Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09STATE60527
2009-06-11 22:14:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Secretary of State
Cable title:  

PAPUA NEW GUINEA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS

Tags:  KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG PP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6998
OO RUEHPB
DE RUEHC #0527/01 1622241
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112214Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY IMMEDIATE 1738
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

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