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.

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SEX TRAFFICKING
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3. (SBU) The Government of Libya (GOL) has not conducted
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.

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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."

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MANAGEMENT OF BORDERS AND CUSTOMS
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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.)

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GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE
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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.)

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EMBASSY APPROACH
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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