SYRIA PASSES FIRST TRAFFICKING-IN-PERSONS LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 000036

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR S/WGI, NEA/ELA, DRL/NESCA, INL/G-TIP
LONDON FOR LORD
PARIS FOR NOBLES

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2020
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF PREL ELAB KTIP KWMN SCUL SOCI
SY
SUBJECT: SYRIA PASSES FIRST TRAFFICKING-IN-PERSONS LAW

REF: A. 09 DAMASCUS 00062

B. 09 DAMASCUS 00139

C. 09 DAMASCUS 00554

D. 09 DAMASCUS 00555

E. 09 DAMASCUS 00727

Classified By: CDA Charles Hunter for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. This report contains an action request. See paragraph 13.


2. (U) Summary: President Asad endorsed Syria's first
trafficking-in-persons (TIP) legislation -- Legislative
Decree No. 3 -- on January 10, and Syrian newspapers
published it on January 11, thereby officially bringing the
decree into law. Full implementation should begin on April
11, three months from the date of the decree's publication.
Asad,s endorsement effectively drew to a close a nearly
five-year drafting and revising process during which
activists despaired over ever seeing the decree published.
The new decree sets forth definitions of trafficking, details
criminal penalties, mandates minimum protective services for
victims, and tasks the Ministry of Interior with establishing
an anti-trafficking unit for monitoring the decree's
enforcement. End Summary.

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Background
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3. (SBU) The International Organization for Migration (IOM)
in Damascus first engaged SARG officials on creating a TIP
law as a result of a consciousness-raising workshop IOM
hosted in September 2005, which induced the Syrian Cabinet to
form a committee for drafting TIP legislation. The committee
included individuals from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs,
Social Affairs and Labor (MoSAL),Interior (MoI),Justice,
and Higher Education. In addition to the aforementioned
ministries, the committee included representatives from the
Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the Syrian Association for Family
Affairs, and the Syrian Women's Union. IOM conceived its
main role as supporting the drafting committee, and to this
end IOM hosted workshops and training sessions for ministry
and law enforcement officials, as well as NGOs working with
trafficking victims. The opening of TIP shelters in Damascus
(2008) and Aleppo (2009) in spaces donated by the MoSAL
testified to the productive relationship IOM built with SARG
officials over the years. The endurance of that
collaboration buoyed hopes that the much-anticipated draft
law would, in fact, become a reality (refs A-C).

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The Law
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4. (U) The decree made criminal actions associated with the
internal (between governates) or external (across
international boundaries) movement (luring, transfer, or
abduction) of persons -- whether by force, threat of force,
or persuasion -- for illegal activity. The law also
criminalized the unknowing commission of trafficking-related
crimes, as well as the failure to disclose known information
on trafficking to the proper authorities.


5. (U) Acknowledging the vulnerability of minors, the decree
took an expansive view toward defining trafficking so that it
incorporated the sexual exploitation of children, including
materials or acts of a sexual nature involving children.
While the definition of trafficking can be applied to forced
labor, there were no labor-specific provisions in the decree.

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Penalties
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6. (U) According to Article 7, anyone convicted of
trafficking crimes is "punishable by arrest for a term of not
less than seven years and a fine of one million to three
million Syrian pounds" ($22,000 to $66,000). Individuals and
organizations convicted of involvement in TIP-related crimes
will forfeit any assets authorities can show were wrongfully

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gained through illegal acts. Article 8 permitted courts to
increase penalties described in Article 7 (1) if the crime
was committed against women or children, or a person with
"special needs"; (2) if the perpetrator used, or threatened
to use, a weapon; (3) if the perpetrator was the husband of
the victim, or was a relative with authority over the victim,
or a law enforcement employee; (4) if more than one person
committed the offense, or the perpetrator belonged to a
criminal gang; and (5) if the crime was of an "international
character."

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Protection and Prevention
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7. (U) The decree outlined special care provisions for both
TIP victims and for witnesses (and their families) who report
TIP crimes. Regarding victims, Article 14 directed the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor to oversee the
implementation of protective services for TIP victims. These
services, as described in Article 15, range from providing
shelter to offering physical, psychological, material, and
legal assistance. The article clearly mandated authorities
to protect victims' identities and insure that in the case of
a female victim, a female authority is present during the
investigation. (Comment: It is not clear whether the
prescribed female presence need be a law enforcement
official, social worker, legal counsel, etc. End comment.)


8. (U) How well law enforcement and judiciary officials will
enforce the decree remains to be seen. In the weeks and
months leading up to the April 11 implementation deadline,
various ministries will have to develop the protocols and
standard operating procedures for enforcement and for
ensuring victims are properly routed to shelters instead of
criminal detention. Additionally, the decree instructs the
MoI to establish a special anti-trafficking crimes unit,
composed of both men and women with the skills, educational
qualifications, and language abilities commensurate to the
management of anti-trafficking operations.

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Reactions
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9. (U) Official press reports applauded the decree's passage.
A January 11 SANA article stated Minister of Justice Ahmad
Hammoud Younes had declared the decree put an end to human
trafficking crimes on "the local and international level."
He added, "human trafficking is a form of the increasingly
mounting problem of organized crime that violates human
rights and public liberties."


10. (C) Laila Tomeh (strictly protect),the National Program
Officer with IOM who spearheaded much of IOM's engagement
with the SARG on drafting the law, opening up the Damascus
and Aleppo shelters, and providing relevant training to
government, judicial, and police officials, was relieved and
delighted over the law's passage. She maintained a "wait and
see" attitude toward the level of enforcement, noting the
issue of "repatriation" remained an attendant concern in the
TIP debate. The government, she said, was unprepared to
facilitate logistically and financially the repatriation of
trafficked women. Nevertheless, she felt confident enough
about future prospects to ask whether we would be willing to
co-host a celebratory event for the members of the decree's
drafting committee.


11. (C) Tomeh's cautious enthusiasm was mirrored in comments
by women's activist and human rights lawyer Daad Mousa
(protect). Mousa remarked that the decree's passage affirmed
a commitment to TIP on the part of the MoI about which she
had initially been skeptical. She credited IOM's lobbying,
training sessions, etc. with having persuaded the MoI of the
importance of addressing TIP seriously. The landmark
legislative moment clearly caught a number of other key
women's activists off-guard. On January 11, Maan Abdul
Salam, founder of Thara.com, a pro-reform website that has
published articles on women's rights in the past, was
surprised when we told him the decree had passed. Bassam

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al-Qadi, head of the Syrian Women's Observatory, and Maha
al-Ali, a board member of the Association for Women's Role
Development (the local NGO that administers the TIP shelter
in Damascus),had yet to read the decree as of January 12.


12. (C) Comment: Legislative Decree No. 3's passage confirms
the commitment we heard in meetings with MFA International
Organizations Chief Milad Attiyeh (ref D) and MoSAL Deputy
Minister Issa Maldoon (ref E). Given the SARG's general
cooperation on TIP issues with local and international NGOs,
and its willingness to meet with emboffs on the topic, we
assess TIP remains one of the few sensitive subjects where we
can continue direct discussions with our SARG counterparts.
Engagement now on TIP might encourage the SARG to take
forceful steps toward insuring tough enforcement measures are
in place by April 11. Should the Department wish to pursue
increased coordination on TIP issues, an offer of assistance
in repatriating victims (whether through programming or
direct financial assistance) might prove attractive to our
SARG interlocutors. A Tier 2 Watchlist status in the next
TIP report, moreover, would end current sanctions resulting
from Syria's current Tier 3 status. Lifting Tier 3 sanctions
would provide the USG with an opportunity for a public
gesture on sanctions easement without imperiling the more
stringent sanctions stemming from Executive Orders and the
Syria Accountability Act. End comment.


13. (C) Action request: A Department statement at the
appropriate public or private level, commending Syria for
passing a TIP law, could provide positive reinforcement for
developing strong enforcement SOPs. It might also allow the
Department to raise human rights in a constructive but
non-confrontational manner. Post would be pleased to propose
draft language for such a statement. Please advise.
HUNTER