BRUNEI -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS STATE 060437 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG BX SUBJECT: BRUNEI -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND DEMARCHE REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 ¶B. (B) STATE 005577 ¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10. ¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a press conference in the Department's press briefing room. This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic and foreign news outlets. Until the time of the Secretary's June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or country narratives contained therein is prohibited. ¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter. Also provided is demarche language to be used in informing the Government of Brunei of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent release. The text of the TIP Report country narrative is provided, both for use in informing the Government of Brunei and in any local media release by Post's public affairs section on June 16 or thereafter. Drawing on information provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide the host government with the text of the TIP Report narrative no earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts. Please note, however, that any public release of the Report's information should not/not precede the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16. ¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 release. Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts in all countries appearing on the Report. The Secretary's statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website shortly after the June 16 event. Ambassador de Baca will also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. ¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform the appropriate official in the Government of Brunei of the June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of the country narrative provided in para 8. For countries where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it is particularly important to advise governments prior to the Report being released in Washington on June 16. ¶6. Action Request continued: Please note that, for those countries which will not receive an "action plan" with specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw host governments' attention to the areas for improvement identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the "Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the narrative text. This engagement is important to establishing the framework in which the government's performance will be judged for the 2010 Report. If posts have questions about which governments will receive an action plan, or how they may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. ¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the press guidance provided in para 11. If Post wishes, a local press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP Report's country narrative provided in para 8. ¶8. Begin Final Text of Brunei,s country narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: -------------- BRUNEI (TIER 2) -------------- Brunei is a destination country for men and women trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Brunei is mainly a destination country for men and women recruited from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the People,s Republic of China (PRC),and Thailand for domestic or low-skilled labor. A limited number of the 88,000 foreign workers in Brunei face poor labor conditions that amount to involuntary servitude. There were credible reports of a limited number of nationals from Asian countries working for little or no pay for up to two years to pay back foreign recruitment agents. Many of the 25,000 female domestic workers in Brunei were required to work exceptionally long hours without being granted a day for rest, creating an environment highly conducive to involuntary servitude. There were isolated instances of women forced into prostitution in Brunei, and there were also isolated reports that women arrested for prostitution attested to having been victims of trafficking. The Government of Brunei does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. While the government has laws to prosecute trafficking, it did not investigate, prosecute, or convict any offenders of trafficking during the reporting period. The government did not identify any victims of trafficking in 2008. Recommendations for Brunei: Enforce the 2004 anti-trafficking in persons law by investigating and prosecuting sex trafficking and labor trafficking offenses and convicting and punishing trafficking offenders; adopt a proactive, comprehensive system to formally identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups such as foreign workers and foreign women and children in prostitution; train law enforcement, immigration, and prosecutors on the use of the anti-trafficking law; and implement a visible anti-trafficking awareness campaign directed at employers of foreign workers. Prosecution -------------- The government did not demonstrate significant anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during the reporting period. The Government of Brunei prohibits sex and labor trafficking in its Trafficking and Smuggling Persons Order of 2004, which prescribes penalties of up to 30 years, imprisonment - penalties that are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious offenses; however, there have never been any prosecutions under this order. There were no trafficking cases investigated by Brunei authorities during the reporting period and there were no complaints or allegations of trafficking filed. Foreign workers, complaints of exploitation, such as contract switching and non-payment of salaries, are usually tried under the Labor Act, which carries administrative penalties. The Department of Labor regularly investigates foreign workers, labor complaints such as job switching, salary deductions for recruitment fees, salary based on false promises, and high recruitment fees paid by the prospective employee - though it did not identify any cases of trafficking among them. Protection -------------- Brunei did not demonstrate significant efforts to protect and assist trafficking victims this year. While the Brunei Immigration Department questions foreign workers during immigration raids to identify possible trafficking victims, Brunei does not have a proactive, comprehensive system to formally identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as foreign workers and foreign women and children in prostitution. Although immigration authorities actively identified violators of immigration law, the government did not identify any trafficking victims during the reporting period. Although it is illegal for employers in Brunei to withhold wages of their domestic servants for more than 10 days, a few families are known to withhold wages to compensate for recruitment fees they are charged by overseas recruitment agencies. Most labor laws apply only to citizens of Brunei, and currently fail to protect skilled and unskilled foreign workers from exploitation. While there are no foreign NGOs or international organizations in Brunei to provide victim support, the embassies of several source countries provide shelter, mediation, and immigration support services to their nationals, in coordination with the Brunei government. Prevention -------------- Brunei demonstrated limited prevention efforts during the reporting period. In 2008, the Brunei police ran an internal workshop for members of the anti-vice unit on how to identify trafficking victims. Law enforcement officials participate in several regional training programs on trafficking. The government provides arrival briefings for foreign workers, inspects worker facilities, and runs a telephone hotline for worker complaints. It is an offence under the Labor Act for any local agency to charge foreign workers recruitment fees or to withhold a salary to recoup foreign worker processing fees. Although the government forbade wage deductions to agencies or sponsors and mandated that employees receive their full salaries, foreign workers continued to pay high fees to overseas recruitment agents to obtain work in Brunei. During the reporting period, there were 135 complaints by foreign workers against employers who failed to pay salaries. Seventeen of the complaints by domestic workers and 73 of the complaints by workers in other fields were resolved, largely through mediation; the remaining complaints are still under investigation. The Government of Brunei has not conducted public awareness campaign programs on trafficking. Brunei has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. ¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report country narrative: (begin non-paper) -- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to Congress. The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and create partnerships around the world in the fight against modern-day slavery. The USG approach to combating human trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol"). The TVPA and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, or coercion, whether overt or through psychological manipulation. While much attention has focused on international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a showing that the victim was moved. -- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of three tiers. Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking" set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1. Countries assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, but making significant efforts to meet those minimum standards are classified as Tier 2. Countries assessed as neither complying with the minimum standards nor making significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. -- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a "Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year. Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of each year. Countries are included on the "Special Watch List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 - or if they have been placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. -- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: (1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim population. As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 contains a provision requiring that a country that has been included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier ¶3. Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to Tier 3 in the 2011 Report). The new law allows for a waiver of this provision for up to two additional years upon a determination by the President that the country has developed and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards. -- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for participation by government officials or employees in educational and cultural exchange programs. In addition, the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to international financial institutions to oppose loans or other utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, trade-related or certain types of development assistance) with respect to countries on Tier 3. Countries classified as Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's release to show significant efforts against trafficking in persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier classification, would avoid such sanctions. Guidelines for such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared by Posts with host governments. -- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon: fraudulent recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor. As the May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion. The current global financial crisis threatens to increase the number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated "cost of coercion." -- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on website www.state.gov/g/tip. -- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State Department. We are providing you an advance copy of your country's narrative in that report. Please keep this information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June ¶16. The State Department will also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. (end non-paper) ¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as possible after the TIP Report is released. Funding for translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human Rights Report. Posts needing financial assistance for translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX office. ¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use with local media. Q1: Why was Brunei ranked in the TIP Report this year? Why was it given a ranking of Tier 2? A:In prior years, TIP Reports, a "significant number" (defined to be 100 or more) of trafficking victims had to be documented for a country to be ranked in the TIP Report. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 eliminated this requirement, thereby expanding the scope of countries included in this year,s Report. Brunei was part of that expansion. Brunei was placed on Tier 2 because it does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Q2: What progress has Brunei made during the last year in combating trafficking? A: In 2008, the Brunei police ran an internal workshop for members of the anti-vice unit on how to identify trafficking victims. Law enforcement officials participate in several regional training programs on trafficking. The government provides arrival briefings for foreign workers, inspects worker facilities, and runs a telephone hotline for worker complaints. Q3: What can Brunei do to improve its fight against trafficking in persons? A: The Government of Brunei government could: enforce the 2004 anti-trafficking in persons law by investigating and prosecuting sex trafficking and labor trafficking offenses and convicting and punishing trafficking offenders; adopt a proactive, comprehensive system to formally identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups such as migrant workers and foreign women and children in prostitution; train law enforcement, immigration, and prosecutors on the use of the anti-trafficking law; and implement a visible anti-trafficking awareness campaign directed at employers of foreign workers. ¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the preceding action requests. CLINTON