A DEFENSIVE NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER HOSTS TIP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINGSTON 001611

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (BENT) AND WHA/PPC (PUCCETTI)
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP (OWEN) AND (ETERNO)
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD AND J7

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KWMN OPRC PHUM PREL SMIG JM TIP
SUBJECT: A DEFENSIVE NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER HOSTS TIP
MEETING

REF: A. STATE 097853


B. KINGSTON 001444

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Summary
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1. (U) On June 24, at the request of National Security
Minister Peter Phillips, Charge, USAID Mission Director, and
Poloff (notetaker) attended a meeting hosted by Phillips on
the subject of trafficking in persons (TIP) at the Ministry
of National Security (MNS). Unfortunately, Phillips used the
opportunity to criticize the 2005 TIP Report and Jamaica's
downgrade to Tier 3, and to lament what he disingenuously
termed an unfortunate failure to communicate between Post and
the GOJ. Phillips then presented actions taken to date by
the GOJ to combat trafficking, and asked to know definitively
what further steps would be required for Jamaica to receive a
"passing grade" and avoid Tier 3 sanctions. The GOJ also
promised working-level engagement with Post on TIP as soon as
possible. End Summary.

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Phillips Criticizes US for Poor Communication...
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2. (U) On June 24, Charge, USAID Mission Director, and Poloff
(notetaker) attended a meeting at the Ministry of National
Security at the request of National Security Minister Peter
Phillips. Joining Phillips in the 90-minute meeting were
approximately fifteen GOJ representatives, including Gilbert
Scott, Permanent Secretary, MNS; Woodrow Smith, Principal
Director, MNS; Ann-Marie Bonner, Principal Director, Policy
Analysis and Planning Unit, Office of the Cabinet; Gladys
Young, Attorney General's Chambers, Ministry of Justice;
Allison Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Child Development
Agency; George Williams, Assistant Commissioner of Police,
Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF); Raymond Wolf,
Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT),and Pamela Ingleton,
Acting Deputy Director, International Organizations
Department, MFAFT. Reporters from the Jamaica Information
Service appeared before and after the meeting with photo and
video equipment; as Phillips clearly intended, the meeting
received prominent coverage in the weekend news.


3. (U) Phillips devoted the early part of the meeting to
lamenting Jamaica's downgrade to Tier 3 status in the 2005
Trafficking in Persons Report (Ref A). Specifically, he
expressed dismay that he had not been personally notified
earlier of the trafficking issue and the potential for a
downgrade to Tier 3. Phillips described as "unfortunate" the
lack of communication between Post and the GOJ "at the
political level." Phillips asserted that his first exposure
to the trafficking issue and the implications of a downgrade
came from "junior" levels within the Jamaica Defense Force
(JDF). (Comment: In fact, only after Charge and Pol/Econ
repeatedly found MNS, Finance Ministry, and other GOJ
interlocutors unresponsive as the April 30 TIP final update
deadline approached, did Post's Military Liaison Office raise
the issue of trafficking and the implications of a downgrade
at a previously scheduled meeting with the JDF. Though
Phillips may have resented hearing the message from "junior"
JDF colleagues, the JDF deserve credit for appreciating the
stakes and attempting to focus Phillips on addressing it.
End comment.) He conceded only briefly that poor internal
communication within the GOJ may have been partly to blame.
Charge replied that Post had made several attempts to contact
senior GOJ officials, including Finance Minister Omar Davies,
to discuss trafficking and the 2005 TIP Report. Phillips
insisted that Charge should have called him directly, given
the "ease and regularity" with which they normally
communicate.

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...And Lack of Specific Evidence
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4. (U) Phillips went on to challenge the 2005 TIP Report for
what he said was its lack of specificity. Pursuing a line of
criticism that has been common in the Jamaican media since
the public release of the report on June 3, Phillips demanded
"more detail" and evidence on the areas of USG concern,
including the internal trafficking of children, outlined in
the report. He added that the GOJ would also like more
information on how it should respond to the proposed USG
action plan, and asked how Jamaica was expected to "pass the
exam" without knowing "what the passing mark is." Concluding
approximately 15 minutes of opening remarks, Phillips added
that Jamaica has always taken child's rights seriously, and
that "if there is anything we can do, we want to do so."

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GOJ Working Toward a Passing Grade
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5. (U) Responding to Phillips' question on how to "pass the
exam," Poloff explained that the GOJ's anti-trafficking
efforts would be evaluated according to the Trafficking
Victim Protection Act of 2003, which broadly seeks "serious
and sustained efforts" in the areas of prosecution,
protection, and prevention. Poloff added that the Tier 3
Action Plan delivered to the Foreign Ministry on June 2
contained specific suggestions for action within each of
those three areas. For clarification of a concept that
appears to remain unclear in the media, Poloff pointed out
that any child involved in commercial sex is, by definition,
a trafficking victim, and that this area was of particular
concern to the Department. Phillips took the opportunity to
ask ACP George Williams of the JCF and Allison Anderson of
the Child Development Agency to comment on whether they had
found any evidence of child trafficking victims in Jamaica.
Both replied that they had not. Williams explained that JCF
officers had investigated a well-known "sex market" in
Culloden, Westmoreland, where many young women are known to
be recruited to work in nightclubs, but had found all of the
eighty people present to be "adults." He added that no
minors had been found at other targeted locations. Anderson
contributed that she was unaware of any specific cases of
trafficking, though she added that her agency regularly
encountered children who were victims of abuse and
exploitation.


6. (U) Ann-Marie Bonner, Principal Director of Policy
Analysis and Planning, Office of the Cabinet, circulated two
documents for review. The first was a three-page "Plan of
Action," which documented nine "actions taken," eight items
planned for "short term action," and 11 further steps for
"long term action" to address trafficking in Jamaica. In
addition to these actions, Phillips pointed out that the GOJ
had undertaken a review of Jamaican laws to determine which
legislation could be used in the fight against trafficking.
The second document that was circulated outlined the six
pieces of legislation that had been identified, including the
Child Care and Protection Act, Offenses Against the Person
Act, Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens Act, Aliens
Act, Labor Officers Act, and Recruiting of Workers Act.

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GOJ Seeking International Assistance to Combat Trafficking
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7. (U) Following a brief review by the group of the two GOJ
documents, it was agreed that a follow-up meeting should be
scheduled to discuss anti-TIP progress. Phillips stressed
that the actions being taken by the GOJ to fight trafficking
are a "reflection of our own standards as a country," and
that relegation to Tier 3 status is reflecting badly on
Jamaica. He hoped, he said, that the USG appreciated the
magnitude of the Tier 3 rating, and repeated that he would
have liked to receive news of the downgrade before it
happened. He went on to call the report and its findings
"untrue, unfair, and unjust in the absence of detailed
information." Before adjourning the meeting, Phillips
pointed out that the GOJ had held recent meetings on the
subject of trafficking with three United Nations agencies -
UNICEF, UNDP, and UNFPA - and had made a request to the
Inter-American Development Bank for assistance in developing
anti-trafficking programs.

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Comment
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8. (SBU) With three weeks remaining until the July 14-15
visit of G/TIP representatives to Kingston, Post had grown
concerned by the lack of communication from the GOJ on
trafficking since the release of the TIP report, and was
pleased to receive Phillips' invitation to discuss the issue.
However, the presence of media, the size of the team that
Phillips had assembled (a total of 15 GOJ officials),and his
opening monologue set an unfortunate tone for the meeting.
Phillips aspires to become Jamaica's next prime minister, and
his campaign's biggest liability is the country's spiraling
murder rate for which he as National Security Minister
receives much criticism. Evidently, Phillips has calculated
that he cannot also afford to take the blame for Jamaica's
downgrade to Tier 3 despite his Ministry's sustained
non-responsiveness to repeated Embassy outreach efforts and,
eventually, warnings on TIP.

9. (SBU) Comment (cont'd): The Minister's assertion that he
was taken by surprise by the downgrade is patently untrue,
and he used the meeting to save face in front of his team and
to give himself political cover in the media. Indeed, in a
brief private conversation with Charge following the June 24
meeting, Phillips essentially admitted that his remarks were
disingenuous, conceding that he had been kept out of the loop
on this issue by his own government. We note further that,
at a May 31 meeting with Charge to discuss the imminent
release of the 2005 TIP Report, Phillips had also claimed
ignorance of and surprise at the issues raised in it until
Pol/Econ Chief outlined for him Post's repeated and
unsuccessful efforts - including in writing to MNS - urging
the GOJ to engage with us to ensure that the 2004 TIP report
accurately reflected any relevant GOJ efforts.
Unfortunately, Phillips' continued public criticisms of the
TIP report and his claims that its findings were "untrue" and
"unfair" echo the tenor of many public statements made to
date by defensive senior GOJ officials. Regrettable though
the Minister's public posturing has been, however, with
little time remaining before the G/TIP visit and the
September 2 Presidential Determination, he seems fully seized
with the issue. Without prejudging the eventual outcome, at
this stage we are cautiously optimistic that the possibility
of sanctions has focused the GOJ's attention on fulfilling
the TIP Action Plan and establishing and maintaining a viable
anti-TIP strategy. If the price for such an outcome is a bit
of public ministerial disingenuousness, so be it. End
Comment.
TIGHE