NEA: INSTRUCTIONS FOR 2009 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 112489 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM KTIP KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG AG BH EG AE LY MU LE TU, QA, YM, SUBJECT: NEA: INSTRUCTIONS FOR 2009 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT REF: NONE 1.(U) This is an action cable; action request in paras 5 and ¶6. 2.(SBU) The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended in 2003, requires the Secretary of State to submit a "Special Watch List" of countries on the TIP Report that either 1) had moved up a tier on the TIP Report over the last year or 2) were ranked on Tier 2 but a) had not shown evidence of increasing efforts to address severe forms of TIP from the previous year, b) were placed on Tier 2 because of commitments to carry out additional future actions over the coming year, or c) had a significant or significantly increasing number of victims of severe forms of TIP. 3.(SBU) The "Special Watch List" has been submitted to Congress, as required, along with the President's determinations for sanctions of Tier 3 countries. The TVPA, as amended, now requires the Secretary to submit to Congress an Interim Assessment on the Special Watch List countries no later than February 1, 2010. 4.(SBU) The Interim Assessment, which the Department plans to release on January 5, 2010, will serve as a narrowly-focused progress report, assessing only a country's key deficiency(s) highlighted in the June 2009 TIP Report. Measuring progress or lack of progress in addressing these deficiencies (the basis for which the country was placed on the Watch List initially) is the main purpose of the Interim Assessment. This will not/not serve as a large-scale analysis of anti-trafficking efforts in the relevant country. Similarly, it will not describe the trafficking problem in that country (readers can refer to the 2009 TIP Report for that). Finally, it will not mention Tiers or allude to progress in achieving a higher tier or, conversely, forecast a fall to a lower tier. 5.(U) Action Request for Action Addressees: Please answer the questions addressed to your Post in para 6 in concise analytical terms, citing examples of the progress (or lack thereof) sparingly. Post's submission should not exceed four or five paragraphs. The final Interim Assessment will include a narrative of no more than half a page on each country's progress. Please provide these responses to the Department via front-channel cable -- slugged for NEA/RA and G/TIP -- no later than November 16. ¶6. (U) Interim Assessment Requirements: A: FOR EMBASSY ALGIERS: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Algeria has made in (a) implementing Algeria,s new anti-trafficking law through training of law enforcement and judicial officials, investigating potential offenses, and prosecuting offenders; (b) strengthening institutional capacity to identify victims of trafficking among illegal migrants; (c) improving serves available to trafficking victims, such as shelter medical, psychological, and legal aid; (d) ensuring victims are not punished for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of their being trafficked; and (e) undertaking a campaign to increase public awareness of trafficking. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶B. FOR EMBASSY MANAMA: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Bahrain has made in (a) significantly increasing investigations and prosecutions of trafficking offenses ) particularly those involving forced labor ) and convicting and punishing trafficking offenders; (b) instituting and applying formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as domestic workers who have fled from abusive employers and prostituted women, and referring identified victims to protective services; (c) and ensuring that victims of trafficking are not punished for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, such as illegal migration or prostitution. Please report on any other significant STATE 00112489 002 OF 003 developments. ¶C. FOR EMBASSY CAIRO: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Egypt has made in (a) substantially increasing law enforcement activity against trafficking, including the growing problems of the involuntary domestic servitude of children and child sex trafficking; (b) drafting and enacting legislation criminalizing all forms of human trafficking; (c) instituting and applying a formal victim identification procedure to ensure that trafficking victims are not punished or otherwise treated as criminals for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; (d) providing in-kind or financial support to NGOs providing protection services to victims; and (e) implementing a comprehensive public information campaign to educate the public on the definition and dangers of trafficking. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶D. FOR EMBASSY BAGHDAD: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Iraq has made in (a) enacting and implementing a law that criminalizes all forms of trafficking; (b) investigating, prosecuting, and punishing trafficking offenders; (c) providing protection services to victims, ensuring that they are not punished for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, and encouraging their assistance in prosecuting offenders; (d) training officials in methods to identify victims; (e) undertaking a campaign to raise public awareness of trafficking; (f) taking measures to screen migrant workers to identify human trafficking; (f) taking steps to end the practice of forced marriages and curbing the use of temporary marriages that force girls into sexual and domestic servitude; (g) considering measures to reduce abuse of migrant workers who learn upon arrival in Iraq that the job they were promised does not exist; and (h) regulating recruitment practices, including recruitment fees, of foreign labor brokers to prevent practices that facilitate forced labor. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶E. FOR EMBASSY BEIRUT: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Lebanon has made in (a) Criminalizing all forms of trafficking in persons; (b) investigating and prosecuting trafficking offenses under existing law and convict and punish trafficking offenders; (c) developing and instituting formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable populations, such as women holding &artist8 work permits and foreign domestic workers who have escaped from abusive employers; (d) considering measures to lessen the abuse of the &artist8 work permit as a conduit for sex trafficking; (e) enforcing Lebanese law prohibiting the confiscation of passports of foreign maids; (f) implementing the March 2009 Labor Code revision that provides a unified contract; and (g) ensuring that victims of trafficking are referred to protection services rather than detained for crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked, such as immigration violations and prostitution. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶F. FOR EMBASSY TRIPOLI: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Libya has made in (a) criminalizing all forms of trafficking; (b) increasing law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses; (c) increasing training of government officials to identify and provide protection to victims; (d) developing a program to assist victims; and (e) undertaking an information campaign to raise public awareness of the problem of human trafficking. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶G. FOR EMBASSY MUSCAT: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Oman has made in (a) increasing investigations and prosecutions of trafficking crimes and convictions and punishment of trafficking offenders; (b) continuing the training of government officials in all relevant departments to recognize and respond appropriately to human trafficking crimes; (c)instituting formal procedures for identifying trafficking victims among women in prostitution and illegal migrants and transferring them to care facilities; (d) completing construction and beginning operation of a shelter that STATE 00112489 003 OF 003 provides appropriate protection services to both labor and sex trafficking victims, including shelter and medical, psychological, and legal assistance; and (e) enacting and enforcing penalties for employers who withhold their employees, passports as a measure to prevent labor trafficking. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶H. FOR EMBASSY DOHA: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Qatar has made in (a) enacting the draft comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation; (b)significantly increasing efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and convicting and punishing trafficking offenders; (c) instituting and consistently applying formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as those arrested for immigration violations or prostitution; and (d) abolishing or significantly amending provisions of Qatar,s sponsorship law ) such as the provision requiring workers to obtain their sponsor's permission to leave Qatar -- to prevent the forced labor of migrant workers. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶I. FOR EMBASSY TUNIS: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Tunisia has made in (a) utilizing existing criminal statutes on forced labor and forced prostitution to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses and convict and punish trafficking offenders; (b) undertaking a baseline assessment to better understand the scope and magnitude of the human trafficking problem; (c) raising public awareness of human trafficking; (d) developing a specific and comprehensive national law against human trafficking that includes both transnational and internal trafficking; and (e) instituting a formal victim identification mechanism to identify and refer trafficking victims to protection services. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶J. FOR EMBASSY ABU DHABI: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of the United Arab Emirates has made in (a) increasing efforts to investigate and prosecute human trafficking offenses, particularly those involving labor exploitation, and convicting and punishing trafficking offenders, including recruitment agents (both locals and non-citizens) and employers who subject others to forced labor; (b) developing and instituting formal procedures for law enforcement and Ministry of Labor officials to proactively identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups such as workers subjected to labor abuses, those apprehended for violations of immigration laws, domestic workers who have fled their employers, and foreign females in prostitution; (c) improving protection services for victims of sex trafficking and forced labor, including adequate and accessible shelter space, referral to available legal aid, and credible recourse for obtaining financial restitution; (d) considering sustaining and expanding the pilot program involving recruitment of foreign laborers in key source countries in order to eliminate recruitment fraud and other contributing factors to debt bondage and forced labor; (e) ensuring trafficking victims are not incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; (f) considering conducting interviews of potential trafficking victims in safe and non-threatening environments with trained counselors (preferably conversant in the victims' language); (g) collaborating with sending countries of laborers and domestic workers on investigations of recruiting agencies that engage in trafficking; and (h) working proactively with NGOs to provide services for victims and educate both employers and workers on the practices that constitute human trafficking, and how to prevent them. Please report on any other significant developments. ¶K. FOR EMBASSY SANAA: Please summarize the progress, or lack thereof, the Government of Yemen has made in (a) taking law enforcement action against human trafficking; (b) improving protection services available to victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation; and (c) instituting a formal victim identification mechanism to identify and refer victims to protection services. Please report on any other significant developments. CLINTON