TIP IS KEY TOPIC AT THESSALONIKI ANTI-ORGANIZED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 000346

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/SE, G/TIP, INL/HSTC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM GR TIP
SUBJECT: TIP IS KEY TOPIC AT THESSALONIKI ANTI-ORGANIZED
CRIME CONFERENCE

THIS IS A JOINT ATHENS-THESSALONIKI MESSAGE.


1. (U) SUMMARY: Law enforcement officials and prosecutors
from the Balkan region, as well as reps from regional and
international organizations met February 1-2 in Thessaloniki
at a conference co-sponsored by the Embassy/Consulate and the
Stability Pact to compare notes on fighting trafficking in
persons, among other cross-border issues (septel reports on
the conference in general). Presenters noted new trends in
the phenomenon, including the rise of women traffickers and
less violent methods used to deal with victims. The TIP
workshop, in which USG briefers figured prominently, was a
good demonstration of the progress made in fighting TIP on a
regional basis, especially using the SECI Anti-Crime Center
in Bucharest, but also indicated that communication among
Balkan countries needed to improve. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) At a workshop during the February 1-2 conference in
Thessaloniki on organized crime in the Balkans, co-sponsored
by the Embassy/Consulate and the Stability Pact, law
enforcement and other officials from the region discussed the
phenomenon of trafficking in persons and alien smuggling.
Other participants included reps from the OSCE, INTERPOL,
EUROPOL, Stability Pact, the SECI Center and SEEPAG, and USG
reps from Washington, Athens, Thessaloniki, Skopje, Tirana
and Bucharest,


3. (U) Presenters noted the following TIP trends and
related information:

-- Changing nature of TIP: Stavros Boufidis, head of a Greek
victim assistance NGO and rapporteur for the conference's
TIP/Alien Smuggling workshop, said that physical violence
against TIP victims by their traffickers was less of a
problem now than in the past. Traffickers have changed tack,
cajoling their victims and making them feel more as
accomplices than as victims, which complicates prosecution.
He added that traffickers are now using more "legal" means,
such as obtaining genuine tourist visas, to traffic their
victims. Women traffickers, including some who themselves
had been victims, are a growing phenomenon, noted Barbara
Carlin, LEGAT in Skopje.

-- Role of NGOs: Nearly every presenter agreed with the
central role NGOs can play in the TIP fight. Nick Garlick of
EUROPOL's Crimes Against Persons Unit said that NGOs not only
provide humanitarian assistance and counseling, but can help
prepare victims emotionally to testify against their
traffickers. Boufidis argued that a police-NGO MOU would be
the best means to enable anti-TIP NGOs to more effectively
screen and assist victims.

-- Witness Protection Programs: Garlick indicated that many
trafficking victims are not good candidates for witness
protection programs (usually because they refuse to relocate)
and special programs need to be designed. Boufidis said
these programs should also extend to those who help the
victims (he later told poloff that he himself had been
threatened by traffickers for the assistance he had provided
to victims).

-- Convictions and Asset Seizure: Helga Konrad, OSCE's
Special Rep on TIP, mentioned that, in general, promising
prosecutions rarely end in convictions/sentences, and
emphasized that traffickers need to serve time in jail to
serve as a deterrent. It is not enough for there to be
suspended sentences and/or fines. She and Charles
Cunningham, Section Chief of FBI's Transnational Criminal
Enterprise Section, also made a pitch for countries of the
region to adopt and implement strong asset seizure laws to
make certain traffickers go out of business.

-- Regional Cooperation: Reps from SECI, SEEPAG, EUROPOL and
INTERPOL all gave presentations on the assistance their
organizations can provide to help regional law enforcement
officials and prosecutors fight human traffickers. In
particular, SECI reps noted how their organization has been
successful in mounting a number of cross-border anti-TIP
operations that resulted in the arrest and prosecution of
traffickers.

-- Greece's Role: Greek police major Tonia Andreakou, head of
the anti-TIP unit, discussed how Greek TIP trends reflect
European trends, the new one month reflection period in
Greece, and the 12 now-operational anti-TIP police units
throughout Greece. She shared the difficulties police have
in differentiating voluntary prostitutes from TIP victims.
(Note: A challenge which might be eased by Boufidis'
suggestion for more formal police-NGO cooperation. End Note.)
Hercules Moskoff, Human Security Expert at Greece's Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, described the working group with embassy
officials the MFA recently implemented with IOM. He stated
publicly, perhaps for the first time by a Greek government
official: "Too often, trafficked women are treated as
criminals, arrested and deported."


4. (U) COMMENT: This conference, which included a strong
showing by the USG, was a good demonstration of the progress
that has been made in evaluating TIP in a regional context.
More cooperation is needed, however, for communication to
improve: during the ensuing discussion, a Romanian border
official related that he needed permission from his superiors
just to call his Bulgarian counterpart across the border.
Now that the general TIP problem has been adequately mapped,
perhaps the next step in the process would be to host
conferences on specific aspects of the phenomenon, such as
prevention, victim identification, witness protection,
repatriation or prosecution.
RIES