FOUR DOMINICAN TRAFFICKING PROPOSALS SUBMITTED FOR

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001000 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP:KATIE BRESNAHAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM SMIG DR SUBJECT: FOUR DOMINICAN TRAFFICKING PROPOSALS SUBMITTED FOR G/TIP'S CONSIDERATION REF: STATE 28159 ¶1. The four trafficking proposals being submitted by Embassy Santo Domingo for G/TIP's consideration represent four organizations with diverse areas of expertise, who are each seeking to strengthen and expand existing programs and alliances to include stepped-up trafficking components. Taken together, these proposals would provide a tested and comprehensive anti-trafficking strategy that could generate very positive results. ¶2. In this cable, Embassy has quoted the executive summary for each of the four trafficking proposals we have received (the full proposals will be forwarded via e-mail to G/TIP). We are also including brief Embassy commentaries on each of the four proposals, to focus on the organizational capacities of the proposed implementing organizations. ¶3. Applicant: Centro de Investigacion e Informacion Integral (COIN) -------------- -------------- Total Project Cost: USD 276,000 Requested Funding Amount: USD 188,000* Duration: 2 years * - The Dominican Ministry of Health will fund approximately 32 percent of the total cost of this project by paying the costs associated with four doctors, a nurse, and a laboratory technician, who will provide medical services to trafficking victims received in the shelter. -------------- Proposal Abstract -------------- For a country of its size, the Dominican Republic sends a remarkable number of female immigrants overseas. A significant proportion of these are trafficked. As noted in the Embassy's trafficking in persons report this year, there is a real shortage of programs in the country that address the prevention of trafficking and the protection of its victims. COIN has extensive experience working in these areas. We have worked since the early 1990s to educate women in high-risk communities on the risks associated with irregular immigration, provide protection and reintegration services to returned victims of trafficking, and build alliances between policy-makers and civil society to promote effective public policies to combat trafficking in persons. We were a founding member of CIPROM, the interagency government and civil society organization that exists to coordinate all trafficking activities. Until last year COIN served as a major implementing partner for trafficking programs managed by the International Organization on Migration (IOM) using assistance provided in large part by the Department of State's Bureau on Population, Refugees and Migration. The Dominican Government's Secretariat on Gender Affairs generally refers all identified trafficking victims to our offices. We propose to strengthen and expand our existing alliances and programs using the funding we are requesting in this proposal. An overview of our plans is provided below. Prevention: -- Train a network of 220 community "multipliers" to spread the message on prevention of trafficking in persons in high-risk communities nationwide. -- Conduct a series of educational round-tables, community activities, and theater presentations in high-risk communities around the country on the trafficking risks associated with migration and smuggling. -- Participate in public awareness events, to include mass media presentations and reprints of trafficking prevention material we have already developed, to warn potential migrants of the dangers of trafficking. -- Receive and follow up on calls placed to our nation-wide help line. The help line exists both to provide guidance and warnings to intending migrants and to locate and coordinate support for those who have already been victimized by trafficking. Victim Protection: -- Create a micro-financing fund to support job training, equipment purchasing costs and small business development for the benefit of 50 female trafficking victims. -- Support efforts to provide health care, emotional and psychological support, and legal support to victims of trafficking in persons at the shelter operated by COIN. -- Provide follow-up and support through house calls and other activities to the beneficiaries of the shelter. -- Qualitatively evaluate progress through focal groups and detailed interviews with service beneficiaries. -------------- Embassy Comment -------------- COIN is perhaps the most widely respected and best-experienced authority on trafficking in persons in the Dominican Republic. They have worked extensively in partnership with the IOM, which managed assistance that was ultimately provided by State's PRM Bureau. IOM has dramatically scaled back its operations in the Dominican Republic, and COIN has faced considerable budget cuts as a result. PRM has proposed enhancing the funding it provides to IOM's mission in the Dominican Republic, which would ultimately benefit COIN. However, COIN has indicated that should this occur, the renewed IOM (read: PRM) assistance would be used for other purposes, such as paying the office's general operational budget, and would not/not conflict/overlap with the support they are requesting in this proposal. Because much of the work envisioned within this proposal uses contacts, networks and programs that are already established, COIN would be in a far better position to accomplish more with the funding they are requesting. COIN's Francisca Ferreira is Embassy's best contact on issues related to the prevention of trafficking and the protection of its victims. We have been very impressed with what this organization has accomplished despite an extremely limited budget. ¶4. Applicant: International Labor Organization (ILO), International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) -------------- -------------- Total Project Cost: USD 641,018 Requested Funding Amount: USD 199,818* Duration: 2 years * - ILO-IPEC has committed to supporting approximately 69 percent of costs needed for this project using resources from its own operating budget. The specific areas they have committed to supporting are laid out in Part 4 (Page 11) on "Project Inputs and Budget" of their proposal. -------------- Proposal Abstract -------------- The Dominican Republic (DR) is known to be a major source, transit and destination country for persons trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation. Around 50,000 women from the DR work overseas in the sex industry. Although they are typically between the ages of 18 and 25, girls as young as 15 are trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and domestic servitude to Europe, the Lesser Antilles and South America. Also, cases of internal trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation and domestic labor have been reported. Over the last years, the Dominican authorities have taken a series of measures in order to combat child trafficking and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). This was reflected in particular through the adoption of an anti-trafficking and smuggling law (Law 137-03),the revision of the Code for Minors (Law 136-03),the creation of an anti trafficking unit in the Attorney's General Office, of an inter Institutional Commission against CSEC and the adoption and implementation of a National Plan to combat CSEC in the DR. Also, various workshops for law implementing agencies (Attorney's General Office's anti-trafficking unit, Migration Directorate's anti-trafficking Department, National Police's anti-trafficking unit) have been organized to train their staff on these issues. However, few institutions have dealt with trafficking issues in a sustainable manner. Among the problems that obstruct effective implementation of the law, the International Program- against the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) in the DR has identified the following factors: -- There is no clear criminal policy to tackle the problem in a permanent and forceful way; -- The judicial sector is not sufficiently aware of the CSEC and child trafficking problems and lacks knowledge on the corresponding legislation; and, in the same line, there is a lack of coordination between criminal judges and judges for children; -- Biased perceptions and attitudes towards these issues are still limiting the persecution and appropriate sanction of traffickers and sexual exploiters; -- There are no adequate legal and integral protection programs for child victims; -- The Dominican population at large, in particular in sending-prone and affected areas, is still unaware of its role and responsibilities as regards the prevention and reporting of cases of trafficking and/or CSEC. Therefore, additional support is required in order to help the Dominican Government comply with its international commitments to protect child victims and prosecute traffickers and sexual exploiters. On this basis, the ILO-IPEC, as part of the USDOL-funded project to prevent and eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the DR, has already supported various initiatives in particular to train public prosecutors on CSEC, revise the anti-trafficking law, and implement direct support activities to address the needs of child victims or children at risk of falling preys of exploiters and traffickers. Overall, project activities to combat child trafficking and CSEC will be implemented according to 3 strategic components: -- Capacity building and law enforcement, though the training of the judicial sector to ensure the adequate prosecution and conviction of exploiters and traffickers. A total of 95 judges, public prosecutors, police and migration officers will be trained; -- Social mobilization, in particular in sending-prone and affected areas, through sensitization and training activities at community level. A total of 120 community leaders and staff of community-based organization will be trained; -- Direct action to prevent and withdraw 100 child victims or at risk of trafficking and/or CSE through the implementation of a comprehensive program in a high-incidence area of the country (Santiago). The child beneficiaries will be provided with legal, education and healthcare care services. Their parents will also receive support and information services. -------------- Embassy Comment -------------- The ILO/IPEC has managed a significant amount of USDOL funding in the implementation of its program to eradicate the commercial sexual exploitation of children and other "worst forms of child labor" in the Dominican Republic. The current proposal is to use community-based networks and existing ILO/IPEC programs to confront child trafficking. They also seek to add an anti-trafficking element to their existing programs to train judges and law enforcement personnel, whose lack of specific training was noted in Embassy's trafficking report as significantly obstructing effective implementation of the Law on Trafficking. The Embassy has been extremely impressed by the results of ILO/IPEC's work on child labor. Their programs have generated quantifiable gains in the communities where they have been implemented and have led to a new, broad consensus throughout society that child labor is wrong and should be opposed. Earlier this year the Dominican government announced the implementation of a comprehensive strategy to eradicate the worst forms of child labor, which will be implemented using the government's own resources. That strategy would not have been possible without ILO's efforts. Earlier this year Ambassador Hertell drafted a personal letter of appreciation for the ILO/IPEC's efforts here. Embassy is enthusiastic about the ILO's ability to achieve similarly positive results in the prevention of child trafficking. Their proposal to use their community programs and efforts to attack the "demand-side" of trafficking (i.e. to educate adult men on the punishments envisioned under the law for those who facilitate the commercial sexual exploitation of children) is intriguing. ¶5. Applicant: Fundacion Institucionalidad y Justicia (Foundation for Institutionalism and Justice, or FINJUS) -------------- -------------- Total Project Cost: USD 190,619 Requested Funding Amount: USD 145,740* Duration: 1 year * - FINJUS has committed to providing approximately 24 percent of the funds needed for this project using its own operating budget. The specific areas they have committed to supporting are laid out in the budget attached to their proposal. -------------- Proposal Abstract -------------- FINJUS played a major role in the drafting process of Law 137-03 on Trafficking in Persons and Alien Smuggling, and with assistance provided by USAID, worked with officials in the relevant government ministries to train them on their responsibilities in enforcing it. Nonetheless, problems remain. Key Dominican ministries such as the Directorate on Migration fail to enforce their responsibilities under the law, and fail to coordinate with others in the interagency process. The government continues to deny sufficient funding to support an effective prevention strategy or to guarantee the provision of needed services to victims of trafficking. Furthermore, there is a general perception that government officials facilitate and profit from trafficking schemes. We believe that part of the problem with trafficking in the Dominican Republic is the lack of understanding among key actors in civil society, the media, and the general public of the phenomenon of trafficking and the importance of combating it. Government officials, despite the training they receive, will have little incentive to devote scarce resources and effort into seriously confronting the problem as long as they are under little or no pressure from their own constituents to do so. Given these realities, FINJUS believes that the time has come for the next step in the fight against trafficking ) exposing Dominican civil society groups, and the Dominican public, to the gravity of the problems associated with trafficking and the steps they can take in their communities and elsewhere to demand government action to combat it. The project we are submitting seeks to strengthen the capacity of civil society to work alongside governmental institutions tasked with confronting smuggling and trafficking in persons. Approximately 150 organizations in seven regions have already received training and support on Law 137-03 (see chart attached to proposal). These organizations have been trained on ways to coordinate and network their efforts. We will work with these organizations to strengthen and use this coordination to develop specific actions to monitor and provide effective feedback on the efficiency of government policies and practices related to trafficking, such as the manner in which cases are handled by the judicial system and the treatment and protection that trafficking victims receive from relevant government institutions. Networks would also be involved in prevention and awareness activities in at-risk communities, especially targeting women at risk of sexual exploitation. We aim to encourage these organizations to prepare annual reports on the incidence of trafficking in Dominican society and the public's response to it in order for the authorities and society better understand the problem. At the end of the day, this project will result in a stronger and more committed network of civil society organizations dedicated to denouncing traffickers, opposing official complicity in trafficking schemes, demanding the prosecution of trafficking facilitators, and urging and in some cases directly providing assistance to its victims. The project, in addition, aims to provide continuity to FINJUS efforts over 2005-2006, which included training of community leaders, investigation, training of judges, prosecutors, policemen and other actors of the migration sector regarding Law 137-03, publication of popular educational material, and performance of education and awareness activities, among other things. -------------- Embassy Comment -------------- With USAID assistance, FINJUS implemented a strategy similar to the one outlined above to mobilize support within civil society and the general public for a wholesale revision of the Dominican Criminal Procedures Code (CPC). The new CPC incorporates greater respect for victims' rights and rule of law, and was lauded in the State Department's 2006 Human Rights Report as one of the most significant improvements in the country's human rights record. FINJUS did participate in the drafting committee on the Law on Trafficking and Alien Smuggling. They see the proposal outlined above as the natural continuation of a program they implemented over 2005-2006 with USAID assistance to train key government personnel on their obligations under the Trafficking Law. USAID has been extremely pleased with FINJUS's performance in these and other areas of cooperation. ¶6. Applicant: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -------------- -------------- Total Project Cost: USD 155,600 Requested Funding Amount: USD 155,600 Duration: 2 years -------------- Proposal Abstract -------------- The feminization of migration is a phenomenon that has taken place in the Dominican Republic since the 1980s. Aspects of gender-based and sexual violence have characterized these movements. The main destinations for Dominican women are Europe, the Lesser Antilles, Haiti, and several Latin American countries. According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM),the Dominican Republic is ranked fourth out of ten countries with a large number of women abroad, after Thailand, the Philippines and Brazil. Studies conducted in the country with migrant women show that the main reason for traveling is the need to improve their economic situation and that of their families. The majority of them talk about the need to generate income to feed and educate their children, to buy a house and to start a small business, and some of them also state that the trip is a way to escape from violence and abuse from their partners (COIN 1998, IOM 2000). This project is aimed at raising the awareness levels of the target population of the issue of trafficking in persons, as well as working with policy makers and decision makers about their role in preventing and sanctioning this practice; also, to identify existing response mechanisms and to contribute to strengthening their capacity to address the issue of trafficking in a more effective way. The proposed actions will be developed in provinces with high migration flow in the Dominican Republic (Province of Santo Domingo and National District, San Juan de la Maguana, Barahona, San Cristobal, Higuey, Dajabon and La Romana). The proposed activities will focus on strengthening the State mechanisms to address, prevent and sanction trafficking in persons in the Dominican Republic. Also, through an advocacy component, a strategy to mobilize social and political support around this problem will be implemented, and coordinating actions will be taken with institutions specialized in service delivery, integral care for trafficking victims, with an emphasis on women and girls. Expected Outcomes -- To have strengthened coordination mechanisms for the effective provision of prevention, care and support services for trafficking victims in areas with high migration flows. -- To have contributed to the elaboration of the regulation of Law 137-03 on Trafficking in Persons and Alien Smuggling. -- To have contributed to raising the level of knowledge among women of the risks associated with illegal travel and the contents of Law 137-03 on Trafficking in Persons and Alien Smuggling in the Dominican Republic. -- To have sensitized the population located in areas with high flows of migration on the issue of trafficking in persons and on the various means available to accessing information and services, through the conducting of information-sharing activities with communities and the dissemination of educational messages, with the participation of main governmental institutions responsible for the prevention, care and sanction of the trafficking of women and girls. -- To have strengthened integrated care services for trafficking victims through a specialized institution. -------------- Embassy Comment -------------- UNFPA is a relative newcomer to trafficking issues in the Dominican Republic, but they have demonstrated interest in recent months in expanding the focus of their programs to include trafficking components. The most attractive aspects of UNFPA's proposal are, first, that it envisions working directly with CIPROM, the government's dysfunctional interagency coordination body. CIPROM's biggest obstacle in achieving its objective to enhance coordination is its lack of funding, and UNFPA is the only organization of the four that proposes working directly through CIRPOM. UNFPA proposes working with CIRPOM to strengthen its coordination and to ensure the finalization of key missing implementing regulations related to the Trafficking Law. The second intriguing aspect of UNFPA's proposal is that it proposes "training the system," specifically the government's specialists on assisting victims of gender violence, on the need to include trafficking victims within their mandate. Embassy's trafficking report noted that the Dominican government has made considerable progress in providing better services to victims of rape and physical abuse, but that these services are not made available to trafficking victims. UNFPA already works with these specialist networks on gender violence issues. However, some elements of UNFPA's proposal may need further clarification. Specific activities for obtaining their objectives (particularly regarding their work with CIPROM) do not appear to have been adequately conceptualized, and some elements of their proposal may conflict with objectives more appropriately undertaken by the other three organizations listed above. HERTELL