STEADY PROGRESS ON KOSOVO'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000314 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR G/TIP, G - ACBLANK, EUR/SCE, EUR/PGI, INL, DRL, PRM, USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KTIP KCRM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB KV SUBJECT: STEADY PROGRESS ON KOSOVO'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS Ref: Pristina 20 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Kosovo devotes high-level government attention to anti-trafficking and continues to make steady progress. A recent investigation into five Kosovo Police officers suspected of involvement in trafficking resulted in suspensions, and prosecutors are continuing the investigation. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOIA) is staffing its new Anti-Trafficking Secretariat and hired the first staff member in May. Secretariat employees will, as part of their duties, use a new TIP database to help track victims of trafficking (VOT) and their traffickers, redressing a shortcoming in the MOIA's use of court data. Ongoing concerns include an unexplained decrease in the number of identified VOT, and the limited use of shelters by TIP victims. END SUMMARY. Taking Action: -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On March 3, the Kosovo Police (KP) suspended, with pay, five officers on suspicion of Abuse of Authority, Trafficking in Persons, and Facilitating Prostitution. Three of the officers worked at Pristina Airport with the Kosovo Border Police. The other two worked in the Office for Immigration and Foreigners (OIF) and were in regular contact with known traffickers. Standard procedure requires that all foreigners intending to work in Kosovo must first register at the OIF. When victims of trafficking (VOT) arrived, the officers at the airport would direct them to the OIF, which would ensure they received one-year resident permits. The victims, now legal residents, were then forced to work for traffickers at local bars. The KP's Trafficking in Human Beings Section (THBS) linked the five officers to known traffickers via text messages sent from their cell phones. Once THBS established the link, they suspended the officers with pay and turned the case over to the Kosovo Special Prosecutors Office for further investigation, which is ongoing. The Anti-Trafficking Secretariat: -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In May 2009, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOIA) reestablished and hired one employee for its Anti-Trafficking Secretariat, which had lapsed following the departure of Kosovo's first National Anti-Trafficking Coordinator (NATC). When fully staffed, the Secretariat will have three employees. Previously, the NATC relied on political advisors with limited involvement in the GOK's anti-TIP efforts to implement directives. With the Secretariat, the NATC gains an action arm that will professionalize the GOK's anti-TIP efforts and allow employees to develop specialized expertise. ¶4. (SBU) The new Secretariat is bolstering the GOK's ability to track trafficking data. In response to the USG 2008 TIP report, and its criticism of the GOK's limited trafficking data collection efforts, the MOIA started looking for a solution and turned to the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) for help. On June 8, the ICMPD donated to the Secretariat a database -- complete with training -- that will allow the MOIA to follow both victims of trafficking (VOT) and traffickers from identification to resolution, whether repatriation (in the case of VOT) or incarceration (for traffickers). The Secretariat is pursuing memoranda of understanding with relevant ministries and stakeholders in the GOK -- including the Kosovo Police, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, and international and local NGOs -- that will guarantee access to the information needed to update the database. Once operational, the database will improve Kosovo's poor record keeping on TIP-related criminal intelligence. Identifying and Helping Victims: -------------- ¶5. (SBU) From April 2007 to January 2008, the KP THBS reported 32 trafficking victims. For the same time period in 2008-2009, the KP reported 24 victims. In recent discussions with the Kosovo Police PRISTINA 00000314 002 OF 002 about this drop, senior officers tell us that they are facing problems in identifying victims of trafficking. Fewer women are willing to admit they are victims, and the police are also assessing whether or not previous interview techniques, which they say were not as accurate as current methods, may have affected earlier VOT totals. ¶6. (SBU) The GOK has established and funded TIP shelters (reftel), but few VOT use them. The Center for the Protection of Victims and Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings (PVPT) is sheltering four VOT (their maximum capacity is five). Neither Hope and Homes (HAH) nor the Interim Security Facility (ISF) are currently sheltering any VOTs. The shelters are open, but not used. We are encouraging the Anti-Tip Secretariat to develop an action plan for making better use of these shelters. ¶7. (SBU) Comment: The Kosovo Police has taken a welcome step in extending their TIP investigations to include members of their own police force, although we withhold further praise until we see the outcome. We are also encouraged that the GOK is resurrecting its Anti-TIP Secretariat, and we are seeing signs that it is addressing shortcomings in the GOK's anti-TIP regime. Now, the onus is on the MOIA to use this new data to improve investigations and to identify more victims of trafficking. With its shelters and its new database, the GOK has some foundational elements for a decent anti-TIP program, but we need to see some more action. YAZDGERDI