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DE RUEHNC #1930/01 3191549
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O 151549Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7217
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0678
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 001930 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, EUR/PGI, EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KWMN PHUM PGOV PREL SMIG CY
SUBJECT: TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT:  CYPRUS GETTING ENERGIZED 
 
REF: A. STATE 176302 
     ¶B. NICOSIA 1819 
     ¶C. NICOSIA 1768 
 
¶1.  The Republic of Cyprus (RoC) has made tangible progress 
in addressing trafficking in persons since receiving a Tier 
II Watch List rating in the 2006 TIP report.  While certain 
aspects of the RoC's National Action Plan remain 
works-in-progress, government efforts to prevent TIP, protect 
victims, and prosecute traffickers are on the upswing, the 
result of President Tassos Papadopoulos ordering pertinent 
agencies to step up efforts to implement the Plan. 
 
¶2.  Responses are keyed to questions posed in Ref A: 
 
A) Status of Revisions of Anti-TIP and Immigration 
Legislation:  In October, the Ministry of Interior completed 
interagency consultations on a draft bill to revise the RoC's 
anti-TIP regime, and later forwarded the bill to the Attorney 
General.  After final legal vetting, the AG will present the 
bill to the Council of Ministers, whose approval is necessary 
before the legislation reaches parliament.  MoI contacts note 
that passage of the bill is a high RoC priority; they aim to 
see it become law by December 14, when the legislature's 
holiday recess commences.  (This seems to us a best-case 
scenario, however -- passage by March 1 looks more 
realistic.)  The RoC also is attempting to revise its 
existing Aliens and Immigration Law to bring it into 
compliance with the European Union acquis.  The government 
completed internal vetting in March 2006, later submitting 
the bill to Parliament.  MoI contacts again hope for passage 
by mid-December -- this, too, may prove overly optimistic, as 
debate on the immigration statute likely will be lengthy and 
heated. 
 
Regarding Ref A request that Cyprus abolish the "artiste" 
visa category, RoC Migration Director Annie Shacallis 
November 3 clarified that no such category actually exists. 
Artistes follow the same procedures as other foreign workers 
in obtaining work permits which, for statistical reasons 
only, specify the type of labor to be performed.  Shacallis 
confirmed, however, that an artiste could not change 
employment sectors unless she earlier had filed a complaint 
against her employer, and the RoC had identified her as a TIP 
victim. 
 
Work permits to prospective artistes had fallen in number, 
from 4,621 in 2004 to 4,000 in 2005.  As of mid-October, 
fewer than 3,000 had sought entry to Cyprus in 2006.  The MoI 
attributes this drop to stricter oversight of cabarets that 
solicit foreign laborers.  To help ensure that artistes 
understood entry/exit limitations and employment terms, the 
MoI has proposed to the Foreign Ministry the imposition of a 
personal interview requirement.  Under this regime, 
interviews would take place at Cyprus's consulates in source 
countries. 
 
B) Using Existing Anti-trafficking Legislation Against 
Traffickers: Rita Superman, head of the RoC National Police's 
Anti-trafficking Unit, provided Emboffs November 1 with 
recently compiled statistics that seemingly contradict her 
earlier contention that police were utilizing prostitution 
statutes vice TIP laws to prosecute (Ref B).   The latest 
data show TIP prosecutions doubling over 24 months, from 19 
in 2004, to 34 in 2005, to 40 in 2006 (as of mid-October). 
Conviction statistics were available only for 2005; in that 
year, courts found nine of 34 suspects guilty. 
 
C) Opening of Government-run TIP Victim Shelter:  RoC Welfare 
Office contacts informed the Embassy November 9 that the 
Council of Ministers had approved the use of a pre-existing 
building to house the shelter (Ref C).  As of November 15, 
efforts to hire shelter staff were ongoing.  No firm opening 
date has been announced, however. 
 
D) Approving/Distributing RoC TIP Victim Handbook:  Welfare 
Office staff in October finalized the text of an internal 
government handbook regarding the handling of trafficking 
victims.  In early November, the Permanent Secretary of the 
Labor Ministry forwarded the handbook to the Council of 
Ministers for final approval.  Welfare officials will lobby 
to speed the process, although they were unable to estimate 
when the Council might make a decision. 
 
E) Formalizing and Implementing a Referral System to Aid TIP 
Victims:  With the adoption of the new handbook, the RoC will 
put in place a formal referral system allowing "front-line 
responders" to direct possible TIP victims toward government 
and/or NGO shelters. 
 
NICOSIA 00001930  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
F) Producing and Launching a Public Awareness Campaign:  At 
an October 31 Parliamentary hearing to gauge progress on the 
RoC's National Action Plan, participants noted that the 
Finance Ministry had not approved funding for a large-scale 
public awareness campaign on TIP.  Nonetheless, agencies are 
proceeding piecemeal and have achieved some success.  For 
example, in the works is a TIP awareness seminar, bringing to 
Nicosia experts from both source and destination countries. 
Organized in collaboration with the Council of Europe, the 
MoI-run event will take place in February 2007.  In addition, 
Interior Ministry contacts November 3 sought Embassy 
assistance in procuring translation/re-broadcast rights to 
two UN-produced, anti-TIP spots; G/TIP is now working the 
issue with its contacts in New York. 
 
The National Police in October prepared anti-TIP fliers which 
aim to reduce demand for trafficked women.  Officials will 
announce the campaign at a press event in early December, and 
will distribute the pamphlets while conducting community 
policing activities.  To raise internal awareness of the TIP 
problem's severity in Cyprus, the Police conducted the first 
of two seminars November 6-10 (the second takes place 
November 13-17).  At their conclusion, over 100 officers will 
have studied the National Action Plan, victims' assistance 
handbook, and Cypriot anti-TIP legislation currently in 
force. 
 
¶3.  COMMENT:  While much work remains to be done, recent 
months have seen the RoC attack TIP with increasing vigor. 
That President Papadopoulos himself raised trafficking in his 
meeting with the Ambassador (Ref C) seems proof his 
administration finally "gets it."  Working-level contacts 
claim the new Ministers of Labor and Interior have placed the 
fight high on their priority lists.  And the Parliamentary 
hearing on TIP proved a boon, generating significant press 
play and raising legislators' awareness at a critical time, 
weeks before they consider revised TIP and immigration 
legislation.  Hoping to spur even greater momentum, the 
Embassy, through its Bicommunal Support Program (BSP), has 
taken aim at TIP, funding and disseminating studies that 
gauge its severity, and building capacity among home-grown 
NGOs to fight it. 
SCHLICHER