TAJIKISTAN--2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 060639

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG KPAO KTIP TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN--2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND
DEMARCHE

REF: A. 2009 STATE 59732

B. 2009 STATE 5577


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 Tajikistan 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 Tajikistan 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 Tajikistan 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 Tajikistan's country narrative in the
2009 TIP Report:

--------------
Tajikistan (TIER 2 Watch List)
--------------

Tajikistan is a source country for women trafficked to the
UAE often through Kyrgyzstan and Russia, for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation. Some women are trafficked
from Tajikistan to Russia, Turkey, Iran, and India for the
purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Men are
trafficked to Russia and, to a lesser extent, Kazakhstan for
the purpose of forced labor, primarily in the construction
and agricultural sectors. Children, men, and women are

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coerced by some local government authorities to harvest
cotton. In 2008, a small number of Tajik men were trafficked
to Poland for the purpose of forced labor. Boys and girls
are trafficked internally for various purposes, including
forced labor, forced begging, and commercial sexual
exploitation.

The Government of Tajikistan does not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite
these efforts, the government did not demonstrate progress in
prosecuting and convicting officials complicit in trafficking
and ensuring that victims have access to protection;
therefore, Tajikistan is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. The
government reported limited improvements in law enforcement
efforts, although these efforts were overshadowed by the
government's failures to address serious and systemic
problems. The most significant of these problems were the
government's failure to address trafficking corruption; poor
coordination between law enforcement and security
institutions with overlapping responsibilities; failure to
adequately investigate allegations of security officials'
abuse of victims; and excessive reliance on the international
community to conduct trafficking awareness campaigns and to
ensure victims have access to assistance and protection.

The government also failed to prevent local officials from
compelling men, women and children ) particularly in Khatlon
and Sughd regions ) to pick cotton during the annual cotton
harvest. For the first time in 2008, local prosecutors
initiated investigations into allegations that local
officials and teachers forced children to pick cotton --
although there were no convictions of officials for compelled
labor during the reporting period. Forced labor in the
cotton sector remained problematic because the Government of
Tajikistan continued to set a fixed price for a small cadre
of investors to purchase cotton from farmers. This fixed
price is well below market value, making it difficult for
farmers to pay workers to pick cotton. This undervaluing of
labor, and consequent lack of voluntary laborers, leads local
officials to compel people to participate in the cotton
campaign.

Recommendations for Tajikistan: Vigorously investigate and
prosecute trafficking offenses, especially those involving
labor trafficking, and convict and punish trafficking
offenders with imprisonment; ensure better coordination
between law enforcement and security institutions,
particularly the State Committee on National Security;
prosecute and convict government officials who participate in
or facilitate trafficking in persons and ensure they serve
time in prison; ensure indentified victims are not assaulted
or re-victimized by government officials and ensure such
allegations of assault are fully investigated and culpable
offenders are prosecuted and criminally punished; provide
financial or in-kind assistance to existing trafficking
shelters; be directly involved in trafficking awareness
campaigns, and ensure anti-trafficking information appears in
government media outlets; prohibit the forced or coerced
labor of children and adults in the annual cotton harvest by
monitoring school and university attendance, inspecting
cotton fields during the harvest, and enforcing existing laws
prohibiting the use of forced labor; make efforts to improve
trafficking data collection and analysis; and develop a
victim identification and referral mechanism.

Prosecution
--------------

The Government of Tajikistan reported increased but limited
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during the reporting
period. Article 130.1 of the criminal code prohibits both
sexual exploitation and forced labor, and prescribes
penalties of 5 to 15 years' imprisonment, which are
sufficiently stringent but are lower than penalties
prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Although it
was added to the criminal code in 2003, officials have not
successfully used the statute to prosecute trafficking
offenders. However, officials have used other criminal
provisions to address trafficking related crimes, and for the
first time, authorities investigated suspected labor
trafficking cases. In 2008, authorities reported
investigating 23 individuals suspected of trafficking, an
increase from 12 trafficking investigations in 2007. The
government reported 23 prosecutions in 2008, compared to 19
reported in 2007. Courts convicted 17 traffickers in 2008,
up from 11 convictions reported in 2007. The government
reported that no convicted traffickers received suspended
sentences or were granted amnesty in 2008; sentences for
those serving time in prison ranged from six months to eight
years' imprisonment. The government worked with Russian
authorities to investigate two trafficking cases in 2008.


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The government did not demonstrate significant efforts to
address government complicity in trafficking during the
reporting period. The State Committee on National Security
did not vigorously investigate reports that three identified
trafficking victims were sexually assaulted by its officers
after they were repatriated to Tajikistan. There were
unconfirmed reports that some government officials used their
authority to stop trafficking investigations because of
illicit ties to traffickers. Local officials in Sughd and
Khatlon regions were directly involved in organizing and
coercing students to participate in the annual cotton harvest
and, despite widespread public reports of this forced labor,
the Ministry of Labor did not deploy inspection teams to
investigate them and Ministry of Education officials
generally did not discipline teachers or local administrators
who facilitated or directed such practices. However, after
the conclusion of the harvest, government prosecutors in
Khatlon investigated 12 local government officials and
teachers for forcing school age and university students to
pick cotton; some of the education officials were reprimanded
for their actions, however no officials were convicted of
criminal offenses during the reporting period.

Protection
--------------

The government demonstrated no efforts to assist trafficking
victims during the reporting period. Virtually all victim
assistance and protection including shelter, medical
assistance, rehabilitative counseling, legal assistance, and
vocational training was provided by foreign-funded shelters
and NGOs; the government did not provide financial or in-kind
assistance to any NGO or organization that provided victim
assistance. In 2008, thirty-eight victims were provided with
shelter and assistance by foreign-funded NGOs, compared to 46
victims in 2007. The government again made no efforts to
develop and implement systematic victim identification
procedures or a domestic mechanism to refer victims to care
providers. Victims were encouraged to participate in
trafficking investigations and prosecutions; however, many
authorities remained untrained and unskilled on interviewing
and caring for victims of trafficking. Although victims were
generally not detained or punished, three female victims of
sex trafficking alleged that border service officials
sexually assaulted them upon their repatriation to
Tajikistan.

Prevention
--------------

Tajikistan again demonstrated limited prevention efforts
during the reporting period. In October 2008, the government
produced and broadcast television programs informing
potential labor migrants of their rights and practical
considerations for the migration process. In 2008, officials
instituted monitoring and licensing requirements for travel
firms to help detect or investigate firms suspected of labor
trafficking complicity.

--------------


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

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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

STATE 00060639 005 OF 005


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.


Q. Why was Tajikistan again placed on Tier 2 Watch List?


A. The Government of Tajikistan did not demonstrate progress
in prosecuting and convicting officials complicit in
trafficking and ensuring that victims have access to
protection; therefore, Tajikistan is placed on Tier 2 Watch
List. The government failed to address trafficking
corruption; demonstrated poor coordination between law
enforcement and security institutions with overlapping
responsibilities; failed to adequately investigate
allegations of security officials' abuse of victims; and
excessively relied on the international community to conduct
trafficking awareness campaigns and ensure victims had access
to assistance and protection. The government also failed to
prevent local officials from compelling men, women and
children ) particularly in Khatlon and Sughd regions ) to
pick cotton during the annual cotton harvest. Forced labor
in the cotton sector remained problematic because the
government continued to set a fixed price for a small cadre
of investors to purchase cotton from farmers. This fixed
price is well below market value, making it difficult for
farmers to pay workers to pick cotton. This undervaluing of
labor, and consequent lack of voluntary laborers, leads local
officials to compel people to participate in the cotton
campaign.


Q. What efforts did Tajikistan make during the reporting
period?


A. The Tajikistan government reported limited improvements in
law enforcement efforts, although these efforts were
overshadowed by the government's failures to address serious
and systemic problems. For the first time in 2008, local
prosecutors initiated investigations into allegations that
local officials and teachers forced children to pick
cotton*although there were no convictions of officials for
compelled labor during the reporting period.


Q. What can Tajikistan do to improve its fight against
trafficking in persons?


A. Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses,
especially those involving labor trafficking, and convict and
punish trafficking offenders with imprisonment; ensure better
coordination between law enforcement and security
institutions, particularly the State Committee on National
Security; prosecute and convict government officials who
participate in or facilitate trafficking in persons and
ensure they serve time in prison; ensure indentified victims
are not assaulted or re-victimized by government officials
and ensure such allegations of assault are fully investigated
and culpable offenders are prosecuted and criminally
punished; provide financial or in-kind assistance to existing
trafficking shelters; be directly involved in trafficking
awareness campaigns, and ensure anti-trafficking information
appears in government media outlets; prohibit the forced or
coerced labor of children and adults in the annual cotton
harvest by monitoring school and university attendance,
inspecting cotton fields during the harvest, and enforcing
existing laws prohibiting the use of forced labor; make
efforts to improve trafficking data collection and analysis;
and develop a victim identification and referral mechanism.


12. The Department appreciates posts' assistance with the
preceding action requests.
CLINTON