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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 BUENOS AIRES 000507 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT. FOR G/TIP, WHA/PPC, WHA/BSC, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF PREL AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA SUBMISSION FOR FIFTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING 
IN PERSONS REPORT 
 
REF: 04 SECSTATE 273089 
 
¶1.  Overview: 
 
¶A.  Trafficking in persons in Argentina primarily involves 
Argentines trafficked within the country's borders, mostly 
from the northern provinces to the central provinces and 
Buenos Aires, and from Buenos Aires to several southern 
provinces.  To a lesser degree, trafficking of persons also 
occurs across the country's borders, principally women and 
minors from and to Paraguay and Brazil.  Groups most at risk 
are young women and children from impoverished families and 
broken homes, subject to physical and sexual abuse in the 
home and often abandoned or essentially left to fend for 
themselves.  Some trafficking into forced labor occurs but is 
undocumented.  There are no reliable estimates of the number 
of victims of trafficking, compounded by a general confusion 
regarding what constitutes trafficking and problems 
differentiating it from sexual violence, sexual abuse of 
minors, prostitution and illegal immigration. 
 
In 2004, the International Office of Migration (IOM) assisted 
in the protection of and return to their countries of origin 
nine women and their dependents.  Also in 2004, a number of 
government agencies from the region consulted with the IOM 
concerning possible IOM assistance with several cases of 
groups of women (from Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru), who were 
victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in Argentina. 
These potential cases involve approximately 20 women. 
 
The umbrella non-governmental organization "No a la Trata" 
("No to Trafficking"), a network of numerous NGOs has 
attempted to track the number of trafficking cases in the 
country, monitoring press reports and cataloging reports from 
its member groups.  Unfortunately, the information is often 
incomplete and doesn't differentiate sufficiently between 
sexual abuse of minors, sexual violence and exploitation of 
minors for commercial sexual exploitation.  Their 
information, however, shows reports of likely trafficking in 
many of Argentina's provinces, with a concentration in the 
northern provinces of Misiones, and the province and city of 
Buenos Aires. 
 
Since September 2004 in Puerto Iguazu, the national 
government project "Luz de Infancia," has received 45 reports 
of commercial sexual exploitation of a minor, and is 
currently providing attention to 18 victims of commercial 
sexual exploitation. 
 
In January 2005, in the Buenos Aires provincial city of San 
Martin, a cabaret owner and his wife were arrested after 
three young women reported they had escaped from the cabaret 
where the owner had forced them to work as prostitutes.  Two 
of the women were from Paraguay and said that they had been 
recruited in Paraguay by the wife, promising them good wages 
to work in the bar.  In January in the Santa Fe Provincial 
city of Rosario, a police officer and his partner were 
arrested under suspicion of operating two houses as brothels 
and forcing several women, including one 16-year old, to work 
as prostitutes. 
 
In late October-early November, provincial police in Misiones 
and Entre Rios broke up a group of traffickers in the 
Misiones town of San Vicente.  One of the traffickers 
arrested admitted that she had brought eight girls between 
the ages of 13 and 16 from the Puerto Iguazu area to San 
Vicente for commercial sexual exploitation.  The girls said 
they had been held captive for over a year. 
 
¶B.  See para. A above. 
 
¶C.  In 2001 through 2003, IOM worked with a large number of 
cases involving trafficking for commercial sexual 
exploitation of women from the Dominican Republic.  This 
network has apparently shut down.  Argentine Immigration 
officials reported a significant increase in detainments of 
illegal Chinese immigrants: 408 detainees in 2004, up from 
189 in 2003.  Argentine officials are investigating this 
increase, and report that entry into the United States is the 
eventual goal.  They surmise, however, that many of the 
immigrants remain in Argentina.  Often international 
smugglers force illegal immigrants to work in slave-like 
conditions in Latin American sweatshops, restaurants, or as 
farm laborers to pay for their passage.  There is no concrete 
evidence yet that this is the case in Argentina. 
¶D.  The Buenos Aires office of the IOM, with the support of 
the U.S. Embassy, has presented a regional (MERCOSUR, Bolivia 
and Chile) proposal to G/TIP.  The first part of the project 
consists of updating available information and additional 
research and investigation, which will provide a better 
understanding of the problem and assist in the development of 
appropriate national policies.  In late December, the 
National Prosecutor's Office of Assistance to Victims of 
Crime was named as the national focal point for trafficking 
in persons.  This appointment should facilitate planning, 
coordination and implementation at the national level. 
 
¶E.  Trafficking victims in 2004 were principally involved in 
prostitution, although there were undoubtedly undocumented 
cases of other forms of forced labor, e.g. domestic employees 
and farm and construction workers.  If the victims had travel 
and/or identification documents these were often taken, 
discouraging them from appealing to police or other 
authorities.  Documents are often forged to hide the 
nationality and/or age of the victims.   The victims are 
often induced to borrow money to pay for the illegal 
migration and are charged by traffickers or their 
collaborators for room, board and clothing, such that they 
become indebted upon arrival.  The debt then is used as an 
inducement to force the victims to work in otherwise 
unacceptable conditions.  Once in the internal trafficking 
network, victims can be sold from trafficker to trafficker 
and forced to pay off the debt incurred each time. The 
victims, particularly in the case of women and girls in 
prostitution, may be prevented from coming and going at will 
and contact with the outside world may be strictly 
controlled.  Victims are often threatened with or are subject 
to physical violence to induce their cooperation. 
 
¶F.  See para. A above.  Trafficking in Argentina is 
principally internal.  The Foreign Ministry Office of the 
Special Representative for Women's Issues reported that, 
through Argentine diplomatic/consular missions, it had 
handled five cases related to Argentines trafficked abroad. 
Anecdotal evidence from such groups as "Luz de Infancia" in 
Puerto Iguazu, indicate that women and girls are moved back 
and forth in the tri-border region of 
Paraguay-Argentina-Brazil for prostitution.  The victims tend 
to come from the ample populations-at-risk (impoverished, 
victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse or abandonment) 
in this region.  Recruitment is not difficult, with 
inducements of money, jobs, or just escape from desperate 
circumstances.  Family members or acquaintances are often 
involved in the recruitment or inducement.  If not actually 
implicated in the trafficking, families are often unlikely to 
report the activity or seek assistance. 
 
¶G.  There is increasing political will to combat trafficking 
at both the national and provincial levels.  In 2003, 
Argentina proposed the inclusion of trafficking in persons in 
the MERCOSUR agenda, and, in June 2003, the MERCOSUR, Chilean 
and Bolivian presidents committed to include the theme in 
their national agendas and to work cooperatively on the 
issue.  In 2004, the GOA organized and participated in a 
number of bilateral or regional workshops, conferences and 
seminars on trafficking.  These included a bilateral workshop 
with the Dominican Republic, separate workshops and seminars 
with the support and participation of the Government of 
Sweden, and a number of national and regional events in 
coordination with the IOM and the Organization of American 
States' Inter-American Commission of Women (OAS/CIM). 
 
The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security with 
funding from the International Labor Organization initiated a 
program in Puerto Iguazu, "Luz de Infancia," aimed at the 
prevention and eradication of the commercial sexual 
exploitation of minors.  In the northern Province of 
Misiones, the provincial government, under the direction of 
the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Youth has 
determined to establish an inter-agency working group, 
including provincial and national security forces, to 
coordinate, develop and implement activities related to 
combating trafficking and providing assistance to victims. 
 
In late December, the National Prosecutor's Office of 
Assistance to Victims of Crime was named as the national 
focal point for trafficking in persons.  This appointment 
should facilitate planning, coordination and implementation 
at the national level.  This office helps victims of all 
kinds of crimes, including trafficking.  The security forces, 
such as Gendarmeria (Border Police) and the Secretariat of 
Migration generally do a good job of keeping tabs on the 
movement of people in and out of Argentina. 
 
¶H.  There were no allegations of national government 
officials involvement in trafficking.  Individual provincial 
police officers and officials implicated in trafficking have 
been investigated and prosecuted. 
 
¶I.  The government, which suffered a serious economic, social 
and economic crisis in 2001-2003, has faced severe fiscal 
constraints since 2000.  Most police are funded by provincial 
governments, where expenditures have also been limited in 
recent years.  Police are not well paid and police 
corruption, particularly graft related to prostitution, 
illegal gaming and auto theft is believed to be common in 
some forces.  The National Prosecutor's Office for Assistance 
to the Victims of Crime, which does an effective job of 
providing assistance to victims of TIP within its 
jurisdiction, the city of Buenos Aires, was named as the 
national focal point for TIP coordination.  In principle, 
there are counterpart offices working in most of the 
provinces, though it is not clear they have sufficient 
resources to be as effective as possible, both in protecting 
and assisting victims and prosecutors. 
 
Because of the degree of independence of provincial 
authorities, national government officials are limited in 
their ability to implement nationwide law enforcement 
policies other than through training and modifications of 
laws.  Individual provinces provide varying degrees of victim 
assistance through a variety of different government 
agencies.  In general, resources are insufficient to provide 
comprehensive care and protection for victims and assistance 
to prosecutors. 
 
¶J.  The government has not systematically monitored 
anti-trafficking efforts.  One of the first activities of the 
new national focal point for TIP will be to try and develop a 
system for tracking TIP activity and monitoring anti-TIP 
efforts.  The IOM, with support from the Department of State, 
will work with the Office of Assistance to Victims of Crime 
to strengthen the capabilities of government officials 
involved in counter-trafficking, with a special focus on 
judges, prosecutors and security forces.  The government 
freely shares information regarding its assessment of its 
anti-trafficking efforts. 
 
¶K.  Prostitution is legal for women over 18 years old and is 
not regulated, but it is illegal to run a brothel or 
otherwise act as an agency or agent for a prostitute.  In the 
federal capital, there is a program whereby prostitutes may 
register in order to receive free medical attention, but 
there is no other regulation.  However, it is illegal to 
practice prostitution under the age of 18 years. 
 
¶2. PREVENTION 
 
¶A.  The government acknowledges that trafficking in persons 
is a problem, although information on the scope of the 
problem is lacking. 
 
¶B.  The General Prosecutor's Office of Assistance to Victims 
of Crime was named in December as the national focal point 
for TIP issues.  The Foreign Ministry's Special 
Representative for International Women's Issues has created a 
multi-agency working group to coordinate activities related 
to trafficking.  The agencies involved include the 
Secretariat of Migrations and the Ministry of Justice among 
 
SIPDIS 
others.  One of the first activities of this working group 
was to prepare and disseminate guidance to Argentine consular 
offices for recognizing and assisting Argentine TIP victims. 
Other government agencies with at least nominal involvement 
in TIP issues include the Ministry of Labor, Employment and 
Social Security and the Ministry of Interior, with 
responsibility for domestic security forces. 
¶C.  There has been no organized government anti-trafficking 
campaign.  However, in 2004, the GOA organized or 
participated in a number of bilateral or regional workshops, 
conferences and seminars on trafficking.  These included a 
bilateral workshop with the Dominican Republic, separate 
workshops and seminars with the support and participation of 
the Swedish government, and a number of national and regional 
events in coordination with the IOM and the OAS/CIM.  It has 
invited NGOs, international organizations, government 
officials, including security services, and foreign missions 
to these events.  The Ministry of Labor's program in Puerto 
Iguazu ("Luz de Infancia") against commercial sexual 
exploitation of minors has a strong public 
information/education component.  The Foreign Ministry has 
included TIP sensitization in its training of consular 
officers.  Separately, the City of Buenos Aires has a network 
of social agencies that provide assistance in identifying and 
assisting victims of child sexual exploitation.  This network 
has established a hotline to receive reports, printed and 
distributed an informational poster, and undertaken 
prevention efforts in secondary schools as well as relevant 
public health institutions. 
 
¶D.  Argentina is progressive with respect to female 
participation in the workplace and in political life.  For 
example, there is an official quota requiring that 30% of 
certain elected officials must be female.  The government has 
also actively promoted children's enrollment in school 
despite the economic crisis, including by waiving fees for 
acquisition of national identity documents for children and 
by conditioning unemployment subsidy benefits on enrollment 
of recipients' dependents in school. 
 
¶E.  Despite strict limitations on expenditures, the 
government has the resources to support prevention programs. 
 
¶F.  The government has developed a positive relationship with 
NGOs and other relevant organizations and civil society.  A 
virtual network of women's advocates, "No a la Trata" ("No to 
Trafficking") throughout the country has formed to combat 
TIP, and the government is willing to coordinate with this 
group, particularly on awareness raising and prevention 
activities. 
 
¶G.  The government does a good job of monitoring its borders, 
stamping passports for both exits from and entries to the 
country.  It also keeps track of all entries and exits in a 
separate system.  To our knowledge, the government has not 
used this information to assess potential trafficking 
patterns. 
 
¶H.  See para. B above.  There is an Anti-Corruption Office 
within the Justice Ministry which works to implement 
commitments under the Inter-American Convention Against 
Corruption, but it does not serve as a task force. 
 
¶I.  See para. C above. 
 
¶J.  The government has no national plan of action to address 
trafficking in persons.  This effort has been delayed pending 
naming of the Office of Assistance to Victims of Crimes as 
the national focal point, which finally occurred in late 
December. 
 
¶K.  The Office of Assistance to Victims of Crime, together 
with other agencies, will have the lead for coordinating 
anti-trafficking programs. 
 
 
¶3.  INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION 
 
¶A.  Argentina does not have a specific, comprehensive 
anti-trafficking law; however, a number of sections of the 
federal penal code can be used to address trafficking. 
Additionally, the new migration law, passed in late 2003, 
mentions "trafficking" as a crime against the migration 
order, and imposes more severe punishment if the victim is a 
child, or if the crime is connected to terrorist activities, 
narcotics trafficking, money laundering, or prostitution. 
Punishment is also more severe when a public official is 
involved in the crime.  In the past, traffickers have been 
prosecuted for "reducing to servitude" victims as well as for 
sexual exploitation of minors, for soliciting for 
prostitution, and for document fraud.  A bill providing 
comprehensive legislation for assistance and protection of 
victims of trafficking has been introduced in the congress 
and is pending consideration by the relevant congressional 
commissions. 
 
¶B.  Under the 2003 migration law, penalties for traffickers 
range from one to twenty years, depending on the nature of 
the violation and age of the victim.  If the victim is a 
minor, penalties range from five to fifteen years.  If the 
trafficking is related to prostitution, penalties range from 
eight to twenty years.  The federal penal code provides a 
minimum penalty of four years and maximum of fifteen years 
for trafficking minors for sexual exploitation. 
 
¶C.  Penalties for rape range from 6 months to fifteen years, 
depending on the circumstances.  See para. B above for 
comparison to penalties for sex trafficking. 
 
¶D.  There is no unified method for tracking 
trafficking-related cases.  In November, Miguel Angel 
Cienfuegos, head of a group involved in trafficking of women 
and girls for commercial sexual exploitation, was sentenced 
to twelve years in prison.  Investigations into the alleged 
trafficking-related disappearances of Fernanda Aguirre and 
Maria de los Angeles Veron, in Entre Rios and Tucuman 
provinces respectively, have not yielded convictions to date, 
although a number of individuals are in detention.  The 
national government does not collect nationwide statistics on 
trafficking-related crimes.  The Ministry of Justice is 
trying to keep track of relevant information from judicial 
and provincial authorities, but the distinctions between 
trafficking and other crimes, such as prostitution, sexual 
violence and abuse, are poorly understood and this 
complicates attempts to compile information on trafficking. 
 
¶E.  Information available indicates that relatively small 
crime groups are behind most of the cases.  Oftentimes, 
traffickers induce the victims with offers of employment, 
either in bars or as domestic employees.  There is no 
indication of government involvement, other than local police 
and local governmental authorities who in some cases 
reputedly are involved in protection of prostitution. 
Judicial authorities in the province of Tucuman are 
reportedly investigating a possible link between trafficking 
in persons and narco-traffickers in that province. 
 
¶F.  The government does investigate trafficking cases but the 
lack of a clear understanding among police, prosecutors and 
other authorities of what constitutes trafficking blurs the 
lines between prostitution, migrant smuggling, sexual abuse 
and sexual violence.  The law does provide for relevant 
authorities to authorize electronic surveillance, but 
generally judges reject the use of paid informants or 
testimony in exchange for reduced sentences. 
 
¶G.  The government is beginning to provide some training for 
officials.  The Foreign Ministry does provide training for 
its consular officers on how to recognize and respond to 
trafficking cases involving Argentine victims abroad.  The 
Foreign Ministry, together with NGOs, the IOM and the Swedish 
government, sponsored a workshop and seminar aimed at 
government authorities, security personnel, NGOs, the media 
and civil society.  More training is scheduled for 2005.  The 
IOM, with support from the Department of State, will 
implement a project in early 2005 on capacity building for 
government and judicial officials involved in 
counter-trafficking, with particular focus on prosecutors and 
security officials. 
 
¶H.  The government has indicated that it cooperated with the 
government of the Dominican Republic in looking into the 
trafficked women from the Dominican Republic to Argentina, 
but this has not involved any prosecutions to date. 
 
¶I.  The government will extradite people for trafficking 
charges, but has not been asked to do so up to now to our 
knowledge. 
 
¶J. & K.  There is no evidence of government involvement or 
tolerance for trafficking.  Individuals and local police 
suspected of involvement in trafficking have been arrested 
and are expected to be tried. 
 
¶L.  The government is aware that some sex tourism has begun 
to be promoted on the internet and has worked with tourism 
authorities to alert them to the problem.  We are unaware of 
any arrests, prosecution or extradition of foreign 
pedophiles. 
 
¶M.  International Instruments: 
 
-- ILO Convention 182:  Ratified 5 February 2001. 
Implementing legislation was enacted 20 July 2000. 
 
-- ILO convention 29 and 105: Ratified 14 March 1950 and 18 
January 1960 respectively. 
 
-- Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the 
Child, on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child 
Pornography:  Ratified 10 September 2002.  Implementing 
legislation was enacted 22 August 2003. 
 
-- The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking 
in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the 
UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime: Ratified 
19 November 2002. 
 
¶3.  PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS 
 
A-H. IOM provides some assistance for victims.  The Office 
for Assistance to Victims of Crime, which is part of the 
Prosecutor General's Office, also can provide a wide variety 
of assistance to victims (e.g. access to legal counseling, 
psychological treatment, referrals to other sources of 
relevant assistance, and repatriation) and is coordinating 
with IOM to provide training on TIP issues.  The National 
Council for Children, Teenagers, and the Family is in the 
process of implementing a crisis hotline to receive and refer 
trafficking cases.  This is likely to be limited in scope, 
however, particularly in some of the more problematic 
provinces due to lack of municipal offices. 
 
The Foreign Ministry provides training to its consular 
officers, and the Ministry's Office of the Special 
Representative for Women's Issues reported it is coordinating 
with some one hundred municipal offices on "gender issues," 
to include TIP.  There are also a number of national and 
local government agencies, e.g. the National Council for 
Women, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Secretariat 
of Social Development, and the Women's Office in the city of 
Buenos Aires, that provide some sort of assistance to victims 
or public awareness of TIP issues.  The NGO "Fundacion 
Mujeres en Igualdad" and the Public Bar Association, amongst 
others, created a network of civic groups to combat TIP. 
This network promotes public awareness, organizes seminars, 
has analyzed domestic and international legislation, and is 
creating a database to track TIP incidents in the country. 
 
Victims are not normally detained, jailed, or forcibly 
deported if they are known to be victims of TIP.  However, 
possible victims arrested for prostitution-related crimes may 
be arrested, jailed and deported.  Victims assisted by the 
Prosecutor General's Office of Assistance to the Victims of 
Crime are encouraged to support prosecutions and are referred 
to sources of relevant assistance, including repatriation. 
 
¶I.  IOM provides some assistance for victims.  Few NGOs work 
directly with TIP victims.  The Hermanas Oblatas and the 
Hermanas Adoratrices work with women at risk, including 
occasionally TIP victims and may provide them with emergency 
shelter, counseling, job training, child care and other such 
assistance.  The Association of Meretrice Women (AMMAR) 
provides health assistance, food donations and legal advocacy 
to women in prostitution.  The City of Buenos Aires provides 
food and health assistance to women, including potentially 
TIP victims, through the local chapter of AMMAR. 
 
¶4.  POINT OF CONTACT:  David Alarid, 54-11-5777-4858, fax: 
54-11-5777-4234 
 
¶5.  HOURS SPENT PREPARING THE TIP REPORT: 
FS04 -  20 
FS02 - 140 
Total- 160 
GUTIERREZ