VZCZCXRO3296
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHVJ #1321 1601042
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091042Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3738
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUFOAOA/USNIC SARAJEVO PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SARAJEVO 001321 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR (DICARLO), D (SMITH), P (BAME), EUR/SCE 
(ENGLISH, SAINZ, FOOKS, MITCHELL), G-TIP, NSC FOR BRAUN, 
USNIC FOR WEBER, GREGORIAN, OSD FOR FLORY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: TIP REPORT DEMARCHE 
 
REF: SECSTATE 85544 
 
¶1.  (U) Poloff delivered the 2006 TIP report and demarche 
(ref A) to Samir Rizvo, the State Coordinator for Combating 
Trafficking in Human Beings on June 5.  The Coordinator was 
pleased with comments in the report acknowledging that 
significant progress has been made in a number of areas.  The 
report received positive coverage in the media, with local 
papers quoting both portions that praised BiH's progress, and 
those that cited needed improvements.  In a normally negative 
news climate, any coverage of positive progress made by BiH 
is productive. 
 
¶2.  (U) Rizvo updated poloff on major upcoming programs and 
initiatives, including some which are aimed at preventative 
education and TIP awareness.  Since the end of the TIP 
reporting period, Rizvo's office co-hosted (with OSCE) a 
three- week training program for police and prosecutors.  The 
Coordinator's office is also finalizing an anti-TIP manual 
for social workers, health care professionals, police and 
prosecutors with an emphasis on the protection of children. 
Anti-TIP education initiatives include plans to add an 
information campaign to the curriculum for all children 
throughout BiH starting in the 5th grade.  When implemented, 
this will be only the second topic (in addition to the human 
rights and democracy curriculum of Post's Civitas civic 
education program) that is taught throughout all of BiH, 
where there is no standard state level curriculum.  Finally, 
the Coordinator's office expects to complete final drafting 
of the law on the protection of domestic TIP victims in July, 
with the hope of adopting it before the October national 
elections. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) COMMENT.  The BiH government continues to make 
significant progress in fighting TIP.  The areas for 
improvement cited in ref A -- the need for stiffer sentences 
for trafficking perpetrators and more aggressive 
investigation and punishment of public officials involved in 
TIP -- are part of broader systemic challenges in BiH that 
should be addressed as rule of law reforms move forward.  We 
are encouraged that the State Coordinator's office has 
addressed almost all the points in last year's TIP strategy, 
and has accomplished this with limited resources.  An 
additional plus is that the report received positive, high 
quality local media coverage.  In a pre-election climate 
where negative news sells and confidence in the government is 
low, BiH's on-going efforts to combat TIP sparked 
all-too-rare news coverage of government success. END COMMENT. 
 
MCELHANEY