Ukraine: Bilateral Coordination Group Talks:

UNCLAS KIEV 000340

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/UMB, G/TIP, INL/AEE, AND EUR/ACE
JUSTICE FOR OIA, AFMLS, NDDS AND OPDAT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KCRM SMIG KFRD PREF ELAB KWMN UP
SUBJECT: Ukraine: Bilateral Coordination Group Talks:
Trafficking in Persons (TIP)

Ref: Kiev 168


1. (U) In Bilateral Coordination Group talks January 24
(see septels for other issues discussed),the U.S. side
pointed out that progress in combating trafficking in
persons (TIP) was important not only because it protected
Ukrainian citizens, but also because Ukraine was currently
on the Tier Two Watch Group list. The GOU's recent
positive steps - creating a Department for Combating TIP
in the Ministry of Interior (MOI),making TIP a priority
crime for the General Prosecutor's Office, and having
senior officials speak out on destigmatizing victims of TIP
- were all welcomed, but important worked remained. Two
immediate steps the GOU could take were underscored: 1)
President Yushchenko could sign into law the January 12
bill passed by the Parliament harmonizing the Ukrainian
Criminal Code with the UN Palermo Convention and Protocol
as it applied to TIP (ref A),and 2) the GOU could
establish within the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) a
TIP division. (Note: Embassy has been working on the
latter with the GPO and is awaiting a final decision.)
Also, the U.S. urged the GOU to make a priority the funding
of TIP victims reintegration centers, which to date have
been funded almost exclusively by donors, and to begin
efforts to establish a witness protection program for TIP
victims.


2. (U) The Ukrainian side assured that the referenced
January 12 bill would be signed into law and acknowledged
that funding of reintegration centers had been almost the
exclusive domain of the donor community. However, the GOU
had begun funding some centers, and prosecutors would be
stepping up their focus on the prosecution of TIP crimes.
As for witness protection, discussions were ongoing to see
if there were existing models that could be copied that
were not cost prohibitive. (Note: Currently, the GOU has
a witness protection plan, regardless of the type of
criminal case, which amounts to a two-person protection
detail for the witness in question during the course of the
trial. MOI officials have told us they have been grappling
with ideas for a witness re-location program for some time,
but the cost has always been prohibitive. Post will seek
to help identify models in neighboring countries that may
ameliorate this challenge.)


3. (U) The delegation did not have a chance to clear this
message.

Herbst