VZCZCXRO6992
OO RUEHDT
DE RUEHC #0526/01 1622239
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112213Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY DILI IMMEDIATE 5711

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 060526 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG TT
SUBJECT: TIMOR-LESTE -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE 
AND DEMARCHE 
 
REF: (A) STATE 59732 (B) STATE 005577 
 
¶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 Timor-Leste 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 Timor-Leste 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 Timor-Leste 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 Timor-Leste,s country narrative in 
the 2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
Timor-Leste (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 
 
Timor-Leste is a destination country for women from 
Indonesia, Thailand, the People,s Republic of China, 
Malaysia, and the Philippines trafficked for the purpose of 
commercial sexual exploitation, and a destination for men 
from Burma trafficked for the purpose of forced labor. 
Timor-Leste has a growing internal trafficking problem, 
mainly women and children lured to Dili from rural areas or 
camps for internally displaced persons with offers of 
employment and subsequently forced into prostitution. 
 
STATE 00060526  002 OF 005 
 
 
Transnational traffickers, who may be members of organized 
crime syndicates, typically recruit and control their victims 
through fraud and psychological coercion. 
 
 
The Government of Timor-Leste does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so despite 
limited resources.  During the year, the government improved 
counter-trafficking coordination among ministries, trained 
officials and law enforcement agents on human trafficking, 
implemented a birth registration program as a form of 
preventing trafficking, established procedures to identify 
victims among foreign women arrested for prostitution, and 
increased trafficking awareness among vulnerable populations. 
 The government, however, did not arrest or prosecute any 
trafficking offenders, though officials identified some 
trafficking victims, and has not investigated persistent 
reports of law enforcement agents accepting bribes from 
traffickers. 
 
 
Recommendations for Timor-Leste:  Enact the draft Penal Code 
provisions on trafficking in persons; increase 
investigations, prosecutions, and punishment of trafficking 
offenders; train law enforcement officers on victim 
identification and protection; institute formal procedures 
for referring victims to service providers; and investigate, 
prosecute, and punish government officials who accept bribes 
to facilitate sex trafficking. 
 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Timor-Leste demonstrated a minimal increase 
in anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the past 
year.  Although both labor and sex trafficking victims were 
identified, the government did not investigate, arrest or 
prosecute any trafficking offenders.  The Ministry of Justice 
drafted a new Timor-Leste Penal Code, which defines and 
punishes all forms of trafficking and provides protection to 
witnesses and victims.  The Penal Code is awaiting approval 
by the Council of Ministers.  During the year, trafficking 
cases could have been prosecuted under provisions in the 
Immigration and Asylum Act of 2003.  Timor-Leste prohibits 
all forms of sex and labor trafficking through this Act, 
which prescribes penalties ranging from three to 12 years, 
imprisonment ) penalties that are sufficiently stringent but 
not commensurate with those prescribed for serious crimes, 
such as rape.  The government and IOM held joint training 
courses on human trafficking for civil servants, immigration, 
police and military officers, and members of the diplomatic, 
civil and religious communities.  The Victims, Protection 
Unit (VPU) of the police also received gender-protection 
training from two NGOs.  The government did not investigate 
persistent reports that police officers in Dili accepted 
bribes or sex in exchange for tolerating brothels, 
exploitation of trafficking victims.  Complaints that some 
border officials accept bribes to let trafficking victims 
enter Timor-Leste were also not investigated. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
During the past year, the government continued to ensure 
victims, access to protection services provided by NGOs and 
international organizations, as a severe lack of resources 
and personnel limit the Timorese government,s ability to 
provide services directly.   The Ministry of Labor helped 
arrange assistance and shelter for victims of labor 
trafficking when cases were brought to its attention.   In 
the absence of formal procedures, social service, 
immigration, and law enforcement agencies referred identified 
victims to NGOs for assistance on an ad hoc basis.  Within 
the government, only the Immigration Department of the 
Ministry of Interior followed formal procedures to identify 
proactively trafficking victims among high-risk populations 
such as foreign women in prostitution.  The government did 
not encourage victims to participate in investigations and 
prosecutions of trafficking offenders, although victims could 
file civil suits or take other legal action against 
traffickers.  The draft penal code includes witness 
protection provisions; the present lack of such protections 
makes it difficult for victims to safely step forward and 
make their own allegations.  Victims of trafficking were 
arrested for offenses committed as a direct result of being 
trafficked.  This year, however, the government began to 
provide victims relief from imprisonment, summary 
deportation, or removal to a country where they may face 
hardship or retribution.  Officials, in consultation with 
IOM, were authorized to determine a person,s status as a 
trafficking victim, rather than rely on the inefficient court 
system for such a determination. 
 
 
STATE 00060526  003 OF 005 
 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
Acknowledging that trafficking is a problem in the country, 
the Timorese government expanded its nation-wide trafficking 
awareness campaign in partnership with international and 
local NGOs.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs chaired the 
Trafficking Working Group, which includes the Ministries of 
Justice, Labor, and Social Solidarity, the VPU of the 
national police, the Office for the Promotion of Gender 
Equality, and representatives from the civil, religious, 
diplomatic, and NGO communities.  During the year, the group 
met twice.  IOM, the government, and a local NGO implemented 
a comprehensive trafficking awareness program for civil 
servants and police officers.  Anti-human trafficking posters 
with emergency contact numbers are now prominently displayed 
at most government agencies, in National Police stations 
throughout the districts, and the Dili port and airport.  The 
Ministry of Social Solidarity deployed 13 child protection 
officers, one to each district, to monitor and manage cases 
of vulnerable children.  Local women's and children's rights 
NGOs worked with the government on campaigns to raise public 
awareness of trafficking and to prevent the sexual abuse of 
children.  They distributed leaflets in several communities, 
which include the telephone numbers for the National Social 
Service Division, the police, and three local and 
international NGOs.  The government also implemented a new 
birth registration program and began developing a new 
adoption and guardianship law, as a way to make children less 
vulnerable to trafficking.  Timor-Leste has not ratified the 
2000 UN TIP Protocol. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
 
¶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 
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 
 
STATE 00060526  004 OF 005 
 
 
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 
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. 
 
Q1.  Why was Timor-Leste again given a ranking of Tier 2? 
 
¶A.  The government of Timor-Leste does not fully comply with 
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  During 
the year, the government improved counter-trafficking 
coordination among ministries, trained officials and law 
enforcement officers on human trafficking, implemented a 
birth registration program as a form of trafficking 
prevention, established procedures to identify victims among 
foreign women arrested for prostitution, and increased 
trafficking awareness among vulnerable populations.  The 
government, however, did not arrest or prosecute any 
trafficking offenders, though officials identified some 
trafficking victims, and has not investigated persistent 
reports of law enforcement agents accepting bribes from 
traffickers. 
 
 
STATE 00060526  005 OF 005 
 
 
Q2.  What is the nature of the trafficking situation in 
Timor-Leste? 
 
¶A.  Timor-Leste is a destination country for women from 
Indonesia, Thailand, the People,s Republic of China, and the 
Philippines trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual 
exploitation, and a destination country for men from Burma 
for the purpose of forced labor.  Timor-Leste has a growing 
internal trafficking problem, mainly women and children lured 
to Dili from rural areas or camps for internally displaced 
persons with offers of employment and subsequently forced 
into prostitution.  Transnational traffickers, who may be 
members of organized crime syndicates, typically recruit and 
control their victims through fraud and psychological 
coercion.  An increased vulnerability of Timorese to 
trafficking caused by widespread internal displacement, 
poverty, and limited awareness of trafficking risks could 
lead Timor-Leste to become a source for victims to be 
trafficked to other countries. 
 
Q3.  How can Timor-Leste improve its anti-trafficking efforts? 
 
¶A.  The government could:  pass and enact the draft Penal 
Code; increase investigations, prosecutions, and punishment 
of trafficking offenders; train law enforcement officers on 
victim identification; institute formal procedures for 
referring victims to service providers; and investigate, 
prosecute, and punish government officials who accept bribes 
from sex traffickers. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON