BOSNIA: TIP REPORT DEMARCHE

UNCLAS SARAJEVO 001321

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR (DICARLO),D (SMITH),P (BAME),EUR/SCE
(ENGLISH, SAINZ, FOOKS, MITCHELL),G-TIP, NSC FOR BRAUN,
USNIC FOR WEBER, GREGORIAN, OSD FOR FLORY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: TIP REPORT DEMARCHE

REF: SECSTATE 85544


1. (U) Poloff delivered the 2006 TIP report and demarche
(ref A) to Samir Rizvo, the State Coordinator for Combating
Trafficking in Human Beings on June 5. The Coordinator was
pleased with comments in the report acknowledging that
significant progress has been made in a number of areas. The
report received positive coverage in the media, with local
papers quoting both portions that praised BiH's progress, and
those that cited needed improvements. In a normally negative
news climate, any coverage of positive progress made by BiH
is productive.


2. (U) Rizvo updated poloff on major upcoming programs and
initiatives, including some which are aimed at preventative
education and TIP awareness. Since the end of the TIP
reporting period, Rizvo's office co-hosted (with OSCE) a
three- week training program for police and prosecutors. The
Coordinator's office is also finalizing an anti-TIP manual
for social workers, health care professionals, police and
prosecutors with an emphasis on the protection of children.
Anti-TIP education initiatives include plans to add an
information campaign to the curriculum for all children
throughout BiH starting in the 5th grade. When implemented,
this will be only the second topic (in addition to the human
rights and democracy curriculum of Post's Civitas civic
education program) that is taught throughout all of BiH,
where there is no standard state level curriculum. Finally,
the Coordinator's office expects to complete final drafting
of the law on the protection of domestic TIP victims in July,
with the hope of adopting it before the October national
elections.


3. (SBU) COMMENT. The BiH government continues to make
significant progress in fighting TIP. The areas for
improvement cited in ref A -- the need for stiffer sentences
for trafficking perpetrators and more aggressive
investigation and punishment of public officials involved in
TIP -- are part of broader systemic challenges in BiH that
should be addressed as rule of law reforms move forward. We
are encouraged that the State Coordinator's office has
addressed almost all the points in last year's TIP strategy,
and has accomplished this with limited resources. An
additional plus is that the report received positive, high
quality local media coverage. In a pre-election climate
where negative news sells and confidence in the government is
low, BiH's on-going efforts to combat TIP sparked
all-too-rare news coverage of government success. END COMMENT.

MCELHANEY