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Lucia A Keegan  03/02/2007 10:07:51 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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UNCLAS        PARIS 00797

SIPDIS
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    ACTION: POL
    INFO:   ECON AMB DCM PAO DAO

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APPROVED: A/DCM:TJWHITE
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RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0320
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1421
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 1773
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RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 1003
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RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 1046
RUEHC/DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 PARIS 000797 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, EUR/PGI, EUR/WE 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB
SUBJECT: SEVENTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT 
FOR FRANCE, PART ONE OF TWO 
 
REF: 2006 STATE 202745 
 
SUBJECT: FRANCE CONTRIBUTION FOR 2006 TIP REPORT 
 
 
SUMMARY:  France remains a destination country for trafficked 
persons, mainly women trafficked for prostitution from 
Eastern Europe and Africa.  There are between 15,000 and 
18,000 prostitutes in France, of which about two-thirds -- 
between 10,000 and 12,000 -- are foreigners and thus likely 
to have been trafficking victims.  Among European nations, 
many of whom regulate legalized prostitution, France,s 
&abolitionist8 stance makes it relatively inhospitable 
terrain for pimps and traffickers. France views itself as a 
European leader in effectively combating trafficking with 
extensive legislation; a centralized trafficking police 
force; the provision of temporary residence permits to 
trafficking victims; growing diplomatic initiatives with 
source countries; and a newly energized effort to coordinate 
work between government and non-government anti-trafficking 
actors through a series of conferences, the first scheduled 
for March 13th in Paris. Evidence of France,s success lies 
in the numbers; even as France has persisted in its policing 
efforts, trafficking arrests of Eastern Europeans have begun 
falling, a fact the French attribute to traffickers seeking 
less difficult environments outside France. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶1.  Answers below are keyed to section and paragraph numbers 
in reftel.  Embassy Paris TIP point of contact is Charlie 
Davis, daviscr3@state.gov.  Phone 33 1 43 12 23 93  (or IVG 
8-498-2393), fax 33 1 43 12 26 63. 
 
Time spent on TIP report: 
FS-04 poloff:  50 hours. 
LES-9 50 hours. 
FS-1 Deputy Political Counselor: 5 hours' review. 
POL M-C: 3 hours' review. 
 
 
OVERVIEW - Question 27. 
---------- 
 
¶A.  France is a destination country for trafficked persons, 
mainly women trafficked for prostitution from Eastern Europe 
(Romania, Bulgaria, and to a lesser extent Albania) and 
Africa (Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon).  France's 
national Central Office for the Repression of Trafficking in 
Persons (OCRETH, a division of the National Police in the 
Central Directorate of the Judicial Police in the Interior 
Ministry) estimates that there are between 15,000 and 18,000 
prostitutes in France, of which about two-thirds -- between 
10,000 and 12,000 -- are foreigners and thus likely to be 
trafficking victims. 
 
OCRETH estimates the numbers and origin of prostitutes from 
statistics of those arrested for solicitation, which was 
criminalized in the 2003 Law on Internal Security (LSI). 
OCRETH noted that in 2005, the national police identified 
1,189 trafficking victims, 1,148 of whom were women. 
Three-quarters of the victims were foreign.  Forty percent 
came from Eastern Europe and the Balkans, while nearly twenty 
percent came from Africa. This regional representation 
followed the same pattern seen in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, 
police identified 1,219 victims of trafficking, 1,136 of whom 
were women. In 2006, foreign women continued to account for 
three quarters of the victims identified, but the ratio of 
Eastern European women fell, while the percentages of 
African, South American and Asian women climbed. OCRETH 
interim Director Emile Lain attributes this to greater 
success in interdicting major Eastern European trafficking 
networks through a focus on their methods and with the help 
of partnerships with Romanian and Bulgarian law enforcement. 
OCRETH, he says, has begun developing similar approaches to 
understanding and combating African and Asian trafficking 
strategies in the hopes of similar success. 
 
While the majority, by far, of trafficking victims in France 
are brought to work in the sex trade, there is also 
clandestine forced labor, primarily of young women and girls, 
as domestic workers.  Since domestic slavery is by its nature 
hidden (the victims are kept working inside and often 
permitted no leave time, and have no interchange with the 
outside world that would allow them to tell their story), the 
Committee Against Modern Slavery (CCEM) finds it difficult to 
estimate the numbers of victims.  Since its founding in 1994, 
it has assisted some 480 victims, of which a majority are 
African, and 88% are women.  Nearly 30 percent arrived on 
French territory as minors.  CCEM also notes that in about 
one-fifth of cases, the 'employers' are diplomats serving in 
France, enjoying diplomatic immunity. 
 
¶B. Traffickers often tell victims they will be coming to work 
in child care, restaurants, etc., and then seize their papers 
when the victims arrive.  Often traffickers subject the women 
to brutal physical violence, including repeated rapes, to 
render them submissive.  In other cases, the women know they 
will be coming to prostitute themselves, and that they will 
have to repay a debt for passage, but do not know that they 
will be subjected to such violent conditions and to the 
confiscation of their papers. 
 
In the case of African victims, often another woman (known as 
a "mama" or "sorceress") will subject the woman to be 
trafficked to a sort of 'voodoo' ritual before her departure 
from Africa, in which the "sorceress" takes bodily substances 
from her  -- for example, blood, hair, clothes, etc. - and 
puts a hex on her.  In this case, the woman believes so 
strongly that the sorceress can always see/hear her actions 
that she is effectively frightened from ever speaking to 
authorities, even in what would seem to Westerners to be a 
"safe" situation.  Because the threats also extend to her 
family, the woman is effectively discouraged from denouncing 
her traffickers, or even trying to escape.  Emile Lain of 
OCRETH maintains that this continues to be a common strategy 
for both recruiting and restraining victims. OCRETH, in a 
planned collaboration with Nigerian law enforcement beginning 
in 2007 (see paragraph J, Investigation/Prosecution), hopes 
to focus official Nigerian attention on this dynamic. 
 
Many trafficking victims are in France legally; the largest 
single group of trafficking victims in France is from Eastern 
Europe and the Balkans, with most coming from Romania and 
Bulgaria.  France does not require visas for visitors from 
either country (they joined the EU on January 1, 2007) for 
visits of less than 90 days.  Nigerian victims can demand 
political asylum, providing them a means to stay in France 
legally.  Several NGO contacts and OCRETH,s Emile Lain agree 
that perhaps 80 percent of trafficking victims in France have 
legal papers. 
 
As with most crime, trafficking in persons represents a 
shifting terrain. As French authorities more effectively rein 
in some forms, others arise. Emile Lain acknowledges that his 
office is beginning to see the growth of distinctly Chinese 
pimping networks. Some of these involve children, and some 
older women. They tend to operate exclusively within a closed 
Asian immigrant community, posing serious challenges for 
French law enforcement. OCRETH, Lain said, is investing 
energy and resources to investigate and interdict this new, 
specific scourge. 
 
¶C.  The French government is determined to combat trafficking 
in persons and is making a good-faith effort to seriously 
address trafficking.  French government spending is subject 
to some degree to the Eurozone requirement to limit its 
budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP.  Within this framework, 
however, French law enforcement is well funded and effective. 
Furthermore, the GOF supports many NGOs with victim 
assistance and reinsertion through national, regional and 
municipal agencies.  Without government assistance, these 
NGOs could not function.  Corruption is not a problem. 
 
¶D.  The inter-ministerial commission on trafficking prepared 
a report in 2006, mandated by the 2003 Law on Internal 
Security (LSI), that describes the character of trafficking 
in France, as well as France's progress in combating it. The 
report was presented to the French parliament and published 
in autumn 2006.  It documents many of the concerns this 
Trafficking in Persons Report has enumerated over the years, 
focusing on the causes, evolution, and statistical reality of 
prostitution in France. It defines the government,s methods 
of prevention, as well as the victim protection measures it 
and NGOs provide. The report shows clear tracking in all the 
regions and cities of prostitution and other forms of 
trafficking. It illustrates the working relationships between 
NGOs and government agencies, and shows a breakdown of the 7 
million euros of government aid to NGOs given in 2004. This 
report draws on trafficking statistics that are compiled and 
published by OCRETH each year in late April, and is furnished 
to NGOs, the press and others on a request basis. 
 
 
PREVENTION - Question 28. 
----------- 
 
¶A.  Yes, France acknowledges that trafficking is a problem. 
January 17, in opening a conference on missing and exploited 
children for First Ladies and Queens that his wife hosted at 
the Elysee, President Chirac included remarks on the subject 
of child trafficking. Chirac has periodically raised public 
awareness of trafficking, of domestic slavery and of the sex 
industry, as documented in Post,s 2006 TIP cable. This 
conference, which First Lady Laura Bush attended, received 
wide coverage in the media, and resulted in the announcement 
of the creation of phone hotlines for victims available 
across Europe and detailing the incidence of trafficking in 
France and across Europe. 
 
¶B.  The inter-ministerial commission combating trafficking 
includes the  OCRETH (which leads the government's 
anti-trafficking efforts), along with several government 
ministries, including Interior, Justice, Education, Tourism, 
Health and Solidarity, Foreign Affairs, and Employment, 
Social Cohesion, and Lodging. OCRETH also has strong ties 
with the anti-pimping brigade of the Paris police.  OCRETH is 
the operational and political focal point for French efforts; 
police units all over the country turn their cases over to 
OCRETH if they are found to involve trafficking, and OCRETH 
serves as the designated correspondent for inquiries (for 
example, the OCRETH chief testifies before the Senate on 
trafficking questions). 
¶C.  In addition to President Chirac's public statements, the 
government continued its participation in an anti-trafficking 
poster awareness campaign in 2006, with a wider dissemination 
than in previous years. The posters sought to create 
awareness of the fact that prostitutes in France may be 
trafficking victims and bore the words: "Slaves for Sale: Now 
you Know."  The GOF has also funded ad campaigns ) including 
30-second TV spots on all the major channels in 2006 ) such 
as a CCEM ad presenting the realities of child prostitution 
and sex tourism. Another makes clear it is a criminal act to 
have sex with minors.  All schools in the National Education 
system must educate children on the risks of internet 
activity, and especially on the risks of blogging and 
entering chat rooms. The government has forced internet 
providers to provide and  publicize blocking software for 
parents, and the government funds a site, 
www.mineurs.gouv.fr, advertised in print and internet media, 
where individuals are encouraged to tip off the government to 
illegal child porn and child sex websites. 
 
¶D. The government continues to fund the campaign of the NGO 
ECPAT-France combating child sex tourism; all Air France 
flights (and Air France buses between Paris and the two Paris 
airports) broadcast a video warning French tourists against 
engaging in sex with minors and alerting them that their 
actions on foreign soil are subject to prosecution in France. 
 In addition, profits from three out of the seven Air France 
products available for purchase on board Air France planes (a 
stuffed bear, a Concorde model, and a pen) are given to 
ECPAT. All tourism students in France must do course work on 
sex tourism. 
 
¶E. Coordination and collaboration between government entities 
and other relevant organizations is improving. Patrick 
Hauvuy, who directs the re-insertion service of ALC Nice, was 
a beneficiary of an International Visitor Leadership Program 
in the United States last fall.  In his debrief at the 
Embassy, he recounted that on the whole, communication and 
collaboration between NGOs, law enforcement, and other 
government agencies is not as organized as in the U.S. 
Several other NGO contacts support this conclusion, but 
acknowledge that the situation is improving. 
 
OCRETH will host its first National Day of Cooperation on 
March 13, to be attended by magistrates, prosecutors, police, 
academics, and NGO representatives. Among the goals are to 
establish new relationships; to develop new training 
opportunities for public and law enforcement officials; and 
to educate magistrates and prosecutors on the 
anti-trafficking provision of the 2003 LSI. 
 
Several NGOs, for instance CCEM and ACPE, have seen a change 
in government attitudes in the last several years. Whereas 
the NGOs previously had to cajole and prod police and 
judicial bodies to accept NGO-offered training sessions, 
these same agencies now seek and request such training from 
NGOs. The motivation for sensitization to trafficking issues 
comes as much from within the government ) particularly 
OCRETH ) as from the NGOs.  In general, civil society plays 
a robust role in France, and the French government recognizes 
its role in the battle. 
 
¶F.  France adequately monitors its borders, but a large part 
of metropolitan French border-monitoring has been subsumed 
into the Schengen Treaty, which covers the majority of 
France's land borders and some of its air traffic as well 
(persons arriving in flights, trains, and cars coming into 
France from other Schengen member countries such as Belgium, 
Spain, Italy, Germany, and Luxembourg are not subject to 
border controls because passengers have either gone through 
Schengen border control at the point where they entered 
Schengen territory, or they themselves are Schengen residents 
and thus receive no examination). 
 
¶G. The mechanism for coordination and communication between 
various ministries and agencies is the Interministerial 
Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons, which OCRETH 
chairs.  France also has a Working Group on the Fight Against 
Sex Tourism Involving Children, which includes the Ministries 
of Social Security, Aged Persons, Handicapped Persons and 
Family; Minister-Delegate for Tourism; Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs; Ministry of Interior; Youth Ministry; Justice 
Ministry; NGOs, tourism-sector representatives, and other 
experts. 
 
¶H.  France's current national plan of action to combat 
trafficking in persons was enunciated in 2002.  A copy (in 
French) is with EUR/WE. 
 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
STAPLETON