VZCZCXRO6152
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNC #0881/01 3060753
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020753Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8289
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0993

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000881 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL TIP KCRM KWMN CY
SUBJECT: EMBASSY NICOSIA, CYPRIOT NGO ANTI-TRAFFICKING 
EFFORTS GAINING TRACTION 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  In addressing the grave problem of trafficking 
in persons in Cyprus, Embassy Nicosia has adopted a 
multi-pronged, multi-sector strategy that leverages the 
efforts of our Bicommunal Support Program (BSP), Public 
Affairs Section (PAS), USAID mission, Political Section 
(POL), and Regional Security Office (RSO).  As part of this 
effort, the Embassy has launched an intra-embassy TIP team 
and a working group composed of representatives from this and 
other resident diplomatic missions, and has increased 
outreach to the Cypriot Ministry of Interior (MOI), the 
government's anti-trafficking coordinator.  Cypriot NGOs have 
started to cooperate amongst themselves and build links to 
international anti-TIP initiatives and organizations such as 
La Strada and the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM).  Moreover, they are reaching across the Green Line to 
build bicommunal relationships.  The GOC has demonstrated its 
support of civil society initiatives by contributing funds 
towards a demand-reduction public awareness campaign, 
previously a weak spot in the official anti-TIP campaign. 
END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  TIP Team: U.S. Embassy Nicosia has launched a 13-person 
TIP Team, featuring BSP, RSO, POL, PAS and USAID members, to 
collaborate on TIP-related issues.  They have brainstormed a 
training plan for combating TIP in the north, coordinated 
outreach to police in the government-controlled area, and are 
speaking out on TIP to varied Cypriot audiences. 
 
¶3.  Inter-mission Working Group:  The Ambassador kicked off 
the effort to launch a multi-embassy working group by hosting 
a reception for TIP team members, representatives of several 
Cypriot ministries, and officials from the international 
diplomatic community.  All voiced commitment to help combat 
trafficking and shared ideas in an informal setting.  POL 
will host follow-up meetings at regular intervals while also 
urging the GOC to establish its own interagency team (Note: 
Cyprus's new anti-trafficking law directs the Ministry of 
Interior to coordinate a working group among the different 
Cypriot ministries with anti-TIP equities.) 
 
¶4. Outreach to Cypriot Ministry of Interior and Help with 
Launch of a PR Campaign:  Two MOI officials dealing with TIP 
revealed that the Ministry was eager to partner more closely 
with other institutions, including Cypriot NGOs.  When asked 
about the launch of a demand-reduction campaign -- a key 
element in Cyprus's anti-TIP national action plan -- they 
claimed that one of the major roadblocks to launching the PR 
campaign was a lack of knowledge on media operations and 
pricing.  The Embassy has offered to put them in contact with 
staff at MTV with first-hand familiarity of the network's 
previous anti-TIP initiatives (MTV's affiliated charity, The 
MTV Europe Foundation, maintains a library of 
English-language TIP material, including documentaries, films 
and public service announcements.)   Additionally, the 
Embassy will introduce the MOI authorities to its regular 
media and public relations contacts. 
 
¶5.  BSP Programmatic Efforts:  Since the fall of 2006, the 
Embassy's ESF-funded Bicommunal Support Program has been 
financing capacity-building for Greek Cypriot (G/C) and 
Turkish Cypriot (T/C) NGOs combating trafficking in women in 
Cyprus for the purpose of exploitation in the commercial sex 
industry.  For example, BSP, in conjunction with 
Washington-based capacity-building organization PACT, 
conducted a workshop and hosted IOM and La Strada 
representatives to network and collaborate with local NGOs. 
This initiative has made significant inroads recently in 
establishing inter- and intra-communal efforts to combat TIP 
by helping NGOs pool resources, map core competencies, hone 
communication, and bolster financial management and 
fundraising skills.  As a result, Cypriot NGOs have started 
to cooperate amongst themselves and build links to 
international anti-TIP organizations such as La Strada, STOP 
International and the aforementioned IOM. 
 
¶6.  In addition, eight Cypriot NGOs have received awards from 
BSP's Small Grants Program to support their island-wide 
anti-trafficking efforts.  BSP awarded a grant to a leading 
T/C researcher, Mine Yucel, to conduct a study comparing the 
legal frameworks of the EU and the Turkish Cypriot community, 
where there is no anti-TIP "legislation" in place.  T/C 
authorities already have expressed serious interest in her 
work.  Yucel is working in tandem with a G/C social scientist 
who has also received BSP funding to evaluate the framework 
of the GOC's new anti-TIP legislation in relation to other EU 
countries' laws. 
 
¶7.  Five Cypriot NGOs have received discrete awards from BSP 
 
NICOSIA 00000881  002 OF 002 
 
 
to launch an island-wide public awareness campaign in both 
communities featuring a single logo -- no small achievement 
in divided Cyprus.  The campaign will launch on Human Rights 
Day, December 10, and the Ministry of Justice has contributed 
$10,000 and additional in-kind contributions for the G/C 
portion of the campaign.  Finally, the Mediterranean 
Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS), in collaboration with the 
Turkish Cypriot Association of University Women, is 
coordinating a bicommunal project that aims to increase 
gender awareness and knowledge among Cypriot NGOs working to 
combat TIP. 
 
¶8.  Comment:  Several years of effort to build capacity in 
civil society for combating TIP appear to be bearing fruit, 
and we envision these NGOs becoming an effective lever that 
promotes greater GOC action.  The same goes for the 
inter-embassy working group; for too long, only the USG has 
truly pressured the government over trafficking, although the 
European Union and its member states lately have come on 
board.  The ultimate anti-TIP weapon is the GOC itself, of 
course.  Via our varied Embassy efforts, we hope both to 
cement the government's political will to fight trafficking 
and augment its working-level abilities to do so. 
SCHLICHER