Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MUNICH48
2009-03-10 15:38:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Munich
Cable title:
MUNICH TIP SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS ONGOING CHALLENGES IN
how-toVZCZCXRO5408 RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHMZ #0048/01 0691538 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 101538Z MAR 09 FM AMCONSUL MUNICH TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4679 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
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
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
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