VZCZCXRO3622
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNC #0213/01 0721125
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131125Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7632
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4902
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS 3820
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0100
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0819
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000213 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CY
SUBJECT: Cyprus Steps Up Anti-Trafficking Efforts 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In recent meetings with authorities and NGO 
representatives involved in the fight against trafficking in persons 
(TIP), EmbOffs and visiting Desk Officer witnessed increased efforts 
and new initiatives.  In the south, the GOC has taken concrete steps 
to fulfill the "Three P's" -- Prosecution, Protection, and 
Prevention -- with repeated successes in the first and notable 
strides in the last.  North of the Green Line there is less 
activity, although Turkish Cypriot "officials" voice commitment to 
combating TIP and appear open to USG cooperation and guidance.  End 
summary. 
 
---------------------- 
Better Late Than Never 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) EmbOffs and visiting Cyprus Desk Officer met GOC officials 
February 14-16 to discuss Cyprus's anti-TIP efforts over the last 12 
months and to stress (again) that concrete action would be necessary 
if the country is to move off of the Watch List. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Interior Ministry Senior Advisor Georgios Georgallis 
outlined several steps the GOC has taken since last year's report. 
Comprehensive anti-TIP legislation had been "finalized" -- part of 
the formal legal process -- and would soon be sent by the Ministry 
of Interior (MOI) to the GOC Council of Ministers, which would in 
turn refer it to the House of Representatives for passage. 
Georgallis also said that the former prison director's estate was 
being prepped as the first publicly-supported shelter on the island. 
 Finally, according to Georgallis, both the MOI and Police (under 
the Ministry of Justice and Public Order) had produced and (at least 
partially) launched public awareness and demand-reduction campaigns. 
 (Note: The MOI serves as the GOC "anti-TIP interagency 
coordinator."  End note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) Georgallis assured EmbOffs that combating TIP remained a 
top GOC priority.  Engagement by officials at the highest levels, he 
said, had kicked the bureaucracy into gear and begun to produce real 
results.  He pointed to increased prosecutions under current 
anti-TIP legislation and a 28 percent decrease from 2003 to 2006 in 
the number of "artiste"-category work permits issued.  Such work 
permits, Georgallis added, would henceforth be sent to the Cypriot 
embassy/consulate in the worker's home country (rather than to the 
Cypriot nightclub/pub employer as was previously the practice), 
giving consular staff the opportunity to inform foreign women of 
their rights before they traveled to Cyprus.  He predicted greater 
GOC interagency cooperation now that an internal handbook on 
identification and referral procedures had been approved and widely 
distributed.  Just as importantly, he contended, GOC agencies with 
anti-TIP responsibilities would continue to cooperate with the 
Embassy and with local NGOs, such as Stigma's shelter in Limassol, 
founded by Orthodox priest Father Savvas.   Separately, Father 
Savvas described to us his solid working relationship with the 
police.  (Note: Embassy has likewise had a good working relationship 
with all GOC agencies over the last year.  End note.) 
 
----------------------- 
Winning on Prosecutions 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Rita Superman, head of the Police Office to Combat 
Trafficking in Human Beings, praised her government's record in 
arresting, prosecuting and convicting traffickers.  In the last 12 
months, 79 trafficking victims were identified (only 56 last year), 
and police investigated 60 TIP cases (up from 47 last year).  Of the 
10 cases from this year that reached conclusion, four traffickers 
were convicted, receiving four to nine months imprisonment.  Of the 
26 cases from previous years that finally reached conclusion, 13 
traffickers (a noteworthy 50 percent) were convicted. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Superman also reiterated that the Police would support and 
cooperate with the privately-funded Stigma shelter in Limassol.  Law 
enforcement authorities had turned the corner on what was previously 
a rocky relationship, she claimed.  Father Savvas, separately 
confirmed the new attitude among police.  In prior years, he had 
complained about police harassing him, but now he thanked police for 
protecting him from nightclub/pub owners/managers and praised 
Superman's unit specifically for formalizing and implementing a 
referral system with his shelter. 
 
---------------------- 
A Shelter to Call Home 
---------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Social Welfare officials proudly showcased February 16 the 
GOC-owned building and grounds that will serve as a shelter for 
trafficking victims.  They reported that steps were already underway 
for staffing, security upgrades and re-decoration.  The facility, 
 
NICOSIA 00000213  002 OF 003 
 
 
scheduled to open at the end of March, was previously used as the 
residence of the Director of the Central Prison in Nicosia.  Though 
adjacent to the prison grounds, Superman actually felt that its 
location may be a deterrent to victims' former "impresarios," who 
might think twice about stalking or harassing them in the shadow of 
the prison and within sight of law enforcement.  The four-bedroom, 
colonial-style house is surrounded by a large yard.  With minor 
changes, it will accommodate up to 15 foreign women at a time. 
Social Welfare officials told us that the shelter will operate under 
a one-year trial basis, and its operations will be assessed 
quarterly until the government feels it can safely transfer 
management of the publicly-supported facility to an NGO. 
 
---------------------------- 
Shining Light on the Problem 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Of the Three P's, prevention -- namely, public awareness 
and demand reduction campaigns -- long had been the weakest link in 
Cypriot efforts to combat TIP.  Recently, however, we have seen 
improvement, due in part to international attention and pressure. 
The Council of Europe (COE) and the GOC co-hosted an anti-TIP 
conference in Nicosia February 15-16, prompting the MOI to unveil an 
unprecedented and large-scale public awareness campaign.  The 
campaign will go into full swing by the end of March, with some 
50,000 flyers and 800 posters being distributed.  Georgallis told us 
that the GOC had acquired broadcasting rights to a United 
Nations-produced public service announcement, which would be aired 
on state TV during primetime as soon as the final cut of the video 
is received from the UN. 
 
¶9. (U) Police, meanwhile, have launched their own public awareness 
campaign, with 10,000 flyers already distributed door-to-door by 39 
community police officers.  The police report that 
trafficking-related calls to their hotline have increased 
significantly, attributable to the campaign.  For last year's 
report, they could only count 68 calls; this year's report will 
record 104. 
 
-------------------------- 
And Miles to Go Before.... 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Although the GOC has made strides to meet basic anti-TIP 
norms in recent months, there are still several major projects the 
government has yet to tackle, according to the few local NGOs 
working in this field.  Publicly and in private meetings with us, 
representatives from the NGOs Action for Equality, Support, and 
Anti-racism (KISA, in Greek) and Stigma blasted the GOC maintaining 
a separate work permit category for nightclub "artistes."  Foreign 
women entering Cyprus as artistes, the NGOs complained, are barred 
from changing employment sectors unless identified by the police as 
trafficking victims.  Of the eight foreign women interviewed by our 
visiting Desk Officer at the Stigma shelter, for example, most had 
not anticipated prostitution as part of their employment in Cyprus. 
Our NGO contacts pointed out that the GOC's own May 2005 National 
Action Plan specifically called for the abolishment of the artiste 
category, but that the Migration Department (under the MOI) opposed 
the change -- ostensibly to protect this group of temporary foreign 
workers, whose employment conditions render them vulnerable to 
exploitation by nightclub/pub owners/managers. 
 
---------------- 
Diverging Roads? 
---------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Our February 15 meetings with "officials" and NGOs in the 
Turkish Cypriot-administered north were discouraging; they have 
accomplished little to combat TIP.  "Interior Ministry 
Undersecretary" Ali Alnar, the "anti-TIP interagency coordinator," 
admitted that the area administered by Turkish Cypriots lagged far 
behind the government-controlled area in all of the "Three P's." 
However, he stated, "we are open to USG suggestions" on how to 
combat the global TIP problem.  (Comment: This admission was a small 
step forward.  In previous meetings, Alnar was confused by, and 
uninterested in, the differences between human trafficking and alien 
smuggling.  End comment.)  Alnar promised that resources would be 
made available for further anti-TIP initiatives, as had been done 
for the Turkish Cypriots' 24/7 TIP victim helpline, already staffed 
with a Russian-speaking nurse.  The Turkish Cypriot side would 
launch a large-scale public awareness campaign to promote the 24/7 
helpline, Alnar declared. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Alnar also reacted positively to suggestions that Turkish 
Cypriot authorities contact (and benefit from the expertise of) 
officials in Ankara.  He was also receptive to the idea of a 
publicly-funded shelter and to greater official support for (and 
 
NICOSIA 00000213  003 OF 003 
 
 
cooperation with) local NGOs.  When we raised concerns about 
immigration police holding the passports and travel 
documents/tickets of artistes, Alnar explained that this policy was 
"for the women's protection."  Otherwise, he contended, "nightclub 
owners might take the passports away."  This also made it easier to 
repatriate these foreign women in the event they asked to leave the 
country.  In fact, 235 women had been repatriated with the help of 
the police.  Alnar expressed a willingness to change this policy 
immediately, however, if that was what international anti-TIP norms 
required.  Alnar boasted that the current "government," which took 
office in 2004, had issued no new nightclub permits.  Only on the 
need for anti-TIP legislation did Alnar take issue, claiming that 
trafficking was a problem limited to only some artistes working 
northern Cyprus.  Current legislation, he claimed, could adequately 
deal with such cases. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Anti-TIP activists, however, were quick to discount the 
"government's" willingness to tackle trafficking.  In her meeting 
with us, anti-TIP NGO Prologue Consulting's Mine Yucel claimed that 
Turkish Cypriot "officials" were utterly disinterested in the 
problem.  Yucel, who in December 2006 concluded a USG-funded study 
on the extent of the TIP problem in Cyprus's north, complained that 
Turkish Cypriot authorities were not making any efforts to combat or 
even acknowledge the existence of TIP.  Yucel accused the 
authorities of turning a blind eye to what goes on at nightclubs, 
and added that they have not cooperated or even contacted the few 
local NGOs in the north that are concerned with the TIP issue. 
Despite her close relationship with the ruling party, Emine Erk, 
civil rights attorney and Chairwoman of the Turkish Cypriot Human 
Rights Foundation, agreed with Yucel's assessment of 
"government"-NGO relations.  Admitting that she lacked complete 
information on the condition or status of foreign women at the 
nightclubs, Erk nonetheless suggested that the "cabarets" 
represented the bulk of the north's trafficking problem.  Her 
organization was not aware of any other form of trafficking, 
particularly forced labor, in the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) This round of TIP-related meetings reconfirmed our 
previous observation that, although GOC 
arrest/prosecution/conviction efforts have increased consistently 
over the years, the government needs to devote more resources to the 
implementation of other key initiatives outlined in its own National 
Action Plan.  There has been much recent activity in the other two 
"P's," however, which we will continue to encourage.  The Ambassador 
will meet March 19 with Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis to 
applaud the progress made, but to press the matter further.  We hope 
to be able to verify by the March 31 TIP reporting period deadline 
whether the GOC has followed through with its plans for more 
comprehensive anti-TIP legislation, a publicly-supported shelter in 
Nicosia, and a large-scale public awareness campaign.  Regarding the 
Turkish Cypriot-administered area, its failing performance in all of 
the "Three P's" is frankly disheartening, and occasional Turkish 
Cypriot promises to do more mostly have fallen flat.  If the Turkish 
Cypriot-administered area were given a hypothetical tier ranking, it 
would certainly fall behind the government-controlled areas -- whose 
recent anti-TIP efforts merit praise.  End comment. 
 
SCHLICHER