ALGERIA REACTION TO 2008 TIP REPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 000683 SIPDIS G/TIP FOR MARK TAYLOR AND GAYATRI PATEL E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2018 TAGS: PHUM KCRM KWMN PREL PREF SMIG AG SUBJECT: ALGERIA REACTION TO 2008 TIP REPORT REF: A. STATE 59114 ¶B. 07 ALGIERS 859 ¶C. ALGIERS 168 ¶D. ALGIERS 205 Classified By: Ambassador Robert S. Ford; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: While official Algerian government reaction to the 2008 TIP report was negative, press coverage was surprisingly light, with much of it critical of Algeria's inability to get itself out of Tier 3 status. The Justice minister and our MFA interlocutor both rejected the report and highlighted what they saw as Algerian efforts to combat trafficking. These included having greater and more substantive conversations on TIP with the Embassy, conversations which our Algerian interlocutors viewed as progress in and of themselves. END SUMMARY. MFA CHAGRINED BY CONTINUED TIER 3 STATUS -------------- ¶2. (C) We delivered reftel demarche June 4 to Ahmed Saadi, MFA's deputy director for human rights and humanitarian affairs, who was dismayed that Algeria remained a Tier 3 country (ref B). Based solely on our oral summary of the report, Saadi expressed surprise that Algeria's position had not been upgraded "despite all of the efforts made by the Algerian government" in the past year. Since the release of the 2007 report, Saadi noted that the Algerian government had met repeatedly with Embassy Algiers on TIP (ref C) had attended an Embassy-organized DVC on TIP (ref D),had submitted documentation concerning its position on TIP and had begun work on legislative changes so that Algerian laws clearly address TIP. ¶3. (C) When asked why the TIP report was such a public document, we stressed that Congress mandates the TIP report and that the USG makes it available publicly in an effort to be transparent. Saadi responded, "once it is made public, it is no longer an internal document and countries are free to react and respond." We also stressed the importance of developing mechanisms to identify and help victims, as well as to vigorously prosecute individuals for trafficking offenses. We acknowledged Algerian efforts and conversations over the past year and underscored that we had reported these to Washington. Focusing on the information we requested and did not receive from the Algerian government, we provided Saadi a photocopy of a February 2008 diplomatic in which Embassy Algiers requested information on the enforcement of trafficking-related laws and asked Saadi to forward any trafficking-related statistics he could gather. Saadi was unable to explain why the Algerian government had not provided a response to our inquiry. Instead, he explained how, despite TIP not being a major problem in Algeria, the Algerian government was actively working on it. He also told us that he had spoken to police officials who told him that they did not keep statistics on trafficking victims. Saadi promised to forward any TIP information that he is able to gather. PRESS REACTION MUTED -------------- ¶4. Press coverage of the TIP report was light and overshadowed by a series of terrorist attacks that happened near Algiers. According to press reports, Justice minister Tayeb Belaiz said that Algeria "roundly rejects the accusations of the U.S. report." Belaiz is also reported to have noted Algerian government work on a draft law to combat trafficking in persons. Coverage also aimed at the Algerian government itself. The leading daily, Arabic-language El Khabar, headlined that "for the second time, Algeria on the blacklist of TIP countries". In an editorial, El Khabar also urged the Algerian government to take concrete action to fight trafficking, including passing new laws. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: As was true in 2007 when Algeria was placed on Tier 3, our MFA discussion was cordial but sometimes tense. Saadi seemed shocked that Algeria had not left Tier 3 and, without reading the report, said Algeria was not getting ALGIERS 00000683 002 OF 002 credit for any of its efforts to address TIP throughout the past year. Last year, the Algerian government concluded that U.S.-Algerian differences on TIP were largely a matter of semantics. This year, the Algerian government has decided that it has made great strides but has not been rewarded for them. While it is true that we have seen movement on TIP in Algeria over the last year (reftels),this movement has not yet been translated into concrete action. We are no longer hearing a complete denial of TIP as a problem. The Algerian government claims it is now taking action, but it remains slow to provide us with the information we request on TIP-related prosecutions and victim assistance to prove that it is indeed taking these steps. FORD