LIBYA: TIP SPECIAL WATCH LIST ASSESSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TRIPOLI 000671 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/MAG; GTIP FOR GAYATRI PATEL E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/2/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM GTIP LY SUBJECT: LIBYA: TIP SPECIAL WATCH LIST ASSESSMENT REF: (A) STATE 175900, (B) TRIPOLI 506 CLASSIFIED BY: Elizabeth Fritschle, Pol/Econ Chief, United States Embassy, DOS. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The most salient feature of trafficking in Libya is the lack of information about it. Governments, non-governmental organizations, inter-governmental organizations, and the media all appear to know very little about the phenomenon. While slightly more information is available about aspects of labor trafficking, the closed nature of Libyan society has prevented even local officials from estimating the true scope of trafficking for the purpose of either sexual or labor exploitation. Preliminary indications suggest that human trafficking does occur in Libya, although it is not yet possible to estimate its extent. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY CONTINUED: Libya has long, porous borders and serves as a transit point for migrants desperately seeking access to continental Europe. Migrants currently comprise almost one quarter of Libya's approximately 7 million residents. International organizations have concluded that the institutions designed to protect Libya's 6,500 kilometers of borders and coastline suffer from corruption and gross mismanagement. Indicators of potential sex trafficking stem from individuals who claim that the majority of inmates in Tripoli's only prison for women are prostitutes from sub-Saharan Africa. Indications of labor trafficking derive from the reportedly common practice among Libyan employers to confiscate the passports of their foreign workers, and to fail to pay them. The government has expressed an openness to learning about trafficking in persons, but appears to lack even a rudimentary understanding of the phenomenon. Post has adopted a pro-active approach to two of the more immediate problems - lack of information in general and lack of skills among officials. The Public Affairs Officer awarded September 28 a grant of almost $60,000 to IOM to build capacity among local officials and law enforcement agencies. Through this project, IOM, post and the Government of Libya (GOL) hope to improve their understanding of trafficking in Libya and how best to respond to it. END SUMMARY. -------------- SEX TRAFFICKING -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The Government of Libya (GOL) has not conducted �A;research or produced reports about trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The government-controlled media has not published any articles. Independent, domestic, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are illegal and do not exist in the country. Foreign-based Libyan "NGO"s, such as those working in Geneva, have not reported about the problem. Semi-official local organizations, such as the Qadhafi International Development Foundation, have not investigated the phenomenon. Human Rights Watch (HRW),Amnesty International (AI),and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) all confessed to Poloff their ignorance about the extent and nature of the problem. In 2004 and 2005, respectively, AI and HRW visited Libya. They visited prisons and spoke extensively to foreign workers. HRW Director For The Middle East And North Africa Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Researcher Frank Abrahams, and AI Researcher Phillip Luther told poloff, over the course of several conversations in September, that they produced no information about sex trafficking or sex workers during their trips to Libya. IOM has worked with the GOL since 2004, and signed an official status agreement in August. IOM's Tripoli Chief of Mission Laurence Hart admitted to poloff August 31 that IOM has so far obtained very limited information about sex trafficking in Libya. ¶4. (C) Prostitution is illegal in Libya, and it is a very sensitive topic. In informal and off-the-record conversations, Libyan men have told Poloff that the majority of prostitutes in Libya used to come from Morocco, only to be replaced more recently by women from sub-Saharan Africa. Most men agreed that sub-Saharan Africans now outnumber Arab women. (See reftel for information about Libya's "open door to Africa" migration policy of the 1990s, and the resulting influx of African migrants and refugees.) Mansour El Mesalati, an IOM local hire who has studied in the U.S. and worked in the Ministry of the Interior, told Poloff that many prostitutes come from Nigeria and Ghana. Pastor Jean Clement Ali of the Union Church in Tripoli told poloff that he has visited Libyan prisons for the past six years, as part of an officially-sanctioned program run by the church. He reported that he has regularly visited the only women's prison in Tripoli, which he said contains about 300 inmates. The majority of women in the prison come from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ali claimed, adding that the majority of women in the prison have worked as prostitutes in Libya. Four Union Church council members and another Union Church pastor corroborated Ali's story. Ali blamed "deception" and "shattered dreams" for driving these women into poverty and then prostitution. Their smugglers led them to believe that they could work in Libya to make enough money for the passage to Europe, he said. Instead, Ali reported, these women learned when they arrived in Libya that they had been misled, and entered into a traumatic state of destitution and dislocation. Out of desperation, they turned to prostitution. Ali said that he did not know how many of these women had been coerced or deceived directly into working as prostitutes. -------------- LABOR TRAFFICKING -------------- ¶5. (C) A population of about 5.5 million Libyan citizens has witnessed since the 1990s a dramatic increase in foreign residents, currently estimated at 1.6 million. Some of these migrants entered the country under the GOL's formerly liberal migration policy, and many entered illegally. Laurence Hart of IOM asserted that the majority of all migrants hail from Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Ghana, and Egypt. Most came to Libya to work. Sub-Saharan Africans constitute the majority of the migrants, and also those most vulnerable to labor trafficking, according to Hart. Hantush Al-Wash, United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) Tripoli Chief of Mission, confirmed this assertion, and reported that he currently handles a caseload of about 12,000 asylum requests (reftel). Al-Wash told Poloff that his staff has been overwhelmed by the number of applicants. Asylum-seekers face an eight-month waiting list for an interview, he said. Al-Wash has met and interviewed a wide swathe of foreign workers since he arrived in November 2005. Professional smuggling to and through Libya, he said, "is a fact." He has been impressed by the planning carried out in Egypt. Many migrants transit Libya very rapidly, he said, in three to four days, and he reported that Egyptians comprised 51% of the people arrested last year in Lampedusa on their way to Italy. ¶6. (C) Al-Wash reported that migrants who remain to work in Libya most frequently complain about unpaid wages. "Every week workers tell me they're not getting paid," he said. He also said that employers commonly confiscate the passports of their foreign workers. "They have a practice of keeping the passports of their employees - mainly for security, to make sure employees will not do something wrong." The bureaucratic procedures required to hire workers legally from abroad are so cumbersome, Al-Wash said, that barely anyone uses official channels. "A farmer can request 10 workers from Sudan...but he will to pay taxes and be obliged to pay his workers," Al-Wash explained. "The majority of Libyans avoid doing this." Recently, Al-Wash noted, a trend emerged with employers firing both legal and illegal workers, in order to find new employees at lower wages. Workers have no one in the government to whom they can address complaints or ask questions about their rights. "The administration in this country on this issue is close to zero," Al-Wash complained. "There are no institutions. It's up to the manager or director. Even if you ask what are the policies or guidelines, you won't have a satisfactory answer." Al-Wash noted, however, that he has not heard reports of employers refusing to return passports to their employees. "The employers take passports, but I have not heard that when they [foreign workers] finish work, the employer wouldn't give it back. Maybe it exists, but I haven't heard." -------------- MANAGEMENT OF BORDERS AND CUSTOMS -------------- ¶7. (C) Libya has approximately 2,000 kilometers of Mediterranean coastline and shares a land border with six different countries that totals approximately 4,500 kilometers. GOL officials and state-run media outlets commonly cite these statistics in explaining the government's failure to stem the flow of migrants transiting through Libya to Europe. IOM Chief of Mission Laurence Hart told Poloff August 31 that GOL officials have also quietly acknowledged widespread corruption among customs and border officials, and they claim to have begun fighting it. The World Bank's July 2006 country economic report for Libya cited key flaws in the customs administration and border management currently employed by the Libyan government, which could permit human smuggling directly through the official points of entry. According to the report, the customs system does not have the capacity "to tackle the reportedly high levels of informal trade and smuggling that occur between Libya and neighboring countries." The report highlighted the lack of an integrated information technology system and its associated infrastructure. The current system relies completely on physical verification and is "entirely paper-based." Moreover, the report stated that the customs administration lacks detection technology and its officials lack professional skills and training. Customs officials do not currently monitor key statistics, such as the percentage of goods selected for physical verification, the results of these verifications, or the compliance record of individual traders. Most significantly, the customs administration does not coordinate with other key border agencies, such as agriculture and health officials. (COMMENT: The report did not mention whether customs officials consulted with border security officials. The report strongly suggests that they do not coordinate their efforts, and that vehicles smuggling human beings could readily slip through the poorly administered customs regime. END NOTE.) -------------- GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE -------------- ¶8. (C) Laurence Hart and Mansour El Mesalati of IOM told Poloff September 11 that the GOL had approached them to help fight trafficking in persons. Hart and El Mesalati described Libyan government officials as open to learning about and addressing the problem. They reported that government officials know very little about the global phenomenon of trafficking in persons. El Mesalati, who previously worked in the Ministry of the Interior, admitted that he did not know the difference between human smuggling and human trafficking. He was unaware that women who came to Libya knowing they would serve as prostitutes could find themselves in conditions that constitute trafficking. He did not realize that employers could coerce migrants to work by confiscating their passports, withholding their wages, or threatening them with detention and deportation. Nor did he know that mediation fees charged by smugglers to transport workers to Libya could place the workers in debt bondage to creditors in their countries of origin. El Mesalati explained that if he is unfamiliar with these basic facts about trafficking, then government officials and border guards certainly do not know them. Both Hart and El Mesalati said that Aliah Al Erishi, the new GOL Secretary for Expatriates, Migration and Refugees, has a vital role to play in Libya's fight against trafficking in persons. Hart said that Al Erishi has expressed a willingness to learn about and engage with the issue. Hart said that Al-Erishi has thus far demonstrated patience and intelligence. Al-Erishi reportedly told Hart that he rejected the first draft of Libya's new law on migration because, "I found it too primitive." (NOTE: Al-Erishi is a resident of Massachusetts who returns to Libya a few times a year. It is unclear to us how much of a player he is on issues, during the stretches of time when he is not here. End Note.) -------------- EMBASSY APPROACH -------------- ¶9. (U) Post has identified the urgent need to bolster awareness and skills among local officials. The Public Diplomacy and Political/Economic Sections worked together with IOM to devise an eight-month project aimed at strengthening the capacity of government officials and law enforcement agencies to identify trafficking victims, prevent trafficking, and prosecute traffickers. On September 28, the Public Affairs Officer granted $59,850 to IOM to administer the project. IOM will implement it in close collaboration with the GOL and semi-official local organizations. Post intends to learn from more about the problem, and how best to counter it, through this capacity-building project. IOM is currently working with the GOL to develop a national strategy to combat illegal migration, and plans to include in the strategy lessons learned through this post-funded project. In addition, post has continually raised the issue with GOL counterparts, and has presented IOM with a formal request to help answer detailed questions about trafficking in Libya. CECIL