TRAFFICKING -- MULTILATERAL STRATEGY MEETING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 003238

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP, EAP/MLS, G/TIP, DRL/PHD
NSC FOR EPHU
DOL FOR ILAB BSASSER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV SMIG PHUM EAID ID
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING -- MULTILATERAL STRATEGY MEETING
UNITES DONORS, NGOS

REF: JAKARTA 3146

JAKARTA 00003238 001.2 OF 002



1. (U) SUMMARY: Mission--at its initiative--recently hosted
a trafficking-focused meeting of multilateral donors and
NGOs. The meeting--chaired by Dep Pol/C--addressed several
recommendations made in the 2007 GAO evaluation of USG
international human trafficking projects. Meeting
participants arrived at a consensus on how donors and their
partners can better share information, collaborate on
projects and jointly lobby the GOI. Follow-up meetings have
been scheduled on a monthly basis to address specific
recommendations. We hope to leverage this new grouping into
our effort to further improve Indonesia's Tier Two standing
after it was removed from the Watchlist earlier this year.
END SUMMARY.

MISSION INITIATIVE


2. (U) Mission has moved forward on an initiative to improve
anti-trafficking efforts in Indonesia. In response to the
Government Accounting Offices's July 2007 recommendations for
improved multilateral anti-trafficking collaboration on an
international scale, Dep Pol/C (Labatt) organized an October
30 meeting of multilateral donors and international NGO
partners to discuss a coordinated strategy. While several
multilateral meetings have been held in the past in order to
share information on child labor and anti-trafficking
efforts, this was the first meeting to brainstorm overarching
strategy and objectives in order to arrive at concrete means
to better collaborate and share information. The meeting
resulted in an initial list of strategic priorities which Dep
Pol/C subsequently disseminated to participants as the
groundwork for future discussions. Key participants in the
meeting are mentioned below.

KEY CONCERNS


3. (U) In a wide-ranging three-hour discussion among the
more than 40 persons who attended the meeting, the group
agreed on the following:

a. Lack of education and poverty breeds trafficking.
b. Debt bondage is a key element in facilitating trafficking.
c. Overlapping national plans of action on trafficking,
child protection and related plans are competing for scarce
resources and are not being effectively integrated.
d. The national Trafficking Plan of Action does not provide
for good coordination among national agencies and with local
governments; for example, budgeting and data sharing is
fragmented. Strong political will be needed in implementing
the plan.
e. ASEAN potentially could be an effective forum to address
regional trafficking issues.

COOPERATION, ADVOCACY VITAL


4. (U) The group established the following strategic
priorities:

a. Cooperation: Increased information-sharing and project
collaboration.
b. Advocacy: A united multilateral front to lobby the GOI
to increase its anti-trafficking budget, to take more
responsibility for efforts now funded by international
donors, to coordinate among government agencies and local
levels of government, and to sign robust bilateral agreements
to protect migrant workers.
c. Training and awareness: Emphasize law enforcement
training, raising skills of migrant workers, ridding of debt
bondage, and implementing a sustainable national action plan.


JAKARTA 00003238 002.2 OF 002


FOLLOW-UP


5. (U) Follow-up meetings of the group have been scheduled
by UNICEF, Save the Children (U.S.),the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) and Solidarity Center over
the next several months to address the above issues in more
detail, including via:

a. Coordination of trafficking data collection and reporting.
b. A second strategy meeting including countries not
currently contributing to Indonesian anti-trafficking efforts
(such as Saudi Arabia and Malaysia) in order to demonstrate
multilateral unity in addressing the issue.
c. Coordination of efforts to lobby for effective
implementation of the National Plan of Action.

A UNITED FRONT


6. (U) The October 30 meeting was the first to invite
sympathetic countries and groupings which so far have been
only peripherally involved in anti-trafficking efforts and
have never been included in multilateral discussions,
including: Japan, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland,
the EU, Spain, and Germany. (Note: Australia, New Zealand
and France also attended, but were already very active donor
participants.) Nearly all these countries sent
representatives to the meeting. Participants made solid
contributions and appeared to gain a great deal from the
discussion. For example, a Japanese diplomat said Japan is
taking trafficking very seriously, and is assisting IOM in
returning and rehabilitating victims. The EU is addressing
the issue through poverty alleviation. The Spanish
ambassador said Spain is funding labor projects through
ASEAN. The French are working very closely with the USDOJ
and others on law enforcement training (see reftel reviewing
a recent anti-trafficking event which the U.S. and Indonesia
hosted in Bali).


7. (U) Sally Neumann of the Office to Monitor and Combat
Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP)--who was on a visit to
Indonesia--also participated in the meeting. She welcomed
the initiative, stressing the importance of close
multilateral cooperation.


8. (U) It was obvious from the exchange among the donors and
NGOs that much more can be accomplished through closer
collaboration. A multilateral effort to lobby the GOI will
also be much more powerful and will take the USG out of the
position of being the only strong voice calling for stronger
political action. Future meetings might also include
representatives from key Indonesian government agencies once
the multilateral group has established concrete objectives
and a way forward. We hope to leverage this new grouping
into our effort to further improve Indonesia's Tier Two
standing after it was removed from the Watchlist earlier this
year.
HEFFERN