VZCZCXRO0642
RR RUEHAT
DE RUEHC #1994/01 2951712
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211705Z OCT 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 3559
INFO RUEHAT/AMCONSUL AMSTERDAM 2137

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 111994 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KWMN KTIP PHUM PREL SMIG NL
SUBJECT: THE NETHERLANDS: TIP ACTION GUIDE TO COMBAT TIP 
(2008-2009) 
 
REF: 10-15-08 BUCKNEBERG-SMITH EMAIL 
 
¶1.  This is an action request (see para 5). 
 
¶2.  The 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report rates countries as 
Tier 2 when host governments are not meeting the minimum 
standards to combat trafficking in persons (TIP) as defined 
by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), but are 
making significant efforts to do so.  Remaining on Tier 2, 
however, is not guaranteed; governments must continue to 
combat TIP and especially address areas that need further 
work.  All Tier 2 countries will move to Tier 1 if and when 
they evidence satisfaction of all of the minimum standards. 
Tier 2 countries are also subject to slipping to Tier 2 Watch 
List or Tier 3 if they do not continue to make significant 
efforts to meet the minimum standards from one year to the 
next. 
 
¶3.  Please keep in mind the TIP Report measures host 
government efforts.  To be useful for tier placement 
purposes, there should be a concrete role or tangible 
value-added by a host government in activities by NGOs, 
international organizations, or posts. 
 
¶4.  The following explains steps the government needs to take 
in order to fully comply with the Minimum Standards for the 
elimination of trafficking, and therefore qualify for a Tier 
1 ranking, and offers suggestions to address specific areas 
of concern highlighted in the 2008 TIP Report.  Legal 
standards are excerpted from the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act, as amended.  Implementation Principles are 
excerpted from guidance issued in 07 State 150188 (October 
29, 2007) and are not specific to any country or region. 
Country specific points are not exhaustive, but offer steps 
and possible ways to address specific areas of concern.  The 
Department assesses government efforts each year.  All 
governments must show concrete evidence of serious and 
sustained efforts in eliminating severe forms of trafficking 
from the previous year.  Tier ranking determinations will be 
based on the government,s efforts to comply with the Minimum 
Standards to Combat TIP during the April 2008 - March 2009 
reporting period. 
 
¶5.  Begin action request:  Post is requested to explain to 
the host government the areas of specific concern noted in 
the TIP Report and why the government failed to meet the 
minimum standards (and thus did not meet the requirements for 
Tier 1 placement).  Post may offer steps in para 6 to the 
host government as possible ways to address specific areas of 
concern.  While the list is not exhaustive, it should focus 
the host government on deficiencies in meeting the minimum 
standards and examples of ways to overcome them.  As every 
year, the Department will weigh the government,s level of 
support and participation in reported activities, as well as 
the efficacy and sustainability of government actions, in 
light of its resources and capabilities. 
 
Begin Action Guide and internal numbering. 
 
¶1. Legal Framework: The government should criminally prohibit 
TIP and punish such acts. 
 
(A) For TIP crimes, punishment should be prescribed that is 
commensurate with that for grave crimes, such as forcible 
sexual assault. 
 
(B) For TIP crimes, punishment should be prescribed that is 
sufficiently stringent to deter and that adequately reflects 
the heinous nature of the offense. 
 
Implementation Guideline: At minimum, governments must 
criminalize and prescribe penalties for all forms of 
trafficking relevant in the country, including forced labor. 
This must include the elements of "severe forms of 
trafficking in persons" -- force, fraud, and coercion. 
Although desirable, this need not be accomplished through a 
comprehensive law, so long as relevant elements of 
trafficking, specifically including fraud/deception and 
coercion along with force, are covered by the country's laws. 
 Sanctions for sex trafficking should be on par with rape. 
The prescribed penalties for sex trafficking crimes or 
trafficking involving rape, kidnapping or death should be 
substantially similar to those for rape, taking into account 
the full range of sentences available.  Consistent with the 
UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, criminal 
penalties to meet this standard should include a maximum of 
at least four years deprivation of liberty, or a more severe 
 
STATE 00111994  002 OF 005 
 
 
penalty. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was in full compliance as 
reported in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained: 
 
-- Since January 2005, the Netherlands has prohibited all 
forms of trafficking through Criminal Code Article 273, which 
prescribes penalties for any form of trafficking of six to 15 
years, imprisonment and fines of up to $67,500. These 
penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with 
those prescribed for rape. 
 
¶2. Prosecution and other Law Enforcement Efforts:  The 
government should show serious and sustained efforts to 
combat TIP by vigorously investigating and prosecuting TIP 
acts, and convicting and sentencing persons responsible for 
such acts. 
 
(A) The government must provide data regarding 
investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, 
consistent with its capacity to do so, or it shall be 
presumed not to have vigorously investigated, prosecuted, 
convicted or sentenced such acts. 
 
Implementation Guideline: All governments, consistent with 
their capacity to do so, are required to submit full 
comprehensive data on trafficking enforcement actions, 
including length of sentences actually imposed on convicted 
traffickers, as evidence of their vigorous law enforcement 
efforts.  Imposed sentences should involve significant jail 
time, with a majority of cases resulting in sentences on the 
order of one year imprisonment or more, but taking into 
account the severity of an individual's involvement in 
trafficking, imposed sentences for other grave crimes, and 
the judiciary's right to hand down  punishments consistent 
with that country's laws. Convictions obtained under other 
criminal laws and statutes can be counted as trafficking if 
the government verifies that they involve trafficking 
offenses. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was fully compliant as reported 
in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained and/or exceeded: 
 
-- The Government of the Netherlands continued to show 
substantial law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking. In 
2006, the last year for which statistics are available, 
police investigated and referred 201 sex trafficking cases 
for prosecution, an increase from 138 investigations in 2005. 
The public prosecutor prosecuted 216 sex trafficking cases, 
an increase from 138 in 2005, and obtained 90 convictions of 
trafficking offenders in 2006. The average prison sentence 
imposed was approximately 27 months, imprisonment, and 
five-and-a-half years, imprisonment in cases involving 
sexual violence. 
 
-- The College of Attorneys-General is investigating whether 
judges are systematically giving appropriate sentences in 
trafficking cases. 
 
-- In 2008, one labor trafficking case led to a conviction 
with a three-year prison term. Nine labor trafficking 
investigations are ongoing. 
 
Recommended measures to ensure that the country continues to 
fully comply with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Continue to review sufficiency of sentences in trafficking 
cases. 
 
-- Continue to explore ways to improve prosecution of labor 
trafficking cases. 
 
-- Consider closer collaboration with the Netherlands 
Antilles and Aruba on enhancing overall anti-trafficking 
efforts. 
 
¶3. Victim Protection and Assistance:  The government should 
demonstrate serious and sustained efforts to combat TIP by 
protecting TIP victims and encouraging their assistance in 
the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers. 
Protection should include: 
 
(A) provisions for legal alternatives to victims, removal to 
countries in which they would face retribution or hardship. 
 
(B) ensuring that victims are not inappropriately 
incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalized solely for 
unlawful acts that were committed as a direct result of being 
 
STATE 00111994  003 OF 005 
 
 
trafficked. 
 
Implementation Guideline: Critical factors considered in 
whether a country fully satisfies this part of the minimum 
standards are: (1) Formal, systematic screening procedures 
that proactively identify victims and guide law enforcement 
and other front line responders in the process of victim 
identification.  (2) Shelter, health care, and counseling 
should be available to victims, allowing them to recount 
their trafficking experience to trained social counselors and 
law enforcement at a pace with minimal pressure.  Shelter and 
care may be provided in cooperation with NGOs, but part of 
the government,s responsibility includes funding and 
referral to NGOs providing services; to the best extent 
possible, trafficking victims should not be held in 
immigration detention centers, or other detention facilities. 
 Factors also considered and strongly recommended for 
favorable placement are: (1) Victim/witness protection, 
rights and confidentiality; i.e., governments should ensure 
that victims are provided with legal and other assistance and 
that, consistent with its domestic law, proceedings are not 
prejudicial to victims' rights, dignity or psychological 
well-being; and that victims are provided information in a 
language they understand.  (2) Source and destination 
countries share responsibility in ensuring the safe, humane 
and, to the extent possible, voluntary 
repatriation/reintegration for victims.  At a minimum, 
destination countries should contact a competent governmental 
body, NGO or IO in relevant source country to ensure that 
trafficked persons who return to their country of origin are 
provided with assistance and support necessary to their 
well-being. Trafficking victims should not be subjected to 
deportations or forced returns without safeguards or other 
measures to reduce the risk of hardship, retribution, or 
re-trafficking. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was fully compliant as reported 
in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained and/or exceeded: 
 
-- The government demonstrated increased efforts to protect 
trafficking victims. In 2007, the government registered 716 
victims, up from 579 victims in 2006. 
 
-- Dutch authorities provided a temporary residence mechanism 
to allow trafficking victims and witnesses to stay in the 
Netherlands during the investigation and prosecution of their 
traffickers; this included a reflection period of three 
months for victims to consider pressing charges. During this 
period, the government provides victims with legal, 
financial, and psychological assistance, including shelter 
(in facilities that also serve victims of domestic violence), 
medical care, social security benefits, and education 
financing. In October 2007, the Justice Ministry further 
eased requirements for trafficking victims to obtain 
temporary and permanent residence permits. 
 
-- The government opened two shelters for male victims in 
¶2007. In December 2007, the government raised the budget for 
protection of trafficking victims and plans to expand shelter 
capacity and create additional separate shelters for men.  In 
May 2007, the city of Amsterdam opened a special trafficking 
coordination center to facilitate NGO-police communication 
and shelter up to 10 women or girls.  Since 2007, the 
government has placed single, underage asylum seekers at 
secret locations under police supervision and provided 
intensive counseling to prevent them from being trafficked. 
 
-- Victims are not penalized for unlawful acts committed as a 
direct result of being trafficked. 
 
-- The Dutch Foreign Ministry provides roughly $3.75 million 
per year to fund international anti-trafficking and victim 
protection programs, particularly in principal victim source 
countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, and Nigeria. 
 
Recommended measures to ensure that the country continues to 
fully comply with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Evaluate why many reported trafficking victims decline to 
assist in the prosecution of their traffickers, and whether 
additional government measures would encourage more victims 
to do so 
 
-- Continue efforts to proactively identify trafficking 
victims in the legalized prostitution sector 
 
¶4. Prevention:  The government should demonstrate serious and 
sustained efforts to combat TIP by adopting measures to 
prevent TIP.  Measures such as: 
 
 
STATE 00111994  004 OF 005 
 
 
(A) steps to inform and educate the public, including 
potential victims, about the causes and consequences of TIP, 
 
(B) measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and 
for participation in international sex tourism by nationals 
of the country, 
 
(C) measures to ensure that its nationals who are deployed 
abroad as part of a peacekeeping or other similar mission do 
not engage in or facilitate severe forms of trafficking in 
persons or exploit victims of such trafficking, 
 
(D) measures to prevent the use of forced labor or child 
labor in violation of international standards. 
 
Implementation Guideline: The government should provide/fund 
a hotline or similar mechanism that offers victims and 
potential victims assistance/information about TIP.  Per the 
new amendments to the Minimum Standards, starting with the 
April 2007- March 2008 reporting period to be covered in the 
2008 TIP Report, countries should, for example where 
applicable: (1) Reduce demand for commercial sex acts: 
Implement or support some form of visible awareness campaign 
that educates the clients of the sex trade (and potential sex 
trafficking victims) if the country has a significant sex 
trafficking problem, or a campaign that targets those who 
form the demand for victims of forced labor about the nature 
of the relevant form of TIP.  Nations with legalized 
prostitution should make additional efforts to proactively 
identify TIP victims among those in prostitution in the 
legalized sex trade. This includes the systematic and 
sensitive screening of persons in the legalized sex trade. 
(2) Address child sex tourism: Countries that have a 
significant number of nationals traveling abroad as child sex 
tourists should undertake an awareness campaign that targets 
tourists traveling to known child sex tourism destinations. 
(3) Address trafficking and exploitation committed by 
multinational peacekeepers:  Governments with more than 100 
troops on peacekeeping or other similar missions abroad 
should provide anti-TIP training for these troops (directly 
or through multilateral efforts), and should investigate and, 
if appropriate, prosecute any allegations of trafficking 
crimes or crimes of facilitating trafficking or exploiting 
trafficking victims committed by these troops abroad and 
referred to it by the UN or another competent organization. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was fully compliant as reported 
in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained and/or exceeded: 
 
-- The Netherlands demonstrated strong trafficking 
awareness-raising efforts during the year. In January 2008, 
the government renewed its multimedia campaign targeted at 
sex trade &clients,8 women in prostitution, and others 
encouraging them to report signs of trafficking to an 
anonymous tip line. The government sponsored an initiative to 
combat trafficking by placing anti-trafficking public service 
announcements on a website frequented by men seeking women in 
prostitution. Beginning in 2008, the Social Ministry,s Labor 
Inspectorate will screen brothels to check for signs of 
exploitation in addition to the regular screening conducted 
by specially trained police units. In 2007, the Justice 
Ministry expanded an agreement with the Dutch newspaper 
association committing newspapers to require escort services 
to include their business license or Value Added Tax numbers 
in ads for sexual services. In December 2007, Amsterdam Mayor 
Cohen presented a plan to &get rid of the underlying 
criminality8 of the red light district that would restrict 
brothels to a smaller area, exclude pimps from the district, 
and tighten permit requirements for brothel and escort 
service operators, to include criminal background 
investigations. 
 
-- A high level task force on combating trafficking chaired 
by the attorney general responsible for trafficking 
prosecution policy was inaugurated in 2008. 
 
-- The Dutch military provides training to all military 
personnel on the prevention of trafficking and sexual 
exploitation and additional training on recognizing 
trafficking victims for Dutch troops being deployed abroad 
for duty as international peacekeepers. Dutch military 
personnel serving abroad are prohibited from patronizing sex 
trade establishments. 
 
-- Dutch military police have a protocol to identify and 
detain passengers at Dutch airports suspected of child sex 
tourism. In 2008, the government committed approximately 
$780,000 over three years to an ECPAT project to implement a 
code of conduct for tourism operators in destination 
countries to prevent child sex tourism. The government also 
 
STATE 00111994  005 OF 005 
 
 
provides funds to ECPAT to show in-flight videos on flights 
from Amsterdam to popular holiday destinations warning 
travelers that child sex tourism is prosecutable in the 
destination country as well as in the Netherlands. 
 
Recommended measures to ensure that the country continues to 
fully comply with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Continue anti-trafficking awareness initiatives aimed at 
educating clients of the commercial sex trade about the 
causes and consequences of trafficking. 
 
¶5. Corruption and Official Complicity:  The government should 
vigorously investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence 
public officials who participate in or facilitate TIP, and 
take all appropriate measures against officials who condone 
such trafficking. 
 
(A) This should include nationals of the country who are 
deployed abroad as part of a peacekeeping or other similar 
mission who engage in or facilitate severe forms of 
trafficking in persons or exploit victims of such trafficking. 
 
(B) The government must provide data regarding such 
investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, or 
it shall be presumed not to have vigorously investigated, 
prosecuted, convicted, or sentenced such acts. 
 
Implementation Principle: Governments, consistent with their 
capacity to do so, must provide full comprehensive data on 
actions taken against TIP related complicity.  Information on 
general government corruption does 
not satisfy this minimum standard, except in cases in which 
specific cases of complicity are not reported by the 
government or known to the USG, but where there is a 
reasonable probability of such complicity within the wider 
context of generalized corruption in that country. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  There were no specific cases of complicity 
reported by the government in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Recommendation for measures to ensure that the country fully 
complies with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute 
trafficking-related corruption at all levels of law 
enforcement.  Share comprehensive data on investigations, 
prosecutions, and convictions of complicit officials, and the 
lengths of sentences imposed on those convicted, if specific 
cases of complicity have occurred. 
 
End Action Guide and internal numbering. 
 
¶6.  The Department appreciates Post,s continued efforts to 
address trafficking in persons issues. 
RICE