PARAGUAY TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS DEVELOPMENTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASUNCION 000173

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR INL/LP (ABBY SMITH),G/TIP (LINDA BROWN),WHA/PPC
(MICHAEL PUCCETTI)
DEPT PASS USAID LAC/AA
NSC FOR KIMBERLY BREIER
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KWMN SMIG PGOV PREL ELAB ASEC KCRM PINR PA
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS DEVELOPMENTS

Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly.


1. (U) Summary:
--------------
--IADB project moving forward
--Japanese Embassy announces bilateral project
--NGO Luna Nueva finishes major TIP study
--More Paraguayan women rescued in Argentina and Spain
--Paraguay and Spain negotiating TIP agreement
--President considering decree to establish government-wide
TIP Commission

IADB project moving forward
--------------

2. (U) The Interamerican Development Bank released the final
document announcing its USD 185,000 bilateral anti-TIP
project with the GOP. The project has been in the planning
stages for the past six months. The bulk of the funds will
be dedicated to increasing awareness of the trafficking
problem through a public education campaign and working with
the Paraguayan media to increase coverage of TIP.
Additionally, the project provides funds to the GOP to
enhance its capacity to keep records and maintain statistics
on TIP.

Japanese Embassy announces bilateral project
--------------

3. (U) The Embassy of Japan in Asuncion announced that the
Japan Special Fund will provide USD 400,000 for an
anti-trafficking program. The funds will be administered by
the Interamerican Development Bank and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. The program will be wide-ranging,
incorporating training for prosecutors in the Attorney
General's Office, training for teachers to permit them to
recognize sexually exploited children in their classes, and
projects with municipalities to enable neighborhood watch
committees to identify trafficking attempts. The program
will initiate in April and is scheduled to run for 24 months.

NGO Luna Nueva finishes major TIP study
--------------

4. (SBU) Luna Nueva, an Asuncion-based NGO that assists
sexually abused women and children, will issue a major report
on trafficking in persons during the first half of February.
Luis Bogado Poisson, regional representative of the
International Organization for Migration, told PolOff that
the IOM contracted with Luna Nueva last year to carry out the
study, which it will deliver to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. The study will be wide-ranging, according to
Bogado, identifying major trafficking routes and criminal
groups involved with trafficking in Paraguay, and apparently
implicates agents within the GOP in trafficking activities.
Bogado also noted that the report is not to be released to
the public (though Post will receive a copy of the report),
as it will serve law enforcement purposes. Bogado added that
the report will include statistics covering criminal
investigations and prosecutions of TIP in Paraguay, but did
not comment on the methodology that Luna Nueva used to
compile them. He said that the report itself would provide
such details.

More Paraguayan women rescued in Argentina and Spain
--------------

5. (U) During January, there were three significant rescues
of Paraguayan women who had been trafficked into prostitution
in Argentina and Spain. Two of the incidents were in the
province surrounding Buenos Aires, with five women rescued in
the first case and two in the other. The IOM paid for the
women's return to their families in Paraguay. Luz Gamelia of
the Secretariat for Repatriations told PolOff that one of the
rescued women, a minor, claimed that her stepfather had sold
her to a trafficker, but was unwilling to press charges
against him. In the Spanish city of Valladolid, police freed
nine women (one of whom was Paraguayan) from forced
prostitution. Press reports indicate that the Paraguayan
woman was expelled from Spain for entering illegally.

Paraguay and Spain negotiating TIP agreement
--------------

6. (U) Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Martinez Lezcano
announced on January 20 that Paraguay is negotiating an
agreement with Spain to cooperate on TIP. Martinez noted
that the GOP is very concerned by the increasing numbers of
Paraguayan women and children working in the sex trade in
Spain, and cited several cases in which Paraguayan women have
been trafficked to Spain with the promise of legitimate
employment there. Carlo Arce, an official with the
Interamerican Development Bank who consulted for the Foreign
Ministry on the issue, told PolOff that the GOP seeks an
agreement to include both cooperation between the two
countries' judicial systems and expanded services for
Paraguayan trafficking victims in Spain.

President considering decree to establish government-wide TIP
Commission
--------------

7. (SBU) Kathya Bareiro of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the coordinator of the National Anti-Trafficking Action Plan,
told PolOff that the Interagency Roundtable on Trafficking in
Persons has sent President Duarte a draft executive order
creating a national commission on TIP. The draft order
includes establishment of a permanent database on trafficking
prosecutions, officially mandates the national 911 telephone
system to receive trafficking complaints, and instructs GOP
ministries to cooperate with foreign government and
international organizations on TIP. The order will charge
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with coordinating anti-TIP
efforts across ministries.
JOHNSON