MOLDOVA INTERIM TIP ASSESSMENT 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHISINAU 000898 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, EUR/UMB, DRL/AE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM KTIP KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG MD SUBJECT: MOLDOVA INTERIM TIP ASSESSMENT 2009 REFS: A. STATE 109948 B. Chisinau 0877 CHISINAU 00000898 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Moldova's new government (GOM), in place only since late September, has moved quickly to push reforms and address the problem of trafficking in persons (TIP). Per ref B, Prime Minister Vlad Filat chaired the GOM's first meeting of the National Committee for Combating Trafficking in Persons (NCCTIP) on November 9, which included cabinet ministers in charge of social, legal, and judicial matters. The Prime Minister demanded concrete action in investigating and opening cases against traffickers, and appointed Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Leanca to chair the NCCTIP. The newly appointed NCCTIP includes heavy-hitters such as the Ministers of Labor, Social Protection, and Family; Interior, Justice; Culture, Health; Security and Information and Communication; and Education, as well as the Prosecutor General, the Director of the Security and Information Service, the Director General of the Frontier Guards, and the Director of the Center for Combating Trafficking in Persons (CCTIP). Thus, the GOM's anti-TIP effort promises to be higher-profile and better coordinated, as it is a clear priority of the Prime Minister, is headed by a senior cabinet member, and includes all relevant ministers. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Post's response to questions in ref A are given below. Summarize the progress the Government of Moldova has made in: (a) Continuing to investigate and prosecute officials, complicity in trafficking, and seeking punishment for such officials. According to a November 12 response of the CCTIP, the CCTIP director recently requested the Prosecutor General to "revisit" the case of Ion Bejan, former Deputy Director of the CCTIP. This request reflects Prime Minister Filat's statement (ref B) at the November 9 NCCTIP meeting: "It is not enough to identify important persons; they must be sanctioned as well," and suggests that the new government will take firmer action on prosecutions than the previous government. (Note: Bejan has been investigated before. Investigators noted then that they were unable to proceed with the case, mostly because of non-cooperation of witnesses, or retraction of accusations. End note.) At the November 9 meeting of the NCCTIP, the Minister of Justice reported that 434 TIP-related cases were opened in the first ten months of 2009 and that courts convicted 57. (Note: These 57 cases convicted were not necessarily from cases opened this year, and given the length of time necessary to prosecute a case, were more likely cases from previous years. The judgments were final, and not subject to appeal. Some cases can include more than ONE individual; the 57 decisions include acquittals, jail sentences, and fines, but there are no breakdowns available from the Ministry. End note.) (b) Improving data collection on investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences for trafficking offenders. The CCTIP report noted that data coordination between CCTIP (which has data only on cases initiated) and the Prosecutor General Office (PGO, which has information on convictions) will soon be improved by an Embassy-installed secure IT system at the CCTIP, which will be accessed by a prosecutorial unit located at the CCTIP. CCTIP expected the new system to be completed by December 2009. The CCTIP report also noted the long periods of time required to bring TIP cases from initial investigation to conviction and penalty. This means that judicial decisions do not reflect a real-time percentage of cases opened in the current year; for example, the case of the Turkish trafficker sentenced to 23 years in 2008 was CHISINAU 00000898 002.2 OF 003 opened in 2004. The problem of separate systems of data collection remains: the CCTIP keeps statistics on cases opened and transmitted to prosecutors and courts; the Prosecutor's office keeps stats on judgments/decisions delivered by courts (which may later be subject to appeal); the Ministry of Justice keeps stats on judgments executed. This reflects the organization of the national criminal justice system, but can cause some confusion when reviewing numbers. We have requested the GOM to work on a system which would create a seamless presentation of these as yet disparate statistics. (c) Increasing anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The CCTIP report noted an improvement in the quality of cases: in the first ten months of 2009, 68.8 percent of the TIP cases opened exclusively by the CCTIP were accepted for further action by judicial authorities, as opposed to 13.3 percent in the same period in 2008. In Moldova as a whole, and including all TIP cases referred to judicial authorities by law enforcement, 51.2 percent of referrals were accepted for further action. In addition, the collection and analysis of statistics regarding current cases have improved, giving the GOM a better picture of the results of its efforts. The report analyzes the results of 167 anti-trafficking cases brought to court against 207 persons (some of whom had cases dating from earlier years) in the first ten months of 2009: --47 (tried)/60 (accused) for trafficking offenses; --4/4 for trafficking in children; --77/93 for pimping; --29/37 for organization of illegal migration; --7/10 for taking children out of the country illegally; and --3/3 for organizing begging. Of the 207, 186 were convicted, 15 cases were suspended, and six were acquitted. Of the 186 convicted, 45 were sentenced to prison (no further information on length of sentences or numbers actually imprisoned),33 received suspended sentences, and 108 were fined. (d) Continuing to disburse resources for victim assistance and protection. The GOM is providing financial assistance to aid victims. A November 11 report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) noted that the GOM had increased its financing of the Chisinau Assistance and Protection Center from 512,000 lei (USD 46,500) in 2008 to 680,000 lei (USD 61,800) in 2009. On November 10, the NGO La Strada reported that the GOM provided free issuance of national ID and HEALTH insurance and free access to vocational training programs to TIP victims and other vulnerable elements of the population. (e) Boosting proactive efforts to identify and protect trafficking victims, including child victims and victims trafficked within Moldova. According to the IOM, the National Referral System, which counters trafficking by providing job training and health/psychological counseling to at-risk individuals (children of single parents, victims of domestic violence and persons with poor education from rural areas),increased its presence in Moldova from 12 to 23 raions (districts) in right-bank Moldova, and established three centers in the Transnistrian region. Since the NRS was established in 2006, it has assisted 555 persons Q 204 victims, and 351 at-risk cases. The CCTIP reported that it ensured the security of TIP victims returning to the country; provided psychological and pedagogical counselors for victims (including children) who were being interviewed at La Strada; referred victims, "from the moment of identification," to competent state CHISINAU 00000898 003.2 OF 003 authorities for assistance; and minimized the number of hearings in which a victim must participate. The CCTIP further stated that, as a result of these measures, the number of victims accepting help from Moldovan law enforcement bodies grew from 102 in the first ten months of 2008 to 182 in the same period in 2009. In its November 10 report, La Strada noted its concerns that the police still tended to downgrade an unidentified number of trafficking cases to pimping or illegal migration. The downgrading to pimping often occurred when a woman mentioned consent to provision of sexual services. Cases of men trafficked for exploitative labor were often downgraded to illegal migration. La Strada also noted that Moldovan law enforcement continued to rely almost exclusively on victims' testimonies and confrontations with the alleged trafficker. Under such circumstances, La Strada noted, victims are subject to subtle or direct threats against themselves and their families. La Strada also expressed concerns about children victims, noting that no special protection measures have been extended to children; no special interviewing rooms exist; children were often interviewed as many as ten times, often being confronted by the alleged trafficker; interviews were often carried out by police with no special training, on ad hoc schedules, often for several hours, and without the presence of legal counsel. La Strada concluded by stating that risk assessment for minors had to be performed by NGOs and that NGO recommendations for protection of victim-witnesses were "randomly and rarely considered." We will contact La Strada in the near future to check on GOP response to these criticisms. The Center for Temporary Placement of Minors in Chisinau has 39 employees (security, psychological and educational),who deal with 1,800 cases a year of lost, abandoned, repatriated, or arrested children aged three to 18, and children who run away from orphanages. It has beds for 24 children. In addition to the Center, 27 smaller centers, capable of housing up to ten children, operate in municipalities. On a cases-by-case basis, the Center reunites children with their biological families, places them in orphanages, or returns them to orphanages. It provides full-time education to those who stay at the Center (a stay can last from several hours to six months),and provides a valuable service for vulnerable young people who would otherwise be on the streets. (f) Considering prevention activities specifically targeted at reducing the demand for human trafficking in Moldova. Please report on any other significant developments. La Strada reported that the GOM demand reduction was focused on prostitution: raiding saunas and hotels, and checking the identification of purpose of visit of foreigners, especially those accompanying women after ten P.M. Comment: -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The GOM, despite being nearly non- functional from the beginning of the parliamentary election campaign season (beginning in February 2009) through the establishing of the new, interim government after September, nevertheless continued efforts to combat TIP. Furthermore, we and others in the international and NGO communities believe that the change in GOM leadership has brought new momentum to address the country's problems with trafficking. The Prime Minister's recent statements and the composition of the new NCCTIP is a strong, top-down testimony to GOM commitment to tackle the issue. CHAUDHRY