POSITIVE REACTIONS TO TIP REPORT; SIDES FOCUSED ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000519

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN PREL PGOV CY SMIG KPAO
SUBJECT: POSITIVE REACTIONS TO TIP REPORT; SIDES FOCUSED ON
BENCHMARKS

REF: SECSTATE 78631


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a refreshing change from prior years,
Cypriots on both sides of the Buffer Zone reacted
constructively to the June 12 release of the 2007 TIP Report.
Authorities, faced with a fair and factual report (and
ranking),publicly admitted the need to combat trafficking in
persons and privately offered us their plans to do so. Press
coverage focused on the severity of the island's trafficking
problem and the need for authorities to do more, a product of
careful Embassy outreach. We believe leaders in both
communities are close to achieving some long-sought goals:
opening victims' shelters, implementing demand reduction
campaigns, and passing revised laws and regulations. Greater
political will is needed to overcome bureaucratic inertia and
suspected vested interests if Cyprus is to succeed in other
key areas, however, from curtailing or abolishing the
"artiste" work permit category in the south to enacting an
anti-TIP law in the north. END SUMMARY.

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Diplomatic Reaction to a Second Watch List Ranking
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2. (SBU) Charge d'Affaires, a.i., June 12 delivered reftel
points and the TIP Report to MFA Political Affairs Director
(P equivalent) Ambassador Euripedes Evriviades. Evriviades
noted the GOC's domestic and international commitments on
this issue -- in its May 2005 National Action Plan and to the
Council of Europe -- and recognized that "Cyprus has to get
these done... with or without American pressure."


3. (SBU) He informed Charge that the Parliamentary Human
Rights Committee had just concluded the second reading of the
revised comprehensive anti-TIP bill and that it would send it
on/about June 19 to the plenary body for action. The bill's
passage was "just a matter of time," he commented. On the
separate issue of the "artiste" work permit category,
Evriviades noted the MFA's initiative (since his December
2006 return from Washington where he was Cyprus's ambassador)
to provide these foreign women more control over, and
information on, the conditions of their employment. He urged
the Embassy to engage the GOC "interagency," particularly
anti-TIP coordinator (and Ministry of Interior Permanent
Secretary) Lazaros Savvides, in hopes of securing government

SIPDIS
buy-in to further curtail or abolish the category.


4. (SBU) Lastly (and predictably),Evriviades complained
about the inclusion of northern Cyprus in the report,
requesting, at the least, that the USG refer to the Turkish
Cypriot-administered areas as the EU does, i.e., "the areas
of the Republic of Cyprus in which the Government of the
Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control."
Charge took note of his request but replied that we were not
inclined to change USG-standard terminology.

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New Angles on "Artistes"; Some Low-Hanging Fruit
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5. (SBU) Despite the Embassy's request for an earlier
meeting, MOI PermSec Savvides agreed to meet PolChief only on
June 13 (after the Report's Washington release) to receive
reftel points and country narrative. Savvides did not appear
particularly "furious" with the assessment, as the "Cyprus
Mail" reported earlier the same day, but he did dispute some
of its points. The GOC's performance had exceeded what it
had promised with its National Action Plan, Savvides
initially asserted. He then weakened his own argument,
however, by changing "government" to "ministry" -- the MOI
had met all its goals, but "it was only a coordinating body
and had no action authority for any of the anti-TIP measures
promised or undertaken."


6. (SBU) Having expressed sufficient protest and the
bureaucratic caveat, Savvides pointed to some areas in which
he expected we would see progress soon. He revealed that the
GOC intended to make it more difficult for "impresarios" to
secure "artiste" work permits for Belorussians, Russians,
Moldovans, and Ukrainians, mainly by slow-rolling such
applications. If EU nationals, instead, worked in the
island's nightclubs, they would not be subject to migration
or employment restrictions; their rights of choice and
movement would be protected. Savvides also noted that, under
the revised anti-TIP legislation, if a foreign woman
currently on Cyprus claimed to Welfare Services to be a
trafficking victim, that office would alert Migration, which
would then be obligated to revoke the prior conditions of

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employment and issue a permit allowing unrestricted
employment.


7. (SBU) Savvides confirmed that the revised anti-TIP bill
would be voted out of committee the week of June 18. He
noted that the GOC was under pressure from the EU to
harmonize its TIP legislation with the Acquis. He mentioned
that this new legislation would ratchet up penalties for
trafficking. Next year's public awareness campaign,
therefore, would utilize new posters and T.V. spots
mentioning the stiffer penalties and focusing on nightclub
clients. He assumed (and we agreed to check if) this would
be considered a demand reduction campaign. Avoiding any
prediction of an opening date, Savvides reported that the
hirings for the government-run shelter in Nicosia had
occurred and that the new employees were in training.
Lastly, Savvides foresaw continued vigilance and dedication
on the part of police and prosecutors, hoping for a steady
upward trend in trafficking convictions.


8. (SBU) PolChief June 15 discussed legislative priorities
with European Party (EUROKO) MP Nikos Koutsou. Koutsou
claimed that EUROKO's short-term priority was to see a
revised trafficking in persons law passed soonest. It was
not pressure from the United States or the European Union
that had convinced his party to target TIP, but rather the
severity of the problem and the moral necessity of tackling
it. Although not on the committee currently considering the
bill, he promised his personal support to seeing it become
law.

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Turkish Cypriots: Request for Political Pressure
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9. (SBU) Poloff met June 14 with "MOI Under Secretary" Ali
Alnar to present the Turkish Cypriot (T/C) administration
with a copy of the TIP Report. Like Savvides, Alnar noted
that, as "anti-TIP coordinator," he had little executive
power over action "agencies." He admitted that even he,
until recently, had confused trafficking with smuggling, and
apologized for the lack of progress on the issue. He seemed
bewildered as to which of the many anti-TIP initiatives
previously discussed with Poloffs should be a priority, and
launched into a laundry list of actions/intentions that he
hoped would suffice. Alnar announced that T/C authorities
had stopped approving new "barmaid" work permits, driving out
of business all but a couple of the known disreputable pubs;
the T/C administration would try to improve, via an amendment
to the permit regulations, the working conditions of
"artistes"; and a public awareness campaign was in the works,
which would inform "artistes" of these new rights. He also
claimed that T/C authorities were open to the idea of a
shelter, and had spoken with the local NGO T/C Human Rights
Foundation about cooperating on such, but were at a loss on
what would be the implementing steps. Lastly, without
providing details, he promised to improve the toll-free
victims' hotline.


10. (SBU) Poloff encouraged the forward movement (or the
intention of such),but also highlighted the Report's two
recommended measures: (1) passage of a comprehensive anti-TIP
law (the north has none) and (2) training of police and other
first responders on how to identify victims. Focusing on the
most fundamental of steps, i.e., an anti-TIP law, Alnar threw
up his hands. He said that the "MOI" did not have any legal
or technical experts, and, moreover, he had no authority to
direct those expert "agencies" to start the legislative
drafting process. Laced with a warning that T/C efforts
would receive increasing scrutiny, Poloff provided the
example of Turkey's anti-TIP law as a possible model, one
which the T/C authorities could merely "cut and paste."
Exhausted of excuses, Alnar committed to pass it along and
push for an anti-TIP law, but requested -- if the USG were
truly interested in seeing progress -- that we approach
"President" Mehmet Ali Talat for movement on this specific
point.

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Press and Public Comments
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11. (SBU) The first press accounts (June 13) of the TIP
report were superficial, focusing on the USG's criticism of
Cyprus, not its trafficking problem. Media coverage changed
significantly after the Embassy's Political and Public
Affairs Sections conducted press roundtables in both
communities later that day. In them, Embassy staff walked

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journalists through our anti-TIP legislation, the tier
system, our information-gathering process, and the method
with which we rank countries. To defuse the expected "why
don't you rate yourself" criticism, we also provided copies
of the most recent Department of Justice evaluation of USG
anti-TIP efforts at home. Articles the following day
targeted the severity of the trafficking problem and the need
for authorities to take greater measures. The normally
combative GOC Spokesman Vasilis Palmas uncharacteristically
told media June 14 that Cyprus acknowledged deficiencies in
its approach to confronting TIP. In the north, leading daily
"Kibris's" lead story called trafficking in persons a "shame
for both Turkish and Greek Cypriots."

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Comment
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12. (SBU) As Post has previously reported, both GOC officials
and T/C authorities admit to a TIP problem and are willing to
take action against it. They recognize the steps that still
need to be taken. And they have already expended a
considerable amount of political capital as well as time and
money to achieve some notable results. Consistent with
Cyprus's Tier 2 Watch List status, however, they must do
more. Post has made clear to the GOC that the "artiste"
category must be severely curtailed or, better yet, abolished
if Cyprus hopes to escape the Watch List. Yet, we might not
want to fixate on terminology or the existence of the
above-named classification. Instead, we suggest focusing on
whether these foreign women enjoy and can employ basic rights
-- to change employers and/or employment sectors, for example
-- which may be achievable through legal/regulatory changes
in the category. In the Turkish Cypriot-administered area,
Post will raise at the highest levels the necessity of
enacting anti-trafficking legislation, possibly based on
Turkey's law, as the first step in successfully combating
TIP. We should expect, though, to receive soon a T/C request
for technical assistance on drafting legislation and/or
training police and other first responders.
ZIMMERMAN