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