Anti-Human Trafficking Recommendations Reached, Russia,

UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000061 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KWMN PREF SMIG KCRM KTIP UN RS CH PK MX AG IR SUBJECT: Anti-Human Trafficking Recommendations Reached, Russia, Iran and Pakistan Intransigence Notwithstanding Ref: A) 09 UNVIE 0187, B) UNVIE 0034, C) UNVIE 0035 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Working Group (WG) engaged in three days of often fruitful discussion and emerged with nearly fifty recommendations that will be forwarded to the Organized Crime Convention (UNTOC) Conference of the Parties (COP) in October 2010. The U.S. delegation (USDEL) was pleased to learn of ten new signatories to the TIP Protocol since October 2008, and took note that the problematic "Global Plan of Action" was mentioned only by its main proponents, Belarus and Russia. More disturbing, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan, along with China and Algeria, working together, were able to block consensus on a number of issues. The finalized recommendations, along with those negotiated in April 2009, will surely be re-negotiated at the October COP, and UNVIE will continue its dual track of diplomacy-building coalitions with like-minded countries while also reaching out to the few who remain hesitant. END SUMMARY. -------------- Expert Working Group Surprisingly Constructive -------------- ¶2. (U) The TIP WG was created by the COP in order to provide recommendations on how better to implement the TIP Protocol. The group met previously in April 2009 (Ref A),and it has proven a good barometer to measure the support for a variety of TIP-related issues. ¶3. (U) This year, the WG's three-day agenda was ambitious in scope. For the first two days, the WG engaged in a surprisingly constructive discussion on issues ranging from non-punishment and prosecution of victims to best practices for discouraging demand for trafficked goods and services. Of note, the expert group agreed that movement or transportation was not required for TIP to occur. On a number of occasions, it was clear that a productive "back-and-forth" discussion was occurring, and delegations were as interested in learning from others' experiences as they were in advancing their own national policies. (Note. USDEL member John Richmond from the Department of Justice served as a panelist on the topic of non-punishment and prosecution of victims and gave a presentation drawing on his practical experience prosecuting TIP cases. By the end of the session it was clear that other delegations viewed Richmond as one of the room's top experts on the issue. End Note.) -------------- Iran, Russia, Pakistan and China Play Disruptive Role -------------- ¶4. (U) Nevertheless, by the end of the second day, when the prospect of negotiating recommendations loomed, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and at times China and Algeria, also, reverted to the obstructionist behavior we have encountered elsewhere in Vienna (Ref C). Iran stated it would not accept any recommendation that called for the absolution of TIP victims of their crimes. "Prostitution is a serious crime in my country, and it should have serious consequences," the delegate warned. While the prostituted person's status as a victim might be taken into account by the judge, he continued, Iran opposed the idea that a prostitute should not be prosecuted. ¶5. (SBU) Russia objected on a number of fronts. Like Iran, Russia was adamantly opposed to admitting to a "principle" of "non-punishment or prosecution," of victims, and objected to the very use of those terms. Reflecting concerns related to the broader debate over possible UNTOC review mechanisms, Russia raised a question as to whether the TIP protocol applied, necessarily, to purely domestic trafficking cases. Other delegates did not agree with this interpretation, as Article 34 of UNTOC (which governs TIP Protocol implementation) makes clear that trafficking shall be established in the domestic law of State Parties "independently of the transnational nature" of the crime. After the USDEL invited the Russian delegation aside to further discuss this issue, the Russian delegation backed off this position. The Russian representative explained that Russia's true concern was that if the scope of the TIP Protocol covered purely domestic trafficking, then a review mechanism could theoretically be confined to examine only domestic counter TIP activities and Russia would support such an approach. The Russian representative conceded, however, that domestic trafficking (i.e., that which does not involve crossing a border) had to be criminalized under UNTOC and the TIP Protocol. But, Russia, along with Iran and Pakistan and Algeria, continued its opposition to any mention of a review mechanism set up in coordination with the UNTOC to assist member states in evaluating and improving convention and Protocol implementation. (Ref B). ¶6. (U) Pakistan associated itself almost mechanically with any objection or position raised by Russia or Iran. However, Pakistan also aggressively opposed any recommendation regarding providing victim care regardless of victims' cooperation with law enforcement and prosecutors. Pakistan felt it essential that care for a victim be made conditional on cooperation with prosecution. Again, after private discussions with the USDEL, Pakistan backed off its inflexible stance, and joined consensus on compromise language, crafted by USDEL and formally proposed by Argentina. ¶7. (U) On the issue of non-punishment and prosecution, the WG finally adopted a recommendation that simply reaffirmed the April 2009 position. While admitting the WG's failure to move beyond the earlier position, the WG also grudgingly acknowledged that without Iranian, Pakistani and Russian agreement it could go no further. (Note. The Iranian representative regretted he had even agreed to the April 2009 recommendation in the first place, attributing his actions to the fact that he had only "just arrived" in Vienna and had been told to "just go along with everybody else." Not surprisingly, Iran had earlier in the week (unsuccessfully) tried to reopen the 2009 recommendations. UNVIE expects Iran to be similarly obstructive and reject or otherwise condition this year's recommendations, despite the fact that Iran joined consensus in the WG on the issue. End note.) ¶8. (U) The WG was similarly constrained by Russia, Pakistan, and Iran, and also Algeria and China, on the issue of a review mechanism. In the end, the WG simply adopted the language adopted by the UNTOC Working Group on Review of Implementation. (Ref B). -------------- USDEL Encouraged By Evidence of Wide-Spread Consensus -------------- ¶9. (U) Despite the limitations caused by the problematic delegations, the USDEL was pleased to see unanimous support on a variety of U.S. priority topics. The USDEL found quick and enthusiastic support for its recommendation that parties use the Protocol to better implement plea bargaining strategies, as well as for its clarification that a trafficking offense can occur by just harboring or receiving victims, even absent transportation of those victims. The WG also quickly agreed to the USDEL's proposal that member states recognize the important work of civil society and integrate them into strategies to prevent TIP and care for victims. However, on this and other civil society-related recommendations, China was careful to condition the language and keep the WG from actually adopting a position advocating closer civil society-government links and coordination. -------------- Mexico to Roll Out Blue Heart Campaign in April -------------- ¶10. (U) Mexico, along with UNODC, rolled out its endorsement of the Blue Heart campaign. Mexico announced that its President would launch the campaign, which is designed to raise awareness of human trafficking to the general population, in mid-April. UNODC officials privately expressed hope that the U.S. ambassador would attend. -------------- UNODC Briefs WG on Tools to Fight Trafficking and Implement Protocol -------------- ¶11. (U) The UNODC Secretariat also rolled out many of the training materials and publications it has developed for Protocol implementation assistance. These include the International Framework for Action, the Anti-Human Trafficking Manual for Criminal Justice Practitioners, and the Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons. UNODC also provided an update on Interagency Cooperation Group Against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) activities. -------------- New Signatories to Protocol Announced -------------- ¶12. (U) The UNODC Secretariat announced that since the October 2008 COP, eleven more States had acceded to the Protocol: Chad, Indonesia, Jordan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Qatar, Syria, Timor-Leste, Togo, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). Those accessions brought the total number of States parties to the Protocol to 135. In addition, the Pakistan delegation informed the USDEL that Pakistan had recently signed the TIP protocol and the government is on track for ratification. -------------- No Action on the Global Plan of Action -------------- ¶13. (U) The proposed Global Plan of Action was discussed a few times in the WG, but the overall relative lack of enthusiasm for this discussion was quite apparent. Only the Plan's main proponents, Belarus and Russia, raised the issue. Belarus and Russia both spoke of the need for a coordinated and comprehensive tool that would bring together what they see as the various anti-trafficking tools that currently exist but which form, in their view, at best a fragmented and incoherent framework. The general sentiment was that the continuing disconnect between national delegations in New York and Vienna prevents real discussion among experts in Vienna on the Plan. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶14. (U) Despite the strong and sometimes discordant positions of Iran, Russia and Pakistan, the WG resulted in widespread consensus on almost every topic, evidenced by nearly fifty recommendations to be forwarded to the October 2010 COP. It will be a challenge to turn many of these recommendations into action, but UNVIE will continue to build on the diverse and promising coalition found in Vienna (and reach out to Russia, Pakistan, China, and Algeria) to leverage as much agreement as possible in time for the October COP. End comment. DAVIES