VZCZCXYZ0010
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAC #0097 0441306
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131306Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASUNCION
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6606
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS ASUNCION 000097 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP KBRESNAHAN, WHA/BSC KREAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC ELAB KCRM PHUM PREL SMIG BR AR PA
SUBJECT: PROPOSAL FOR G/TIP-MANAGED FY08 ESF AND INCLE FUNDS 
 
REF: STATE 161287 
 
¶1.  (U) Embassy Asuncion submits the following 
anti-trafficking in persons (TIP) proposal for FY 2008 ESF 
and INCLE funding (reftel).  This proposal details the second 
phase of an IOM project funded by G/TIP in 2006 and completed 
in July 2007.  Cynthia Bendlin, WHA winner of the 2008 
Secretary's Award for International Women of Courage, 
 
SIPDIS 
coordinated the project's first phase and will coordinate 
this phase.  Posts strongly urge G/TIP to consider carefully 
this project for ESF or INCLE funding in order to enhance 
efforts to combat TIP in the Tri-Border Area (TBA), where 
Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet.  G/TIP funding for this 
project would be the only funding Paraguay will receive in FY 
¶2008. 
 
¶2.  (U) The project's summary information is as follows: 
 
¶A.  Name of applicant:  Eugenio Ambrossi, Director, 
International Organization for Migration (IOM). 
 
¶B.  Requested funding amount:  USD 269,808 (federal funding 
only). 
 
¶C.  Project title:  Program for Integral Assistance to 
Trafficking in Persons Victims of the Tri-Border Area between 
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. 
 
¶D.  Project duration:  12 months. 
 
¶E.  Proposal abstract: 
 
-- The main objective of this project is to contribute to the 
prevention of trafficking in persons, especially women and 
children, and to strengthen counter-trafficking networks in 
the Tri-Border Area in the Southern Cone of South America 
(Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay).  This project will provide 
medical, psychological, legal, and labor reinsertion 
assistance to victims of trafficking in persons (TIP) in the 
TBA. 
 
-- This regional project is based on an ongoing project 
implemented by the IOM's Mission with a Regional Function 
(MRF) Conosur, on the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons in 
the TBA, that included the creation of a tri-national 
counter-trafficking network.  Members of this network 
consider operational strengthening vital to accelerating an 
articulated response to TIP in the TBA, particularly with 
regard to the needs of women and children.  This project will 
allow the continuity of counter-trafficking activities in the 
TBA through the integral assistance to victims and the 
operational strengthening of the tri-national network to 
counter TIP.  The project will be based in the TBA cities of 
Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), Foz do Iguacu (Brazil), and 
Puerto Iguazu (Argentina). 
 
-- This project would include: 
 
a.  Providing medical, psychological and legal assistance to 
TIP victims in the TBA, including direct access to an 
interdisciplinary team of psychologists, social workers, and 
lawyers, as well as providing medicine and medical care from 
public institutions. 
 
b.  Providing job training activities for TIP victims in the 
TBA that includes microentrepreneurial job training, food 
aid, and transportation assistance. 
 
c.  Operationally strengthening the existing TBA 
counter-trafficking network based in Ciudad del Este, Foz do 
Iguacu and Puerto Iguazu, enhancing staffing and 
communications mechanisms that will increase coordination and 
improve cooperation between key judicial actors in the TBA. 
 
¶3. POC for this request is Embassy Asuncion Human Rights 
Officer Michael Edwards, telephone:  011-595-21-213-715, 
e-mail:  edwardsmg@state.gov. 
 
Please visit us at     http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/asuncion 
 
CASON