VZCZCXRO0035
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHMD #1101/01 3210755
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170755Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1446
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4207

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001101 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE - MCKNIGHT, ZERDECKI, AND G/TIP - 
AMB. CDEBACA, DONNELLY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB
SP, KTIP 
SUBJECT: SPAIN APPRECIATES USG OUTREACH REGARDING 
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
 
REF: A. MADRID 187 
     ¶B. 08 MADRID 1337 
 
MADRID 00001101  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, head of the 
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP), 
on October 7 held a DVC with GOS officials and Embassy Madrid 
staff in which he expressed his interest in maintaining open 
dialogue with Spain and outlined areas for prospective 
collaboration on combating TIP.  Spanish officials outlined 
the GOS approach to combating TIP, provided an update on 
year-to-date efforts to implement their national plan to 
combat TIP for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and 
responded favorably to the Ambassador's calls for increased 
bilateral cooperation to combat TIP. 
 
¶2. (U) The GOS was represented by Trinidad Noguera, 
Immigration Adviser to First Vice President Maria Teresa 
Fernandez de la Vega; Isabel Valdecabres and Diego Blazquez, 
Advisors to Minister of Equality Bibiana Aido; Patricia 
Fernandez Olalla of the Prosecutor's Office for Foreign 
Affairs Issues; Jaime Rodriguez Suarez of the Organized Crime 
Intelligence Center (CICO); and Rodrigo Montero Sanchez of 
the Spanish National Police's (SNP's) Central Brigade on 
Immigration Networks.  END SUMMARY. 
 
//How Spain Approaches TIP// 
 
¶3. (SBU) In his opening statement, Ambassador CdeBaca stated 
that the USG's victim-centered approach focuses more on the 
human rights aspect of trafficking and the denial of basic 
freedoms and less on the transit flows of immigration.  He 
emphasized that it was more important to focus on the 
condition of servitude for both sex and labor trafficking 
cases, rather than emphasizing the differences between sexual 
and labor exploitation.  He also expressed his interest in 
the process by which potential TIP victims are identified in 
Spain, how TIP victims were treated during the critical first 
few weeks of identification, how TIP data was collected, and 
problems in tracking judicial statistics on TIP cases due to 
traffickers sometimes being tried for other offenses. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Noguera stated that Spain's approach to TIP is 
similar to the USG, stressing that the Zapatero 
Administration believes that TIP is an attack on human 
rights.  She said that the GOS is convinced that a 
comprehensive approach is necessary to combat TIP and added 
that the GOS believes that any kind of trafficking is a kind 
of slavery.  She summarized the GOS position by stating that 
when women are at risk, society is at risk.  She added that 
building public awareness is key to combating TIP. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Blazquez observed that 80 percent of TIP victims in 
Spain are trafficked for sexual exploitation.  He reviewed 
Spain's efforts to combat this activity through its December 
2008 National Plan to combat TIP for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation (see Ref A), which he noted was part of a 
broader national plan on human rights (Ref B).  He also added 
that during the drafting of the anti-TIP plan the GOS met 
with and sought the input of NGOs and civic groups. 
Meanwhile, the GOS is working on a second plan to fight TIP 
for the purposes of labor exploitation; the draft currently 
is at the inter-ministerial level. 
 
//Spain's Year-To-Date Efforts to Implement its Anti-TIP 
Plan// 
 
¶6. (SBU) Blazquez explained that Spain's plan to combat TIP 
for the purposes of sexual exploitation has a 2009 budget of 
44 million euros (roughly USD $65 million), with the bulk 
allotted to the Ministry of Interior.  GOS officials also 
indicated that there is a new program, budgeted at 2 million 
euros (roughly USD $3 million) to finance civil society and 
NGOs' efforts to protect TIP victims.  As part of this 
effort, the GOS is working on the development of three 
separate protocols on coordination between health services 
and law enforcement; the security forces' relationship toward 
social services; and the social services relationship toward 
security forces (to guarantee the security of the victims and 
the NGO's).  CICO is developing a joint database that 
combines TIP-related data generated by both the SNP and the 
Civil Guard to enable CICO to produce more comprehensive 
reports on TIP.  Eventually data from Spain's autonomous 
police forces also will be included in this database. 
(Comment:  Spain's Basque Region and Catalonia have their own 
police forces.  End Comment.)  Montero remarked that the SNP 
is increasing its number of TIP investigation teams in cities 
 
MADRID 00001101  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
throughout Spain and that every police station has a TIP 
specialist.  He added that - compared to five years ago - the 
SNP is now better trained on TIP issues.  On the diplomatic 
front, the GOS is offering special courses for its diplomats 
and consular officers to recognize and identify TIP victims. 
 
¶7. (SBU) As part of its implementation of the anti-TIP plan, 
the GOS is drafting amendments to the Spanish Criminal Code 
and the Alien Law, to explicitly define trafficking as a 
crime separate and distinct from smuggling.  According to 
Fernandez, every province in Spain has a special prosecutor 
on TIP issues.  However, because smuggling and trafficking in 
persons currently are registered under the same criminal code 
number in Spain, it is difficult to track statistics that are 
trafficking-specific.  She noted that TIP cases had 
traditionally been treated as an "aggravated form of 
smuggling."  Thus, law enforcement statistics as reported in 
the narrative for Spain in the 2009 TIP Report are likely 
conflated with smuggling and other trafficking-related data. 
The Criminal Code is being revised to separate the two 
crimes, and the problem should eventually be solved, but as 
of now, only labor exploitation and coercion are considered 
crimes in the Spanish Criminal Code.  Fernandez further 
pointed out that if the TIP victim is from an EU member state 
- such as Romania, a leading source of TIP victims in Spain - 
and coercion is not involved, there is no way that pimps or 
organized crime networks can be prosecuted for "smuggling of 
people."  Similarly, Spain was unable to prosecute a domestic 
case of internal trafficking involving 13 victims that were 
mentioned in the UNODC's 2009 Report on Trafficking in 
Persons.  Domestic cases of internal trafficking cannot be 
prosecuted under the current Spanish criminal code.  To help 
address the lack of information about the number of TIP 
convictions in Spain, the Ministry of Justice plans to 
conduct a comparative study to cross reference the number of 
police reports on TIP with the number of convictions. 
 
//Prospective Areas for Collaboration// 
 
¶8. (SBU) Pointing to the October 13 meeting at the White 
House between Presidents Obama and Zapatero as a sign of 
increasingly closer bilateral ties and acknowledging the 
importance that both leaders attach to combating TIP, CdeBaca 
said the USG was enthusiastic about cooperating with the GOS, 
especially during Spain's EU presidency and framed the USG's 
interest in collaborating with the GOS on combating TIP as 
part of Secretary Clinton's initiative to emphasize the role 
of Partnerships as a key pillar in the fight against 
trafficking.  He offered to pass on relevant U.S. legislation 
on trafficking that Spanish officials may think would be 
useful to study.  Citing his previous field experience as a 
former prosecutor on TIP cases with the U.S. Department of 
Justice, CdeBaca offered to provide a technical review of 
current Spanish draft amendments/legislation on trafficking. 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) CdeBaca also proposed that a partnership could be 
forged to coordinate developmental aid to third countries in 
order not to waste or duplicate efforts as both countries 
pursue the same objectives.  He suggested that Spain and the 
USG in 2010 could coordinate the funding of NGO programs 
whereby one country could support one part of the program 
(such as working with a Church) and the other a different 
aspect (such as police training).  CdeBaca indicated this was 
an idea to follow-up on when the new Ambassador to Spain 
arrives at Post.  Noguera indicated that the GOS would be 
agreeable to discussing areas of prospective cooperation. 
 
¶10. (SBU) COMMENT:  This DVC was an important event to 
illustrate to the GOS the importance that the USG places on 
combating TIP.  Post wishes to thank Ambassador CdeBaca and 
the G/TIP Office for their availability to participate in the 
DVC.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶11. (U) Ambassador CdeBaca has cleared this cable. 
CHACON