SPAIN: SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FOR NINTH ANNUAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000298

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, EUR/PGI, EUR/WE
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID
PASS TO ACBLANK

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB SP
KTIP
SUBJECT: SPAIN: SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FOR NINTH ANNUAL
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT

REF: A. ROFMAN-CLIFTON EMAIL - MARCH 13

B. MADRID 187

C. SECSTATE 05577

D. 08 SECSTATE 132759

MADRID 00000298 001.2 OF 003


1.(SBU) This cable contains information specifically
requested in REFTEL A, as a supplement to Embassy Madrid's
ninth annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report (REFTEL B).
Embassy POC is Political Officer Hugh Clifton, Tel. (34)
91-587-2294, Fax. (34) 91-587-2391.

//LEGAL STATISTICS//


2. (SBU) The Spanish National Police (SNP) once again
furnished Post with a restricted internal report that
provides detailed information on TIP enforcement trends,
including TIP-related arrests and the number of trafficking
victims identified during the reporting period. The report
indicates that within Spain, police dismantled a total of 69
trafficking networks for sexual exploitation and 17
trafficking networks for the purposes of forced labor.
Police arrested 403 individuals involved in sexual
trafficking and 68 people affiliated with trafficking for
forced labor. The SNP reported identifying 771 victims of
sexual exploitation and 133 victims of forced labor
trafficking in 2008. During the reporting period, Spanish
law enforcement officials actively coordinated with
counterparts in 11 different countries to investigate and
arrest traffickers, and conducted a number of joint
operations. The Spanish National Police tell us that in 2007
they participated in cooperative investigations with Algeria,
Brazil, Cape Verde, France, Gambia, Guinea Bissau,
Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Sweden and Tunisia.

//JUDICIAL STATISTICS//


3. (SBU) Additional information on specific TIP-related
investigations, convictions and sentencing in Spain was
available on-line through a subscription service to the
Spanish affiliate of WESTLAW (www.westlaw.es),whose database
includes data on a sub-set - but not all - of Spanish
TIP-related prosecutions. In 2008, our best information
indicates the government prosecuted 135 cases of trafficking
and secured 107 convictions with an average sentence of a
little more than four years. Approximately 36 percent of
those convicted received a sentence of greater than 4 years,
while more than half (54 percent) of those convicted received
a fine and/or a suspended sentence. During the reporting
period, 14 people were convicted of forced labor trafficking
and sentenced to an average of nearly 3.5 years behind bars.

//ADVANCE COPY OF OSCE REPORT//


4. (SBU) Post does not have access to an advance copy of the
soon-to-be-published OSCE report on trafficking in persons in
Spain nor have we received any insider tips on its projected
contents.

//NGO RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE GOS'S ANTI-TIP
EFFORTS//


5. (SBU) Most of the TIP-related NGOs and independent experts
consulted by the Embassy remarked that they were pleased to
have a 30-day opportunity during September-October to
formally contribute to the development of the GOS's national
plan to combat TIP for the purposes of sexual exploitation
and added that they view the December 2008 approval of the
plan by the Council of Ministers as an important,
long-awaited step to combat TIP in Spain. However, several
Embassy contacts suggested that they would have liked to have
had more of a say in the drafting of the GOS's national
action plan and would have liked to have been given more time
to reflect on the government's draft. One respected industry
expert, Gentiana "Genta" Susaj, expressed concern that the
plan focuses too much on TIP as an illegal immigration
problem rather than on the need to focus on the protection of
victims. She complained that the plan did not call for any
changes to the existing practice of making legal protection
for victims conditional upon their cooperation in denouncing

MADRID 00000298 002.2 OF 003


those that have abused them. As mentioned in REFTEL B, the
Spanish Network against Trafficking in Persons is actively
engaged in lobbying the GOS for extensive measures - possibly
even the establishment of a GOS Protocol - to identify
prospective TIP victims. The Spanish branch of Save the
Children suggests that the GOS advocates that a child who is
a possible TIP victim should automatically be given temporary
lodging for humanitarian reasons, separate from the police
investigation. The child should also then be given a legal
representative to defend his or her interests during the
ensuing process. The NGO has also lobbied for a more
concerted effort by the GOS to establish a comprehensive
database for statistics on TIP victims, and for re-doubled
efforts to inform the public of the penalties for engaging in
sexual activity with children, whether TIP victims or not.

//PART III of OPERATION ZARPA//


6. (SBU) During the reporting period, the GOS continued to
dismantle what has been described as the largest network for
trafficking in Russian women for sexual exploitation. The
trafficked women's final destination was Spain and other
countries in the EU. In April 2008 some 70 SNP officers
conducted 84 arrests in the provinces of Almeria, Granada,
Lerida, and Gerona. These detentions took place as part III
of Operation ZARPA, an ongoing SNP investigation that began
in November 2006, and whose first detentions took place in
April 2007 and continued with part II in June 2007. As a
combined result of the operation's three phases, more than
400 people, mostly women, have been arrested for unlawful
residence in Spain while an additional 53 have been
implicated in Russia, according to the Spanish Ministry of
Interior (MOI). The detentions in the latest phase were made
possible by the abundance of evidence and testimony obtained
by investigators in the previous phases. According to the
MOI, the women were treated simply as "merchandise" by their
exploiters, who crammed the women and beds into every
available space in their residences/workplaces. Money for
each victim trafficked into Spain was sent back to Russia,
but never in payments greater than 3,000 euros, in order to
avoid attracting the attention of Spanish or Russian
authorities. According to investigators' analysis, the
amount of funds sent to Russia by this network may have
exceeded two million euros. For this third phase of
Operation ZARPA alone, Spanish police confiscated 123,000
euros in cash, a range of firearms, ammunition and electric
shock devices, numerous vehicles and plane tickets, a handful
of PCs, cameras and video equipment, as well as ID cards and
Russian passports.

//NATIONAL GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN//


7. (SBU) Following a national election campaign that consumed
the attention of the government early in 2008, the national
government was largely focused throughout the remainder of
the year on formulating and establishing its plan to combat
TIP for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Consequently,
aside from the exposure that the government's extensive
deliberations received in the national and local media, there
was not a specific, sustained media campaign throughout the
year to promote public awareness of efforts to combat TIP.
Nevertheless, the GOS did participate in events organized by
NGOs focused on TIP. For example, the Spanish affiliate of
Save the Children organized several workshops throughout 2008
in which the national government's Ministry of Education,
Social Policies and Sports and the Spanish Agency for
International Cooperation - roughly equivalent to USAID -
participated and/or contributed financing. Meanwhile, at the
municipal level, the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla
ran their own public awareness campaigns, according to the
Spanish Network against Trafficking in Persons. The Basque
regional government and the city hall of Vitoria - the Basque
regional capital - also participated in events sponsored by
Save the Children.

//EFFORTS TO PREVENT CHILD SEX TOURISM//


8. (SBU) During the reporting period, the GOS - through the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the Ministry of

MADRID 00000298 003.2 OF 003


Industry, Tourism and Commerce's General Secretariat for
Tourism, the SNP, and others - continued its participation in
a UNICEF-sponsored campaign to sensitize the Spanish public
to the existence of child sex tourism and to remind them of
the punishments for this activity. The Spanish-language
website for the campaign is www.NoHayExcusas.org.
Information provided by the Ministry of Equality to the
Embassy suggests that the campaign has reached 370,000 people
via the website, banner, radio, and promotional materials.
CHACON