VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHWL #0285/01 1000544
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 100544Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4124
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 1659
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0121
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4808
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 0167
RUEHPG/AMEMBASSY PRAGUE 0042
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0123

C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000285 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, EAP/ANP, EAP/RSP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2017 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB NZ
SUBJECT: GNZ SHARES DRAFT OF ITS ACTION PLAN AGAINST HUMAN 
TRAFFICKING 
 
REF: WELLINGTON 191 
 
Classified By: DCM David Keegan, 
for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  On March 29, GNZ shared with DCM and 
Poloff a draft of its national action plan against human 
trafficking.  From an operational standpoint, NZ government 
agencies already have an effective program in place to 
prevent trafficking.  The "Action Plan" seeks to further 
improve interagency coordination, increase outreach to 
non-government stakeholders with existing or potential 
anti-trafficking roles, and raise public awareness of the 
dangers of trafficking.  The Plan will be formally 
implemented by December 2007 following ministerial approval 
this April and subsequent public consultation.  Data from 
GNZ's present enforcement and monitoring efforts, as well as 
from NZ programs that monitor all suspicious travel, suggest 
that New Zealand has little or no trafficking problem.  By 
increasing its engagement with civil society, GNZ will reduce 
further New Zealand's risk of becoming a destination country 
by complementing existing government programs with joint 
private-public efforts to identify potential cases and assist 
victims.  End summary. 
 
"National Action Plan": (aka National Outreach Plan) 
----------------------- ---------------------------- 
¶2. (C) On March 29, GNZ officials delivered to DCM and Poloff 
a draft of New Zealand's long-anticipated national plan of 
action against human trafficking.  Building on GNZ's existing 
competencies to detect and prevent human trafficking, the GNZ 
began developing the plan in December 2004 and implemented 
much of it at the same time the formal drafting was taking 
place.  Through the planning process, GNZ has sought to 
enhance linkages between government agencies and improve 
engagement between government and civil society.  The 
planning process followed extensive consultations with 
Embassy Wellington on trafficking issues in the wake of GNZ's 
first listing in the TIP Report in 2004.  The Department of 
Labour took the lead in developing the plan, in consultation 
with the Ministries of Justice (MoJ) and Foreign Affairs and 
Trade (MFAT).  On April 4, the draft plan will be sent to the 
Foreign, Immigration, and Justice Ministers for their 
approval.  It will then be the focus of a series of public 
consultations, including a national workshop of 
non-governmental organizations.  GNZ officials have invited 
Emboffs and G/TIP to attend the workshop, with the date to be 
determined.  GNZ expects the plan will be formally in place 
by December 2007. 
 
¶3. (C) In handing over the plan, head of the IWG Arron Baker, 
National Manager - Border Security & Compliance Operations, 
Department of Labour, told us that the drafting of the action 
plan was "a process of developing awareness, of linking 
private and public interests, and of developing better 
intelligence from civil society."  Indeed, the title of the 
plan, the National Plan of Action to Prevent People 
Trafficking (NPA), is something of a misnomer as it really is 
an outreach plan to improve coordination between Government 
and non-government stakeholders (such as NGOs, the travel 
industry, and academics) who have or could play an 
anti-trafficking role.  The Plan also seeks to raise public 
awareness of the dangers of trafficking. 
 
Monitoring for Trafficking: Part of a Surveillance Spectrum 
--------------------------- ------------------------------- 
¶4. (C) To place the national plan of action in context, Arron 
Baker outlined GNZ's priorities with regard to illegal 
migration.  First and foremost, GNZ places priority on 
national security.  Second priority is the issue of smuggling 
and trafficking; third is to identify and punish individual 
immigration violations.  Baker reminded us that NZ's 
successful counter-terrorism programs also position the GNZ 
to detect smuggling and trafficking cases. 
 
Three Action Phases; One Already Complete 
-------------------- -------------------- 
¶5. (C) The NPA is divided into three phases.  Phase One is 
substantially complete and involved government agencies 
establishing a common understanding of people trafficking and 
developing the essential elements of a national plan.  Phase 
Two seeks to encourage civil society, particularly NGOs, to 
address human trafficking issues by enhancing government 
referral mechanisms and enhancing victim assistance, 
 
reintegration and -- as appropriate -- return.  Target NGOs 
include the Help Foundation, NZ Prostitutes Collective, 
Shakti Community Council, Amnesty International, Salvation 
Army, Stop Demand and ECPAT.  Under Phase Three, the GNZ will 
complete the plan's implementation and develop bilateral and 
multilateral agreements to prevent global trafficking. 
(Note: GNZ officials already cooperate with Indonesia and Sri 
Lanka on trafficking issues.  End note.) 
 
Phase One: Monitoring and Enforcement in Action 
---------- ------------------------------------ 
¶6. (C) When GNZ began developing its action plan in December 
2004, its monitoring and enforcement capabilities were 
substantially in place.  The planning process seeks to extend 
and improve non-government stakeholder participation in 
identifying potential cases of trafficking and assisting 
victims.  For example, New Zealand's continuing efforts to 
identify potential victims of trafficking begin upstream in 
potential source countries.  New Zealand has an Advance 
Passenger Processing (APP) system that requires airlines to 
identify passengers who may be seeking to enter New Zealand 
illegally before they board an overseas flight.  Airline 
representatives have received training from GNZ officials and 
the government-funded NGO ECPAT New Zealand on techniques to 
identify victims of trafficking and other illegal migration 
victims as well as perpetrators.  The GNZ also has an 
Advanced Passenger Screening system (APS), through which GNZ 
Airline Liaison Officers (ALO) at posts overseas and 
officials in New Zealand screen flights prior to departure. 
Data from these systems are joined with U.S. and Australia 
data streams as part of the Regional movement Alert List 
(RMAL) program.  The Department of Labour has offered to have 
Emboffs join GNZ officials in Auckland to observe screening 
techniques as applied against arriving flights. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Monitoring for potential trafficking victims 
continues after passengers have arrived in New Zealand and 
clear immigration and customs, primarily through field 
investigations.  Immigration, visa, border control and other 
law enforcement officers have been trained to identify 
potential trafficking victims using a common set of human 
trafficking indictors, which have also been incorporated into 
computer-based systems that help officials to spot potential 
cases.  (Note:  The GNZ's human trafficking indicators have 
been shared separately with EAP/ANP.) 
 
¶8. (SBU) During the nine months from June 2006 to March 2007, 
New Zealand law enforcement officials conducted 1,300 
investigations to identify illegal migration, including 
trafficking.  The investigations included raids on 
horticultural workers as well as ten targeted raids on eight 
Auckland brothels suspected of employing foreign sex workers. 
 Not a single trafficking case was found in any of the 1,300 
investigations, although 31 illegal migrants were identified. 
 Twenty-nine of the illegal migrants were found to have come 
from Hong Kong (8), South Korea (1) and Malaysia (20), all of 
which enjoy a visa free travel program with New Zealand. 
Although the number of illegal migrants remains small 
compared to the overall number of visa-free entrants, GNZ 
recognizes the need to prevent more wide-spread abuses. In 
the case of Malaysia, while migrants are circumventing border 
control, New Zealand Immigration is effectively identifying 
illegal migration cases through field compliance operations 
in New Zealand, such  as brothel raids.  GNZ will continue to 
monitor Malaysia's visa free travel status, and rescind it if 
that proves the only way to more effectively manage illegal 
migration from that country.  In this regard, Thailand 
provides a precedent.  As a result of a half-dozen historic 
trafficking cases involving Thai sex workers in 1999 and 
2001, GNZ removed Thailand's visa free travel status.  Recent 
compliance operations have not identified Thai prostitutes 
working illegally in New Zealand.  Moreover, GNZ compliance 
operations have not identified any illegal migrants from 
Brazil or the Czech Republic working in the sex industry or 
elsewhere in the economy, though both countries recently have 
gained visa free status.  (Note:  There is some anecdotal 
reporting, albeit unconfirmed, that Brazilian and Czech sex 
workers are working illegally as prostitutes. End note.) 
 
NZ's anti-trafficking program approaches maturity 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶9. (C) New Zealand has implemented an enforcement and victim 
assistance regime that largely prevents illegal migrants from 
working in the sex trade and has discouraged human 
 
trafficking through an aggressive screening program overseas 
and investigative follow-up in New Zealand.  The government, 
together with NGOs, now provides children at risk of underage 
prostitution and illegal migrants a range of services to 
prevent their exploitation or redress their exploitation when 
it occurs.  By upgrading interagency cooperation and 
enhancing coordination with NGOs, GNZ will better position 
itself to prevent New Zealand becoming a destination country 
for human trafficking. 
McCormick