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PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSL #0979/01 3551420
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211420Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0557
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0031

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000979 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SMIG LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAK GOVERNMENT RENEWS INTEREST IN TIP 
 
REF: A. BRATISLAVA 817 
     ¶B. BRATISLAVA 953 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The new National Coordinator for Fight 
against Trafficking in Persons held his first 
inter-ministerial Expert Group meeting on the subject.  The 
Ministry of Interior earmarked SKK 2 million (USD 74,000) for 
TIP activities in 2007.  The GOS passed an amendment on the 
law covering the stay of victims of trafficking and asylum 
seekers.  Other TIP updates include the Slovak Catholic 
Church joining the anti-TIP crusade, more returning Slovak 
TIP victims using the local network of protective NGOs, and 
Chinese trafficking victims turning up in Slovak asylum 
centers.  Though some planning and expertise were lost during 
several months of inactivity, the GOS is again actively 
engaged on TIP efforts.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
NEW NATIONAL COORDINATOR PLANS BUDGET, PROGRAM FOR 2007 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) National Coordinator for the Fight against 
Trafficking in Persons, Ministry of Interior (MOI) State 
Secretary Jozef Bucek (ref A), chaired the first meeting of 
 
SIPDIS 
the new Expert Group on TIP on December 20.  The group is 
comprised of officials from the deputy director level to the 
state secretary level from the MOI, Ministry of Justice, 
Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, 
Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime 
Minister's Office, General Prosecutor's, three NGOs, 
International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN 
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).  The group is designed to 
have the political weight to enforce measures to combat TIP. 
However, it has less expertise and intends to meet less 
often, possibly as little as once a year, than the previously 
established Working Group on TIP. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The MOI budget for TIP for 2007 will be SKK 2 
million (USD 74,000), approximately the same as for 2006 (the 
increase in the USD amount is due to exchange rate 
fluctuations).  At the meeting, the members of the Expert 
Group discussed alternative sources of funding for 
TIP-related NGOs, including the state NGO funding mechanism 
(ref B) and EU monies. 
 
¶4. (SBU) MOI announced that it will fund one local NGO, Dotyk 
("Touch"), to provide protective services for TIP victims as 
a year-long pilot project in 2007.  This NGO, founded with 
the help of Slovak first lady Mrs. Silvia Gasparovicova, has 
experience in aiding victims of domestic violence and has its 
own safehouses with security guards.  In 2008, the MOI-NGO 
cooperation should be expanded to a network of NGOs, as 
previously planned.  The MOI also presented a proposal to the 
Expert Group to develop a systematic educational awareness 
program for the different categories of government employees 
who might come into contact with TIP victims, for example 
police officers and employment case workers. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The point of contact on TIP issues at the working 
level within the MOI will be Col. Jozef Hlinka, head of the 
Security Strategy Department.  He has already traveled to the 
Czech Republic to study their model for combating TIP.  For 
the first few months of 2007, he plans a revision of 
Slovakia's National Action Plan against Trafficking in 
Persons to bring into line with EU-wide norms and Council of 
Europe conventions. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In a separate meeting in December, UNODC 
representatives met with Bucek and Interior Minister Robert 
Kalinak.  MOI confirmed its interest in the joint GOS-UNODC 
anti-trafficking project.  The UNODC budget for this 18-month 
effort is SKK 9 million (USD 340,000). 
 
 
NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR FOREIGN VICTIMS HAS SOME PROBLEMS 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) In December parliament passed, and the President 
signed into law, an amendment to the law on asylum seekers 
which affects permits for trafficking victims to remain in 
the country.  Coming into force at the start of 2007, the law 
allows for victims of serious crimes, including human 
trafficking, to receive a renewable 40-day "tolerated-stay" 
permit.  One trafficking expert criticized the details of the 
amendment.  To be in line with international standards, she 
explained, the initial 40-day stay should be a reflection 
period in which the TIP victim receives the benefit of the 
doubt and is under no obligation to talk with police. 
However, according to the expert, the wording of the law 
gives the police investigation priority and gives the police 
the right not to re-new the permit if the victim chooses not 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000979  002 OF 002 
 
 
to cooperate, or stops cooperating, with the police, thereby 
creating the possibility that the victim will be left in the 
status of illegal immigrant and thus subject to deportation. 
UNODC intends to conduct an expert legal assessment of this 
amendment. 
 
¶8. (U) Other provisions of the amendment widen the categories 
for which asylum seekers can claim protection.  Slovakia's 
asylum law will now cover those who face the death penalty 
and cruel or humiliating treatment.  However, the local UNHCR 
office noted that Slovakia, like other European countries, is 
lowering its protection for asylum seekers down to EU 
standards from the higher level of international conventions. 
 
 
SLOVAK CATHOLIC CHURCH WANTS TO HELP TIP VICTIMS 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶9. (SBU) After urging from the Ambassador in a November 
meeting, the Catholic Archbishop for the Bratislava-Trnava 
Archdiocese (covering western and central Slovakia) agreed to 
support anti-TIP efforts.  Previously, the church had ignored 
the issue.  A working level brainstorming session between the 
Archbishop's office, IOM, and Emboff took place in 
mid-December.  The meeting covered potential training and 
outreach programs.  The Archbishop's rep noted that the 
message to help trafficking victims was coming strong and 
clear from the Vatican and that the Archbishop was completely 
onboard.  Emboff will follow-up in January, seeking concrete 
commitments. 
 
¶10. (SBU) A local trafficking expert noted that the Catholic 
Archdiocese of Kosice (covering eastern Slovakia) made some 
outreach efforts leading up to the World Cup held June-July 
in Germany to warn Slovaks seeking temporary employment 
during the games to be aware of the potential for human 
trafficking. 
 
 
MORE RETURNED SLOVAK VICTIMS USE PROTECTIVE NETWORK 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Bratislava IOM office reported increased usage 
of the local NGO protective network by Slovak victims of 
trafficking on their return home.  The local IOM 
representative believes that the increase comes from a 
greater awareness of the network, not from an upswing in the 
number of Slovak victims trafficked abroad.  She also 
mentioned that, in at least one case, placing a trafficking 
victim in the same shelter with domestic violence victims had 
not worked out well due to the different psychological needs 
of the victims. 
 
 
ADD CHINA TO THE LIST OF VICTIMS TRANSSHIPPED VIA SLOVAKIA 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) The IOM office also informed Emboff that, based on 
interviews via translator at Slovak asylum centers, human 
traffickers are now attempting to transship Chinese victims 
across Slovakia. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) After a multi-month lull as the new government 
administration settled into office, GOS officials have 
started to pay attention to TIP again.  Despite the fact that 
some of the projects arranged by the previous National 
Coordinator were not completed, the new National Coordinator 
appears to be taking his role seriously and is moving forward 
on practical steps.  External TIP experts feel the MOI 
commitment is sincere, but fear that the loss of expertise 
from the previous TIP structure will cause some unnecessary 
inefficiencies.  The fact that the new Expert Group may meet 
only once a year could prove problematic to interministerial 
buy-in.  However, that could be overcome if Col. Hlinka has 
the necessary communication skills and efficacy to get things 
done at the working level and State Secretary Bucek provides 
the political weight as National Coordinator.  For our part, 
we are happy to see the ball rolling again within the GOS and 
the addition of the local Catholic Church.  We will increase 
our meetings at the GOS working level, now that those roles 
have been designated, to do our part to help turn the renewed 
interest into effective policies and procedures. 
VALLEE