EMBASSY DISCUSSES TIP WITH MFA

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 001655 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP KWMN KLPM PHUM PREL ELAB SMIG IZ SUBJECT: EMBASSY DISCUSSES TIP WITH MFA REF: BAGHDAD 1580 This message is Sensitive but Unclassified; handle accordingly. Not for distribution on the Internet. ¶1. (SBU) On June 22, we delivered the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report to Minister Plenipotentiary Mohamed Alhamaimidi, the head of the North America desk at the MFA. We informed Alhamaimidi that the Department had evaluated and ranked Iraq as it does other countries, not as a special case, as had been done in previous years. We informed Alhamaimidi that Iraq has been ranked as a Tier 2 Watch List country and explained the implications of this, including the possible sanctions and waivers involved if a country moves into Tier 3 status. Deputy Political Counselor described steps that the GOI must take to improve its ranking, such as passing anti-TIP legislation, prosecuting violators, and protecting victims. ¶2. (SBU) Alhamaimidi acknowledged that Iraq does have a TIP problem and confirmed what the Minister of Human Rights had told us on June 16 (reftel A) that the MFA had received a letter from the Government of Syria detailing a group of young Iraqi girls who had been trafficked for the purposes of prostitution and had subsequently been imprisoned. Alhamaimidi said that he was going to raise the issue with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to see if they could provide legal assistance in these types of cases. ¶3. (SBU) At the same time, Alhamaimidi seemed surprised when we raised the issue of third-country nationals who are trafficked into Iraq for purposes of labor exploitation. He claimed that the GOI had nothing to do with this issue and thus could not be held responsible. We responded that the report did not accuse the GOI of being involved in labor trafficking, but noted that the GOI needed to do more to provide assistance to victims and punish those responsible. We will continue to raise the issue of TIP with the GOI. FORD