ARGENTINA: 2007 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002244 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS G/TIP FOR BARBARA FLECK G/TIP FOR KATIE BRESNAHAN WHA/PPC FOR SCOTT MILLER WHA/BSC FOR JANINA SLATTERY DHS PLEASE PASS TO ICE OFFICE OF INVESTIGATION KATERINA KAROUSOS AND ICE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS LAURIE WEEKS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC ELAB KCRM PHUM PREL SMIG KWMN PGOV AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: 2007 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT REF: A. SECSTATE 148925 ¶B. BUENOS AIRES 1723 ¶C. BUENOS AIRES 1245 ¶D. BUENOS AIRES 1185 ¶E. BUENOS AIRES 1030 ¶F. BUENOS AIRES 965 ¶G. BUENOS AIRES 881 ¶H. BUENOS AIRES 838 ¶I. BUENOS AIRES 814 ¶J. BUENOS AIRES 799 ¶K. BUENOS AIRES 753 ¶L. BUENOS AIRES 2095 ¶1. (SBU) Post, through the combined efforts of the political section and ICE office, continues to coordinate with Argentine authorities to develop local capacity to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes. We also continue to work with Argentine partners in government and civil society to advance anti-TIP legislation (Refs B-K) and to develop comprehensive victim's assistance programs. We raised the issue with U.S. Representative Chris Smith when he visited Argentina November 11-12 and at an Embassy-hosted lunch with local women's rights leaders and the organizers of the Vital Voices summit which will be held in Argentina in ¶2008. ¶2. (SBU) Per Ref A instructions, below is our interim assessment of Argentina,s progress in its efforts to combat trafficking in persons (TIP). Our response is keyed to points found in reftel. A) ENACTING COMPREHENSIVE FEDERAL ANTI-TIP LEGISLATION TO CRIMINALIZE AND PUNISH ADEQUATELY ALL SEVERE FORMS OF TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS The Argentine Congress continues to debate trafficking in persons legislation, with the Senate passing its version in December 2006. A more comprehensive bill was introduced in the Deputies in October 2006, and the two bills have yet to be reconciled. A key difference between the two bills is whether or not trafficking victims can &consent8 to being trafficked. According to NGOs, the Senate bill makes consent irrelevant only for persons under the age of 18, while the Deputies bill makes consent irrelevant. GOA officials continue to assure us that passage of anti-trafficking legislation is forthcoming and will be a priority for incoming President-elect Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who will be sworn in December 10. There have been efforts in Buenos Aires City and the province of Santa Fe to pass legislation criminalizing TIP. On September 14, the Buenos Aires City Legislature approved a reform to the city,s criminal code that provides for strong fines and prison sentences for people involved in the trafficking of minors. The law covers those directly involved in TIP, as well as persons who provide any assistance to individuals who intend to sexually exploit children or adolescents, even if the service provider is not involved in the actual sexual activity. The law obliges suppliers of tourist services to follow codes of conduct, including reporting to authorities tourists that abuse minors. Services must display signs at their agencies advising of penalties for the abuse of minors and phone numbers for relevant government authorities. The law also requires the Government of Buenos Aires to both enforce these requirements and conduct a TIP information campaign through public and private media. The province of Santa Fe has also introduced legislation to speed up the legal process when dealing with trafficking-in-persons cases. B) INCREASING LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS TO INVESTIGATE, PROSECUTE, CONVICT, AND SENTENCE TRAFFICKING OFFENDERS, INCLUDING CRIMINAL CASES AGAINST ALLEGEDLY COMPLICIT PUBLIC OFFICIALS In 2005, the Prosecutor General's office established a special unit charged with investigating human trafficking cases and crimes against sexual integrity. As of December 2006, the unit became operational. However, the unit's jurisdiction is limited to Buenos Aires city and the majority of its budget is financed by the city government. It is authorized to open investigations based on leads it receives from civil society, NGOs, the PG's Office of Victim's Assistance (OFAVI),and a hotline run by the National Institute for Anti-Discrimination (INADI) to report trafficking cases. It does not investigate trafficking cases that have been reported directly to the police, since those cases are assigned to a prosecutor that has jurisdiction over that police station. (Comment: Although it is too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the unit, the Director and Deputy Directors of the unit have received anti-TIP training from our International Law Enforcement Academy in Lima, Peru. Both seem to be very capable professionals.) INADI's hotline was first established as a hotline to report discrimination complaints and took on the additional responsibility of taking complaints or tips on people or locales involved in human trafficking in April 2007. Since April, OFAVI has looked into 92 TIP-related complaints received by INADI in coordination with the PG's special anti-TIP unit. The provinces of Tucuman and Santa Fe have established specialized police units that investigate human trafficking cases and crimes against sexual integrity. The Tucuman police unit works very closely with TIP activist Susana Trimarco and her NGO, the Maria de los Angeles Foundation. Santa Fe Province recently sponsored a working group in its capital city to highlight the provincial government,s anti-TIP successes and discuss the means for build on the gains. The meeting was attended by high-level officials from the provincial government of Santa Fe and surrounding provinces. Together the provinces are working on a plan to increase coordination between provincial and national agencies. The Argentine government continues to investigate and arrest individuals involved in human trafficking and related crimes. In March, the Argentine Federal Police (AFP) arrested a Bolivian couple for subjecting 14 Bolivians, ranging in age from 17 to 30, to slave-like conditions and depriving them of their liberty in a textile sweatshop. In April, the AFP arrested 17 individuals for running 14 sweatshops in Buenos Aires City, rescuing a total of 174 undocumented workers from deplorable conditions. According to the press, Buenos Aires city has received 2,702 complaints of sweatshops operating in their jurisdiction and has closed 713 sweatshops over the 18-month period of January 2006-June 2007. Given the relative ease with which sweatshops can relocate to another area outside of the city's jurisdiction, the Buenos Aires city government signed a cooperation agreement with the Province of Buenos Aires and the federal government. In April, the National Gendarmerie, Ministry of Interior's Victims Against Violence program, and the NGO Red Alto a la Trata y Trafico (RATT) worked together to rescue a group of 14 Paraguayan minors from a brothel in Pergamino (Buenos Aires province) where they had been forced into prostitution. In late August, an international pedophile ring snared individuals from various Argentine provinces. The police operation, called &Children,s Hell," confiscated more than 10,000 pornographic images and videos. Fifteen people from eight provinces have been implicated for publishing and exchanging child pornographic material. The operation involved coordination among the different provincial police departments and was supervised by a Federal Justice. A new investigation has been opened to determine the images, source and location. In September, the first documented case of child smuggling in Argentina occurred at the border of La Quiaca, Argentina and Villazon, Bolivia. An Argentine woman using false travel documents was arrested at the border for attempting to cross with two Bolivian girls, ages 14 and 15. The victims were promised work in Argentina as nannies, but it is believed they were going to be sold into prostitution. The individual,s arrest occurred due to the combined efforts of the Argentine and Bolivian Consulates, the Argentine Gendarmarie, the Argentine Public Ministry,s Defenders of Minors, and immigration officials from both countries. These agencies form part of the Argentine-Bolivian Integration Committee, which works to share information on cases involving minors more efficiently. In October, 9 individuals were arrested in Buenos Aires province for sexual abuse, child pornography, and child prostitution using minor relatives ages 4 to 17. COMMENT: It is important to note that Argentina's judicial system is extremely overburdened, and members of the Supreme Court as well as NGOs deem the system's administrative and budgetary support as inadequate. As a result, suspects are often held in pre-trial detention for an average length of three years before their case is tried. At present, Argentina's judicial system is modeled after Europe's inquisitorial system. Although the 1994 constitution provides for oral trial, implementing legislation has not been passed. Argentina's transition from an inquistorial to an accusatorial judicial system began 10 years ago and has advanced most notably in Cordoba and Buenos Aires provinces. The GOA's goal is to implement the system at the federal level, which would transfer investigative responsibilites from federal judges to the prosecutors and help improve due process. In addition, there are efforts to improve judicial efficiency and improve case management, but the system needs a significant increase in the number of judges and prosecutors in order to make a real dent in the caseload. Trials for trafficking in persons cases are subject to these constraints. As such, efforts to prosecute the trafficking offenses listed above and previous reports will take time. END COMMENT. C) IMPROVING EFFORTS TO GATHER LAW ENFORCEMENT DATA ON TRAFFICKING CASES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY In July, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (MOJ) issued a resolution to create a combined government and private sector program which would work with public and private organizations to maintain a current database of TIP cases, among other things. In October, President Nestor Kirchner signed an executive decree establishing the "National Program to Prevent and Eradicate Trafficking in Persons and Provide Victims Assistance" which will be administered by the Ministry of Interior's Office of Judicial Affairs. The program also includes the establishment of a national database that will register human trafficking crimes using data compiled by local police, judicial and Public Ministry officials. See section D for more details about these programs. COMMENT: Since the decree was signed, President-elect Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has appointed Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez to head the MOJ. It is a new and enhanced Ministry, however, as Fernandez brings with him his security portfolio (Federal Police, Border Guard, Coast Guard, and Airport Police) from Interior. There has been speculation that Fernandez will also bring the newly created National Program to the MOJ, and combining it with the MOJ program created in July. END COMMENT. D) DEDICATING MORE GOVERNMENT RESOURCES FOR THE PROTECTION OF TRAFFICKING VICTIMS, PARTICULARLY SHELTER SERVICES In October, TIP Hero Susana Trimarco launched the Maria de los Angeles Foundation, named after her daughter who was kidnapped in 2002 and believed to have been trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation (Ref L). The GOA has committed itself to covering half of the foundation's annual operating budget. The foundation As noted in section C, the MOJ issued a resolution in July establishing a program aimed at TIP prevention and coordinating interagency efforts to provide comprehensive assistance to victims. The program will also organize public awareness campaigns to educate the population about human rights and both national and international legal statutes concerning TIP. In October, Kirchner signed an executive decree to create a "National Program to Prevent and Eradicate Trafficking in Persons and Provide Victims Assistance" administered by the Ministry of Interior. The program aims to: o coordinate anti-trafficking efforts among the federal government, the provinces, the capital, NGOs, and international organizations; o conduct public awareness campaigns and provide training to school teachers in coordination with the Ministry of Education; o train government officials to strengthen the capacity of judicial and law enforcement officials to detect, prosecute and dismantle trafficking rings; o provide victims with a brief overview on how to access free medical, psychological, social, and legal services; o provide training opportunities and offer information on employment opportunities to help reinsertion of trafficking victims into society; o prevent revictimization; o inform victims of their rights as well as the status of investigations and trials against their captors in the native language of the victims and in a manner that is appropriate for their age and level of maturity; o conduct research and publish studies on the extent of the human trafficking problem in Argentina; o monitor institutions to ensure compliance and implementation of anti-trafficking policy; o coordinate public and private resouces to prevent and assist victim, provide financial support or guarantee free housing to assist victims in the first days after their initial rescue; o create partnerships with regional and international organizations to prevent and monitor human trafficking; o promote international cooperation and the adoption of bilateral and multilateral measures to monitor, prevent and eradicate human trafficking; and o create a free national hotline that will receive complaints and tips of the public. E) RAISING PUBLICLY THE ISSUE OF TRAFFICKING BY STATEMENTS FROM SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS In September, Argentina's National Public Defender, Eduardo Mondino, stated that Argentina needed to pass legislation criminalizing human trafficking, stressing that a victim can not consent to their own exploitation at the National Public Defender's first annual conference concerning human trafficking in Mar del Plata. The National Public Defender's Office is a GOA agency responsible for advocating general public issues. They co-organized the conference with the Argentine NGO "Women,s Equality Foundation". The conference,s main objectives were to raise awareness of TIP and provide a forum where federal and provincial government agencies and NGOs could coordinate their efforts to combat TIP. Post helped to bring down Senior Special Agent Katerina Karousos, an expert on TIP issues from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),to give a presentation at the conference, where she discussed ICE's involvement in TIP investigations, victims, rights, and successful prosecutions of TIP offenders in the United States. The conference attracted over 100 participants, including provincial public defenders, judges, lawyers, and the general public. F) OTHER SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS The United Nations, International Office of Migration (IOM), in conjunction with Save the Children Sweden and the Catholic Church's Center for the Study of Latin American Migration (CEMLA),has developed a program called "Prevention of child trade, trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Tri-Border area: Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.8 The focus is on education as a means of prevention, primarily through use of learning materials at schools. These materials ) TV and radio ads, printed brochures, and signs on the streets ) have been produced in Portuguese, Spanish and Guarani, and will provide basic information about how the victims are usually captured, security measures to prevent that situation, and contact information in the three cities of the Tri-Border area where the victims can request assistance. WAYNE