VZCZCXRO8232
OO RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHNE #3058/01 3390938
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 040938Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4516
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI IMMEDIATE 3918
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA IMMEDIATE 3157
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI IMMEDIATE 2979

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 003058 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TO MARK TAYLOR IN G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IN KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL PTER SOCI KTIP
SUBJECT: INDIA: TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT 
 
REF: A. STATE 109260 
     ¶B. NEW DELHI 3015 
 
NEW DELHI 00003058  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Per request in Ref A, below is post's submission for the TIP 
interim assessment: 
 
Prosecutions 
------------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Criminal prosecutions against individuals for 
trafficking offenses remain a challenge in India, due to 
several inherent problems.  Law and order is a state 
responsibility per the Indian constitution, which makes it 
difficult for the central government to intervene to enforce 
laws effectively.  The police continue to be a weak link 
since they are underpaid, spread thin, lack awareness of 
trafficking, and operate within a culture where most people 
have little respect for the law.  Conducting prosecutions and 
obtaining convictions are further hampered since witnesses 
are often reluctant to testify because they are bribed or 
fear for their safety. (See Ref B).  However, things are 
beginning to change. 
 
¶2. (SBU) According to Ministry of Labour and Employment Joint 
Secretary Siddharth Dev Verman, the GOI initiated 77,617 
prosecutions and obtained 22,657 convictions over the past 
ten years for violations of the Child Labor law.  The GOI is 
planning to create 297 anti-human trafficking units over a 
period of four years with an investment of approximately 
$18.64 million U.S.  The nationwide effort is based upon the 
successful joint GOI/USG/UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 
pilot project that trained and sensitized law enforcement 
officials in five target states.  The GOI will also train 
6894 police personnel on anti-human trafficking issues at 
both the central and state levels. 
 
Centralized Law Enforcement Authority 
------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Although the Ministry of Women and Child Development 
(MWCD) remains the nodal agency on TIP issues, several other 
GOI ministries maintain significant roles and possess heavier 
clout under Indian law.  The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) 
is responsible for law enforcement regarding TIP.  The 
Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) retains control over 
all aspects of TIP and labor, while the Ministry of Overseas 
Indian Affairs (MOIA) has jurisdiction over issues pertaining 
to emigration and exploitation of Indian nationals outside of 
India.  Coordination across the various Indian agencies 
remains a challenge, especially since the GOI lacks an 
established and strong interagency process. 
 
¶4.  (U) The Ministry of Home Affairs created a "nodal cell" 
in 2006 to coordinate anti-TIP law enforcement activities on 
behalf of the GOI, and convenes periodic meetings with state 
officials on trafficking.  Although we continue to urge the 
GOI to expand that cell, it has not done so thus far. 
Historically, the GOI requires time and sustained efforts to 
be able to develop a consensus within the Indian bureaucracy 
and move forward with a new approach regarding any particular 
issue. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The MHA is also responsible for countering 
terrorism; its top leadership has been understandably focused 
on improving GOI coordination against terrorism over the past 
several years in response to continuing terrorist strikes on 
Indian soil.  Despite the constant terrorist threat to 
India's national security, the GOI has still not created a 
federal counter-terrorism entity to coordinate nationwide and 
among states. (Note. In the wake of the unprecedented Mumbai 
terrorist strikes, the media reports the GOI plans to 
establish a federal entity focused on combating terrorism.) 
As is the case in most nations, trafficking---unlike 
terrorism---is not perceived as a national security threat. 
Thus, one should not be surprised the GOI has not been able 
to make as much progress on this issue as we would like. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Ministry of Women and Child Development is 
creating a National Missing Children Tracking System to 
assist in the return of missing, runaway, abducted, or 
trafficked children to their families.  This system will link 
India's 28 state capitals.  The MWCD is also producing a 
website that various users---NGOs, police, and the general 
public---can access to help locate and return missing 
children.  The MWCD included the website's creation as part 
of the ministry's Child Protection Scheme in the GOI's 11th 
Five-Year Plan (2007-2012) that is currently being 
implemented. This website will become operational by the 
 
NEW DELHI 00003058  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
beginning of 2009. 
 
Law Enforcement Efforts 
------------- 
 
¶7. (U) During the interim period of July 1 to December 31, 
two prominent cases of trafficking illustrate the GOI's 
growing law enforcement focus on the problem.  In September 
2008, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) quickly 
ordered an inquiry after reports surfaced of girls from 
northeastern India being trafficked to Malaysia for sex work. 
 An Imphal-based travel agent lured the girls with promises 
of well-paid jobs in Singapore.  Instead, traffickers sold 
them to a club in Kuala Lumpur.  After the MOIA alerted 
Indian embassies in Singapore and Malaysia, embassy officials 
promptly rescued the girls and paid for their repatriation to 
India.  The GOI arrested the travel agent in Imphal and has 
recognized that the North-East is emerging as a 
source-transit-destination point for trafficking of women and 
children. 
 
¶8. (U) On October 30, a New Delhi city court sentenced Mr. 
Chander Shekhar, a former employee of the non-governmental 
organization Prayas, to two years in jail after he was 
convicted of child trafficking.  The Delhi police arrested 
Shekhar in September 2006 after a television journalist 
exposed the trafficking racket by catching Shekhar on camera 
agreeing to sell three children for 30,000 rupees 
(approximately $600 U.S.) to gold smugglers. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) 
continues to make concerted efforts against trafficking of 
children for labor.  In May 2008, The Ministry issued a 
"Protocol on Prevention, Rescue, Repatriation and 
Rehabilitation of Trafficked and Migrant Child Labour," that 
seeks to provide practical guidelines to key stakeholders on 
crucial issues relating to trafficked and migrant child 
labor.  MOLE plans to hold four regional workshops in 
December to disseminate information on the new protocol, 
which calls for each district in India to create a taskforce. 
 
¶10. (U) Responding to a question raised in Parliament on 
October 22, 2008, Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar 
Fernandes stated during the period April 2007 to March 2008, 
716 bonded laborers had been rescued and rehabilitated from 
the states of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya 
Pradesh, and Haryana. 
 
Other Significant Developments 
------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) 
is also making vigorous efforts to combat trafficking.  In a 
meeting with Poloff on October 31, 2008, Joint Secretary 
Manjula Krishnan stressed that the ministry is committed to 
being proactive and thinking "out-of-the box." MWCD has 
explored public-private partnerships as one way to help 
industries ensure labor is not exploitative and provide for 
rehabilitative training and upgrading of workers' skills. 
Krishnan stated she has already visited Sweden and the United 
Kingdom to look at their models, and expressed interest in 
the State Department's Corporate Social Responsibility 
program.  In addition to the Swadhar Scheme that provides 
shelter and support to women in distress, MWCD has initiated 
Ujjawala a comprehensive new plan for the prevention, rescue, 
rehabilitation, and reintegration of trafficking victims. 
Since August 2008, MWCD has provided the four states of 
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland approximately 
12,135,900 rupees (approximately $242,718 U.S.) for a total 
of 18 projects at 12 rehabilitation centers. 
 
¶12. (U) MOLE continues to expand the list of occupations and 
activities that are banned from employing children.  In 
September 2008, MOLE added nine items including diving, 
mechanized fishing, food processing, timber handling, 
processes involving exposure to free silica. 
 
¶13. (SBU) The Indian cabinet is considering amendments to the 
Prevention of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), 1965 
that widen its scope, focus on traffickers, and make 
implementation more effective.  Major amendments include 
deletion of sections that provide punishment for seducing or 
soliciting for purpose of prostitution and that pertain to 
removal of a prostitute from any place.  The MWCD proposed 
the amendments in light of the fact that women and children 
involved in prostitution are victims of trafficking, and 
charging them under the currently worded sections 
re-victimizes them.  The delay in introduction of the 
 
NEW DELHI 00003058  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
amendments to Parliament is partly due to differing views 
within the cabinet.  According to Krishnan, the Ministry of 
Health is concerned that one amendment which criminalizes 
demand will have an adverse impact on the GOI's HIV/AIDS 
programs.  There are also some outstanding legal issues. 
 
 
Comment 
-------- 
 
¶14. (SBU) Although comprising a single political unit and 
nation state, India is as culturally and linguistically 
diverse as all the nations of Europe put together.  Varying 
economic levels, religious backgrounds, social and caste 
divisions, and the central government's relative weakness in 
comparison to states on the subject of law and order add 
further complications and challenges to GOI efforts to 
effectively combat trafficking in persons.  We must 
acknowledge the complex context and reality within which the 
GOI operates. 
 
¶15. (SBU) In the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the 
GOI coalition government faces upcoming parliamentary 
elections to be held by May 2009 in a seriously weakened 
position.  At best, we expect the GOI to make continued 
progress at a slow and steady pace rather than through 
well-coordinated interagency efforts aimed at quickly 
achieving uniform progress across the breadth and length of 
India. 
MULFORD