Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04TEGUCIGALPA756
2004-04-01 12:51:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tegucigalpa
Cable title:  

EMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA FY2004 ANTI-TIP BILATERAL

Tags:  PHUM SMIG KWMN KCRM ELAB ASEC PGOV KJUS HO 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
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

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