Cablegate: Spain Appreciates Usg Outreach Regarding

VZCZCXRO0035
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHMD #1101/01 3210755
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170755Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1446
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4207

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001101

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE - MCKNIGHT, ZERDECKI, AND G/TIP -
AMB. CDEBACA, DONNELLY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB
SP, KTIP
SUBJECT: SPAIN APPRECIATES USG OUTREACH REGARDING
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

REF: A. MADRID 187
B. 08 MADRID 1337

MADRID 00001101 001.3 OF 002

1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, head of the
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP),
on October 7 held a DVC with GOS officials and Embassy Madrid
staff in which he expressed his interest in maintaining open
dialogue with Spain and outlined areas for prospective
collaboration on combating TIP. Spanish officials outlined
the GOS approach to combating TIP, provided an update on
year-to-date efforts to implement their national plan to
combat TIP for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and
responded favorably to the Ambassador's calls for increased
bilateral cooperation to combat TIP.

2. (U) The GOS was represented by Trinidad Noguera,
Immigration Adviser to First Vice President Maria Teresa
Fernandez de la Vega; Isabel Valdecabres and Diego Blazquez,
Advisors to Minister of Equality Bibiana Aido; Patricia
Fernandez Olalla of the Prosecutor's Office for Foreign
Affairs Issues; Jaime Rodriguez Suarez of the Organized Crime
Intelligence Center (CICO); and Rodrigo Montero Sanchez of
the Spanish National Police's (SNP's) Central Brigade on
Immigration Networks. END SUMMARY.

//How Spain Approaches TIP//

3. (SBU) In his opening statement, Ambassador CdeBaca stated
that the USG's victim-centered approach focuses more on the
human rights aspect of trafficking and the denial of basic
freedoms and less on the transit flows of immigration. He
emphasized that it was more important to focus on the
condition of servitude for both sex and labor trafficking
cases, rather than emphasizing the differences between sexual
and labor exploitation. He also expressed his interest in
the process by which potential TIP victims are identified in
Spain, how TIP victims were treated during the critical first
few weeks of identification, how TIP data was collected, and
problems in tracking judicial statistics on TIP cases due to
traffickers sometimes being tried for other offenses.

4. (SBU) Noguera stated that Spain's approach to TIP is
similar to the USG, stressing that the Zapatero
Administration believes that TIP is an attack on human
rights. She said that the GOS is convinced that a
comprehensive approach is necessary to combat TIP and added
that the GOS believes that any kind of trafficking is a kind
of slavery. She summarized the GOS position by stating that
when women are at risk, society is at risk. She added that
building public awareness is key to combating TIP.

5. (SBU) Blazquez observed that 80 percent of TIP victims in
Spain are trafficked for sexual exploitation. He reviewed
Spain's efforts to combat this activity through its December
2008 National Plan to combat TIP for the purposes of sexual
exploitation (see Ref A), which he noted was part of a
broader national plan on human rights (Ref B). He also added
that during the drafting of the anti-TIP plan the GOS met
with and sought the input of NGOs and civic groups.
Meanwhile, the GOS is working on a second plan to fight TIP
for the purposes of labor exploitation; the draft currently
is at the inter-ministerial level.

//Spain's Year-To-Date Efforts to Implement its Anti-TIP
Plan//

6. (SBU) Blazquez explained that Spain's plan to combat TIP
for the purposes of sexual exploitation has a 2009 budget of
44 million euros (roughly USD $65 million), with the bulk
allotted to the Ministry of Interior. GOS officials also
indicated that there is a new program, budgeted at 2 million
euros (roughly USD $3 million) to finance civil society and
NGOs' efforts to protect TIP victims. As part of this
effort, the GOS is working on the development of three
separate protocols on coordination between health services
and law enforcement; the security forces' relationship toward
social services; and the social services relationship toward
security forces (to guarantee the security of the victims and
the NGO's). CICO is developing a joint database that
combines TIP-related data generated by both the SNP and the
Civil Guard to enable CICO to produce more comprehensive
reports on TIP. Eventually data from Spain's autonomous
police forces also will be included in this database.
(Comment: Spain's Basque Region and Catalonia have their own
police forces. End Comment.) Montero remarked that the SNP
is increasing its number of TIP investigation teams in cities

MADRID 00001101 002.3 OF 002

throughout Spain and that every police station has a TIP
specialist. He added that - compared to five years ago - the
SNP is now better trained on TIP issues. On the diplomatic
front, the GOS is offering special courses for its diplomats
and consular officers to recognize and identify TIP victims.

7. (SBU) As part of its implementation of the anti-TIP plan,
the GOS is drafting amendments to the Spanish Criminal Code
and the Alien Law, to explicitly define trafficking as a
crime separate and distinct from smuggling. According to
Fernandez, every province in Spain has a special prosecutor
on TIP issues. However, because smuggling and trafficking in
persons currently are registered under the same criminal code
number in Spain, it is difficult to track statistics that are
trafficking-specific. She noted that TIP cases had
traditionally been treated as an "aggravated form of
smuggling." Thus, law enforcement statistics as reported in
the narrative for Spain in the 2009 TIP Report are likely
conflated with smuggling and other trafficking-related data.
The Criminal Code is being revised to separate the two
crimes, and the problem should eventually be solved, but as
of now, only labor exploitation and coercion are considered
crimes in the Spanish Criminal Code. Fernandez further
pointed out that if the TIP victim is from an EU member state
- such as Romania, a leading source of TIP victims in Spain -
and coercion is not involved, there is no way that pimps or
organized crime networks can be prosecuted for "smuggling of
people." Similarly, Spain was unable to prosecute a domestic
case of internal trafficking involving 13 victims that were
mentioned in the UNODC's 2009 Report on Trafficking in
Persons. Domestic cases of internal trafficking cannot be
prosecuted under the current Spanish criminal code. To help
address the lack of information about the number of TIP
convictions in Spain, the Ministry of Justice plans to
conduct a comparative study to cross reference the number of
police reports on TIP with the number of convictions.

//Prospective Areas for Collaboration//

8. (SBU) Pointing to the October 13 meeting at the White
House between Presidents Obama and Zapatero as a sign of
increasingly closer bilateral ties and acknowledging the
importance that both leaders attach to combating TIP, CdeBaca
said the USG was enthusiastic about cooperating with the GOS,
especially during Spain's EU presidency and framed the USG's
interest in collaborating with the GOS on combating TIP as
part of Secretary Clinton's initiative to emphasize the role
of Partnerships as a key pillar in the fight against
trafficking. He offered to pass on relevant U.S. legislation
on trafficking that Spanish officials may think would be
useful to study. Citing his previous field experience as a
former prosecutor on TIP cases with the U.S. Department of
Justice, CdeBaca offered to provide a technical review of
current Spanish draft amendments/legislation on trafficking.

9. (SBU) CdeBaca also proposed that a partnership could be
forged to coordinate developmental aid to third countries in
order not to waste or duplicate efforts as both countries
pursue the same objectives. He suggested that Spain and the
USG in 2010 could coordinate the funding of NGO programs
whereby one country could support one part of the program
(such as working with a Church) and the other a different
aspect (such as police training). CdeBaca indicated this was
an idea to follow-up on when the new Ambassador to Spain
arrives at Post. Noguera indicated that the GOS would be
agreeable to discussing areas of prospective cooperation.

10. (SBU) COMMENT: This DVC was an important event to
illustrate to the GOS the importance that the USG places on
combating TIP. Post wishes to thank Ambassador CdeBaca and
the G/TIP Office for their availability to participate in the
DVC. END COMMENT.

11. (U) Ambassador CdeBaca has cleared this cable.
CHACON

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