Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASHGABAT1076
2009-08-27 10:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:  

OSCE SPONSORED TIP SEMINAR FOR TURKMEN OFFICIALS

Tags:  KTIP PGOV SCUL SOCI OSCE TX 
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INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
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RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5589
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 3838
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001076 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; DRL; G/TIP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2019
TAGS: KTIP PGOV SCUL SOCI OSCE TX
SUBJECT: OSCE SPONSORED TIP SEMINAR FOR TURKMEN OFFICIALS

Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001076

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; DRL; G/TIP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2019
TAGS: KTIP PGOV SCUL SOCI OSCE TX
SUBJECT: OSCE SPONSORED TIP SEMINAR FOR TURKMEN OFFICIALS

Classified By: Charge Richard Miles, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY. A recent OSCE-organized seminar on
combating trafficking in persons (TIP),held in Ashgabat,
brought together Turkmen officials and international experts
for an overview of the TIP problem. Topics covered included
the definition of TIP and the global scope of the problem,
the role of a national TIP rapporteur, the importance of
international law enforcement cooperation, and anti-TIP civil
society activity in Ukraine. Success at obtaining Turkmen
Government approval for the meeting suggests that the
government has evolved away from its denial that the problem
exists in Turkmenistan. Sessions lacked any Turkmenistan
focus and government officials offered little in the way of
information about Turkmenistan's efforts in this area.
Still, the seminar can serve as a base from which hopefully
future seminars and other anti-TIP activities can move the
Turkmen Government closer to implementing concrete measures
to proactively address TIP in the country. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On August 25, the OSCE Center in Ashgabat sponsored a
one-day seminar, "Prevention of and Combating Trafficking in
Human Beings," for 30 Turkmen Government officials, with
support from the Foreign Ministry and the National Institute
for Democracy and Human Rights (IDHR). Attendees included
representatives from the parliament, Ministry of Justice, law
enforcement agencies, the National Institute of State and
Law, and various agencies dealing with social welfare, health
and education. Opening remarks were made by OSCE Special
Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Eva
Biaudet, and IDHR Director, Shirin Akhmedova. In addition to
highlighting the global scope of human trafficking, Biaudet
noted that Turkmenistan needed to add TIP sanctions to its
Criminal Code as a means of completing the legislative
framework begun with its Law on Combating Trafficking in
Persons. She also spoke in favor of all OSCE states creating
a national TIP rapporteur position as some European countries

have done, as well as emphasizing the importance of
implementation of the OSCE Action Plan. Akhmedova noted the
Turkmen Government's efforts in combating TIP, including
acceding to international conventions and reaching bilateral
legal agreements with a number countries. She mentioned that
work is ongoing on the criminalization of TIP and identified
the Office of the General Procurator as Turkmenistan's
national TIP coordinator, with responsibility for preparation
an annual TIP report to the Cabinet of Ministers.


3. (C) The seminar consisted of a series of presentations by
foreign speakers about various aspects of TIP. A United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Crime Prevention
expert from its Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant smuggling
Unit gave basic presentations about the definition of TIP and
the scale of TIP worldwide. Following the definition
presentation, Ms. Akhmedova asked the sole question of the
morning -- since the next legislative step for Turkmenistan
was criminalization of TIP, were there any examples about
this step from other former Soviet republics. The Dutch
National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings next spoke
about her office and its usefulness in monitoring anti-TIP
activity and holding responsible officials accountable. Her
discussion was broad ranging. She pointed out the conundrum
faced by countries that collect a lot of TIP data, and as a
result, appear to have a worse TIP record than other
countries that do not collect and publish TIP data. At the
same time, she noted that knowledge is the basis for
effective government anti-TIP action, stressing that
"trafficking is easily overlooked if you don't want to see
it." The rapporteur described Holland's approach to
combating TIP, with its national action plan, task force for
implementation of the plan, parliamentary debates on the
issue, and the office of the rapporteur. She emphasized that
the task of the parliament was to monitor and critically
assess implementation of anti-TIP measures.


4. (C) The Senior Anti-Trafficking Adviser at OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) discussed

ASHGABAT 00001076 002 OF 002


OSCE members' commitments based on the OSCE TIP Action Plan
of 2003. Key principles of the plan are: its focus on
prevention, prosecution and protection aspects of the
problem; the need to criminalize TIP and apply appropriate
sanctions; and restraint from prosecuting TIP victims for
immigration and other criminal activity related to their TIP
circumstances. A representative from EUROPOL stressed the
importance of cross-border cooperation and information
sharing in order to combat TIP. He explained how such
cooperation works in practice with a detailed account of the
investigation of a TIP network that brought young victims
from Romania to the UK to engage in petty crime. The head of
a Ukrainian anti-TIP NGO coalition made an effective
presentation about the work of NGOs in her country,
presenting an excellent description of how civil society can
supplement government efforts in a former Soviet country,
giving concrete, practical examples of activities such as
referral networks, awareness campaigns and publications, hot
lines, and crisis centers.


5. (C) During the concluding feedback/comment session, the
Turkmen attendees had little to say. The ODIHR advisor's
request for information about Turkmenistan's anti-TIP law,
number of TIP prosecutions and existence of national action
plan went unanswered. Akhmedova asked for more details about
the Dutch national TIP report -- how is it done, how often
and who pays for it. One social welfare official asked about
whether illegal migrants claim to be TIP victims to avoid
prosecution for migration violations and how to distinguish
such cases.


6. (C) COMMENT: The OSCE Center in Ashgabat deserves credit
for organizing this seminar as part of its broader effort to
engage with the Turkmen Government on the TIP issue. A lot
of information was presented, and in particular the
presentation by the Ukrainian NGO leader seemed to engage the
attendees' interest. That said, whether intentionally or
not, there was very little indication that the presenters
took into account the current status of anti-TIP efforts in
Turkmenistan, or that they focused on actions that might be
relevant for Turkmenistan to move to a higher level of
anti-TIP implementation. For example, presenters referred to
the importance of developing agreements with NGOs on victim
assistance, seemingly unaware that the Turkmen government
keeps civil society tightly under wraps. Listening to hours
of simultaneous translation - only the Ukrainian presenter
spoke in Russian - the attendees often appeared bored and
disengaged. Although the seminar failed to deliver a message
of clear next steps to the Turkmen, the seminar did put the
TIP issue squarely on the agenda for further international
engagement, and the Turkmen Government's willingness to allow
the event to take place indicates that the government no
longer denies that the issue is relevant to Turkmenistan.
Future anti-TIP efforts will need to focus on concrete steps
that the government can take to meet its anti-TIP
commitments. END COMMENT.
MILES