TURKEY SIGNS COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONVENTION ON HUMAN

UNCLAS ANKARA 000462 SIPDIS DEPT FOR: G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, EUR/SE, EUR/PGI; DEPT FOR USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB TU SUBJECT: TURKEY SIGNS COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONVENTION ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING REF: 08 ANKARA 610 ¶1. (U) On March 19 Turkey signed the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. As the convention is already in force, Turkey attached no reservations. MFA Section Head for Asylum and Illegal Migration Nilufer Kaygisiz reminded us March 26 that Turkey had participated actively in the drafting and development of the convention. It was to Turkey's satisfaction that the convention expanded the international legal architecture in the fight against TIP, and Turkey always had the intention to sign; it had only wanted to ensure that it would be able to ratify and implement fully the convention's provisions before it did so (implying that some parties and signatories are not implementing the convention). The National Taskforce on Human Trafficking, after considerable deliberation, decided that Turkey could indeed implement all aspects of the convention. The next step will be to amend the relevant sections of Turkish law and submit the convention to Parliament for ratification. Kaygisiz expects that to take "months." ¶2. (U) The convention's provision on victim compensation was the stickiest for Turkey. The principle already exists in Turkey -- victims may apply to the court for compensation, but few in practice do, preferring instead to return home. The Turks fear that the provision could be abused by source countries; the challenge is to develop common and comprehensive victim identification procedures, Kaygisiz said. The Turks are continuing to enhance their procedures domestically -- this is a key component of the ongoing two-year EU anti-trafficking program -- as well as bilaterally and regionally with source country experts and authorities. Kaygisiz said she believed further awareness raising in source countries would help. The Turks will launch an "international" public awareness campaign this summer, building on the domestic campaign launched in June 2008 (reftel),in two source countries, most likely Moldova and Russia. Both are important source countries, and the Turks believe that through Russian media they can more effectively spread the campaign's message to Central Asia and other Russian-speaking source countries. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: According to our contacts, Turkey's signing of the Convention was an EU, OSCE and COE priority. The signing, coming before the release of the 2009 TIP Report, was likely also meant to influence favorably the assessment of Turkey in the report. We believe that this is a positive development that further underscores Turkey's overall commitment in the fight against human trafficking. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey Jeffrey