VZCZCXRO5420
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBW RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSQ #0304/01 1261334
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051334Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7310
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE 0295
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUESEN/SKOPJE BETA
RUEHSQ/USDAO SKOPJE MK
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2263
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SKOPJE 000304 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G - U/S DOBRIANSKI, G/TIP - AMB. LAGON FROM 
CHARGE D'AFFAIRES NAVRATIL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA'S SUCCESSFUL ANTI-TIP RECORD: THE CASE 
FOR TIER 1 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1. (SBU) This is a request for reconsideration or guidance. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Embassy Skopje has worked intensively with the 
Macedonian government (GOM) to bring their anti-trafficking 
efforts up to international standards.  We have documented 
Macedonia's success in meeting Tier 1 criteria for 
prosecution, protection, and prevention.  IOM and other 
significant IOs concur with the facts we have presented. 
G/TIP's proposed recommendations for Macedonia call for it to 
continue doing what it is already doing in each category.  In 
the absence of any factual information to indicate that 
Macedonia has not met the standards for Tier 1, we request 
reconsideration of the ranking decision, or an explanation of 
the basis for the decision, with specific examples of failure 
to meet the standards, that we could share with the 
Macedonian government.  Macedonia is a willing, successful 
partner in the fight against trafficking, and we can best 
maintain our high cooperation through an objective assessment 
of their performance.  Please advise. 
 
¶3. (SBU) During the reporting period March 2007-March 2008, 
the GOM made appreciable progress in every area covered by 
the TVPA.  GOM's hightened law enforcement efforts resulted 
in more prosecutions, more convictions and longer sentences 
imposed on traffickers.  Using its new victim-centered 
anti-TIP procedures, the GOM identified 15 times more victims 
than in the previous reporting period and doubled the number 
of victims helped in shelters.  As part of its fight against 
TIP, the GOM distributed approximately Euros 50,000 to NGOs 
applied in a range of related TIP assistance.  The Prime 
Minister and other high-level GOM officials participated in a 
number of well-publicized anti-TIP campaigns.  There were no 
new cases of official complicity in TIP activities, and old 
cases were prosecuted in a timely manner.  Strong 
international anti-TIP cooperation led to unprecedented IC 
access to GOM anti-TIP operational and other information. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Following are G/TIP's recommendations for Macedonia 
(G/TIP narrative for this year's TIP report): "continue to 
vigorously prosecute traffickers under the improved 
anti-trafficking legislation and sentencing guidelines, 
ensuring convicted traffickers receive adequate jail time; 
vigorously prosecute any trafficking-related corruption; 
continue to implement new standard operating procedures on 
victim identification and assistance, including the new 
"reflection period" for foreign victims; and continue to 
provide assistance to the shelters assisting Macedonian and 
foreign victims." 
 
¶5. (SBU) We appreciate our recent exchanges with EUR and 
G/TIP regarding Macedonia's progress in combating 
trafficking-in-persons (TIP) over the period March 2007-March 
¶2008.  We share the Department's commitment to combating TIP 
and to providing an objective assessment of Macedonia's 
anti-TIP achievements.  For the record, we would like to 
reiterate the concrete reasons why we believe Macedonia has 
met the objective criteria for inclusion in the 2008 
reporting period as a Tier 1 country.  End summary. 
 
PROSECUTION NUMBERS UP, MORE CONVICTIONS, LONGER SENTENCES 
 
¶6. (SBU) During the reporting period, Macedonia markedly 
boosted anti-TIP law enforcement efforts.   The rate of 
investigations, prosecutions and convictions was 
significantly higher than in the previous reporting period, 
as reflected below: 
 
--In 2008, there were 55 cases with 123 suspects prosecuted; 
of those, 30 cases with 70 defendants concluded with prison 
sentences.  In comparison, in 2007, there were 48 cases with 
104 suspects prosecuted; of those, 18 cases with 54 
defendants concluded with prison sentences. 
 
--Compared to 2007, there were significantly more cases 
concluded in 2008 (60% more); more suspects convicted (30% 
more); and higher numbers of convicted traffickers receiving 
imposed sentences of one to nine years in prison (74%). 
 
 
SKOPJE 00000304  002 OF 003 
 
 
--The average wait time for TIP and smuggling of persons 
cases to reach court was between 45 days and two months, a 
significant reduction compared to previous years. 
 
--Macedonian courts reduced their backlog of civil cases 
older than three years by 57.6% in 2008, and their backlog of 
cases older than one year by 38.3%. 
 
PROTECTION: MORE VICTIMS IDENTIFIED AND ASSISTED 
 
¶7. (SBU) During the reporting period, the GOM identified 15 
times more victims (249 versus 17 in the previous reporting 
period) and offered shelter, legal aid, medical help, witness 
protection, psychological assistance and vocational training 
to all of them. 
 
--The new victim-centered Standard Operational Procedures 
(SOP) mandate the police to treat all women discovered during 
raids as potential TIP victims, even if they claim to be 
acting with consent.  The SOP also require the police to 
offer assistance to those victims. 
 
--The use of a new police manual on TIP, and the 
participation of joint NGO-GOM teams in raids and victim 
interviews, led to a doubling of the number of potential 
victims accepting shelter assistance. 
 
--The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) operated 27 
social work centers to identify and support potential 
victims.  Two new databases -- one for TIP perpetrators 
operated by the Ministry of Interior (MOI), and one for TIP 
victims operated by the MLSP -- led to better data 
collection, organization and reporting. 
 
TOUGHER CRIMINAL CODE SANCTIONS, BETTER VICTIM PROTECTION 
 
¶8. (SBU) In January 2008, Parliament adopted the proposal of 
the Prime Minister's office for amendments to the Criminal 
Code to stiffen TIP-related sanctions, which brought 
Macedonian legislation into full compliance with the UN 
Palermo Convention against TIP. 
 
--A new Law on Foreigners gives residence permits for up to 
10 months to foreign victims of TIP. 
 
MORE RESOURCES FOR COMBATING AND PREVENTING TIP 
 
¶9. (SBU) The GOM put increasingly more institutional 
resources into combating TIP.  In the period March 2007-March 
2008, the GOM distributed approximately Euros 50,000 to five 
TIP-related NGOs and for a range of related TIP assistance 
(i.e. GOM experts working with NGOs; victim repatriations; 
provision of per diems and travel costs to GOM employees 
working with NGOs on TIP, etc.). 
 
--High-level GOM involvement emphasized the government's 
commitment to combating TIP.  In December 2007, the Minister 
of Interior accepted Post's 2007-2008 seven-point action plan 
on TIP and in February 2008, the Prime Minister, the 
Ministers of Interior, Justice, and Labor and Social Policy 
participated in the televised official launching of the new 
TIP SOPs (see para 4 above). 
 
NO NEW CASES OF OFFICIAL COMPLICITY IN TIP; PROSECUTION OF 
OLDER CASES 
 
¶10. (SBU) There was no evidence, and no allegations by 
domestic or international NGOs, of official complicity in any 
TIP-related cases during the reporting period.  Macedonia 
maintained a strong record of prosecuting past official 
complicity in TIP and smuggling-related cases. 
 
--In May 2007, an appeals court confirmed the sentences of 
two policemen who had been sentenced on migrant smuggling 
charges in November 2006. 
 
--In March 2008, an Investigative Judge started preparing to 
prosecute the case of five policemen and one MOJ official for 
attempting to smuggle migrants in January 2007. 
 
 
SKOPJE 00000304  003 OF 003 
 
 
--The GOM's efforts to attack overall corruption resulted in 
a 21 positive jump in Transparency International's 2007 
corruption rating.  In the period March 2007-March 2008, 
Macedonia prosecuted 20 cases of official (non-TIP related) 
corruption, charging 128 persons and sentencing nine of those 
persons to four years or more in prison. 
 
GOM SUPPORT FOR TIP PREVENTION AND DEMAND REDUCTION 
 
¶11. (SBU) The GOM took concrete actions on TIP prevention and 
demand reduction. 
 
--The January 2008 amendments to the Criminal Code 
criminalize the actions of sexual service users, who "knew, 
or had every reason to know" that a sex service provider was 
a TIP victim. 
 
--Border police and NGO representatives distributed anti-TIP 
materials, while the MLSP, with OSCE financial support, 
launched the anti-TIP media campaign "It's Simple" in 
November 2007. 
 
--The Macedonian Ministry of Health and the GOM's National 
Committee on HIV/AIDS, together with a local NGO, worked with 
clients of sex workers, distributing materials about the 
health and legal consequences of using the services of 
commercial sex workers who could be TIP victims. 
 
--Macedonia does not contribute more than 100 soldiers to 
peacekeeping or other similar missions abroad, but in 
December 2007, the Ministry of Defense began "Force 
Protection" training that includes anti-TIP training for its 
combat forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. 
 
STRONG INTERNATIONAL ANTI-TIP COOPERATION 
 
¶12. (SBU) A willing partner in our shared efforts to combat 
TIP, the GOM has shown complete support for and understanding 
of the problem of trafficking-in-persons. 
 
--The National Commission for Combating TIP Secretary's 
openness to the international community has resulted in 
unprecedented IC access to information on TIP raids and 
prosecutions.  For the first time ever, IC representatives 
participated in every session of the National Commission. 
 
--Macedonia is markedly less hospitable to traffickers today 
than in the previous reporting period.  Our colleagues in IOM 
and OSCE agree with us that the GOM's anti-TIP efforts 
warrant positive recognition of the gains Macedonia has made 
in fighting internal and external trafficking. 
NAVRATIL