MACEDONIA'S SUCCESSFUL ANTI-TIP RECORD: THE CASE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SKOPJE 000304

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G - U/S DOBRIANSKI, G/TIP - AMB. LAGON FROM
CHARGE D'AFFAIRES NAVRATIL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA'S SUCCESSFUL ANTI-TIP RECORD: THE CASE
FOR TIER 1

SUMMARY


1. (SBU) This is a request for reconsideration or guidance.


2. (SBU) Embassy Skopje has worked intensively with the
Macedonian government (GOM) to bring their anti-trafficking
efforts up to international standards. We have documented
Macedonia's success in meeting Tier 1 criteria for
prosecution, protection, and prevention. IOM and other
significant IOs concur with the facts we have presented.
G/TIP's proposed recommendations for Macedonia call for it to
continue doing what it is already doing in each category. In
the absence of any factual information to indicate that
Macedonia has not met the standards for Tier 1, we request
reconsideration of the ranking decision, or an explanation of
the basis for the decision, with specific examples of failure
to meet the standards, that we could share with the
Macedonian government. Macedonia is a willing, successful
partner in the fight against trafficking, and we can best
maintain our high cooperation through an objective assessment
of their performance. Please advise.


3. (SBU) During the reporting period March 2007-March 2008,
the GOM made appreciable progress in every area covered by
the TVPA. GOM's hightened law enforcement efforts resulted
in more prosecutions, more convictions and longer sentences
imposed on traffickers. Using its new victim-centered
anti-TIP procedures, the GOM identified 15 times more victims
than in the previous reporting period and doubled the number
of victims helped in shelters. As part of its fight against
TIP, the GOM distributed approximately Euros 50,000 to NGOs
applied in a range of related TIP assistance. The Prime
Minister and other high-level GOM officials participated in a
number of well-publicized anti-TIP campaigns. There were no
new cases of official complicity in TIP activities, and old
cases were prosecuted in a timely manner. Strong
international anti-TIP cooperation led to unprecedented IC
access to GOM anti-TIP operational and other information.


4. (SBU) Following are G/TIP's recommendations for Macedonia
(G/TIP narrative for this year's TIP report): "continue to
vigorously prosecute traffickers under the improved
anti-trafficking legislation and sentencing guidelines,
ensuring convicted traffickers receive adequate jail time;
vigorously prosecute any trafficking-related corruption;
continue to implement new standard operating procedures on
victim identification and assistance, including the new
"reflection period" for foreign victims; and continue to
provide assistance to the shelters assisting Macedonian and
foreign victims."


5. (SBU) We appreciate our recent exchanges with EUR and
G/TIP regarding Macedonia's progress in combating
trafficking-in-persons (TIP) over the period March 2007-March

2008. We share the Department's commitment to combating TIP
and to providing an objective assessment of Macedonia's
anti-TIP achievements. For the record, we would like to
reiterate the concrete reasons why we believe Macedonia has
met the objective criteria for inclusion in the 2008
reporting period as a Tier 1 country. End summary.

PROSECUTION NUMBERS UP, MORE CONVICTIONS, LONGER SENTENCES


6. (SBU) During the reporting period, Macedonia markedly
boosted anti-TIP law enforcement efforts. The rate of
investigations, prosecutions and convictions was
significantly higher than in the previous reporting period,
as reflected below:

--In 2008, there were 55 cases with 123 suspects prosecuted;
of those, 30 cases with 70 defendants concluded with prison
sentences. In comparison, in 2007, there were 48 cases with
104 suspects prosecuted; of those, 18 cases with 54
defendants concluded with prison sentences.

--Compared to 2007, there were significantly more cases
concluded in 2008 (60% more); more suspects convicted (30%
more); and higher numbers of convicted traffickers receiving
imposed sentences of one to nine years in prison (74%).


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--The average wait time for TIP and smuggling of persons
cases to reach court was between 45 days and two months, a
significant reduction compared to previous years.

--Macedonian courts reduced their backlog of civil cases
older than three years by 57.6% in 2008, and their backlog of
cases older than one year by 38.3%.

PROTECTION: MORE VICTIMS IDENTIFIED AND ASSISTED


7. (SBU) During the reporting period, the GOM identified 15
times more victims (249 versus 17 in the previous reporting
period) and offered shelter, legal aid, medical help, witness
protection, psychological assistance and vocational training
to all of them.

--The new victim-centered Standard Operational Procedures
(SOP) mandate the police to treat all women discovered during
raids as potential TIP victims, even if they claim to be
acting with consent. The SOP also require the police to
offer assistance to those victims.

--The use of a new police manual on TIP, and the
participation of joint NGO-GOM teams in raids and victim
interviews, led to a doubling of the number of potential
victims accepting shelter assistance.

--The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) operated 27
social work centers to identify and support potential
victims. Two new databases -- one for TIP perpetrators
operated by the Ministry of Interior (MOI),and one for TIP
victims operated by the MLSP -- led to better data
collection, organization and reporting.

TOUGHER CRIMINAL CODE SANCTIONS, BETTER VICTIM PROTECTION


8. (SBU) In January 2008, Parliament adopted the proposal of
the Prime Minister's office for amendments to the Criminal
Code to stiffen TIP-related sanctions, which brought
Macedonian legislation into full compliance with the UN
Palermo Convention against TIP.

--A new Law on Foreigners gives residence permits for up to
10 months to foreign victims of TIP.

MORE RESOURCES FOR COMBATING AND PREVENTING TIP


9. (SBU) The GOM put increasingly more institutional
resources into combating TIP. In the period March 2007-March
2008, the GOM distributed approximately Euros 50,000 to five
TIP-related NGOs and for a range of related TIP assistance
(i.e. GOM experts working with NGOs; victim repatriations;
provision of per diems and travel costs to GOM employees
working with NGOs on TIP, etc.).

--High-level GOM involvement emphasized the government's
commitment to combating TIP. In December 2007, the Minister
of Interior accepted Post's 2007-2008 seven-point action plan
on TIP and in February 2008, the Prime Minister, the
Ministers of Interior, Justice, and Labor and Social Policy
participated in the televised official launching of the new
TIP SOPs (see para 4 above).

NO NEW CASES OF OFFICIAL COMPLICITY IN TIP; PROSECUTION OF
OLDER CASES


10. (SBU) There was no evidence, and no allegations by
domestic or international NGOs, of official complicity in any
TIP-related cases during the reporting period. Macedonia
maintained a strong record of prosecuting past official
complicity in TIP and smuggling-related cases.

--In May 2007, an appeals court confirmed the sentences of
two policemen who had been sentenced on migrant smuggling
charges in November 2006.

--In March 2008, an Investigative Judge started preparing to
prosecute the case of five policemen and one MOJ official for
attempting to smuggle migrants in January 2007.


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--The GOM's efforts to attack overall corruption resulted in
a 21 positive jump in Transparency International's 2007
corruption rating. In the period March 2007-March 2008,
Macedonia prosecuted 20 cases of official (non-TIP related)
corruption, charging 128 persons and sentencing nine of those
persons to four years or more in prison.

GOM SUPPORT FOR TIP PREVENTION AND DEMAND REDUCTION


11. (SBU) The GOM took concrete actions on TIP prevention and
demand reduction.

--The January 2008 amendments to the Criminal Code
criminalize the actions of sexual service users, who "knew,
or had every reason to know" that a sex service provider was
a TIP victim.

--Border police and NGO representatives distributed anti-TIP
materials, while the MLSP, with OSCE financial support,
launched the anti-TIP media campaign "It's Simple" in
November 2007.

--The Macedonian Ministry of Health and the GOM's National
Committee on HIV/AIDS, together with a local NGO, worked with
clients of sex workers, distributing materials about the
health and legal consequences of using the services of
commercial sex workers who could be TIP victims.

--Macedonia does not contribute more than 100 soldiers to
peacekeeping or other similar missions abroad, but in
December 2007, the Ministry of Defense began "Force
Protection" training that includes anti-TIP training for its
combat forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

STRONG INTERNATIONAL ANTI-TIP COOPERATION


12. (SBU) A willing partner in our shared efforts to combat
TIP, the GOM has shown complete support for and understanding
of the problem of trafficking-in-persons.

--The National Commission for Combating TIP Secretary's
openness to the international community has resulted in
unprecedented IC access to information on TIP raids and
prosecutions. For the first time ever, IC representatives
participated in every session of the National Commission.

--Macedonia is markedly less hospitable to traffickers today
than in the previous reporting period. Our colleagues in IOM
and OSCE agree with us that the GOM's anti-TIP efforts
warrant positive recognition of the gains Macedonia has made
in fighting internal and external trafficking.
NAVRATIL