PAPUA NEW GUINEA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 060527 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG PP SUBJECT: PAPUA NEW GUINEA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND DEMARCHE REF: (A) STATE 59732 (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 Papua New Guinea 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 Papua New Guinea 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 Papua New Guinea 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 Papua New Guinea,s country narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: -------------- Papua New Guinea (Tier 3) -------------- Papua New Guinea is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude; men are trafficked to logging and mining camps for the purpose of forced labor. Women and children from Malaysia, Thailand, the People,s Republic of China (PRC), and the Philippines are trafficked to Papua New Guinea for STATE 00060527 002 OF 005 forced prostitution and PRC men are trafficked to the country for forced labor. Chinese organized crime groups still may traffic some Asian women and girls through Papua New Guinea to Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and other countries for forced prostitution and forced labor, though less frequently than in the past. Unique and enduring cultural practices in Papua New Guinea reinforce the perception of females and children as commodities - families often sell minor girls into marriages to settle their debts; tribes trade females for guns and political advantage; men compensate the relatives of a girl they have raped with a payment of pigs. Young girls sold into marriage are often also forced into domestic servitude for the husband,s extended family. The majority of foreign victims voluntarily migrate to Papua New Guinea with valid passports and visas, lured by Chinese organized crime units, foreign logging companies, and Papuan businessmen with false offers to work as engineers, secretaries, cooks, and guards. After arrival in Papua New Guinea, most of the female victims are coerced into prostitution and domestic servitude at logging and mining camps. Foreign and Papuan men are more often exploited for labor at the camps. They work excessive hours in dangerous conditions, frequently with little or no safety gear. Many of these men are also compelled to continue working for the company indefinitely through induced debt bondage. Employers escalate the victims, indebtedness to the company by cutting workers, agreed-upon wages, taking unjustifiable payroll deductions and artificially inflating prices at the only place in the region employees can buy food, the company store. Government officials facilitate trafficking by accepting bribes to allow illegal migrants to enter the country or to ignore victims forced into prostitution or labor, by receiving female trafficking victims in return for political favors, and by providing female victims in return for votes. The Government of Papua New Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. The government acknowledges the existence of forced labor in PNG, but denies the widespread sex trafficking of women and children. Some corrupt government and law enforcement officials accept bribes to ignore trafficking-related activity. Despite evidence of a trafficking problem, to date no suspected trafficking offender has been arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of a human trafficking offense. The government lacks a systematic procedure to identify victims of trafficking in vulnerable populations, such as foreign women or children in prostitution, and has done little to prevent trafficking in Papua New Guinea. Recommendations for Papua New Guinea: Continue the process of drafting and enacting legislation that prohibits and punishes all forms of trafficking; increase collaboration with civil society, religious, and tribal leaders to raise awareness about trafficking, including the need to reduce demand for forced labor and commercial sex acts; investigate, prosecute and punish officials who facilitate or benefit from trafficking; develop and institute a formal procedure to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups; ensure victims of trafficking are not arrested, deported, or otherwise punished for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; and train law enforcement officers on victim identification and protection. Prosecution -------------- The Government of Papua New Guinea reported minimal progress in law enforcement efforts against trafficking offenders over the last year. The penal code of Papua New Guinea does not prohibit all forms of trafficking. Its criminal code, which does not prohibit the trafficking of adults, prohibits the trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation, slavery, and abduction. Labor laws prohibit fraudulent recruiting and employment practices, and prescribe weak penalties for offenders. Prostitution is prohibited in Papua New Guinea, but the relevant laws are either selectively or rarely enforced even in cases involving of children. In August 2008, the Transnational Crime Unit rescued a group of about 20 women forced to work in prostitution at a Chinese restaurant; no charges were filed against their alleged trafficker as none of the women would cooperate with police investigators. Trafficking-related crimes in rural areas were referred to village courts which administered customary law, rather than criminal law, and resolved cases through restitution paid to the victim, rather than through criminal penalties assigned to the trafficking offender. Wealthy business people, politicians, and police officials who benefit financially from the operation of establishments profiting from sex trafficking were not investigated or prosecuted. Most government offices and law enforcement agencies remained weak as the result of corruption, cronyism, a lack of accountability, and a promotion system based on STATE 00060527 003 OF 005 patronage. In 2008, the government arranged for expert assistance with the drafting of a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, and began coordinating multi-agency preparations and contributions to the process. Protection -------------- The Government of Papua New Guinea demonstrated increasing efforts to protect and assist victims of trafficking. Due to severe resource constraints, the government continued to rely on international organizations or NGOs to provide victim services. The government contributed funds to a shelter for victims of domestic violence in Port Moresby run by an NGO, which could provide shelter and some legal aid to trafficking victims, although it did not do so during the year. Women,s shelters in Port Moresby and Lae could also house foreign and local victims. The Department of Health, with NGO assistance, set up support centers in hospitals throughout the country for victims of domestic violence which could provide trafficking victims with direct counseling and outpatient services, although not long-term care. The government did not proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations. When potential victims of trafficking sought assistance from the government, they were often jailed, and some were sexually abused by police officers. Immigration inspectors routinely refused entry to potential trafficking victims identified at the borders. Other government officials, however, would more likely refer identified victims to social groups, churches, or NGOs for assistance. Rescued victims of internal trafficking often received compensation payments of cash or pigs from the offender, which is culturally acceptable in Papua New Guinea, and were reluctant to then notify police and bring additional criminal charges against their traffickers. Prevention -------------- The government continued to rely on international organizations and NGOs for the bulk of its trafficking prevention activities, such as efforts to raise public awareness about trafficking combined with education campaigns on child prostitution, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence. The government increased cooperation with Australian and New Zealand Federal Police, as well as other international law enforcement and customs agencies, to draft laws, investigate, and prevent transnational crimes including human trafficking. The government made some effort to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts as a way to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. The government acknowledged that prostitution and child pornography are problems that need to be addressed. Papua New Guinea 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 STATE 00060527 004 OF 005 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 STATE 00060527 005 OF 005 with local media. Q1: Why was Papua New Guinea again given a ranking of Tier 3? A: The Government of Papua New Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. The government acknowledges the existence of forced labor in PNG, but denies the wide-spread sex trafficking of women and children. Some corrupt government and law enforcement officials accept bribes to ignore trafficking-related activity. Despite evidence of a trafficking problem, to date no suspected trafficking offender has been arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of a human trafficking offense. The government lacks a systematic procedure to identify victims of trafficking in vulnerable populations, such as foreign women or children in prostitution, and has done little to prevent trafficking in Papua New Guinea. Q2: What is the nature of PNG,s trafficking problem? A: Papua New Guinea is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude; men are trafficked to logging and mining camps for the purpose of forced labor. Women and children from Malaysia, Thailand, the People,s Republic of China (PRC), and the Philippines are trafficked to Papua New Guinea for forced prostitution and PRC men are trafficked to the country for forced labor. Chinese organized crime groups still may traffic some Asian women and girls through Papua New Guinea to Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and other countries for forced prostitution and forced labor, though less frequently than in the past. Q3: How can Papua New Guinea improve its anti-trafficking efforts? A: To demonstrate improved anti-trafficking efforts, the Government of Papua New Guinea could: continue the process of drafting and enacting legislation that prohibits and punishes all forms of trafficking; increase collaboration with civil society, religious, and tribal leaders to raise awareness about trafficking, including the need to reduce demand for forced labor and commercial sex acts; investigate, prosecute and punish officials who facilitate or benefit from trafficking; develop and institute a formal procedure to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups; ensure victims of trafficking are not arrested, deported, or otherwise punished for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked; and train law enforcement officers on victim identification and protection. ¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the preceding action requests. CLINTON