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.

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Senior Officials Form Multi-Agency Task Force
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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.

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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.

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Cabinet-Level Engagement
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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.

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Workshops Underway for Government Agencies
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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.

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Comment
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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