MUNICH TIP SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS ONGOING CHALLENGES IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUNICH 000048 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/CE, EUR/PGI (BUCKNEBERG),DRL/IL, G/TIP, INL/HSTC, AND PRM STATE - PLEASE PASS USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP KCRM PHUM SMIG ELAB GG SUBJECT: MUNICH TIP SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS ONGOING CHALLENGES IN COMBATING TIP REFS: BERLIN 256 ¶1. Summary: The annual Munich TIP (Trafficking in Persons) seminar sponsored by the Hanns Seidel Stiftung focused on the treatment by German media of the TIP phenomena, public views on the issue, and the need to improve assistance to victims. Some non-governmental participants believed that German media had little interest in factual reporting about trafficking in persons and that public awareness campaigns needed to be strengthened. A number of contributors pointed out that victims who lack residency permits have little incentive to cooperate with investigators given that victims are required to leave Germany upon conclusion of legal proceedings. This has the effect of reducing the incentive of victims to cooperate with investigators and prosecutors. Fighting TIP in Bavaria enjoys the support of effective cooperation agreements among major players. End summary. Media Interest in TIP Declining -------------- ¶2. The Munich-based Hanns Seidel Foundation, an NGO close to the center-right Christian Social Union, has held a conference on TIP around International Women's Day since 2003, and it has become a powerful, well-attended event attracting a primarily Bavarian audience that examines German-wide issues. This year the seminar, held on March 5, was titled: "Trafficking in Persons and the Media." Media representatives and analysts lamented the fact that public interest in the issue was low, unless it concerned spectacular cases, e.g. children, or prominent persons. Speakers suggested that this was largely because the majority of victims were non-Germans and that the public was often unwilling or unable to differentiate between voluntary and enforced prostitution. In 2006, before the world soccer championship in Germany, interest in the issue was relatively high, but when fears of an increase in TIP proved unfounded at the time, TIP fell from the headlines. New Legal Tools Needed to Combat TIP More Effectively -------------- -------------- ¶3. Bavarian Justice Minister Beate Merk has in the past come out strongly in favor of criminalizing clients of forced prostitutes. Bavarian Labor Minister Christine Haderthauer supported Merk, even suggesting something like pillorying clients of prostitutes on the internet, a concept that many rejected given that prostitution is legal in Germany. However, a policeman from Augsburg said the more immediate problem was finding more effective ways to pursue pimps. One participant compared Germany to Italy, where traffickers can be sentenced to 10-15 years of imprisonment while in Germany the majority of TIP perpetrators charged received suspended sentences. (NOTE: We have discussed suspended sentences with MOJ officials and prosecutors in the past. They argued that they had to stick to the legal framework and added that it was standard German practice for judges to suspend prison sentences of two years or less for all crimes, not just TIP-related crimes. End NOTE.) ¶4. NGO representatives noted that German law does not offer TIP victims the possibility to stay in Germany if they do not possess legal residency documentation. Even victims who are willingness to testify in legal proceedings are made to leave the country following the conclusion of trials. Minister Haderthauer regretted the fact that the German public is not aware of the work NGOs were doing. "Organizations such as Solwodi (Solidarity with Women in Distress) and Jadwiga (a local Bavarian NGO) should be as broadly known as the Red Cross," she argued. From a broader perspective, we note that there are formal cooperation agreements in Bavaria on interagency anti-TIP working groups and/or task forces that include NGOs, as there are in 11 other German Laender. ¶5. Journalist Inge Bell, an International Visitor Program grantee this year who has worked on this issue for over 10 years, described a number of case studies of successful reintegration of traumatized TIP victims into their societies. Further, organizations like the Hanns Seidel Foundation, and NGOs supported by the Bavarian Social Ministry, such as Solwodi and Jadwiga, work to prevent TIP in source countries in Eastern Europe. As an example, a Bavarian delegation will travel to Romania in June this year to advise police and the judiciary. ¶6. Consulate General Munich coordinated this report with Embassy Berlin. ¶7. (U) Track Munich reporting at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Germ any. MUNICH 00000048 002 OF 002 NELSON