LIBYA 2009 TIP REPORT SUBMISSION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TRIPOLI 000154

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, G/TIP, G (ACBLANK),INL, DRL, PRM, INR, AND NEA/RA (CHATTERJI)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP KCRM KWMN KFRD ASEC PREF PHUM PGOV SMIG
ELAB, LY
SUBJECT: LIBYA 2009 TIP REPORT SUBMISSION

REF: 08 STATE 132759


1. (SBU) Below is Embassy Tripoli's submission for the 2009
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. Responses are keyed to
reftel questions:

LIBYA'S TIP SITUATION

--23A. International Organizations, such as the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR) are the most reliable sources for information
on trafficking in persons. During the year, IOM commissioned a
study on migration written by a Libyan scholar in collaboration
with a high-ranking military official. The study included
previously unpublished statistics and legislation on migration
in general, providing a useful baseline for understanding
trafficking as a phenomenon in Libya. Libya's large irregular
migration problem dwarfs its trafficking issues. As such,
several authorities within the government deal with
trafficking-related issues and legislation ancillary to
counter-smuggling work. The authorities include the General
People's Committee (GPC; Ministry-equivalent) for Foreign
Liaison and International Cooperation, the GPC for Justice, the
GPC for Public Security and the GPC for Manpower and Labor.
Both migrants and trafficking victims are routinely smuggled to
Europe, especially Italy and Malta, en route to varied locations
on the continent.

-- 23B. Libya is both a transit and destination country for men
and women from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. While most
foreigners in Libya are economic migrants, in some cases large
smuggling debts and illegal status leave them vulnerable to
various forms of coercion, resulting in cases of forced
prostitution and forced labor. As in previous years, there were
isolated reports that women from sub-Saharan Africa were
trafficked to Libya for the purposes of commercial sexual
exploitation. Precise figures are unavailable, though foreign
observers estimate that one-half to one percent of Libya's 1.5
to 2 million foreigners may be victims of trafficking, primarily
migrants who became victims due to labor fraud or smuggling
debts.

-- 23C. Migrants generally come to Libya in transit to Europe
or to find employment as laborers and domestic employees. In
the isolated cases of sub-Saharan African women trafficked to
Libya, victims were lured to Libya with the promise of
legitimate employment.

-- 23D. Economic migrants without formal contracts are at
highest risk of becoming victims of trafficking through labor
fraud due to their lack of legal status and protections under
labor laws. International organizations report isolated cases
of sub-Saharan African women being lured to Libya with the
promise of legitimate work; smugglers then tried to coerce those
women into sex work in Europe.

-- 23E. Libya is both a transit and destination country for
economic migrants. Migrants, especially those of sub-Saharan
origin, often seek the services of smugglers to cross Libya's
desert border and travel onward the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
Smugglers can use their leverage over migrants to make them
victims of trafficking. Labor fraud and abuse constitute the
highest trafficking threat. Libyan individuals employing
irregular migrants sometimes withhold payment or travel
documents, creating trafficking victims out of economic migrants.

SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS

-- 24A. Libyan officials and citizens suffer from a general
lack of awareness of trafficking as a phenomenon distinct from
illegal immigration and smuggling. International organizations
made some inroads with individual officials through workshops
and trainings, but the lack of awareness on an institutional
level continues to be the greatest obstacle to tackling the
trafficking portfolio.


TRIPOLI 00000154 002 OF 005


-- 24B. The GPC for Foreign Liaison and International
Cooperation, the GPC for Justice, the GPC for Public Security
and the GPC for Manpower and Labor are all involved in
anti-trafficking efforts. The GPC for Public Security often
takes the lead on trafficking-related issues, though the
government lacks a formal mechanism for managing its response to
trafficking.

-- 24C. Libyan officials and citizens suffer from a general
lack of awareness of trafficking as a phenomenon distinct from
illegal immigration and smuggling. The Government lacks a
framework to both prosecute trafficking and to manage victim
assistance. Corruption is thought to be a factor in smuggling
operations; it is unknown whether corruption contributes to
trafficking. With a migrant population estimated at over 35% of
the overall population, the government lacks the capacity to
effectively address trafficking.

-- 24D. Government migration records are not centralized and
the government lacks capacity to systematically monitor its
nascent anti-trafficking efforts. Skeptical of outside
interference, the government does not publicly release records
or assessments, though IOs have formed relationships with
authorities who have begun to release some information privately.

INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS

-- 25A. Libya does not have a single law specifically
prohibiting trafficking in persons; however, it does have laws
criminalizing prostitution and sexual exploitation. In
addition, the 1970 labor law lays out specific rights of workers
and criminalizes exploitative labor practices, such as holding
an employee's passport. IOM held workshops with government
officials in January and February 2009 aimed at developing new
laws to effectively manage migration and reduce the level of
irregular migration. One day was devoted to the phenomenon of
trafficking, though no draft legislation has been distributed.
IOM will execute a G/TIP grant to provide training for up to 100
prosecutors and judges to discuss strategies and frameworks for
combating trafficking. A new criminal code is reportedly in
draft and circulating through the GPC system. The draft has not
been made available to diplomatic missions and its scope has not
been publicly disclosed.

-- 25B. No information was available about specific punishments
for trafficking-related sexual exploitation.

-- 25C. Libyan laws on smuggling impose stiff penalties for
convicted smugglers, including confiscation of all assets,
including property, located in Libya. While no information was
available about specific penalties for trafficking for labor
exploitation, the Government sometimes used other areas of its
criminal code to prosecute perpetrators of labor fraud.
Offenders were made to repatriate victims of trafficking to
their country of origin and provide back pay.

-- 25D. The law criminalizes rape and forcible sexual assault;
however, it does not specify a punishment.

-- 25E. The Government did not publicly release statistics on
investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of traffickers.
Press reports indicated that some traffickers were tried under
other criminal statutes for trafficking-related offenses, though
the disposition of those cases is unknown.

-- 25F. IOM manages a G/TIP grant to provide training to GOL
officials to recognize, investigate, and prosecute trafficking.
The Government of Italy and the European Commission sponsored
workshops through IOM to develop strategies and legislation to
manage migration in general, with sessions devoted to training
on combating trafficking. IOM partnered with the Libyan NGOs
the Waatasimu Charity Association and the International
Organization for Peace, Care, and Relief to deliver training for
semi-official civil society activists.


TRIPOLI 00000154 003 OF 005


-- 25G. No information was available on the GOL's cooperation
with other governments in the investigation and prosecution of
trafficking cases.

-- 25H. Post is not aware of any cases in which a Libyan
national has been extradited from Libya for a
trafficking-related offense.

-- 25I. There is no evidence of government involvement in or
tolerance of trafficking on any level.

-- 25J. There is no evidence that government officials are
involved in trafficking.

-- 25K. The law criminalizes prostitution; however, the law was
not consistently enforced.

-- 25L. The government does not participate in international
peacekeeping operations.

-- 25M. The government does not have an identified child sex
tourism problem.

PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS

-- 26A. The government does not have a framework or standard
procedure to identify and provide for victims and witnesses. In
practice, the government allows international organizations
assisting refugees and migrants to provide assistance to
vulnerable Eritreans, Ethiopians, Somalis, Sudanese, and Iraqis
to screen for evidence of trafficking.

-- 26B. The government maintains a network of migrant detention
centers throughout the country. International observers with
regular access to detention facilities described the conditions
as adequate and noted improvement in detention conditions since

2005. In particular, trafficking victims in detention centers
generally receive satisfactory medical care. The government
does not provide victims with access to either legal or
psychological services.

-- 26C. The government regularly cooperated with the IOM office
in Tripoli and provided in-kind assistance with IOM-hosted
anti-trafficking training. In-kind assistance included free use
of government-owned conference facilities, free meals for
training participants, free in-country travel for participants,
and free interpretation and use of interpretation equipment. In
addition, the government provides diplomatic support to the
UNHCR mission in

Tripoli, which, despite the lack of a formal MOU, enjoys regular
access to government facilities and migrant detention centers in
which victims of trafficking sometimes intermingle with the
general migrant population.

-- 26D. The government continues to fail to provide adequate
protective services to victims of trafficking. Like other
irregular migrants, trafficking victims may be susceptible to
punishment for unlawful presence in Libya as a result of
trafficking. The government does not adequately distinguish
between trafficking victims in need of protective services and
other migrants.

-- 26E. Post is unaware of any long-term benefits the
government makes available to victims of trafficking.

-- 26F. The government does not have a specific referral
process to transfer victims detained by authorities to NGO-run
facilities. In practice, NGOs and International Organizations
had developed relationships with officials to provide care for
some individuals identified as victims of trafficking and
self-identified victims of labor fraud trafficking availed
themselves of IOM-run Assisted Voluntary Return and
Reintegration programs.


TRIPOLI 00000154 004 OF 005


-- 26G. The government continues to seek clarification on what
might constitute a formal victim recognition program.
Working-level officials from the GPC for Public Security and the
GPC for Manpower and Labor participated in workshops designed to
build awareness of the problem of trafficking and formulate
responses to manage a response.

-- 26H. The government continues to seek clarification on what
might constitute a formal victim recognition program.

-- 26I. Trafficking victims were susceptible to punishment for
unlawful acts committed as a result of being trafficking. For
instance, victims, intermingled with illegal migrants, may have
been deported without receiving medical, psychological or legal
aid. Detention and deportation data is not centralized and is
incomplete. Statistics do not differentiate between irregular
migrants and victims of trafficking.

-- 26J. The government does not actively encourage victims to
participate in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking
offenders.

-- 26K. During the year, the government cooperated with IOM a
workshops for law enforcement officials designed to raise
awareness of trafficking. The government provided in-kind
assistance, including conference and catering facilities, to
other training programs designed to equip prosecutors with tools
to both investigate and prosecute trafficking and for GPC
employees to help formulate legal and policy responses to
trafficking. During the year, the government at times contacted
either IOM or UNHCR to alert them to situations involving
vulnerable migrants and to solicit assistance on either
voluntary repatriation or resettlement to third countries.

-- 26L. Post knows of no Libyan nationals that have been
repatriated as victims of trafficking.

-- 26M. IOM and UNHCR both work with potential victims of
trafficking in Libya. Both organization provide training for
government officials responsible for implementing
counter-trafficking programs and provide protective services to
vulnerable migrant populations. Both IOM and UNHCR receive
adequate funding from external sources, obviating the need to
seek funding from the government.

PREVENTION

-- 27A. The government did not conduct any anti-trafficking
public information campaigns during the reporting period. The
government allowed IOM to conduct anti-smuggling and
anti-trafficking campaigns in the irregular migrant community
through their civil society organizations.

-- 27B. Law enforcement officials informally screen migrants
for potential victims of trafficking, focusing on nationality
and fraudulent documents. Detention facility managers began
proactive notification of International Organizations for
vulnerable populations, including potential victims of
trafficking.

-- 27C. The Government designated an anti-trafficking
coordinator in early 2007. Libyan bureaucracy is not
regularized and depends on personal connections. The extent to
which the various offices charged with managing Libya's response
to trafficking coordinate action remains unknown. The death of
a key official in early 2008 slowed international cooperation on
migration issues.

-- 27D. The government does not have a national plan of action
to address trafficking in persons.

-- 27E. No information was available on steps the government
took during the reporting period to reduce the demand for
commercial sex acts.


TRIPOLI 00000154 005 OF 005


-- 27F. No information was available on steps the government
took during the reporting period to reduce participation in
international child sex tourism by nationals of the country.


2. (U) Post spent a total of 23 hours in the preparation of the
TIP report:

FS-04 Officer: 20 hours

FS-06 EFM: 1 hour

LES-9 FSN: 1 hour

FS-02 Officer: 30 minutes

FS-01 Officer: 30 minutes


3. (SBU) The point of contact for TIP issues is Pol/Econ Officer
Chris Andino (AndinoCL@state.gov; cell phone: +218-91-220-3092).
CRETZ