CHILE'S STEADY TIP PROGRESS WARRANTS TIER 2

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000391

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, G/TIP

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KTIP ELAB KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF KCRM CI

SUBJECT: CHILE'S STEADY TIP PROGRESS WARRANTS TIER 2

REF: SANTIAGO 156


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: As the GOC is making significant progress in
eliminating trafficking in persons, Post strongly recommends that
Chile remain a Tier 2 country. GOC prosecution and prevention
efforts are substantial and noteworthy, with the number of new cases
opened up 10 percent and large-scale programs in place to raise TIP
awareness. Chile implemented all of the 2008 TIP recommendations by
increasing training, encouraging investigation, and making progress
to enact comprehensive TIP legislation. While trafficking remains a
concern, Chile's increased efforts and progress in combating TIP
warrant its continuation in Tier 2. END SUMMARY.

PROSECUTION: NEW CASES UP, MORE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) The GOC has demonstrated progress in prosecuting and
punishing trafficking offenders during the last year. In
April-December 2008 (the most recent statistics available),the
Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio Publico -- MP) opened 104 TIP
cases. This represents a nearly 10 percent increase compared to the
95 cases opened during the previous reporting period from
January-September 2007. The total number of convictions remained
relatively constant at ten. The number of cross-border convictions
remained the same at two and 68 cases remained pending as of
February 2009. An undercover operation led to a conviction in a
cross-border trafficking case, a noteworthy achievement as
prosecutors and police must obtain permission from a judge to
conduct such an operation; permission that has often been denied in
other sorts of investigations (such as money laundering).


3. (SBU) The Chilean government demonstrated international
leadership and political will by organizing an international summit
on TIP in Santiago in December 2008. The event attracted
approximately 150 public prosecutors, NGO leaders, and other
government officials from 21 Latin American countries to discuss
prevention, investigation, prosecution, and victims' assistance
efforts. President Bachelet's keynote address called for greater
international cooperation to combat TIP. Chile backed up its words
with deeds -- pursuing 11 international cases involving five
countries in 2008 compared to two international cases involving two
countries in 2007.

PREVENTION: NEW OUTREACH EFFORTS REACH THOUSANDS
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) The GOC also made significant efforts to prevent
trafficking. From October-December 2008, the GOC sponsored a
multi-media anti-TIP public awareness campaign in Chile's airports,
bus stations, and main border crossings. The campaign used videos
and flyers to provide prevention information to thousands of
travelers. The Investigative Police (PDI) organized anti-TIP
outreach events in Santiago and the northern city of Ovalle that
reached more than 1,000 people. The Santiago program took place in
June 2008 and attracted 750 police officers, human rights officers,
prosecutors, academics, and social workers. An innovative outreach
program conducted jointly by the PDI and the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) trained approximately 225 sex
workers in five regions in northern and southern Chile between April
2008 and February 2009 to recognize victims of trafficking. The PDI
reported the training lead raised awareness and increased
cooperation on TIP issues between sex workers and the police.

CONGRESS MOVING AHEAD ON PREVIOUSLY STALLED LEGISLATION
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) After several years of legislative inaction, the Chilean
Congress continued its recent engagement on trafficking issues.
Following up on the Chamber of Deputies' 2007 passage of draft TIP
legislation, the Senate passed the draft TIP law in June 2008. In
keeping with standard Chilean legislative procedure, the law is
currently being reviewed by the Senate's Constitutional and Human
Rights Commissions before it is returned to the Senate floor for a
final vote.

INCREASED LAW ENFORCEMENT AND JUDICIAL TRAINING
-------------- --


6. (SBU) The GOC increased law enforcement and judicial training.
More than 300 members of the PDI and Carabineros (uniformed police)
participated in specialized training to learn how to recognize and
assist victims of trafficking. All PDI investigators receive a TIP
training manual that explains the causes, methods, and signs of
trafficking, and the PDI academy now makes completing course work on
trafficking mandatory for new officers. MP staff from Chile's
southern provinces participated in a two-day TIP training program in
November 2008, and the MP organized training for 20 sex-crimes
prosecutors, legal assistants, and professionals from the Public
Prosecutor's Division of Attention and Protection of Victims and
Witnesses (URAVIT) from around the country on commercial sexual
exploitation of children (CSEC) and TIP.

LABOR TRAFFICKING IN CHILE DOES NOT EQUAL FORCED LABOR
-------------- ---


7. (SBU) G/TIP's draft TIP report narrative prominently discusses
forced labor as a problem in Chile, but the concept of forced labor
-- where workers are held against their will, bonded, threatened and
intimidated -- does not accurately describe the situation in Chile.
Labor trafficking in Chile is most common in the northern region,
where migrant workers are lured with the promise of certain working
conditions (salaries, benefits, hours) in the agriculture or mining
industries, but these promises are sometimes broken. Typical
problems include lower salaries and longer hours, but workers are
not subjected to forced labor conditions.


8. (SBU) An upcoming report by the Department of Labor's Bureau of
International Affairs does not include Chile on the list of
countries with a forced labor of children problem. Moreover, the
2008 TIP report did not identify forced labor as a problem in Chile.
The GOC is engaged on TIP and should be given the opportunity to
respond to allegations of forced labor before it is downgraded
because of it.
URBAN