SPAIN/TIP REPORT: GOS PLEASED WITH ITS 2007

UNCLAS MADRID 001150 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP AND EUR/WE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG ELAB SP SUBJECT: SPAIN/TIP REPORT: GOS PLEASED WITH ITS 2007 RANKING BUT VOWS TO INCREASE EFFORTS IN THE COMING YEAR REF: A. SECSTATE 78766 ¶B. SECSTATE 71163 ¶1. (SBU) Polcouns and Poloff delivered reftel demarche on June 11 to officials in Spain's Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the Ministry of Interior, Emboffs met with Angel Melchor Celada and Maria del Puy Zaton, senior advisors in the MOI section dealing with TIP and the primary authors of Spain's forthcoming national action plan, and with Maria Marcos Salvador, Director of Spain's Intelligence Center Against Organized Crime (CICO), who is the GOS' new information focal point for Spain's law enforcement efforts against human trafficking. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Emboffs met with Deputy Director General for North America Jose Rodriguez Moyano, the head of the MFA's Human Rights office Fernando Fernandez-Arias, and US desk officer Bosco Gimenez. All Spanish officials were pleased with the final version of Spain's country narrative and deemed it a very positive report. They said they look forward to reading the translated version of the full report once it is posted in Spanish on G-TIP's website. ¶2. (SBU) Polcouns said that Spain deserved its Tier 1 ranking this year, but cautioned that a country's efforts against TIP cannot remain static and that Spain must show appreciable progress in the future to retain its Tier 1 ranking. Emboffs highlighted reftel A areas for improvement identified in the 2007 TIP report and encouraged the GOS to finalize its national action plan to combat trafficking and continue and expand its demand reduction efforts. Our MOI interlocutors told us that the draft of the national action plan was currently being finalized by the office of the First Vice President and should be out soon, although the arrival of the summer holidays might push back the release until the fall. Emboffs also discussed new criteria for the 2008 TIP report and encouraged the GOS to take measures to ensure that Spanish nationals deployed abroad as peacekeepers do not engage in or facilitate trafficking in persons. Angel Melchor replied that Spain already has on the books stringent laws against this. Finally, Emboffs expressed an interest in expanding our anti-TIP collaboration with the GOS to include conferences or roundtable events designed to share best practices in the fight against TIP. ¶3. (SBU) On a separate note, we received more details on the contents of the national action plan at a May 25 TIP conference hosted by the Swiss and Spanish governments (Poloff was the only third country national invited to the event). Rosa Maria Peris, Director General of the Women's Institute in the Spanish Ministry of Interior, said that the plan will include a "reflection period" of thirty days, during which TIP victims can decide if they want to assist authorities in prosecuting their traffickers. Peris added that the plan will incorporate recent suggestions made by the Spanish Congress to improve social sensitivity, education, and training for TIP victims. The plan is slated to be in force initially for three years (with periodic evaluations) and will call for further legislative reforms and improved coordination with Spanish civil society. This initial plan will focus on trafficking for sexual exploitation, but Melchor and Zaton told us that once it is published, they will immediately begin work on a national action plan against forced labor trafficking. AGUIRRE