HONDURAS -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS STATE 060625 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG HO SUBJECT: HONDURAS -- 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 Honduras 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 Honduras 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 OOB local time 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 Honduras 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 Honduras, country narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: -------------- HONDURAS (TIER 2) -------------- Honduras is principally a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Honduran victims are typically lured by false job offers from rural areas to urban and tourist centers, such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, and the Bay Islands. Honduran women and children are trafficked to Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Belize, and the United States for commercial sexual exploitation. Most foreign victims of commercial sexual exploitation in Honduras are from neighboring countries; some are economic migrants victimized en route to the United States. Additional trafficking concerns include reports of child sex tourism in the Bay Islands, and some criminal gangs, forcing children to conduct street crime. The Government of Honduras does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. During the reporting period, the government increased law enforcement actions against trafficking offenders and worked closely with NGOs on training and prevention efforts. However, government services for trafficking victims, particularly adults, remained inadequate. Recommendations for Honduras: Amend anti-trafficking laws to prohibit labor trafficking; increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and convict and sentence trafficking offenders, including corrupt officials who may facilitate trafficking activity; increase shelter aid and victim services; develop formal procedures for identifying victims among potential trafficking populations; and continue efforts to increase public awareness. Prosecution The Honduran government increased efforts to investigate and punish human trafficking crimes last year. Honduras prohibits trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation through aggravated circumstances contained in Article 149 of its penal code, enacted in 2006, but does not prohibit trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation. Article 149 carries penalties of from eight to 13 years, imprisonment, which increases by one-half under aggravated circumstances. Such punishments are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. During the reporting period, the government opened 82 anti-trafficking investigations and 18 prosecutions, and obtained 11 convictions. This represents an increase in anti-trafficking efforts when compared to results achieved during the previous year: 74 investigations, 13 prosecutions, and eight convictions. In one noteworthy case last year, Honduran prosecutors indicted two parents for selling their nine-year-old daughter to an attorney for sexual exploitation; the attorney was imprisoned on charges of commercial sexual exploitation, sexual relations with a minor, and production of child pornography. The government increased anti-trafficking training for public officials last year, and Honduran law enforcement authorities assisted neighboring countries and the United States on anti-trafficking cases, as well as with investigations of child sex tourism. However, defendants over the age of 60 are subject to house arrest in Honduras while awaiting trial; many of these accused offenders, including American citizens, flee or bribe their way out of the country and avoid prosecution. No specific complaints relating to trafficking-related corruption were received last year, though witnesses reportedly were reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement on corruption investigations. Protection The Honduran government made limited progress in its efforts to assist trafficking victims last year. The government operated no dedicated shelters or services for trafficking victims, though it referred child trafficking victims to NGOs, which could only serve a small percentage of those in need. Honduran NGOs continued to shoulder a heavy burden to provide victim care, and received no direct funding from the government. While the government increased training for police on identifying victims and referring them for care, NGOs report that referrals in practice are unorganized and uneven. Moreover, few resources, public or private, are available for adult trafficking victims. Victims were encouraged to assist in the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers, and the government collaborated with NGOs to identify and assist victims who chose to serve as witnesses. However, many trafficking victims decline to cooperate due to fear of retribution from their traffickers or mistrust of police. There were no reports of victims being penalized for unlawful acts committed as a result of their being trafficked. Honduras did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they may face hardship or retribution. During the past year, the government received training on identifying trafficking victims among vulnerable populations such as women in prostitution. In collaboration with an NGO, law enforcement officials in Tegucigalpa conducted raids to rescue children from commercial sex sites, though prostituted adult women were not screened for signs of human trafficking. Prevention The government sustained efforts to prevent human trafficking during the reporting period, particularly through conducting awareness campaigns, forums, and workshops across the country. The government,s inter-institutional committee met regularly to organize additional anti-trafficking efforts, and collaborated with NGOs and international organizations on activities. During the reporting period, the government made efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts by training 500 tourism sector workers to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of girls, boys, and adolescents in the tourism sector. ¶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. -- 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 Honduras given a ranking of Tier 2? A: The Government of Honduras does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. During the reporting period, the government increased law enforcement actions against trafficking offenders and worked closely with NGOs on training and prevention efforts. However, government services for trafficking victims, particularly adults, remained inadequate. Q2: What is the nature of Honduras, trafficking problem? A: Honduras is principally a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Honduran victims are typically lured by false job offers from rural areas to urban and tourist centers, such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, and the Bay Islands. Honduran women and children are trafficked to Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Belize, and the United States for commercial sexual exploitation. Most foreign victims of commercial sexual exploitation in Honduras are from neighboring countries; some are economic migrants victimized en route to the United States. Additional trafficking concerns include reports of child sex tourism in the Bay Islands, and some criminal gangs, forcing children to conduct street crime. Q3: How can Honduras improve its anti-trafficking efforts? A: To advance its efforts to combat human trafficking, the Government of Honduras could: amend anti-trafficking laws to prohibit labor trafficking, consistent with international standards; increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and convict and sentence trafficking offenders, including corrupt officials who may facilitate trafficking activity; increase shelter aid and victim services; develop formal procedures for identifying victims among potential trafficking populations; and continue efforts to increase public awareness. ¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the preceding action requests. CLINTON