VZCZCXRO4682
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNC #0125/01 0530714
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220714Z FEB 08 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8588
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1079

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D   C O P Y (ADDED SENSITIVE CAPTION) 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL TIP KCRM KWMN CY
SUBJECT: G/TIP VISITOR SEES FIRST-HAND CYPRIOT EFFORTS 
AGAINST TRAFFICKING 
 
REF: NICOSIA 881 
 
NICOSIA 00000125  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
 ¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: G/TIP Official Jennifer Donnelly visited 
Cyprus January 31 - February 2 to evaluate RoC efforts to 
combat trafficking in persons (TIP) on the island.  In her 
meetings, Donnelly acknowledged government successes, such as 
the recent passage of comprehensive anti-TIP legislation and 
the opening of a government-run victims' shelter.  At the 
same time, she noted RoC slowness in implementing a 
demand-reduction public awareness campaign and the decline in 
TIP-related prosecutions, and questioned why the government 
still utilized the "artiste" work permit category. 
Summarizing, she considered the Cypriot government's 
anti-trafficking effort a mixed bag.  END SUMMARY 
 
 
Government Making Slow Progress, Urges "Carrot" Approach 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) G/TIP officer Jennifer Donnelly came to Cyprus to 
assess the trafficking situation here, gauge the government's 
political will to fight TIP, and tour the newly-opened 
government shelter.  She began the visit at the Ministry of 
Interior (MoI), which coordinates the RoC's anti-trafficking 
efforts but is also responsible for processing artiste permit 
requests.  MoI Permanent Secretary Lazaros Savvides surprised 
Donnelly by unveiling a change to the permit regime that the 
Council of Ministers soon would consider.  Although hesitant 
to reveal details prior to the Council meeting, Savvides 
claimed the changes were inspired by procedures currently 
used in Greece.  In a break from current practice, artiste 
work permits would be granted to groups of women, not 
individuals.  He side-stepped Donnelly's question whether the 
proposed changes would result in a major reduction in the 
number of permits issued, and provided no justification why 
group (vice individual) issuance represented an improvement. 
Turning to demand reduction, Savvides revealed that MoI has 
allocated 41,000 euros to fund an awareness campaign, to be 
launched in March/April after Cypriot elections.  Savvides 
was not clear on the details of the campaign, nor on the 
extent it would specifically address the domestic demand for 
trafficked women in Cyprus. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Donnelly next met with Social Welfare Officer Maria 
Kyratzi and toured the government's newly-opened victims' 
shelter.  Kyratzi noted that the MFA and International 
Organization for Migration (IOM)-Greece would be 
collaborating later in the year to offer a seminar for 
training government officials on trafficking.  She explained 
how, under Cyprus's new trafficking law, police must notify 
Social Welfare immediately if they suspected a trafficking 
situation, and discussed the financial, psychological, and 
medical services they provided to victims.  Kyratzi also said 
that Social Welfare would welcome the establishment of an IOM 
office in Cyprus, currently under discussion.  She clarified 
that the shelter run by NGO STIGMA did not receive additional 
government assistance because it did not meet unspecified 
eligibility criteria in 2006.  At the shelter, Donnelly took 
positive note of security measures in place, but was 
concerned the building lacked sufficient bathroom facilities 
were it ever to fill to capacity (15 individuals). Shelter 
staff informed her that seven trafficking victims were 
currently housed there. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Donnelly next called on Foreign Ministry officials. 
Multilateral Affairs chief George Kasoulides revealed that 
the government and OSCE would collaborate on a May 2008 
seminar on combating TIP.  It was vital to convince 
rank-and-file Cypriots of the severity of the TIP problem, he 
emphasized.  Abroad, too, the RoC had a responsibility to 
fight trafficking, and some Cypriot embassies now were 
displaying anti-TIP posters and dispensing pamphlets to 
prospective visa seekers.  Kasoulides admitted, however, that 
he was unaware of specific TIP training for Cypriot embassy 
staff or standardized procedures for interviewing "artiste" 
applicants.  Regarding an IOM office in Cyprus, Kasoulides 
promised MFA support should the government decide to invite 
the organization or if IOM decides or requests to open here. 
"We're making progress," he contended, "though perhaps not as 
much as you'd like, or as fast.  But we are moving in the 
right direction."  Kasoulides worried the next TIP report 
would criticize the government over the situation in the 
north, where it did not exercise effective control.  He also 
encouraged the USG to favor the "carrot" approach over the 
"stick" in seeking additional anti-trafficking progress from 
the Cypriot government. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Rita Superman, Director of the Cypriot Police TIP 
 
NICOSIA 00000125  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
unit, briefed Donnelly on recent operations.  Police had 
conducted 34 raids on suspect establishments within the last 
year, and performed detailed checks of over 100 others.  The 
TIP unit continues to be understaffed with only Superman and 
two other junior officers assigned to the unit.  Superman 
noted the alarming trend of pimps and traffickers moving 
operations out of the cabarets and into private apartments, 
which complicated Police efforts to build cases.  She also 
discussed the criteria for identifying trafficking victims 
and admitted there still was no SOP for handling trafficking 
victims.  To illustrate, of 54 trafficking cases her unit had 
processed, some involving multiple victims, 20 women had 
"self-identified" themselves as TIP victims.  On 
prosecutions, of 78 persons originally charged with 
trafficking offenses, nine were convicted under 
prostitution-related charges, since finding them guilty under 
the new, tougher law was proving far more difficult.  (Note: 
Some NGOs, specifically STOP International, allege that there 
has been a decline in law enforcement raids on cabarets, and 
that many cabaret owners are tipped off about law enforcement 
operations in advance.  Also, STOP argues that prosecutors 
are not well-trained and that cases are hastily put together, 
making it easy for judges to dismiss them or find that them 
"full of holes."  End note.) 
 
 
Cabaret Owners Deny Trafficking, Claim Their Rights Are 
Violated 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Donnelly received a rare look into the supply side 
of the trafficking business, meeting three members of the 
Cyprus Cabaret Owners' Association.  The businessmen 
discussed their operations and complained that their rights 
constantly were being violated, noting how 40 cabarets had 
been shut down because of overly-stringent government 
regulation.  The owners detailed the process of how women 
were recruited legally into the cabarets, and explained how 
each received a guaranteed daily salary (from 25 - 45 USD), a 
10 percent commission on drink sales, plus free housing, 
local taxis, and airplane tickets to and from her homeland. 
Salaries and other income were deposited directly into 
artistes checking accounts.  Alarmingly, the impresarios 
admitted to de facto debt bondage by acknowledging the 
existence of oral contracts stipulating that artistes had to 
repay their agents for these "free" airplane tickets. 
 
 
Civil Society Is Strengthening, Church Decides it Must "Say 
Something" 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) To assess civil society anti-TIP activities, 
Donnelly engaged the local office of STOP International as 
well as a number of Greek- and Turkish Cypriot organizations. 
Two local NGOs briefed her on their own (vice the 
government's) anti-trafficking awareness campaigns, noting 
how the public seemed increasingly knowledgeable about the 
topic.  Funding remained problematic, however; despite active 
lobbying of Cyprus's private sector, they had received just 
500 USD in pledges from two island banks.  NGO relations with 
the government remained spotty.  Representatives claimed the 
government had viewed their anti-trafficking involvement with 
suspicion and, in some cases, overt hostility.  And those 
organizations which had conducted the awareness campaign 
feared retribution from the government in the form of reduced 
appropriations for other operations. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Donnelly ended her visit by meeting two Church of 
Cyprus officials new to the TIP fight, Metropolitan Vasilios 
and Bishop Porfyrios.  The Church officials attributed their 
newfound interest in combating trafficking to a recent 
funding appeal from NGO Stigma, their TIP-related interaction 
with Embassy staff, and a belief that the Church "must say 
something."  Both men expressed interest in collaborating 
with the Embassy and asked for materials to educate 
themselves and other Church officials on TIP.  They are 
planning to lead an inter-denominational conference on 
trafficking in Cyprus sometime in the future. 
 
 
Comment 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Donnelly's observation that Cyprus's TIP record 
remains a mixed bag generally matches ours.  Real progress 
occurred during the last twelve months, from the passage of 
comprehensive anti-TIP legislation to the opening of the 
 
NICOSIA 00000125  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
long-awaited victims' shelter.  Yet police and prosecutors 
have not secured convictions with the new law, and stories 
abound of operational snafus at the shelter.  Overall, 
however, we continue to see the glass half-full and rising. 
Increasing pressure from media, civil society, the 
international community, and now the Church is pushing the 
government to make slow and steady progress to combat TIP. 
Of key concern now is the new artiste work permit regime, 
which, according to high-level Embassy contacts, the Council 
of Ministers approved February 13 (we are seeking a copy, and 
will forward its gist to G/TIP).  If it proves only 
window-dressing, the government will have lost the 
opportunity to fulfill a key component of its National Action 
Plan against trafficking.  But if it results in a significant 
reduction of women issued permits, it would represent a real 
step forward for Cyprus.  End comment. 
 
¶10.  (U) The Embassy has coordinated transmission of this 
message with Ms. Donnelly. 
SCHLICHER