Honduras TIP Update: GOH Active in Preventing and

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 000382 SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, DRL/IL, DRL/PHD, AND INL/LP STATE FOR WHA/PPC AND WHA/CEN STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN DOL FOR ILAB DOJ FOR OPDAT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM SMIG KWMN ELAB PGOV PREL KJUS HO SUBJECT: Honduras TIP Update: GOH Active in Preventing and Combating TIP REF: (A) Tegucigalpa 116 (B) Tegucigalpa 70 (C) 03 Tegucigalpa 2965 (D) 03 Tegucigalpa 2825 (E) 03 Tegucigalpa 2350 ¶1. Summary: Honduras has been active in recent months on a number of trafficking in persons (TIP) fronts. This cable provides an update on these efforts. End Summary. TIP Seminars - Prevention and Eradication of TIP -------------- --- ¶2. The Embassy brought in first a U.S. NGO expert (ref E) and then invited G/TIP Senior Reporting Officer Phil Linderman to be keynote speakers at seminars organized by the Honduran government on the prevention and eradication of the commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in women and children in Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba in 2003, and in San Pedro Sula and Santa Rosa de Copan in January 22-23, ¶2004. On the margins of the seminars in January, Linderman and LabAtt held various meetings on TIP issues with GOH and NGO officials. Linderman also did extensive press interviews on TIP. Recent GOH Efforts to Prevent/Combat TIP -------------- ¶3. At the January seminars, Honduran Delegate to the OAS Women's Commission Ambassador Soledad de Ramirez Soto highlighted several recent advances in combating TIP: - police are training school children to prevent commercial sexual exploitation; - the GOH has established a toll-free number to report commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)/TIP -- the GOH worked with ILO/IPEC and NGOs to provide training to the press on TIP; -- the GOH, in conjunction with UNICEF, has begun a public information campaign against trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, and it has tried to raise awareness of children and women's rights and risks associated with illegal migration. The NGO Casa Alianza has also launched a public information campaign against commercial sexual exploitation of children. Casa Alianza CSEC Study Leads to GOH Action -------------- ¶4. The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a continuing problem in Honduras, but getting an estimate of the magnitude of the problem has been difficult. ILO/IPEC, in conjunction with the NGO Center for the Study of Women- Honduras (CEM-H),and Save the Children UK, have both worked on studies in the past. Casa Alianza released a study in December 2003 estimating that there are approximately 8,335 children who are victims of some form of commercial sexual exploitation. The report also identified 1,019 children (979 of whom were female) who are being commercially sexually exploited. According to a February 12 Casa Alianza press release that praised the GOH, following the issuance of the study, Honduran authorities conducted operations in late January and early February in which "30 girls, victims of CSEC, have been rescued from taverns and brothels in Honduras." The GOH also conducted operations December 16, 2003 in Tegucigalpa, raiding four establishments with CSEC victims, and also in late 2003 conducted raids, freed CSEC victims, and arrested two people in the Honduran/Nicaraguan border towns of Guasaule and El Triunfo. Please see: http://www.casa-alianza.org/ES/human-rights/s exual- exploit/docs/16122003.phtml for more information on the study. Ringleader in Texas TIP Case Arrested -------------- ¶5. In May 2002, federal agents raided six bars and seven homes in Forth Worth, Texas and detained 88 people, many on suspicion of immigration violations. Members of a family from Choluteca, Honduras, were ringleaders of the scheme that trafficked 29 Honduran women and five Honduran girls to work at the bars. The victims were subject to sexual exploitation and debt bondage. Honduran authorities participated in law enforcement investigations that led to several convictions in the U.S. Honduran police, working closely with the Department of Homeland Security, recently arrested alleged ringleader Roger Galindo in San Lorenzo, Honduras on February ¶5. Also arrested February 5 were Marlene de Jesus Aguilar Galindo and Sabina Cepeda; Maria Isabel Cruz Zamora is still a fugitive with a pending Honduran arrest warrant. Roger Galindo and the others had been fugitives since the original arrests in 2002. Arrests in Chinese Alien Smuggling -------------- ¶6. Honduran police arrested two Taiwanese citizens in 2003 on charges of alien smuggling in cases that could have some TIP elements, as it is possible that the Chinese would have been subject to debt bondage to pay off their smuggling fees. The Taiwanese were caught trying to smuggle PRC nationals to the U.S. via San Pedro Sula, Honduras using fraudulent documents. Chen Ke Jung, arrested in San Pedro Sula on October 12, 2003, has since violated probation status and is currently a fugitive. Len Wei-Chung, arrested December 26, 2003, is still in jail. (See ref A for more information on these cases.) ¶7. Honduran police also arrested Chinese naturalized Hondurans Hu Weng Rong (December 9, 2003) and He Jia Bin (December 11, 2003) in San Pedro Sula for involvement in an alien smuggling ring for PRC nationals using fraudulent documents. Both are still in jail. (See refs B-C for more information on these cases.) USG Assistance to Combat TIP -------------- ¶8. The Embassy is spending $350,000 in 2003-2005 in INL Police Assistance Funds to support the Frontier Police to, among other goals, prevent and interdict the transportation of illegal immigrants, including TIP. This is in addition to the $29,400 G/TIP is spending to fund Department of Justice Office of Prosecutorial Development and Training (OPDAT) classes in 2004 for Honduran police and prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting TIP. Palmer