AFGHANISTAN'S 2005-2006 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

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SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/A, G/TIP, G, INL,DRL, PRM, IWI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PREF ELAB KCRM KWMN KFRD ASEC
SMIG, AF
SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN'S 2005-2006 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSE

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more accurate identification of TIP cases. On the other hand
this could also be due to reporting &fatigue8 due to the
many other priorities and lack of resources confronting this
emerging democracy.


8. (SBU) What kind of conditions are the victims trafficked
into?

No information available.


9. (SBU) Which populations are targeted by the traffickers?

Disadvantaged populations have been targeted by traffickers,
specifically the poor and recent refugees.


10. (SBU) Who are the traffickers? What methods are used to
approach victims? (Are they offered lucrative jobs, sold by
their families, approached by friends of friends, etc.?)

The traffickers are generally trusted members of the
community. Families also send their children abroad to take
advantage of educational, religious, or work opportunities,
but there is little follow up on the child once they leave
the country. Systemic levels of poverty create an environment
where many families will take any opportunity to send their
children abroad to earn income. Other families will send
their children abroad with the promise of a secular or
religious education or so they have a chance to visit Mecca.
There is no way to monitor the location or well being of
these children while abroad.


11. (SBU) What methods are used to move the victims (e.g.,
are false documents being used?).

It is unclear how the victims are moved to other countries.
Given the difficulty of transporting victims to KSA it is
inferred that false documents are being used. Transporting
victims to Iran or Pakistan is much simpler in comparison and
frequently only requires bribing a border official.


12. (SBU) C. What are the limitations on the government's
ability to address this problem in practice? For example, is
funding for police or other institutions inadequate? Is
overall corruption a problem? Does the government lack the
resources to aid victims?

The government has limited resources, both personnel and
financial. There is also a significant lack of training for
border, highway and local police. Even within the government
there does not seem to be a consistent understanding of TIP
or the will to address it. Many consider these opportunities
for children critical to keeping families afloat. Most
repatriated victims or those deported are provided assistance
by IOs or NGOs. Border police are also notorious for their
corruption and have been implicated in cross-border
trafficking of narcotics, munitions, and people.


13. (SBU) D. To what extent does the government
systematically monitor its anti-trafficking efforts (on all
fronts -- prosecution, prevention and victim protection) and
periodically make available, publicly or privately and
directly or through regional/international organizations, its
assessments of these anti-trafficking efforts?

The Government of Afghanistan has organized an interagency
working group to focus on child trafficking issues. Member
include: the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the
Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and
the Hajj, the Ministry of Women,s Affairs, UNICEF, and Save
the Children.

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--------------
PREVENTION
--------------


14. (SBU) A. Does the government acknowledge that trafficking
is a problem in that country? If no, why not?

The government does acknowledge that trafficking takes place,
although the type and extent are not agreed upon. There is
debate over whether trafficking for labor and as sex workers
falls under TIP.


15. (SBU) B. Which government agencies are involved in
anti-trafficking efforts and which agency, if any, has the
lead?

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has the lead, The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the
Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and
the Hajj, and the Ministry of Women,s Affairs are also
involved in anti-trafficking efforts.


16. (SBU) C. Are there, or have there been, government-run
anti-trafficking information or education campaigns? If so,
briefly describe the campaign(s),including their objectives
and effectiveness. Do these campaigns target potential
trafficking victims and/or the demand for trafficking (e.g.
"clients" of prostitutes or beneficiaries of forced labor).

The names of and information about missing children
(trafficked or otherwise) are generally disseminated through
the media and mosques. The AIHRC has been conducting limited
police training to raise awareness of TIP. There was
significant publicity surrounding the National Plan of Action
to Combat Child Trafficking, but this has faded over the last
year.


17. (SBU) D. Does the government support other programs to
prevent trafficking? (e.g., to promote women's participation
in economic decision-making or efforts to keep children in
school.) Please explain.

There are currently no government programs to prevent
trafficking.


18. (SBU) F. What is the relationship between government
officials, NGOs, other relevant organizations and other
elements of civil society on the trafficking issue?

Government officials seem more than willing to meet with NGOs
and other organizations, although most NGOs claim that little
is done beyond of these meetings, primarily due to a lack of
training and resources.


19. (SBU) G. Does it monitor immigration and emigration
patterns for evidence of trafficking? Do law enforcement
agencies screen for potential trafficking victims along
borders?

This is currently beyond the government,s capacity.


20. (SBU) H. Is there a mechanism for coordination and
communication between various agencies, internal,
international, and multilateral on trafficking-related
matters, such as a multi- agency working group or a task
force? Does the government have a trafficking in persons
working group or single point of contact? Does the
government have a public
corruption task force?


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As mentioned in reference to question 21D, the Government of
Afghanistan has organized an interagency working group to
focus on child trafficking issues. The Ministries of Labor
and Social Affairs; Foreign Affairs; Interior; Justice;
Religious Affairs and the Hajj; and the Ministry of Women,s
Affairs, along with UNICEF, and Save the Children are
members.


21. (SBU) J. Does the government have a national plan of
action to address trafficking in persons? If so, which
agencies were involved in developing it? Were NGOs consulted
in the process? What steps has the government taken to
disseminate the action plan?

Yes. The government, with the help of NGOs and the
international community, has developed and released a
National Plan of Action on Child Trafficking. As a result
the above mentioned group in question &H8 has been formed
to monitor and address these issues.

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INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS
--------------


22. (SBU) A. Does the country have a law specifically
prohibiting trafficking in persons--both trafficking for
sexual exploitation and trafficking for non-sexual purposes
(e.g. forced labor)? If so, what is the law? Does the law(s)
cover both internal and external (transnational) forms of
trafficking? If not, under what other laws can traffickers be
prosecuted? For example, are there laws against slavery or
the exploitation of prostitution by means of coercion or
fraud? Are these other laws being used in trafficking cases?
Are these laws, taken together, adequate to cover the full
scope of trafficking in persons? Please provide a full
inventory of trafficking laws, including civil penalties,
(e.g., civil forfeiture laws and laws against illegal debt).

There is currently no legal code that specifically addresses
trafficking in persons. Most laws used to prosecute TIP are
designed to address kidnapping. The MOJ has been approached
to develop a law and is in the process of drafting one,
although a draft has not yet been released.

Please see below the relevant laws (NOTE: The quality of
translation is rather poor; however, since they are from
official translations of published law books in Afghanistan,
they are quoted verbatim here. END NOTE):

Penal Code

Article 356:
A person who takes away or hides a newborn baby from persons
who have legal rights over him, or changes him with another
infant, or untruthfully relates him to some one other than
his mother, shall be sentenced in the light of circumstances
to medium imprisonment

Article 418:
A person who, himself/herself or through another, kidnaps a
child, not yet seven years old, or someone who can not look
after himself, or leaves at large one of the persons
mentioned in an uninhabited area, shall be sentenced

Article 419:
If as a result of commitment of the crimes specified under
article 418 of this law, some organ of the child or the
person (kidnapped) is defected or lost, the offender shall be
punished in accordance with the provisions of Deliberate
Laceration or if the child or the person (kidnapped) dies,
the offender shall be punished in accordance with the

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provisions of Deliberate Murder.

Article 420:
1.A person who, himself or through another, kidnaps, without
coercion or fraud, a child not yet eighteen years old, shall
be sentenced 2.If the kidnapped child is a girl, the offender
shall be sentenced to long imprisonment, not exceeding ten
years

Article 421:
1.A person who, himself or through another, kidnaps, with
coercion or fraud, a child not yet eighteen years old, shall
be sentenced 2.If the kidnapped child is a girl, the offender
shall receive the maximum anticipated punishment of the above
paragraph.

Article 423:
If the acts specified under article 420 and 421 of this law
are committed by a person who has influence or authority over
the person against whom the crime has been committed, or if
the former is charged with the responsibility of raising the
latter, the offender shall be sentenced

Article 425:
A person who carries off a girl, who is sixteen years or
over, at her own will from her parents' residence for the
purpose of lawfully marrying her, shall not be deemed as
having committed an act of kidnapping.

Article 515:
A person who holds as hostage another person through threat,
coercion or any other means, shall be sentenced to long
imprisonment Please also note that Afghanistan has ratified
the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography but does not
currently have any implementing legislation for it.


23. (SBU) B. What are the penalties for traffickers of people
for sexual exploitation? For traffickers of people for labor
exploitation?

The penalties for trafficking of any kind have not been
clearly defined by the law and vary based on the region and
judge.


24. (SBU) C. What are the penalties for rape or forcible
sexual assault? How do they compare to the penalty for sex
trafficking?

Rape and sexual assault are punishable by death but there is
an extremely high burden of proof. The penalty for sex
trafficking has not been defined.


25. (SBU) D. Is prostitution legalized or decriminalized?
Specifically, are the activities of the prostitute
criminalized? Are the activities of the brothel
owner/operator, clients, pimps, and enforcers criminalized?
Are these laws enforced? If prostitution is legal and
regulated, what is the legal minimum age for this activity?
Note that in many countries with federalist systems,
prostitution laws may be covered by state, local, and
provincial authorities.

Prostitution is not legal. Committing or contributing to acts
of prostitution is also against the law. These laws are
inconsistently enforced. Recent cases have involved the
deportation of foreign sex workers. The government attempted
to press criminal charges against the women involved, but was
encouraged by NGOs to deport them because they were suspected
to have been trafficked.


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26. (SBU) E. Has the Government prosecuted any cases against
traffickers? If so, provide numbers of investigations,
prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, including details
on plea bargains and fines, if relevant and available. Are
the traffickers serving the time sentenced: If no, why not?
Please indicate whether he ovrnmntcan rovde this information,
and if not, why not? (Note: complete answers to this section
are essential. End Note)

The government reported between 40-70 arrests of child
traffickers over the year, but the details on investigations,
prosecutions, convictions and sentences were not available.
Due to the lack of a clear criminal code and lack of training
for judges and prosecutors with regards to TIP, many of these
cases slip through the judicial system.


27. (SBU) F. Is there any information or reports of who is
behind the trafficking? For example, are the traffickers
freelance operators, small crime groups, and/or large
international organized crime syndicates? Are employment,
travel, and tourism agencies or marriage brokers fronting for
traffickers or crime groups to traffic individuals? Are
government officials involved? Are there any reports of
where profits from trafficking in persons are being
channeled? (e.g. armed groups, terrorist organizations,
judges, banks, etc.)

There are no official reports on who is behind the
trafficking. There are unofficial reports of some organized
crime involvement in the trafficking of Eastern European
women and some reports of employment agencies involved in
trafficking Chinese women.


28. (SBU) G. Does the government actively investigate cases
of trafficking? (Again, the focus should be on trafficking
cases versus migrant smuggling cases.) Does the government
use active investigative techniques in trafficking in persons
investigations? To the extent possible under domestic law,
are techniques such as electronic surveillance, undercover
operations, and mitigated punishment or immunity for
cooperating suspects used by the government? Does the
criminal procedure code or other laws prohibit the police
from engaging in covert operations?

Government officials lack proper training or resources to
investigate cases of trafficking. Active investigative
techniques have only recently been introduced to combat
narcotics trafficking and have not been applied to TIP. The
criminal procedure code does not prevent covert operations.


29. (SBU) H. Does the government provide any specialized
training for government officials in how to recognize,
investigate, and prosecute instances of trafficking?

No. In the past, with support from UNICEF, a series of
sensitization trainings were conducted for different
government agencies, including the Ministries of Labor and
Social Affairs, Interior, and Justice.


30. (SBU) I. Does the government cooperate with other
governments in the investigation and prosecution of
trafficking cases? If possible, can post provide the number
of cooperative international investigations on trafficking?

No. There has been some cooperation with KSA on the return of
trafficked persons but there has been no cooperation on
investigation or prosecution of traffickers.


31. (SBU) J. Does the government extradite persons who are
charged with trafficking in other countries? If so, can post
provide the number of traffickers extradited? Does the

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government extradite its own nationals charged with such
offenses? If not, is the government prohibited by law form
extraditing its own nationals? If so, what is the government
doing to modify its laws to permit the extradition of its own
nationals?

There have been no extraditions of traffickers, although
there does not appear to be any law preventing such
extraditions.


32. (SBU) K. Is there evidence of government involvement in
or tolerance of trafficking, on a local or institutional
level? If so, please explain in detail.

At the national level, there is no evidence to support the
involvement of government officials in TIP. Some evidence
suggests that local commanders were involved in trafficking
of children, but there was no new information available this
year. There is also a common perception that there are
corrupt officials in the police force who facilitate TIP.
There have been no official reports on steps taken by the
government to address this.


33. (SBU) L. If government officials are involved in
trafficking, what steps has the government taken to end such
participation? Have any government officials been prosecuted
for involvement in trafficking or trafficking- related
corruption? Have any been convicted? What actual sentence
was imposed? Please provide specific numbers, if available.

See above.


34. (SBU) M. If the country has an identified child sex
tourism problem (as source or destination),how many foreign
pedophiles has the government prosecuted or
deported/extradited to their country of origin? Does the
country's child sexual abuse laws have extraterritorial
coverage (like the U.S. PROTECT Act)?

Sex tourism has not been identified as a problem in
Afghanistan.


35. (SBU) N. Has the government signed, ratified, and/or
taken steps to implement the following international
instruments? Please provide the date of
signature/ratification if appropriate.

--ILO Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate
action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.

No.

--ILO Convention 29 and 105 on forced or compulsory labor.

No.

--The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) on the sale of children, child prostitution,
and child pornography.

Yes.

--The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.

No.

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PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS
--------------

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36. (SBU) A. Does the government assist victims, for example,
by providing temporary to permanent residency status, relief
from deportation, shelter and access to legal, medical and
psychological services? If so, please explain. Does the
country have victim care and victim health care facilities?
If so, can post provide the number of victims placed in these
care facilities?

No.


37. (SBU) B. Does the government provide funding or other
forms of support to foreign or domestic NGOs for services to
victims? Please explain.

No. Funding is provided by international donors or
self-funded by NGOs.


38. (SBU) C. Is there a screening and referral process in
place, when appropriate, to transfer victims detained,
arrested or placed in protective custody by law enforcement
authorities to NGO's that provide short- or long-term care?

No process has been developed. Transfers are negotiated on a
case-by-case basis.


39. (SBU) D. Are the rights of victims respected, or are
victims also treated as criminals? Are victims detained,
jailed, or deported? If detained or jailed, for how long?
Are victims fined? Are victims prosecuted for violations of
other laws, such as those governing immigration or
prostitution?

There is no established protocol for the treatment of
victims. Their treatment varies depending on the official,
location, or security service. No specific information is
available on the length of detention or treatment of
individual victims.


40. (SBU) E. Does the government encourage victims to assist
in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking? May
victims file civil suits or seek legal action against the
traffickers? Does anyone impede the victims' access to such
legal redress? If a victim is a material witness in a court
case against the former employer, is the victim permitted to
obtain other employment or to leave the country? Is there a
victim restitution program?

There is no protection available for victims and no means for
them to assist in investigations. Due to the lack of
protections, many victims are too scared or unwilling to
assist officials.


41. (SBU) F. What kind of protection is the government able
to provide for victims and witnesses? Does it provide these
protections in practice? What type of shelter or services
does the government provide? Does it provide shelter or any
other benefits to victims for housing or other resources in
order to aid the victims in rebuilding their lives? Where are
child victims placed (e.g. in shelters, foster-care type
systems or juvenile justice detention centers)?

The government provides no formal protection to victims.
Victims are sometimes jailed while officials decide on the
disposition of their cases, whether to press charges, or to
deport. Some protection is given by NGOs, though specifics
are unavailable at this time because of their confidentiality
requirements. Child victims can be placed by the government
in orphanages or juvenile detention centers.


42. (SBU) G. Does the government provide any specialized

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training for government officials in recognizing trafficking
and in the provision of assistance to trafficked victims,
including the special needs of trafficked children? Does the
government provide training on protections and assistance to
its embassies and consulates in foreign countries that are
destination or transit countries? Does it urge those
embassies and consulates to develop ongoing relationships
with NGOs that serve trafficked victims?

The government provides no training to government officials
on TIP. Some NGOs have developed relationships with foreign
consulates to assist in serving trafficked victims.


43. (SBU) H. Does the government provide assistance, such as
medical aid, shelter, or financial help, to its repatriated
nationals who are victims of trafficking?

The government in conjunction with NGOs, provides
repatriation assistance to children. Little assistance is
available to adults.


44. (SBU) I. Which international organizations or NGOs, if
any, work with trafficking victims? What type of services do
they provide? What sort of cooperation do they receive from
local authorities? NOTE: If post reports that a government
is incapable of assisting and protecting TIP victims, then
post should explain thoroughly. Funding, personnel, and
training constraints should be noted, if applicable.
Conversely, a lack of political will to address the problem
should be noted as well.

International Organization for Migration (IOM),UNICEF, Save
the Children, Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
(AIHRC),local Afghan NGOs. The GOA is unable to assist or
protect victims due to a severe lack of resources and
capacity. The government is an emerging democracy facing many
challenges, including an active insurgency and rampant
poverty.

NEUMANN