in prostitution and illegal migrants and
transferring them to care facilities; (d) completing
construction and beginning operation of a shelter that
STATE 00112489 003 OF 003
provides appropriate protection services to both labor and
sex trafficking victims, including shelter and medical,
psychological, and legal assistance; and (e) enacting and
enforcing penalties for employers who withhold their
employees, passports as a measure to prevent labor
trafficking. Please report on any other significant
developments.
H. FOR EMBASSY DOHA: Please summarize the progress, or lack
thereof, the Government of Qatar has made in (a) enacting the
draft comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation;
(b)significantly increasing efforts to investigate and
prosecute trafficking offenses, and convicting and punishing
trafficking offenders; (c) instituting and consistently
applying formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking
among vulnerable groups, such as those arrested for
immigration violations or prostitution; and (d) abolishing or
significantly amending provisions of Qatar,s sponsorship law
) such as the provision requiring workers to obtain their
sponsor's permission to leave Qatar -- to prevent the forced
labor of migrant workers. Please report on any other
significant developments.
I. FOR EMBASSY TUNIS: Please summarize the progress, or lack
thereof, the Government of Tunisia has made in (a) utilizing
existing criminal statutes on forced labor and forced
prostitution to investigate and prosecute trafficking
offenses and convict and punish trafficking offenders; (b)
undertaking a baseline assessment to better understand the
scope and magnitude of the human trafficking problem; (c)
raising public awareness of human trafficking; (d) developing
a specific and comprehensive national law against human
trafficking that includes both transnational and internal
trafficking; and (e) instituting a formal victim
identification mechanism to identify and refer trafficking
victims to protection services. Please report on any other
significant developments.
J. FOR EMBASSY ABU DHABI: Please summarize the progress, or
lack thereof, the Government of the United Arab Emirates has
made in (a) increasing efforts to investigate and prosecute
human trafficking offenses, particularly those involving
labor exploitation, and convicting and punishing trafficking
offenders, including recruitment agents (both locals and
non-citizens) and employers who subject others to forced
labor; (b) developing and instituting formal procedures for
law enforcement and Ministry of Labor officials to
proactively identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable
groups such as workers subjected to labor abuses, those
apprehended for violations of immigration laws, domestic
workers who have fled their employers, and foreign females in
prostitution; (c) improving protection services for victims
of sex trafficking and forced labor, including adequate and
accessible shelter space, referral to available legal aid,
and credible recourse for obtaining financial restitution;
(d) considering sustaining and expanding the pilot program
involving recruitment of foreign laborers in key source
countries in order to eliminate recruitment fraud and other
contributing factors to debt bondage and forced labor; (e)
ensuring trafficking victims are not incarcerated, fined, or
otherwise penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct
result of being trafficked; (f) considering conducting
interviews of potential trafficking victims in safe and
non-threatening environments with trained counselors
(preferably conversant in the victims' language); (g)
collaborating with sending countries of laborers and domestic
workers on investigations of recruiting agencies that engage
in trafficking; and (h) working proactively with NGOs to
provide services for victims and educate both employers and
workers on the practices that constitute human trafficking,
and how to prevent them. Please report on any other
significant developments.
K. FOR EMBASSY SANAA: Please summarize the progress, or lack
thereof, the Government of Yemen has made in (a) taking law
enforcement action against human trafficking; (b) improving
protection services available to victims of trafficking for
commercial sexual exploitation; and (c) instituting a formal
victim identification mechanism to identify and refer victims
to protection services. Please report on any other
significant developments.
CLINTON
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