GUATEMALA RESPONSE FOR 2009 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001292 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV KTIP SMIG KCRM KWMN GT SUBJECT: GUATEMALA RESPONSE FOR 2009 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT REF: A) 09 STATE 11043; B) 09 GUATEMALA 108 ¶1. (U) Below is Post's response to Ref. A request for an interim TIP assessment. IMPLEMENTING AND ENFORCING THE NEW ANTI-TRAFFICKING LAW 2.(SBU) Since the passage of the Law against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons in March 2009, the GoG has done little to implement or enforce the law. As required by the new law, the government established a new Secretariat within Vice President Rafael Espada's office to administer and coordinate anti-trafficking efforts within the GoG. However, civil society contacts with whom poloffs met complained that the Secretariat has so far done little more than hold meetings. The Secretariat's director, Oscar Perdomo, said that since April the group has consulted with Congress regarding the law and the Secretariat's mandate and begun to map different institutions within government and civil society to identify what officials are doing. INCREASING EFFORTS TO INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE TRAFFICKING OFFENSES, AND CONVICTING AND PUNISHING TRAFFICKING OFFENDERS, INCLUDING PUBLIC OFFICIALS COMPLICIT IN TRAFFICKING ACTIVITY ¶3. (SBU) The Attorney General (Public Ministry) has an office dedicated to issues of human trafficking and illegal adoption. According to press reports and civil society contacts, however, the office lacks adequate resources and funding to effectively investigate and prosecute trafficking perpetrators in Guatemala. Though the office has had up to three prosecutors this year, it currently only has two, the same as for 2008. The office has achieved only two trafficking-related convictions thus far this year, bringing to seven the total number of convictions since its establishment in 2007. The lead prosecutor in the office said he has not seen any concrete evidence to suggest that public officials are complicit with trafficking activity. Civil society contacts dispute this assertion, however, claiming that there is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise, particularly among public officials located along Guatemala's borders. PURSUING SUSPECTED CASES OF FORCED LABOR AND DOMESTIC SERVITUDE CRIMES, IN ADDITION TO SUSPECTED CASES OF ADULT SEX-TRAFFICKING ¶4. (U) The office within the Public Ministry dedicated to TIP and irregular adoptions noted that the prosecution of labor crimes is also within its purview, but admitted to not having prosecuted any such cases thus far. Irregular adoptions make up 75 percent of the unit's case load while TIP cases account for the other 25 percent. Civil society representatives noted that cases of forced labor are just beginning to be treated as trafficking cases, rather than labor violations. The Ministry of Labor has started to work on the issue over the past year, however, there are even fewer resources for labor-related trafficking than there are for sexual trafficking. IMPROVING VICTIM SERVICES AND ASSISTANCE ¶5. (U) Currently, all services specially designed for trafficking victims are run by civil society and humanitarian organizations. The situation in Guatemala deteriorated further during 2009 as one of the primary shelters for trafficking victims, Alliance House, closed for financial reasons (Ref B). (Note: Alliance House was the Guatemalan operation of Covenant House, a US based non-profit organization. Last month Covenant House won a grant from G/TIP to re-establish its shelter operation in Guatemala City). The government continues to treat detained trafficking victims and migrants without distinction. In a migrant detention center in Guatemala City, the trafficking victims have access to a small private space, but there are no social services specifically dedicated to trafficking and victims are deported to their respective home countries utilizing the same procedures used for migrants. INCREASING ANTI-TRAFFICKING TRAINING FOR JUDGES AND POLICE ¶6. (U) Many members of civil society indicated to poloffs that judges and police are poorly informed or ignorant with regard to trafficking. There has been minimal effort beyond that required by official protocol to promulgate or train justice officials in the new law since it entered into force. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that while some outreach efforts have continued, they are mostly ad hoc. Unfortunately, training opportunities for the justice sector on trafficking issues have not increased due to a lack of resources. INCREASING FUNDING FOR ANTI-TRAFFICKING EFFORTS, PARTICULARLY FOR THE COUNTRY'S DEDICATED PROSECUTORIAL AND POLICE UNITS ¶7. (U) Over the past six months, funds dedicated to anti-trafficking efforts have remained unchanged or decreased, with the exception of the Secretary for Trafficking within Vice President Espada's office, which received a small budget of approximately USD 25,000 during 2009. While the new trafficking law mandates that the office receive approximately USD 700,000 each year, the officer director, Oscar Perdomo, predicted that his office would most likely not receive anything close to that amount in 2010. Various civil society representatives noted that additional resources were desperately needed by government institutions, especially within the Attorney General's Office, in order to effectively combat trafficking. MCFARLAND