VZCZCXRO9025
RR RUEHFL RUEHNP
DE RUEHC #2279/01 3522139
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 172130Z DEC 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 8952
INFO RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE 1470
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN 5354
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES 1470

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 132279 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KWMN KTIP PHUM PREL SMIG IT
SUBJECT: ITALY: TIP ACTION GUIDE TO COMBAT TIP (2008-2009) 
 
REF: 11/21/08 JESTER-BROWNFELD EMAIL OF FINAL 
     ELECTRONIC VERSION 
 
¶1.  This is an action request (see para 5). 
 
¶2.  The 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report rates countries as 
Tier 1 when host governments are fully meeting the minimum 
standards to combat trafficking in persons (TIP) as defined 
by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).  Remaining 
on Tier 1, however, is not guaranteed; governments must 
continue to demonstrate appreciable progress and continued 
full compliance with the minimum standards.  All countries 
will be reassessed annually to determine whether they 
evidence satisfaction of all of the minimum standards. Tier 1 
countries are subject to slipping to Tier 2 if they do not 
fully comply with the minimum standards, but do continue to 
show significant efforts. 
 
¶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 continue to fully comply with the Minimum 
Standards for the elimination of trafficking, and therefore 
qualify for a continued 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:  At post,s discretion, post may 
draw upon the below to explain the areas of specific concern 
noted in the TIP Report and suggested areas to continue to 
fully comply with the minimum standards (and thus continued 
Tier 1 placement).  Post may offer and/or follow up on the 
steps below as possible ways to address specific areas of 
concern highlighted in the 2008 TIP Report.  While the list 
is not exhaustive, it should focus the host government on 
potential 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 
 
STATE 00132279  002 OF 005 
 
 
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 penalty. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was in full compliance as 
reported in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained: 
 
-- Italy prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons 
through its 2003 Measures Against Trafficking in Persons law, 
which prescribes penalties of eight to 20 years, 
imprisonment.  These penalties are sufficiently stringent and 
commensurate with penalties prescribed for forcible sexual 
assault. 
 
¶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 Italy continued its strong law 
enforcement efforts in 2007.  In a major prosecution in April 
2007, the government sentenced four Italians and three 
Romanian traffickers to between three and 12 years, 
imprisonment after they were convicted for the forced 
prostitution and exploitation of 200 Roma children between 
2004 and 2006.  In June 2007, the government prosecuted eight 
other perpetrators on charges of sexually exploiting children 
for coercing them into performing sexual acts in exchange for 
small gifts.  Government investigations resulting from the 
previously reported large-scale anti-trafficking crackdown, 
Operation Spartacus,between October 2006 and January 2007 are 
reportedly still ongoing.  Italian prosecutors launched 
trafficking investigations against 1,202 individuals, 
prosecuted 80 trafficking cases, and courts convicted 163 
traffickers in 2007.  The average sentence was four years. 
The government reported that most traffickers remain in 
detention during the criminal proceedings.  For sentences of 
more than two years, defendants are not eligible for 
suspended sentences.  The government continued its 
prosecution of 19 traffickers from a 2006 case involving the 
trafficking of 113 Polish tomato pickers in Puglia who were 
exploited in forced labor conditions, and will begin to 
prosecute an additional four perpetrators in early 2008. 
¶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 
trafficked. 
 
Implementation Guideline:  Critical factors considered in 
whether a country fully satisfies this part of the minimum 
standards are: (1) Formal, systematic screening procedures 
 
STATE 00132279  003 OF 005 
 
 
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 an appropriate 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 Italian government sustained strong efforts to protect 
trafficking victims during the reporting period.  Article 18 
of the anti-trafficking law allows authorities to grant 
residence permits and provide protection and job training 
services to victims of trafficking, and during the reporting 
period the government expanded Article 18 benefits to labor 
trafficking victims.  The government allocated $3.75 million 
in 2007 for an additional emergency assistance plan and 
approved 23 projects implemented by NGOs.  During the 
reporting period, it earmarked approximately $9.75 million 
for 65 victim assistance projects, although the government 
did not provide data on the number of trafficking victims who 
benefited from these projects or the number who entered 
social protection programs.  In 2007, NGOs, with government 
funding, provided literacy courses for 588 victims and 
vocational training for 313, helped 436 find temporary jobs 
and 907 find permanent jobs.  In 2007, the Ministry of 
Interior issued 1,009 residence permits to victims who 
assisted in a law enforcement investigation.  The government 
also ensured the responsible return of 62 foreign trafficking 
victims in 2007 by funding their repatriation and 
reintegration and providing money for resettlement in their 
home countries.  During the reporting period, the government 
implemented systematic procedures for victim identification 
among vulnerable populations in Italy.  Based on a 2006 
independent commission report that its victim identification 
measures for immigrants arriving in boats from North Africa 
were not fully effective, the government reportedly improved 
its process for identifying trafficking victims and it now 
allows international organizations and NGOs to inspect 
detention facilities and to interview migrants.  In 2007, the 
government enacted guidelines for the identification of 
victims of forced labor and promoted four regional studies on 
victims of labor exploitation. 
 
Recommendation for measures to ensure that the country fully 
complies with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Increase outreach to women and children in prostitution 
and those in detention centers to ensure that trafficking 
victims are identified, provided care, and not penalized for 
crimes committed as a result of being trafficked. 
 
¶4. Prevention:  The government should demonstrate serious and 
sustained efforts to combat TIP by adopting measures to 
prevent TIP, such as: 
 
(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, 
 
 
STATE 00132279  004 OF 005 
 
 
(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 Government of Italy continued to educate the Italian 
public about trafficking through its funding of NGO awareness 
efforts, and it initiated a new ad campaign in 2007 that 
included TV spots, internet banners, and bumper stickers in 
various languages.  In March 2007, the Ministry of Interior 
established a committee designed to improve oversight and 
prosecution of trafficking and invited NGOs into the policy 
making process by including their membership on this 
committee.  The Ministry of Interior is in the planning stage 
of a public awareness campaign, with several other countries, 
to reduce demand for commercial sex acts and raise awareness 
about human trafficking called project Pentametro.  The 
Italian Ministry of Defense reported regularly organizes 
training sessions on human rights and trafficking for both 
civilians and military personnel who serve in international 
peacekeeping missions abroad.  The government contributed 
funding to the NGO ECPAT, which conducts child sex tourism 
prevention activities in Italy.  In February 2007, police 
arrested a university professor in Naples for committing 
child sex tourism offenses while in Thailand. 
 
Recommendation for measures to ensure that the country fully 
complies with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Further expand public awareness campaigns aimed at 
reducing domestic demand for commercial sex acts and take 
steps to prevent Italian nationals from engaging in child sex 
tourism abroad. 
 
¶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 
 
STATE 00132279  005 OF 005 
 
 
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:  The government was fully compliant as reported 
in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained and/or exceeded: 
 
-- After local Italian police were initially slow to respond 
to the Puglia tomato pickers, case, prosecutors and 
Carabinieri vigorously investigated allegations of official 
complicity when notified and found no evidence to support the 
allegations. 
 
Information for further follow-up: 
 
-- According to an NGO based in Genoa working with Nigerian 
victims of trafficking, some government officials have been 
imprisoned for facilitating trafficking. 
 
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