AMBASSADOR SCHLICHER MEETS GOC JUSTICE MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000086

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SE, L/LEI AND CA/OCS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2016
TAGS: PREL CJAN CY
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR SCHLICHER MEETS GOC JUSTICE MINISTER
AND SIGNS MLAT AND EXTRADITION TREATY INSTRUMENTS.


Classified By: Consular Chief Henry Hand - reason 1.4 (d)


1. (C) Summary: On January 20, Ambassador Schlicher and
Justice Minister Doros Theodorou signed the instruments
amending the U.S.-Cyprus Mutual Legal Assistance (MLAT) and
Extradition Treaties, bringing them into conformity with the
agreements between the United States and the EU. In their
meeting before the signing ceremony, the Ambassador raised
U.S. concerns about the GOC's slow pace in implementing the
National Plan on Trafficking in Persons (TIP). Theodorou
sought to minimize the size of the TIP problem on Cyprus and
praised U.S.-GOC cooperation on security issues. The
Minister complained about the difficulties of controlling
illegal immigration across the buffer zone from the Turkish
Cypriot administered north. End Summary.


2. (C) Before the signing of the instruments amending the
MLAT and Extradition Treaties, Ambassador Schlicher and
Justice Minister Theodorou discussed the issues of
Trafficking in Persons (TIP),illegal immigration and
cooperation on security issues. The Ambassador stressed U.S.
concern about the government's slow pace in implementing the
commitments in the National Action Plan on TIP that the
Council of Ministers had adopted last May. Theodorou was
clearly uninterested in discussing TIP in detail and stressed
that the National Action Plan assigned primary responsibility
for coordinating anti-trafficking efforts to the Ministry of
Interior rather than Justice. Theodorou insisted, however,
that overall GOC efforts to curb the trafficking of women
from Eastern Europe to Cyprus were going well. The ROC was
no longer a transit point for women working in nightclubs and
cabarets. 70 percent of the women who came to Cyprus as
"artistes" returned to their countries at the end of their
contracts. Of the remaining 30 percent, fewer than three
percent moved on to work in clubs elsewhere in the region


3. (C) Theodorou trumpeted his success in lowering crime by
6%, improving prison conditions and strengthening the public
image of the police force. He praised US-GoC cooperation on
security issues and said his Ministry had a policy of holding
credible information for no longer than 24 hours before
passing it on. The Ambassador underscored our willingness to
facilitate information exchange between GOC and Turkish
Cypriot authorities in areas of mutual interest, particularly
with respect to security concerns.

4. (C) Theodorou complained about what he described as a
rising flow of illegal migrants entering the
Government-controlled areas through the north. According to
Theodorou's information, only 7 illegal immigrants had
entered Cyprus through GOC-controlled ports of entry in 2004
while 5,280 had done so via the area administered by the
Turkish Cypriots. The 2005 figures were, he claimed, 16 and
5,175, respectively. Theodorou observed that these numbers
would only grow worse as Cyprus approached the anticipated
Schengen Accession in 2008. He noted that seven EU nations
participated in a 2004 maritime surveillance exercise off the
GOC controlled coastline that did not detect a single vessel
engaged in human smuggling. He asked for the Ambassador's
assistance in persuading Turkey to support a similar exercise
off the coast of north Cyprus, adding that a proposal had
already been made in the EU.


5. (C) Comment: The Justice Minister's statistics
regarding migrant smuggling count only illegal migrants who
arrived directly in the GOC controlled area by sea and
entered without inspection. The much larger figure of people
who enter via the Turkish Cypriot administered area appears
to include people who arrived "legally" in the north, with or
without a visa, as well as people who rowed ashore in the
middle of the night. No reliable statistics are available,
but if we include the number of illegal migrants who legally
entered the ROC through ports and airports in the south on
legitimate visas and subsequently overstayed or abused their
visa status, the discrepancy between the numbers would be
much, much less.
SCHLICHER