VATICAN TRAFFICKING DVC PRODUCES BIG RESULTS

UNCLAS VATICAN 002817

SIPDIS


DEPT. FOR EUR/WE: LEVIN; G/TIP: AMBASSADOR MILLER; PRM

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM SMIG VT
SUBJECT: VATICAN TRAFFICKING DVC PRODUCES BIG RESULTS

Ref:A) Vatican 0283; B) State 59846

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Summary
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1. A June 30 Trafficking in Persons Digital Video
Conference (DVC) linked key Holy See contacts and media
with G/TIP's Ambassador John Miller. In conjunction with
Embassy Rome, Embassy Vatican brought together three key
elements in the fight against human trafficking: Vatican
officials and religious personnel, faith-based
organizations and NGOs, and media interested in raising
awareness of this modern-day slavery. Participants left
the event better informed about the Department's anti-TIP
initiatives and enthused about further efforts against
trafficking. Post will continue to use DVC technology to
connect the Department with Vatican-affiliated
organizations worldwide. End Summary.

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Conference Links Department with Vatican Community
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2.A June 30 Digital Video Conference (DVC) dedicated to
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) linked key Holy See contacts
and media with G/TIP's Ambassador John Miller. In
conjunction with Embassy Rome, Embassy Vatican brought
together three key elements in the fight against human
trafficking: Vatican officials and religious personnel
involved with the Catholic Church's efforts to address TIP,
faith-based organizations and NGOs as first responders for
victims, and media as a strategic resource for raising
awareness of TIP.

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Influential Officials Attend
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3.Participants included Holy See officials from the
Secretariat of State and from the Council for Migrants and

SIPDIS
d
Itinerant Peoples. In addition, top officials from the
Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Holy Cross Fathers attended
the session and expressed interest in becoming more
involved in fighting TIP. Both male religious orders have
a significant presence on the ground in both origin and
destination countries. They should be instrumental in the
expansion of Post's highly successful anti-trafficking
training program implemented by the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) with funding from PRM (ref
a). An element of the program's expansion entails training
personnel from male religious orders to confront the demand
side of trafficking and generally raise awareness.

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Lively Interaction
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4.Ambassador Nicholson began the afternoon with an
introduction to the issue and to the participants.
Attendees appreciated Ambassador Miller's effort to
summarize key findings of the 2004 Annual TIP Report, many
of them Italy specific. Several representatives made
presentations and participated actively in the lively
question and answer session. The Italian Union of Major
Superior's (USMI) Sister Eugenia Bonetti, a 2004 TIP Report
"Trafficking Hero," critiqued aspects of current Italian
laws that do little to discern between illegal immigration
and human trafficking, and therefore limit assistance for
those affected by the latter.

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Extensive Media Coverage
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5.Media coverage of the DVC was extensive and included
reports in U.S.-based Catholic and non-Catholic print
media. U.S. television coverage is also expected.
Coverage in Italy was broad and included FIDES (Vatican-
affiliated international news agency),ANSA (Italy's
official news agency),AGI (Italy's second largest news
agency),and AP.com (AP-affiliated agency).

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Comment:
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6. Post thanks Embassy Rome and G/TIP for their work on the
DVC and notes the positive feedback from our participants.
We appreciate Ambassador Miller's offer to continue
dialogue with Vatican-affiliated organizations and plan to
organize further DVC events to that end.

Nicholson


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2004VATICA02817 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED