MOLYVIATIS FOLLOWS UP ON TIP ISSUES IN GREECE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 001268

SIPDIS

EUR/SE FOR PARENTE AND YOUNTCHI
EUR/PGI FOR BETKA
G/TIP FOR DONNELLY
INL/CTR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2009
TAGS: PREL PHUM KWMN GR TIP
SUBJECT: MOLYVIATIS FOLLOWS UP ON TIP ISSUES IN GREECE


Classified By: Amb. Charles P. Ries. Reasons 1.4(b/d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a May 9 meeting with Ambassador
(following a May 5 Interministerial Council on TIP --the
result of Molyviatis's April 29 telcon with U/S Burns),
Molyviatis undertook to speed up agreement with Albania on a
child repatriation protocol, to provide more comprehensive
trafficking statistics, to implement a nation-wide, long-term
anti-TIP public awareness campaign, and to try to convince
the Greek Justice Ministry to accept the need for a mandatory
screening mechanism. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) U/S Burns called Molyviatis April 29 to lay out five
urgent TIP priorities for Greece: (1) sign a child
repatriation protocol with Albania; (2) provide data on, and
try to increase number of, convictions of traffickers; (3)
conduct nation-wide public awareness campaign to
educate/inform both the general public and victims; (4)
increase the number of women referred to anti-TIP shelters;
and (5) develop a screening mechanism for law enforcement to
identify victims, and a referral mechanism for NGOs to direct
victims to appropriate care. Ambassador reviewed the points
with Molyviatis on May 3. On May 5 Molyviatis convened a
high-level TIP discussion in the Interministerial Trafficking
Committee specifically to respond to these points.


3. (C) In their May 9 meeting, Molyviatis briefed Ambassador
on the results of the 5/5 Interministerial Committee meeting
(see text at para 4) and provided some additional comments on
the five identified priorities:

-- Molyviatis acknowledged the need to rapidly conclude a
child repatriation agreement with Albania. One hour after
the meeting, Molyviatis's Chef d'Cabinet called PolCouns with
an update: the MFA had "all but finalized" its revisions to
the draft document received from Tirana. The Ministry of
Public Order is still working on one new paragraph on
cooperation between police forces. The MFA is pressuring the
MPO to finalize the draft so it can be returned to Tirana for
their review. (NOTE: Only after both sides agree on the text
can the text be sent to Parliament for approval. END NOTE.)

-- Molyviatis agreed to request more complete data on number
of traffickers in prison and length of sentences from the
Ministries of Justice and Public Order.

-- Molyviatis agreed to support nation-wide, long-term public
awareness campaigns to educate the general public of the
trafficking problems and inform victims and potential victims
of their rights.

-- Molyviatis explained that, of all the priorities, the
screening mechanism was the most problematic. The Justice
Minister had been advised that the screening mechanism would
abrogate the State's powers by turning over to NGOs
responsibility for victim identification. Ambassador
clarified that the involvement of NGOs would not replace the
frontline security responsibilities of the Greek police.
NGOs, could however, be enormously helpful to the Greek
authorities as the civilian face of the state -- reassuring
victims of their status and arranging for any required care.
Molyviatis agreed to call Papaligouras today to explain that
it was important to agree on a mechanism to institutionalize
the role of NGOs in this process.


4. (U) BEGIN TEXT MFA DOCUMENT:

Informal Note

Subject: Meeting of Interministerial Committee on Human
Trafficking (May 5th)


The Committee which met on the 5th of May decided inter alia:

A new Draft Agreement on Children-Trafficking is to be sent
to the Albanian side in the next weeks. A new Greek law,
necessary for the agreement, regarding the appointment of a
temporary Guardian entrusted with escorting children to their
country of origin, has already been sent to the Parliament by
the Ministry of Justice.

Available data on arrests, related to trafficking as well as
to convictions, will be given to the press. According to
these, since 2002, 357 suspects, 25 of which in the first
three months of 2005, have been prosecuted and 71 persons
convicted.

Already existing cooperation with Non-governmental
organizations will be strengthened, especially in the field
of public awareness, victims information and shelter keeping.

A systematic campaign to inform public opinion on the problem
of trafficking will be launched by the General Secretariat
for Gender Equality with the presence of members of the
Interministerial Committee and the NGOs, and it will
complement the ongoing information circulated through the
media. One of the aims of the campaign will be to encourage
victims to refer to the authorities of relevant NGO,s.

END TEXT.
Ries