This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BOGOTA 002199 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, WHA/PPC, 
WHA/AND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF PREL PTER CO
SUBJECT: COLOMBIA - ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT 
 
REF: STATE 7869 
 
¶1. Embassy point of contact on trafficking in persons is 
human rights officer Kiersten Stiansen, phone number (571) 
383-2122, fax number (571) 315-2163.  Approximate amount of 
time spent to prepare this report:  30 hours. 
 
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Overview 
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¶2. Colombia is a significant source of trafficking victims, 
especially women and children destined for sexual 
exploitation.  According to the Administrative Department of 
Security (DAS), which has responsibilities similar to the FBI 
and INS, Colombia is the second most common country of origin 
of trafficking victims in the Western Hemisphere, and there 
are approximately 45,000-50,000 Colombian women working as 
prostitutes overseas.  According to the DAS, between 2 and 10 
Colombian women leave the country every day as unwitting 
victims of trafficking.  Some Colombian men are trafficked, 
usually for forced labor, and there is significant internal 
trafficking of women for sexual exploitation, especially by 
the FARC terrorist organization, as well as forced 
conscription into terrorist armies.  Female trafficking 
victims are at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases, 
unwanted pregnancies, and forced abortions.  Most trafficking 
victims come from major cities such as Bogota, Medellin, and 
Barranquilla, the Caribbean coastal region, the departments 
of Valle del Cauca and Norte de Santander, and cities in the 
so-called "Coffee Zone," which includes the departments of 
Risaralda, Caldas, and Quindio.  Victims of internal 
trafficking are brought from small towns and rural areas to 
large urban centers with active sex industries, including 
Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and Cartagena. 
 
¶3. According to the DAS, most trafficking victims go to 
Europe, especially Spain (30 percent) and the Netherlands (20 
percent), as well as Germany, Italy, France and Sweden.  Many 
other trafficking victims end up in Japan (40 percent).  The 
primary trafficking routes to Europe remain through Paris and 
Madrid.  The main routes to Japan are via Paris, Madrid, or 
Miami.  Colombia is also used as a transit point for 
trafficking victims from other countries, usually from South 
America. 
 
¶4. Most traffickers in Colombia are linked to narcotics 
trafficking or other criminal organizations.  Most 
trafficking organizations include both Colombians and 
criminals from destination countries.  Colombia's continuing 
economic difficulties, high unemployment, social exclusion, 
crime, and terrorism contribute to the availability of 
victims.  Traffickers especially target females between the 
ages of 14 and 30, especially those with limited education 
and poor job prospects.  They also target young single 
mothers.  They use a variety of techniques to recruit women. 
According to the DAS, criminal gangs frequently allow 
trafficking victims to return to Colombia if they agree to 
recruit additional victims.  These organizations place job 
advertisements in major regional newspapers offering jobs in 
Europe or Asia as nannies, maids, waitresses, sales clerks, 
and models.  They also advertise through internet chat-rooms 
and marriage agencies.  Once contact is established, criminal 
gangs move quickly to send victims overseas before they can 
reconsider or contact family.  In addition, women are brought 
to the airport at the last possible moment to minimize 
potential government surveillance prior to their departure. 
Victims are trained to memorize a fictitious cover story 
designed to be convincing to immigration authorities in the 
destination country.  According to the DAS, 90 percent of 
trafficking victims leave Colombia legally.  In cases in 
which women leave behind children in Colombia, criminal gangs 
often threaten to harm them if the woman does not continue 
working overseas. 
¶5. There is political will at the highest levels of the GOC 
to combat trafficking in persons.  The Government has an 
Inter-Agency Committee to Combat Trafficking in Women and 
Children which includes representatives of the Ministry of 
Justice and Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the DAS, 
Interpol, the Colombian National Police (CNP), the Colombian 
Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF), the Presidential Program 
for the Human Rights, and the Offices of the Prosecutor 
General, Inspector General, National Human Rights Ombudsman, 
and Civil Registrar.  The committee meets every two months 
and has prepared information campaigns, promoted information 
exchange between government entities, created trafficking hot 
lines for victims, and encouraged closer cooperation between 
the Government and Interpol.  Some of the committee's 
accomplishments over the last year included: training 
prosecutors throughout the country on the application of 
anti-trafficking Law 747 of 2002; updating the judicial 
assistance manual to include trafficking crimes; inaugurating 
a database to track criminal cases against trafficking 
nationwide; and strengthening cooperation between the 
government institutions that combat or discourage 
trafficking.  However, the effectiveness of anti-trafficking 
efforts is limited by the scarce resources available to 
relevant government agencies, which must devote most of their 
resources to combating narcoterrorism.  No Colombian 
government official has been indicted for trafficking, and 
there is no evidence of official complicity in any 
trafficking activities. 
 
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Prevention 
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¶6. Although the GOC acknowledges that trafficking in persons 
is a significant problem in Colombia, there is no single GOC 
entity responsible for anti-trafficking efforts and no 
specific national anti-trafficking plan.  However, as noted 
above, the GOC has an effective inter-agency committee that 
works to coordinate and amplify GOC anti-trafficking 
activities.  Government programs designed to empower women, 
such as a quota law that requires that local and regional 
authorities place women in 30 percent of all appointed 
positions, may have a positive long-term effect on Colombia's 
trafficking problem.  The GOC has excellent relations with 
national and international NGOs and international 
governmental organizations regarding trafficking.  Colombia 
has good control over its international airports, and uses a 
sophisticated system for tracking passenger arrivals and 
departures.  However, its maritime and land borders are 
extremely porous and vulnerable to exploitation by criminals 
who traffic in persons.  Nevertheless, the vast majority of 
trafficking victims leave the country legally.  The DAS, as 
the country's immigration control agency, has successfully 
identified potential trafficking victims preparing to board 
international flights from Bogota.  In 2003, they persuaded 
nine women not to go overseas after convincing them their job 
offers were fraudulent.  The DAS has also had success in 
capturing traffickers, or "coyotes."  In February, DAS 
officials in Antioquia department captured four traffickers 
in the cities of Rionegro, near Medellin, and Turbo, on the 
Caribbean coast.  Those caught in Rionegro were attempting to 
send Ecuadorian children to the U.S. using false documents. 
 
¶7. The Hope Foundation ("Fundacion Esperanza"), an 
anti-trafficking NGO, in coordination with the DAS, sends 
representatives to Bogota's international airport to watch 
for potential trafficking victims.  In February 2004, with 
the support of the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM), the Foundation launched an information campaign to 
assist travelers in Bogota,s international airport. 
Travelers will be able to register with the Foundation, view 
information on trafficking, and access the addresses and 
phone numbers of Colombian consulates worldwide through a 
kiosk in the international terminal.  This information is 
also available on a new internet site. 
 
¶8. In July 2003, the IOM implemented a major anti-trafficking 
public relations campaign to raise awareness in Colombia. 
The campaign included placing large posters in airports, 
foreign consulates, and travel agencies and running 
professionally produced public service announcements on radio 
and television.  The IOM, with USG assistance, also created a 
Call Center that allows persons to phone in anonymously to 
ask about the legitimacy of work offers and provide 
information on potential trafficking cases.  Between July 31 
and September 30, 2003, the center received 2,338 calls. 
 
¶9. The IOM has also signed two agreements this year with GOC 
agencies to increase cooperation in trafficking prevention. 
On November 6, the IOM and the Inspector General,s Office 
(Procuraduria) signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement to 
strengthen the prevention of trafficking and the punishment 
of traffickers.  The IOM has also begun training local 
representatives of the Inspector Generals' Office nationwide 
and is developing an information-sharing database.  On 
December 10, the IOM signed an agreement with the DAS on 
increased cooperation and development of a shared information 
database. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. Law 599 of 2000 made the penalties for trafficking for 
purposes of prostitution equivalent to those for rape and 
sexual assault, carrying penalties of six to eight years in 
prison and fines of up to 100 times the monthly minimum wage. 
 Law 747 of July 2002 broadened the definition of trafficking 
in persons and provided for prison sentences between 10 and 
15 years and fines up to 1,000 times the monthly minimum 
wage.  These penalties can be increased by up to one-third if 
there are aggravating circumstances.  Charges of illegal 
detention, violation of the right to work in dignified 
conditions, and violation of personal freedom may also be 
brought against traffickers.  Police actively investigate 
trafficking offenses. 
 
¶11. In accordance with Law 360 of 1997, the Prosecutor 
General,s Office (Fiscalia) created a special unit to 
investigate and prosecute sexual crimes, including 
trafficking in persons.  In 2003, the Prosecutor General,s 
Office negotiated 13 plea bargains and convicted 3 persons 
for trafficking offenses.  There were another 306 cases in 
various stages of processing and/or investigation.  There was 
a 38 percent increase in the number of trafficking cases 
investigated by the Prosecutor General's Office over the past 
year. 
¶12. In the last year, the DAS conducted 6 major international 
anti-trafficking operations that freed 14 women and led to 
the arrest of 8 traffickers.  For example, Colombia's 
diplomatic mission in Japan, working with INTERPOL in both 
Colombia and Japan, provided key information that led to the 
capture of Japanese trafficker &Sony8 and two other 
Japanese citizens, as well as the arrest of a Colombian woman 
who worked as a recruiter for the Japanese mafia, the 
"Yakuza."  This woman would meet Colombian victims in Narita 
airport in Japan where she would take their documents and 
then sell the women to Japanese criminals.  Based on the 
information provided by an escaped victim, this woman was 
deported back to Colombia in June 2003 where she was detained 
by members of INTERPOL Colombia in Bogota,s airport, and met 
by authorities with warrants for her arrest for the crimes of 
trafficking in persons and conspiracy.  According to the 
police and DAS, most traffickers are linked to narcotics or 
other criminal organizations.  In some cases, Colombian 
traffickers sell victims to foreign crime organizations; this 
is especially the case with Japanese crime syndicates, as 
noted above. 
 
¶13. The IOM has provided training for government officials to 
help trafficking victims.  In particular, it has been working 
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to train its career 
diplomats on how to spot and deal with trafficking victims, 
as well as providing information on the scope of the problem 
in Colombia and internationally.  Since December 2002, the 
IOM has conducted numerous workshops and trained more than 
1,610 public officials from various government agencies in 
different regional departments on the applicable regulations 
for this crime. 
 
¶14. GOC can extradite persons charged with trafficking in 
other countries.  However, there were no such extraditions 
(nor requests for extradition) in the last year, according to 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
¶15. Colombia's legislature approved ILO Convention 182 on the 
worst forms of child labor.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
and Social Protection are taking the necessary steps to 
finalize ratification.  The GOC has already taken steps to 
bring national law into conformity with the Convention.  On 
November 11, Colombia ratified the Optional Protocol to the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of 
children, child prostitution, and child pornography.  The 
Protocol entered into force on December 11.  It has also 
signed, but not yet ratified, the Protocol to Prevent, 
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women 
and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against 
Transnational Organized Crime.  The Colombian Congress has 
approved the Protocol, but it is still pending approval by 
the president and review by the Constitutional Court. 
Colombia ratified ILO Convention 29 in 1969 and ILO 
Convention 105 in 1963. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Protection and Assistance to Victims 
------------------------------------ 
¶16. Colombian consulates worldwide are responsible for 
providing legal and social assistance to Colombian citizens 
in need, including victims of trafficking.  The GOC has 
contracted legal advisors and social workers to help support 
Colombians abroad.  However, this type of assistance is only 
provided in consular districts with at least 10,000 resident 
Colombians.  The GOC has no program for assisting trafficking 
victims once they return to Colombia, but trafficked minors 
can receive some assistance.  For example, of the 25,000 
children sexually exploited in Colombia, the Colombian Family 
Welfare Institute (ICBF) has provided assistance, both 
directly and through other specialized agencies, to over 
14,400 over the last year.  The IOM and the Hope Foundation 
have provided short-term assistance to trafficking victims, 
including educational information, social support, and 
counseling.  For example, with USG funding, the IOM is 
assisting 50 children of female trafficking victims in 
Bogota; 50 adult female trafficking victims in Medellin, 
Antioquia department; 39 adult female trafficking victims in 
Pereira, Risaralda department; 30 children of female 
trafficking victims in Armenia, Quindio department; and 
trafficking victims between the ages of 14 and 25 in 
Cartagena, Bolivar department, and Barranquilla, Atlantico 
department.  The Foundation against Trafficking in Persons, 
founded by the Ministry of Justice's former anti-trafficking 
advisor, began a project to assist trafficking victims and 
others hurt by the sex trade in Bogota.  The Rebirth 
Foundation ("Fundacion Renacer") provided assistance to 
trafficking victims, especially children.  In 2002, the 
Rebirth Foundation helped 1,323 victims of trafficking, 
including 392 girls and 270 boys. 
 
¶17. The rights of trafficking victims are respected and the 
government encourages victims to assist in the investigation 
and prosecution of trafficking crimes.  However, widespread 
witness intimidation and limitations of the witness 
protection program deter many victims from coming forward or 
actively cooperating in investigations. 
WOOD