UPDATE ON ANTI-TIP EFFORTS IN JAMAICA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 001041 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (BENT) DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR G/TIP (OWEN) AND WHA/PPC (PUCCETTI) SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD AND J7 (RHANNAN) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: JM KCRM PHUM KWMN ELAB SMIG ASEC KFRD PREF TIP SUBJECT: UPDATE ON ANTI-TIP EFFORTS IN JAMAICA REF: A. KINGSTON 00576 ¶B. SIEBENGARTNER - BENT 04/11/2005 EMAIL ¶1. This cable provides an update on GOJ anti-TIP efforts since Post's initial input (ref A) for the 2004-2005 anti-TIP report. Post will continue to report any substantive developments in advance of the April 30 submission deadline. -------------- Senior Officials Form Multi-Agency Task Force -------------- ¶2. On April 8, the GOJ convened a meeting of its newly formed trafficking in persons task force at the Ministry of National Security in Kingston. Eleven representatives from seven government agencies attended the meeting, which was chaired by Principal Director Woodrow Smith of the Ministry of National Security (MNS). In addition to Smith, attendees included: Karl Hamilton, Security, Intelligence, and Operations Division, MNS; Carol Charlton, Senior Director for Immigration, Citizenship, and Passports, MNS; Winston Bowen, Director of Programs, Child Development Agency (CDA); Audrey Budhi, Director of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation, CDA; Glenda Simms, Executive Director, Bureau of Women's Affairs (BWA); Jennifer Williams, BWA; Pamela Ingleton, TIP coordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT); members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) High Command and organized crime unit; and members of the Ministry of Development. ¶3. The task force met with the primary objective of formulating a unified national strategy on TIP and to implement that strategy throughout the government by engaging agencies integral to combating human trafficking in Jamaica. Ingleton explained to Poloff on April 8 that the meeting was born primarily out of concern for the well-being of Jamaican citizens who may be victims of trafficking, but was also a response, at least in part, to the counter-trafficking seminar hosted in March by the Organization of American States (OAS). At that Washington seminar, members of the Jamaican delegation, including Charlton and Williams, espoused a view of trafficking in Jamaica that was not consistent with the official GOJ position (ref B). "Deeply concerned" by what transpired, the task force sought to clarify the GOJ's official position for those in attendance. ¶4. The meeting, which lasted approximately 90 minutes, successfully avoided the antagonism that has in the past surrounded the issue of TIP in Jamaica by prohibiting any debate of the existence or extent of the country's trafficking problem. The task force also denied requests by some attendees for an academic exploration of the socioeconomic conditions in Jamaica that cause trafficking. Organizers presumed that all those in attendance were already well aware of these causes, and pushed for constructive solutions to the problem at hand. ¶5. The task force assigned a core team, including Hamilton, Ingleton, Budhi, and Simms, to explore Jamaica's anti-trafficking legislation and its commitments to international protocols on trafficking. The team's findings, Smith told Poloff, would serve to build a case for improved domestic trafficking legislation, which would be presented to the Cabinet for deliberation. The core team was scheduled to meet again by the end of April to discuss its findings. -------------- GOJ Requests Assistance in Fighting TIP -------------- ¶6. Smith mentioned to Poloff that he had attended a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) meeting in Vienna from March 6-14. Smith said that he used the opportunity to request from UNODC officials training and assistance for immigration and law enforcement officers to combat human trafficking in Jamaica. MFAFT's Ingleton has also made it clear to Poloff that the GOJ, while willing to tackle trafficking, will require assistance to launch an effective campaign. -------------- Cabinet-Level Engagement -------------- ¶7. Separately on April 7, USAID Mission Director met with Minister of Health John Junor and used the pre-scheduled meeting to raise the issue of trafficking in persons in Jamaica, and to make clear to the Minister USG concerns about the issue, as well as the real possibility (and likely consequences) of a downgrade to Tier 3. Junor was receptive to the message, and noted that his ministry was already addressing some issues related to TIP, and that he was willing to pursue projects focused specifically on the prevention of trafficking and the protection of victims. He made clear that there is a need to "further define the issue" in order to formulate a strategy that is effective in the Jamaican context. Junor supported Post's proposal to engage other cabinet ministers on TIP in an effort to continue to clarify the issue for the GOJ and to develop an effective strategy to combat the problem. -------------- Workshops Underway for Government Agencies -------------- ¶8. With the cooperation of the GOJ, People's Action for Community Transformation (PACT),a local USAID-funded NGO, has developed a series of trafficking sensitization workshops focused on prevention and victim assistance. Seven of these workshops, designed for government agencies, will take place throughout April and May. On April 7, approximately 35 members of the Ministry of Education, representing all of the departments within the ministry, attended one such workshop. Reports from meeting organizers and feedback from attendees have been encouraging. One senior education official, Phyllis Reynolds, the Head of Core Curriculums, approached PACT organizers following the workshop and suggested a meeting with Minister of Education Maxine Henry-Wilson in order to brief her on Jamaica's trafficking situation. On April 14, nearly 40 officials from the Child Development Agency (CDA) attended the same workshop. The CDA officials, primarily social workers, attended from around the island and were exposed -- most for the first time -- to basic concepts in trafficking. Poloff attended the morning session and observed that, once they understood the definition, most of the attendees seemed to recognize cases of trafficking from their own experience working with children across the island. Similar workshops will be held in coming weeks for law enforcement officers, youth groups, and other government agencies. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. The Foreign Ministry's TIP officer expressed frustration and disappointment when informed by Poloff of last month's public outburst by the Jamaican delegation at the OAS counter-trafficking conference in Washington. She insisted that individuals who attended the conference did not represent official GOJ policy, which is to accept the country's trafficking problem and to work within the GOJ's means to prevent the situation from worsening. Last week's task force meeting, while doubtless the product of real concern for Jamaica's trafficking victims (and, perhaps, the possibility of Tier 3 sanctions),was likely also an attempt to educate key players in the government about TIP and to push for a unified national strategy that would avoid similar embarrassing flare-ups in the future. While the Foreign Ministry was integral in pushing for the meeting, oversight of the group is now the responsibility of the National Security Ministry. In the face of serious resource limitations, the GOJ depends on NGOs like PACT for assistance in some of its programs. GOJ cooperation with PACT in developing anti-TIP programs is a welcome step in the right direction, and a (belated) expression of GOJ political will to combat human trafficking in Jamaica. End Comment. TIGHE