EMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA FY2004 ANTI-TIP BILATERAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 000756 SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, INL/LP, WHA/PPC, PRM/PRP, AND WHA/CEN STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM SMIG KWMN KCRM ELAB ASEC PGOV KJUS HO SUBJECT: EMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA FY2004 ANTI-TIP BILATERAL PROJECT PROPOSAL REF: (A) Tegucigalpa 576 (B) State 28738 (C) State 7869 ¶1. As one of the focus countries for the President's Initiative to combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) (ref B), Post is pleased to present an anti-TIP bilateral project proposal. Post understands that several of the Mission's proposed anti-TIP activities in the areas of prevention, assistance to victims, and prosecution of TIP offenders will be under strong consideration for funding under the President's initiative. ¶2. Post shares G/TIP's desire to produce immediate tangible results. The best approach in Honduras - particularly with respect to effective prosecution of TIP offenders - would be to build on existing POL/INL and USAID criminal justice sector strengthening and training programs. ¶3. At Post, POL/INL and USAID provide training to Honduran prosecutors and law enforcement on issues of priority to the U.S., such as drug trafficking, money laundering, alien smuggling, and extradition. During the past four years, POL/INL helped the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sponsor training, technical assistance, and conferences directed at combating alien smuggling and TIP. Historically, POL/INL has directed training efforts toward prosecutors, investigators, and police at all levels in Honduras in the area of law enforcement investigations, and USAID has been responsible for the training of prosecutors and judges in the areas of prosecutions and trial methods. In addition, given that trafficking in persons is a crime in Honduras (as is illegal migration),POL/INL should manage the law enforcement investigations training for this project. ¶4. USAID has worked closely with the Honduran Attorney General's office providing significant technical assistance in the development of a new oral, adversarial criminal justice system under the new Criminal Procedure Code. This work has been ongoing for the past four years and USAID has developed an excellent working relationship with the Public Ministry in the process. Given this track record, USAID should be responsible for training prosecutors and judges on TIP- specific projects. ¶5. USAID and the Public Affairs Section (PAS) should oversee any U.S. assistance to support a campaign that promotes public awareness in the Honduran context. PAS has a wealth of established contacts in the Honduran media that are unsurpassed. The Ambassador looks to PAS to take the lead on public information aspects of issues, such as TIP, in Honduras. Moreover, PAS has successfully partnered with Honduran public institutions and NGOs in the past on similar projects. USAID may also be able to contribute significantly to this campaign, as it has worked successfully with local NGOs on public information campaigns in the areas of anti- corruption and judicial reform. ¶6. In summary, Post is convinced that a country-based and well- coordinated approach on TIP investigations, prosecutions, and a public awareness campaign is the key to helping Honduras develop a more effective, indigenous anti-TIP law enforcement and prevention strategy. ¶7. Goal: Post will provide a two-year project including training, technical assistance, equipment, and public awareness campaigns that will facilitate strengthened laws, institutionalization of a specific police investigative unit working in cooperation with prosecutors and judges focused on TIP and TIP-related crimes, and a more fully developed public awareness campaign that will help bring the justice sector and the NGO community closer together in this urgent fight against trafficking in persons. ¶8. Objectives: This project will provide for three equally important and intertwined objectives: the establishment and institutionalization of a Ministry of Public Security investigative unit that will focus solely on TIP and TIP- related crimes; the strengthening of laws that govern this type of crime (already underway by the GOH) as well as the capabilities of the prosecutors and judges to prosecute and convict perpetrators of TIP crimes; and a well-defined public awareness campaign that will reach the population that is most vulnerable to TIP crimes. ¶9. Activities: The Ministry of Public Security (MoPS - police) and the Public Ministry (prosecutors),as well as Post, have acknowledged a need to focus specific attention on TIP. In furtherance of this acknowledgement, Post, through its INL program, proposes to provide training, technical assistance, and equipment to the Ministry of Public Security to strengthen a well-trained TIP investigative unit that will also work closely with POL/INL, DHS, and other U.S. law enforcement agencies in the investigation of TIP crimes. Training, technical assistance, and equipment will be provided by USAID to prosecutors and judges to form a countrywide group of prosecutors and judges that will work closely with investigators to prosecute TIP crimes. USAID and PAS will work closely with Honduran NGOs and Honduran government agencies to expand and strengthen implementation of a national public awareness strategy. ¶10. Timeline: The project as a whole should be institutionalized and turned over to the Government of Honduras (GOH) in two years. Using Post resources, POL/INL and PAS can begin providing training, technical assistance, and equipment within 30 days of receiving funds and USAID within 90 days of receiving funds. It is estimated that this project as a whole will be completed within a two-year period if funding request levels are met. ¶11. Sustainability: At the completion of this two-year plan to strengthen the capabilities of the (GOH),the GOH will be expected to fund the infrastructure and necessary budget to insure continued success in the investigation and prosecution of TIP crimes. The GOH has already demonstrated their commitment to this issue by providing adequate budget in the MoPS five-year strategic plan and budget for the Special Investigation Unit of the Frontier Police. The Public Ministry continues to support its Organized Crime Unit, which is made up of prosecutors that have worked closely with POL/INL, DHS, and other U.S. agencies on TIP-related crimes and issues. The assistance provided for a public awareness campaign would be sustained and continued through efforts by the GOH and NGOs, as well as other international donors. ¶12. Performance Indicators: This three-pronged project will produce strengthened capabilities of the investigative unit and prosecutors as well as the increased prosecution and cooperation with the U.S. on TIP-related crimes. In addition, public awareness of this predatory crime will have reached many rural areas outside the major cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. ¶13. Evaluation Plan/Process: The three portions of this project will be discussed on a monthly basis at Post's Democracy Working Group. In addition, on a quarterly basis, Embassy officials in charge of the three projects will meet with their Honduran counterparts to discuss and review statistics gathered on arrests, prosecutions, and reports of attempted TIP crimes to determine the level of activities being undertaken by the units receiving assistance under this project, as well as to discuss problematic areas and propose solutions to those problems. In addition, annual inventories and end use monitoring of all donated equipment will be conducted by Post. ¶14. Cost: The cost estimate for the first year of this proposed two-year project is $800,000.00: Investigative support (POL/INL) a. Training $60,000 (including "train the trainer" training for investigators, as well as a field training program that will provide assessment of impact of classroom training and feedback on investigative techniques) b. Technical assistance and operational support $170,000 (in addition to the technical assistance and operational support that is already provided and ongoing by POL/INL, DHS and other U.S. law enforcement agencies, technical advisors specializing in specific TIP-related forensic, crime scene, investigative techniques, use and control of informants and information will be utilized. In addition, services for mobile phones and satellite phones, as well as other operational support mechanisms, will be funded.) c. Equipment $90,000 (provide equipment used in the investigation of TIP-related crimes such as surveillance equipment, a small amount of vehicles, and a server-based computer system which can be connected to the current Honduran criminal information database.) Prosecutorial and Judicial Support (USAID) d. Training $ 170,000 (included will be TIP-specific "train the trainer" training for the Public Ministry and Supreme Court training departments, as well as TIP-specific training courses for prosecutors and judges based on Honduran laws.) e. Technical Assistance $130,000 (included will be TIP- specific technical assistance to facilitate the strengthening of laws and/or regulations that impact TIP crimes and prosecution.) f. Equipment $90,000 (the organized crime unit which will have a special TIP unit of prosecutors will be provided with a computer system that will enable them to access the criminal information database.) Public Awareness Campaign (USAID and PAS) g. Training $40,000 (provide training seminars to reporters and NGO's in furtherance of the public awareness campaign against TIP-related crimes.) h. Technical Assistance $50,000 (provide funding and technical assistance to insure distribution of information and seminars to the population of Honduras, specifically to those who are most vulnerable to TIP crimes.) Palmer