BRAZIL: DIFFICULT TO PROSECUTE TIP CASES; BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000234 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/BSC AND G/TIP E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2019 TAGS: PHUM KCRM KFRD KWMN ELAB PREF ASEC SMIG BR SUBJECT: BRAZIL: DIFFICULT TO PROSECUTE TIP CASES; BUT PROGRESS ON CHILD LABOR: A REPORT FROM PARA REF: A. 08 BRASILIA 01686 ¶B. 09 BRASILIA 00233 Classified By: Political Counselor Steve Liston. Reason 1.5 (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Socioeconomic conditions in the state of Para are among the worst in Brazil, and as a result, the state acts as a source for slave and domestic child labor and trafficking in persons cases. Belem international airport is a major transit point for Trafficking in Persons (TIP) networks on their way to Suriname and Europe, although prosecuting them is made difficult by unwilling witnesses and lack of cooperation from Suriname. Child sexual exploitation and domestic child labor are also significant problems in the state, and to a large extent, are culturally accepted, a situation the NGO community and the state government have begun to reverse. The government is beginning to tackle seriously the forced labor problem, but the slow, uneven progress with regard to combating both TIP and forced labor in Para exemplifies the difficulties Brazil faces in confronting these two problems. End summary. -------------- -------------- Catching them is easy, prosecuting is the hard part -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Emboff traveled to Para in late September 2008 to discuss trafficking in persons, forced labor, and exploitation of women and children (ref a reported on drug trafficking and public security; ref b reported on TIP issues in Maranhao). Accounting for less than four percent of Brazil's population, Para's seven million inhabitants are scattered across a land area the size of California and Texas combined. The state borders Suriname, Guyana, French Guyana, the Brazilian state of Amapa, and Atlantic in the north, and extends into the Amazon forest in the west and cleared farmland in the east. The capital Belem, a port city in the north and a two and half-hour plane ride from Brasilia, is home to only about a sixth of the state's population. ¶3. (C) According Para-based Federal Prosecutor Ubiratan Cazetta, the state of Para is a major route for trafficking of persons to international destinations. The most used route is through the Belem International Airport which has direct flights to Paramaribo, Suriname, several times a week. Women are recruited from around and outside the state to work as prostitutes around the mines in Suriname, although a contingent of them do so in the belief that legitimate jobs await them. According to Cazetta, "if you go to the airport on the days there are flights to Suriname, it is quite easy to spot the women who are being trafficked." The problem for authorities, according to Cazetta, is that it is difficult to prosecute TIP cases involving international travel. "We have to prove there was sexual exploitation, and that only comes once they go overseas; it is even more difficult when the destination is Suriname, rather than Europe, because we get little cooperation from the Surinamese authorities. According to Cazetta, sometimes the women who are prostituted in Suriname make their way back to Brazil, yet remain unwilling to testify, and in fact, sometimes, go back due to lack of opportunities for them in Brazil. Indeed, Izaura Miranda (protect) chief of staff to the National Secretary of Justice, told POLOFF that she has visited Suriname several times to learn about TIP issues, and was convinced that many, but not all, Brazilian women who travel work there as prostitutes do so voluntarily, knowingly, sometimes making repeat trips after returning home, and cannot be considered TIP victims. Despite the difficulties, Cazetta indicated that his office, along with the Federal Police had been working on improving cooperation with Suriname. Since they have the TIP routes well mapped out, if they could get succeed in improving cooperation from Suriname, they would be able to prosecute more cases, noted Cazetta. -------------- Abuse of women and children -------------- BRASILIA 00000234 002 OF 003 ¶4. (C) Echoing Cazetta's views that the TIP problem is pervasive, Dr. Ana Celina Hamoy, of the Center for the Defense of Children (CEDECA-EMAUS) -- an NGO that runs its own tipline for victims of violence, conducts research, interventions, protects children in vulnerable situations, runs programs and public awareness campaigns against domestic child labor, trafficking in persons, and sexual violence against children -- told POLOFF that her organization did a survey of more than 300 prostitutes who work in Belem and found that 270 had been "invited" to work abroad. ¶5. (C) Dr. Hamoy added that Para's problems go much farther than TIP and involve a culturally-based acceptance of exploitation and degrading treatment of women (Note: According to the National Government's Special Secretariat for Women's national hotline to report abuses against women, Para has the fifth highest rate of incidents in the country. End note.). According to Dr. Hamoy, CEDECA-EMAUS conducted research in Marajo Island -- an island twice the size of Maryland in an archipelago on the mouth of the Amazon river with over 40 riverine communities that are often only accessible by boats -- where the investigators witnessed at least ten cases of sexual exploitation of minors, including some cases of recruiting for trafficking purposes to Spain, French Guiana and Suriname, in only three days on the island. The researches, according to Dr. Hamoy, witnessed girls aged 12 and 17 who were pimped without any intervention by local authorities. In the towns of Portal and Breves, it was easy to see young girls congregated around bars and ports areas. In Portel, in an area near the river, she recounted, there is a row of rooms used 24 hours a day for prostitution frequented by fishermen, boatmen, and other workers, where it was easy to spot young girls entering the rooms with older men. According to Dr. Hamoy, these actions take place in broad daylight in front of police officers, in classrooms, and public plazas. ¶6. (C) In Portel, the trafficking networks can operate with impunity, Dr. Hamoy noted. For recruitment, one tool used is infiltrate public schools as students and then recruit vulnerable young students. According to Dr. Hamoy, the researchers were able to interview a 13 year old girl who was recruited by two other girls (ages 15 and 16) in the school to have sex with two assemblymen -- a case that remains under investigation. The report writers also interviewed two girls in Portel of 14 and 15 who were pimped by two other fellow women students. ¶7. (C) According to Dr. Hamoy, domestic child labor is also a significant problem in Para. Although she could not specify numbers, Dr. Hamoy indicated CEDECA-EMAUS conducted a survey in a small subset of Belem and was able to identify 600 girls who worked as domestic employees. -------------- Changing cultural norms -------------- ¶8. (C) Asked about state efforts to combat these problems, Dr. Hamoy noted that there is cultural resistance. For example, the issue of domestic child labor is seeing as benefiting the child worker, as well as the family of the child workers, whose burden of caring, feeding, and clothing is lifted. But, Dr. Hamoy observed, through the work of her organization and others, and increasingly, the state government, public campaigns are having an impact, and showed Poloff leaflets from two campaigns, with the themes, "Child Labor is not a right" and "Domestic Child Labor: Pretending not to see the problem is to be part of it," which highlighted abusive practices and focused on the damage done to these girls who often entered prostitution and drug abuse, and received no pay and little education. Dr. Hamoy noted that that the impact of these efforts of recent years has been noticeable, adding that she used to go on radio call-in shows and "people would berate me for criticizing what people considered an act of charity towards these girls and BRASILIA 00000234 003 OF 003 families." Now, she adds, "even if people still use domestic child labor, at least there is shame in it, because the callers don't call to criticize anymore when I'm on radio." The state is getting better, too, she observed. "I can now regularly get appointments to meet with state and local government officials and they have sponsored our public awareness campaigns." But, she added, it is still dangerous for us and "we could use more help. We often provide protection for witnesses and sometimes we need protection from state authorities, as we are frequently threatened." (Note: The CEDECA-EMAUS facility had a high fence with barbed wire, multiple locked gates, and an intercom with a security camera. Before POLOFF departed, Dr. Hamoy checked the camera to make sure there was no one near the entrance as a security precaution. End note.) -------------- Forced labor -------------- ¶9. (C) On forced labor, Dr. Hamoy noted that the state government has been engaging much more since September 2007, when it created the State Commission for the Eradication of Slave Labor in Para (COETRAE/PA),hosted a seminar on slave labor in October of that year, and announced the State Plan for the Eradication of Slave Labor (PEETE/PA) in January of ¶2008. (Note: POLOFF contacted COETRAE/PA to arrange a meeting, but was not successful. End note.) Dr. Hamoy noted, however, that the scale of the problem is significant, and that the state had limited resources to do anything about it. (Note: In 2007, Para was the state with the most freed slave laborers, with 1,947. In 2008, Para was second, behind Goias, with 811. Of the roughly 29,000 workers liberated in Brazil from 1995-2008, about 10,000, or 35 percent, were in Para. End Note.) The problem, according to Dr. Hamoy (and echoed by Cazetta),stems in part of the vastness of the state, with a land area roughly the size of France, Germany, and Italy combined. Large parts of the state have no government presence and are hard to reach. Although there has been, according to Dr. Hamoy, a growing tendency of the local governments to engage on this issue, it is still largely left the Federal Government, whose focus, however, is in repressing these practices. According to Hamoy, the NGOs pick up the slack from the state government when it comes to prevention and providing services to the freed workers, to avoid their being forced back into slave-like labor, which they often see as their only choice. -------------- Comment: -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The slow, uneven progress with regard to combating TIP and slave labor in Para exemplifies the difficulties Brazil faces in confronting these two problems. Far from the reach of Brazil's central authorities and federal campaigns, efforts to stem these practices must overcome the effects of poor economic conditions, a widely scattered population, limited state- and federal-level resources and presence, and longstanding cultural norms. The good news is that there are indications the state is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly, to confront child and forced labor, and to a lesser extent the TIP problem in the state. Public awareness campaigns highlighting abusive cases of domestic child labor are creating a sense of shame, changing long-accepted cultural norms. The fact that the state government established a commission and created a state plan to combat slave labor suggests that it is ready to tackle the problem in a concerted and institutionalized fashion. Nonetheless, the state can and should do more to tackle violence and exploitation of women and children. In comparison to Maranhao (see ref b),Para, with a larger female population, lags behind its neighboring state in adopting policies to protect women from violence and exploitation. End comment. SOBEL