DR - TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS INTERIM ASSESSMENT 2009

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001299



SIPDIS



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PHUM, KCRM, PGOV, KWMN, SMIG, DR

SUBJECT: DR - Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment 2009



REF: SECSTATE 00110433

POST EMAIL ???HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT??? TO DRL OF 28 OCT 2009



1. SUMMARY: Although the issue of addressing trafficking in

persons is given support from the highest levels of the Government

of the Dominican Republic (GoDR),including the office of the First

Lady, there is limited progress to report for the interim period.

The GoDR has developed a National Action Plan to Combat

Trafficking, but we have not received any response to our requests

for information on efforts to prosecute cases. Please refer to

Post's email providing the 2009 Human Rights Report to DRL of

28Oct2009 (Trafficking in Persons section) for more details about

the TIP situation in the DR. END SUMMARY.



2. Background: The good news is that G/TIP is providing funding to

assist non-governmental organizations to work on TIP-related

issues, and the GoDR appears to have good relations with two of the

main grantees: The International Organization for Migration (IOM)

and FINJUS (the Foundation for Institutionalization and Justice).

A significant portion of this money will go to help the GoDR

implement parts of the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking,

which has yet to receive GoDR funding. GoDR underfunding of

education and ineffectiveness in combating corruption, as well as

widespread poverty on the island (both in Haiti and the DR)

constitute the context in which trafficking takes place in, to and

from the DR.



3. With respect to the TIP situation generally, please refer to

the email containing Post's Human Rights Report (Trafficking in

Persons section) of 28OCT2009 (Ref B). With respect to the

specific items requested in section "I" of Ref A, Post submits the

following responses, with the understanding that additional

information will be provided as warranted:



a) Post has requested the latest data from the office of the

Assistant Attorney General in charge of prosecuting trafficking

cases, but has not yet received a substantive response.



b) Post is checking with labor-organizing NGOs about the extent to

which "potential" situations involving "labor trafficking" (a

person in a relatively low-paying job being forced to accept worse

labor conditions, or involuntary servitude) are being investigated.



c) Victim assistance and shelter activities continued as before,

with the prospect of some additional shelters thanks to G/TIP

funding.



d) As noted in the last TIP report, "victims' rights were generally

respected once individuals were recognized as victims, and the

victims were not typically jailed or penalized for unlawful acts

committed as a direct result of being trafficked." This continues

to be the case.



e) The National anti-TIP Action Plan contains various activities

designed to increase prevention and demand-reduction efforts, that

have yet to begin, but should start with the receipt of G/TIP

monies.



f & g) Again, the National anti-TIP Action Plan, once its

implementation begins in earnest, should result in "increased"

efforts with respect to (i) identifying possible victims and (ii)

training appropriate officials.



5. COMMENT: GoDR statements, laws and plans provide hope that

anti-trafficking efforts will generally increase or improve. G/TIP

funding will, as indicated, help to some extent. Nevertheless,

until/unless government funding to implement the National Action

Plan to Combat Trafficking is forthcoming, and until the Attorney

General's Office commences serious trafficking investigations and

prosecutions, progress on combating trafficking in persons in the

Dominican Republic will remain a hope, not a reality. END COMMENT.

Lambert