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. -------------- Background -------------- ¶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). -------------- The Law -------------- ¶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. -------------- Penalties -------------- ¶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 DAMASCUS 00000036 002 OF 003 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." -------------- Protection and Prevention -------------- ¶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. -------------- Reactions -------------- ¶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 DAMASCUS 00000036 003 OF 003 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