BELGIUM -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS STATE 060473 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG BE SUBJECT: BELGIUM -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND DEMARACHE 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 Belgium 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 Belgium 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 Belgium 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 Belgium,s country narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: -------------- BELGIUM (Tier 1) Belgium is a destination and transit country for men, women, and girls trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Women and girls are trafficked to Belgium for sexual exploitation primarily from Nigeria, Russia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, the People,s Republic of China (PRC),and through Belgium to other European countries, such as the United Kingdom. Male victims are trafficked to Belgium for labor exploitation in restaurants, bars, sweatshops, horticulture, fruit farms, and construction sites. According to Belgian immigration, the number of foreign unaccompanied minors entering the country increased by 14 percent in 2007 compared to 2006. The government determined that 9 of these minors were victims of trafficking, compared to 14 of 1752 unaccompanied minors who entered in 2006. The government and NGOs reported two new trends in 2008: an increase in the number of forced labor cases, and sex trafficking increasingly disguised by businesses including massage parlors, escort services, and the Internet. The trafficking of workers for domestic servitude and trafficking for sexual exploitation continued to be committed by some members of the international diplomatic community posted in Belgium. The Belgian government has conducted campaigns to reduce this problem and investigates such cases. The Government of Belgium fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government developed a directive to improve the identification and referral of trafficking victims and financed NGOs to provide comprehensive victim assistance. The government financed victim shelters providing the full spectrum of services and protections to victims. The government and royal foundation funded several NGOs that conducted prevention campaigns. Recommendations for Belgium: Improve the collection of comprehensive anti-trafficking law enforcement data, including numbers of prosecutions and convictions for forced labor and trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, along with corresponding sentencing data, and numbers of government-assisted repatriations; consider training for officials who may encounter trafficking victims that focuses on the needs of victims. Prosecution -------------- Belgium prohibits all forms of trafficking through a 2005 amendment to its 1995 Act Containing Measures to Repress Trafficking in Persons. As amended, the law,s maximum prescribed sentence for all forms of trafficking -- 30 years, imprisonment -- is sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for rape. In 2007, the most recent year for which data were available, the government reported 1,204 trafficking investigations. Authorities reported prosecuting and obtaining the convictions of 223 trafficking offenders, compared to 238 prosecuted and convicted in 2006. In 2007, the government reported that seventy percent of convicted traffickers received prison sentences ranging from one year to more than 10 year,s jail time. It is unclear how many of these cases involved forced labor and how many involved trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. In July 2008, Belgian authorities opened investigations of seven members of the royal family of Abu Dhabi (UAE) for trafficking 17 girls reportedly from Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, India, Iraq, Morocco and the Philippines for domestic servitude while staying at a Brussels hotel; 11 of these victims were subsequently granted victim status by Belgian authorities. However, the implicated sheikha and seven other family members have since left the country. The investigation remains ongoing. In January 2009, Belgian authorities arrested and charged nine suspects involved in the trafficking of 17 Thai women in massage parlors; one of the arrestees was an employee of the Ministry of Justice. NGOs reported blatant exploitation of undocumented Bulgarian women by human trafficking networks in Brussels and also claimed that some officials abused their positions to obtain sexual services from possible victims. One NGO indicated that judges and other officials could benefit from increased anti-trafficking trafficking training. Protection -------------- The government improved its capacity to identify and protect trafficking victims during the reporting period. In September 2008, the government issued an interagency directive on coordination and assistance to trafficking victims, which included procedures on identification of victims and their referral to shelters. The government continued to fund three NGOs that sheltered and provided comprehensive assistance to trafficking victims in 2008. During the reporting period, 495 adults were referred to the three specialized shelter centers, compared to a total of 619 persons registered the previous year. Of those 495 people, 202 were identified as potential trafficking victims. Forty-seven victims qualified for full victim status in 2008, compared to 62 qualifying in 2007. In 2008, an additional 122 victims received permanent residency permits, even though they did not receive final victim status. Belgian law allows the provision of extendable temporary residence status and permanent residence status to victims who participated in trafficking investigations and prosecutions. Residence can be granted before an investigation is completed at judicial discretion; residency can also be granted even without a successful prosecution. Children who were victims of trafficking reportedly were granted three months in which to decide whether to testify against their traffickers. If they did not qualify for victim status, they may still have qualified for protection under the government,s rules for unaccompanied minors. Victims who served as witnesses in court were entitled to seek legal employment during the trial process. Identified victims were not inappropriately incarcerated, fined, or penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Prevention -------------- In 2008, the Belgian government demonstrated progress in its anti-trafficking prevention efforts. The Belgian government funds all domestic NGOs involved in combating human trafficking in Belgium. Demand reduction and prevention are two main objectives of the 2008-2011 Belgian National Anti-Trafficking Plan. The government funds websites and conducts campaigns to reduce demand. "Stop Child Prostitution" is a particularly noteworthy ongoing campaign sponsored by the government-funded NGOs Child Focus, ECPAT, FIT, the Federal Police, and the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. The Royal King Baudouin Foundation has funded campaigns aimed at the situation of diplomatic household personnel. The Center to Combat Racism and Discrimination and the three trafficking victim shelters participated in the European Anti-Trafficking Day awareness campaign. Belgian law allows for the prosecution of Belgian nationals for child abuse crimes committed abroad. The government provided specific anti-trafficking training to Belgian troops before they were deployed on international peacekeeping missions. -------------- ¶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 Belgium given a ranking of Tier 1? A: The Government of Belgium fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Q2: What progress has Belgium made in the past year? ¶A. The government developed a directive to improve the identification and referral of trafficking victims and financed NGOs to provide comprehensive victim assistance. In addition, the government and royal foundation funded several NGOs that conducted prevention campaigns. Q3: What can Belgium do to improve its fight against trafficking in persons? ¶A. To enhance its anti-trafficking performance, the Government of Belgium could: improve the collection of comprehensive anti-trafficking law enforcement data, including numbers of prosecutions and convictions for forced labor and trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, along with corresponding sentencing data, and numbers of government-assisted repatriations; consider training for officials who may encounter trafficking victims that focuses on the needs of victims. -------------- -------------- ¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the preceding action requests. CLINTON