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RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0100
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RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0298
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 ATHENS 000203 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR G/TIP, G-ACBlank, EUR/SE, EUR/PGI, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KTIP PREF ASEC KCRM KFRD KWMN SMIG ELAB GR
SUBJECT:  Greece: 2009 TIP Report Submission - Part 1 of 4 
 
REF: 08 STATE 132759 
 
¶1.  (U) This document is Sensitive But Unclassified. 
Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (U) This is the first of four cables.  After the 
Summary, the cable text is keyed to REFTEL paragraphs 23 
(THE COUNTRY'S TIP SITUATION) and 24 (SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE 
GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS). 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Government of Greece made significant domestic, 
regional, and international efforts to combat Trafficking in 
Persons (TIP) in 2008-09.  Greek law enforcement statistics 
for 2008 show that the government arrested 162 traffickers 
(41 more than the previous year), investigated 40 trafficking 
cases (one fewer than the previous year), identified 78 victims 
of trafficking (22 fewer than the previous year), and provided 
protection and assistance to 36 victims (one more than the previous 
year).  Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international 
organizations (IOs), many of whom receive government funding and 
training support, reported providing assistance to at least 657 
trafficking victims.  The Anti-Trafficking Unit, part of the 
Organized Crime Division of the Hellenic Police, spearheaded 
multiple successful operations, tackling major human trafficking 
rings throughout the country. 
 
Greece strengthened efforts to raise awareness about trafficking 
and demonstrated increased political will on tackling TIP. 
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyiannis publicly stated that 
combating TIP was a priority, and the government partnered with 
UNICEF on a major public awareness campaign on the trafficking of 
children.  The government resumed interministerial cooperation on 
TIP and formed a new working-level task force coordinated by the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).  The MFA, the Ministry of 
Justice (MOJ), and the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM) began work on a comprehensive trafficking database to 
enhance the government's collection and dissemination of law 
enforcement, judicial, and victim-related statistics. 
 
The government continued to support numerous programs to prevent 
trafficking and address the needs of TIP victims, funding public 
and private shelters, legal aid, counseling, and health services. 
In 2008, the Government of Greece reported funding at least 
2,671,207 euro (3,740,000 USD) for anti-trafficking efforts, a 43 
percent increase from the 1,869,100 euro reported for the previous 
year.  Of the 2008 funding, 1,739,421 euro (2,435,000 USD) was 
provided by the MFA and Hellenic Aid, 486,786.20 euro 
(681,500 USD) was provided by the Secretariat for Gender Equality 
(Ministry of Interior), and the remaining 445,000 euro 
(623,000 USD) was provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. 
The Director of Hellenic Aid stated that anti-trafficking 
projects would continue to be a priority for 2009. (NOTE: Please 
protect all funding data.  END NOTE.) 
 
Despite numerous successes, problem areas still remain.  Victim 
identification procedures, especially among front-line Border 
Police, Coast Guard, and "vice squad" officers, need to be 
strengthened.  Greek courts, especially at the appeals level, 
need to reduce the number of suspended sentences given to 
traffickers and complicit officials and make sure jail time is 
served.  Obtaining statistics on many TIP-related indicators 
continues to be challenging.  The Greek Parliament ratified 
a Child Repatriation Agreement with Albania in July 2008; however, 
implementation of the agreement has been slow.  Greece has signed 
but still has not ratified the Council of Europe's Convention 
on Action against Trafficking. 
 
Based on the Greek government's clear progress on combating TIP 
but also its need for continued improvement, it is the Embassy's 
judgment that Greece should be assessed a Tier Two ranking.  We 
look forward to harnessing the government's increased political 
will and momentum on tackling TIP for the 2009-2010 reporting 
 
ATHENS 00000203  002 OF 010 
 
 
period.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------- 
THE COUNTRY'S TIP SITUATION 
--------------------------- 
 
¶A. What is (are) the source(s) of available information on 
trafficking in persons?  What plans are in place (if any) to 
undertake further documentation of human trafficking?  How 
reliable are these sources? 
 
Sources of information include: 
 
-- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).   The MFA is the Embassy's 
primary government interlocutor on trafficking issues and 
coordinates a working-level interministerial task force to 
coordinate anti-trafficking activities.  The MFA receives most of 
its anti-TIP information from other ministries. 
 
-- Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Hellenic Police, part of the 
Ministry of Interior (MOI), Department of Public Order.  The MOJ 
provides legal statistics on trafficking crimes.  The Hellenic 
Police collects information on anti-trafficking law enforcement 
activities.  Much of this information is not available to the 
public but is usually shared with NGOs and international 
organizations. 
 
-- Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).  Anti-trafficking 
NGOs in Greece exist in all forms: large and small, domestic and 
international, victim-focused and policy-focused, and secular and 
faith-based.  Most NGOs provide anti-trafficking information to 
the public. 
 
-- International Organizations / Entities.  International 
organizations such as IOM, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR), UNICEF, and the Council of Europe regularly monitor 
human trafficking in Greece.  Their periodic reports are 
available to the public. 
 
-- Source-Country Diplomats.  Diplomatic representatives of 
source countries for sex and labor trafficking informally 
provided information on trafficking flows and victim conditions. 
This information was not publicly available. 
 
-- Migrant-Community Organizations.  Representatives of immigrant 
communities, such as the Pakistani and Nigerian communities often 
had information on smuggling and trafficking activities affecting 
them. 
 
A lack of easily-accessible, reliable statistics on some 
trafficking-related metrics continues to be a problem.  For 
example, court-case data is still largely kept in paper files, 
limiting the ability of the MOJ and the courts to compile and 
publish statistics on trafficking cases.  To address this issue, 
in 2008, the MFA and the MOJ, in coordination with IOM, began 
work on a comprehensive trafficking database to enhance the 
government's collection and dissemination of law enforcement, 
judicial, and victim-related statistics.  The MFA will own and 
operate the database, the police and the MOJ will provide law 
enforcement (arrests and investigations) and judicial (convictions 
and sentences) statistics on trafficking crimes, and IOM will 
work with NGOs and government-run shelters to provide victim 
support data. 
 
-- B. Is the country a country of origin, transit, and/or 
destination for internationally trafficked men, women, or 
children? Does trafficking occur within the country's borders? 
If so, does internal trafficking occur in territory outside of 
the government's control (e.g. in a civil war situation)?  To 
where are people trafficked? For what purposes are they 
trafficked?  Provide, where possible, numbers or estimates for 
each group of trafficking victims.  Have there been any changes 
in the TIP situation since the last TIP Report (e.g. changes in 
destinations)? 
 
Greece is a destination and transit country for internationally 
 
ATHENS 00000203  003 OF 010 
 
 
trafficked women and children, and to a lesser extent, men.  The 
government and NGOs report that female sex trafficking victims 
originate primarily from Eastern Europe and the Balkans (Russia, 
Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Lithuania, Latvia) 
as well as Africa (Nigeria).  ACT UP, an NGO, reported that 
there are scores of male sex trafficking victims from Afghanistan 
and sub-Saharan Africa working as prostitutes in Greece, many in 
their teens and suffering from sexually-transmitted diseases 
(STDs). Anecdotal evidence from NGOs suggests that sex 
trafficking may have decreased since the previous year. 
 
Labor trafficking victims are primarily children and men, 
originating from Albania, Romania, Moldova, Afghanistan, Pakistan, 
India, and Bangladesh.  (NGOs report that labor trafficking is more 
closely tied to migrant smuggling networks.)  The Anti-Trafficking 
Unit of the Hellenic Police reported that there may be hundreds of 
victims of labor trafficking in Greece.  In 2008, NGOs reported 
assisting at least 657 TIP victims.  Anecdotal evidence also 
suggests that labor exploitation in northern Greece has increased, 
and Anti-TIP Police have stated that they plan to focus on labor 
trafficking for 2009.  However, official statistics or reliable 
estimates on the extent or magnitude of human trafficking are 
unavailable. 
 
Greece is also a transit country for TIP, with victims being moved 
on to Italy and other EU countries.  There are no indications that 
Greece is being used as a TIP transit country for the United States. 
 Several NGOs reported anecdotal evidence that Roma women and 
children are trafficked within Greece for sex and labor 
exploitation.  The makeup of source countries for trafficking in 
Greece did not change from 2007 to 2008. 
 
The Anti-Trafficking Police reported that there were no Greek 
citizens who were victims of trafficking in 2008. 
 
In January 2005, Grigoris Lazos, a sociologist and criminologist 
at Panteion University, estimated that there were between 6,100 
and 6,250 victims of sex trafficking (women and teenage girls) in 
Greece.  Lazos, a 2005 Index on Censorship Whistleblower Award 
winner for his "tireless campaign against human trafficking," had 
earlier estimated, in 2003, that there were 20,000 TIP victims in 
Greece.  He has attributed the decrease in his estimate to lower 
demand for prostitution, linked to the lower discretionary income 
of Greeks.  (NOTE:  We are unaware of recent studies linking lower 
incomes to a decrease in demand for prostitution in Greece.  END 
NOTE.)  Anecdotal evidence from NGOs and the Anti-Trafficking 
Police indicates that trafficking rates continue to decline, but 
other NGOs report an increase in sex trafficking from Romania and 
Bulgaria. 
 
Anti-child trafficking NGOs estimated in 2008, as in 2007, that 
"hundreds" of children, mainly Roma from Albania, remain victims of 
trafficking for labor exploitation.  These children are typically 
forced sell small items (packs of tissue or flowers), beg, or steal. 
 NGOs report that the trafficking of children by third parties 
continues to decrease, due to police enforcement actions in Greece. 
However, NGOs and the police also report an increase in 
"family-based" trafficking, where Albanian Roma parents bring their 
own children into Greece and force them to work. 
 
The government ratified the bilateral Child Repatriation Agreement 
with Albania in July 2008 and the protocol came into force of law in 
August 2008 (law 3692/2008).  The law provides for coordinated 
prosecution, trafficking prevention, victim identification, and 
repatriation between the two countries, with NGO involvement. 
However, the agreement has not yet been implemented in a systematic 
way.  (Preexisting cooperation between Albanian and Greek NGOs and 
law enforcement continues in an ad hoc manner.) 
 
-- C. What kind of conditions are the victims trafficked into? 
 
Female victims are trafficked primarily for prostitution, working in 
bars, brothels, strip clubs, and on the streets.  NGOs and the 
police report that conditions for these victims vary greatly, with 
some victims subject to physical violence and others induced into 
prostitution by psychological or emotional deception.  Traffickers, 
 
ATHENS 00000203  004 OF 010 
 
 
brothel owners, and pimps often confiscate the identity documents of 
victims and subject them to a variety of threats.  Victims are 
forced to "work off" debts owed to traffickers. 
 
NGOs and the Anti-Trafficking police reported that sex trafficking 
victims suffered less outright physical abuse, with traffickers 
using emotional and financial deception to induce victims into sex 
work.  Victims in this situation had some freedom of movement, 
communication with relatives, and small amounts of spending money, 
but suffered increased psychological and emotional abuse.   NGOs 
reported that these victims sometimes remained in contact with and 
emotionally dependent on their traffickers even after entering a 
shelter or entering police protective custody.  Permitted to keep 
part of their earnings, some victims appeared to be unlicensed 
prostitutes rather than trafficked women.  However, victims were 
subject to threats of physical violence, deportation, or loss of 
life if they went to the authorities. 
 
NGOs reported that some African (particularly Nigerian) women 
trafficked to Greece for sexual exploitation were led to believe 
they were under spiritual or magical bondage, and were thus more 
fearful and less likely to go to the police and/or NGOs for 
assistance.  Some victims were forced to marry their traffickers or 
traffickers' associates to "legalize" their status in Greece.   Some 
victims, mostly African women, were forced by traffickers to file 
for asylum in order to legalize their status in Greece. 
 
While traffickers sometimes arranged for basic health and STD 
checkups for their sex workers, victims of sex trafficking typically 
lacked adequate health care. 
 
Male victims came mostly from Albania, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, 
Pakistan, and India, and were forced to work in farms in debt 
bondage.  Typically, victims' travel documents were confiscated or 
destroyed, and they were paid little or no wages, often under threat 
of violence.  As in 2007, there were reports of human smugglers 
locking labor trafficking victims in apartments once they arrived in 
Greece, and demanding a "ransom" from family members in origin 
countries. 
 
Child TIP victims were mainly Roma from Albania, though there were 
increasing numbers of Bulgarian and Romanian children. Subject to 
labor exploitation, they typically sold small items (packs of 
tissues or flowers), or engaged in begging or stealing.  The 
Anti-Trafficking Police reported that this type of child trafficking 
was carried out less by third-party traffickers and more by the 
children's parents, who forced their children to work on the 
streets.  These child victims often lived in poverty and lacked 
basic education, shelter, and medical services. 
 
-- D. Vulnerability to TIP: Are certain groups of persons more at 
risk of being trafficked (e.g. women and children, boys versus 
girls, certain ethnic groups, refugees, IDPs, etc.)? 
 
NGOs and the Anti-Trafficking Police reported that the following 
groups of persons were at particular risk of being trafficked: 
 
SEX TRAFFICKING: 
-- Poor women from Eastern Europe (in particular, Romania and 
Albania) were especially susceptible to being induced into 
prostitution by emotional entrapment and deception; 
-- Women from Africa (especially Nigeria) were particularly 
vulnerable to spiritual and magic or voodoo-based coercion; 
-- Boys and male teenagers from Afghanistan were at particular risk 
of contracting STDs as sex workers. 
 
LABOR TRAFFICKING: 
-- Refugees and asylum seekers from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan 
were susceptible to being exploited for labor by their smugglers / 
traffickers; 
-- Roma children, particularly from Albania, were at high risk of 
being trafficked for labor exploitation by their families. 
 
-- E. Traffickers and Their Methods: Who are the 
traffickers/exploiters?  Are they independent business people? 
Small or family-based crime groups?  Large international organized 
 
ATHENS 00000203  005 OF 010 
 
 
crime syndicates?  What methods are used to approach victims?  For 
example, are they offered lucrative jobs, sold by their families, or 
approached by friends of friends?  What methods are used to move the 
victims (e.g., are false documents being used?).  Are employment, 
travel, and tourism agencies or marriage brokers involved with or 
fronting for traffickers or crime groups to traffic individuals? 
 
Arrest statistics and analyses by the Anti-Trafficking Police 
indicate that Greek, Eastern European, and Nigerian criminals are 
the primary traffickers for sexual exploitation.  Police estimate 
that there are fewer than 100 sex and labor trafficking 
organizations based in Greece.  The vast majority are small, 
cell-based organizations that operate without a Mafia-style 
hierarchy.  Instead, trafficking rings are flexible and are known to 
cooperate with each other on a short-term basis.  Trafficking 
networks are often linked to bars, clubs, and hotels.  Travel and 
employment agencies are known to facilitate travel and legal 
documentation for traffickers.  Police have discovered a variety of 
money-laundering fronts for trafficking rings: restaurants, 
nightclubs, and even a chain of bakeries. 
 
Police reported a trend that Greeks were running fewer trafficking 
networks over time.  Instead, traffickers were organized 
increasingly along ethnic lines: 
 
-- RUSSIAN:  Larger criminal groups with recruiting networks 
throughout the former Soviet Union; often collaborated closely with 
Greek criminal organizations.  More likely to be linked to 
international crime syndicates. 
 
-- ALBANIAN / ROMANIAN / BULGARIAN:  Smaller, more ethnically 
homogeneous cells.  These sex traffickers increasingly used 
emotional and relational deception to lure women into sex work. 
Some traffickers are women, who also act as pimps. 
 
-- NIGERIAN:  Small, ethnically homogenous cells where traffickers 
often intermarried with their victims to provide the victims with 
legal status.  Some traffickers are women, who also act as pimps. 
 
-- LABOR TRAFFICKERS:  Typically operated separately from sex 
trafficking organizations; linked closely (and sometimes operating 
simultaneously) as "normal" smugglers.  Tied to smuggling networks 
in Turkey, who facilitated travel from the Middle East and South 
Asia to Greece. 
 
Victims of sex trafficking are approached by members of trafficking 
networks or "friends" of the networks.  Men or women with knowledge 
of both Greek and the language of the country of the victim's origin 
typically offer to "assist" the victim in finding a job in Greece as 
waitresses, nurses, or household workers, but upon their arrival in 
Greece are forced into prostitution.  If the victims resist, they 
may be physically and verbally threatened, raped, or isolated until 
they give in.  NGOs and police report that victims are rarely 
physically abused because traffickers see them as commodities which 
have to be in good physical shape in order to attract customers. 
Traffickers use debt bondage to coerce victims into sex work, 
telling them that they owe the traffickers large sums of money and 
must work for them. Usually, traffickers organize travel groups of 
2-8 women who travel by bus, train and air on legal passports and 
visas. 
 
The newer trend of emotional coercion reported by NGOs and the 
police involves a trafficker (or a friend of a trafficker) using 
deception to enter into a romantic relationship with a victim - 
typically from poorer areas in countries such as Albania or Romania. 
 The trafficker then arranges for his "girlfriend" to travel to 
Greece to live with him, but upon arrival uses fraud (typically 
claims that he is in financial difficulty) to induce the victim into 
sex work.  This type of trafficking involves fewer but more 
emotionally dependent victims, many of whom are unaware that they 
have been trafficked and will avoid seeking help from the police or 
NGOs.  The police attribute the recent increase in this type of 
trafficking to two factors:  1) Physical abuse of victims is solid 
evidence in court, leading to tougher prison sentences for 
traffickers; emotional abuse and coercion is harder to prosecute, 
and 2) victims under emotional entrapment are less likely to seek 
 
ATHENS 00000203  006 OF 010 
 
 
police or NGO help. 
 
Sex trafficking victims typically enter Greece using legitimate 
visas and valid passports.  Traffickers typically trick Greek 
consular officials into issuing tourist visas to their victims, or 
in rarer cases, bribe officials to issue visas.  Travel and 
employment agencies in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Greece are known 
to arrange fraudulent itineraries, job offers, and hotel 
reservations to facilitate travel.  In addition, such agencies are 
known to be fronts, especially in the former Soviet Union, for 
traffickers' recruitment efforts. 
 
Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. 
Citizens of both countries enjoy freedom of movement into Greece. 
Thus, victims from the two countries are easily trafficked into 
Greece without a need for additional documentation. 
 
Traffickers for labor exploitation are often linked to smuggling 
organizations, who arrange for the transportation of victims from 
their source country into Greece.  Labor trafficking victims 
typically enter Greece without legal documentation, crossing the 
Albania-Greece or Turkey-Greece land borders or making the journey 
across the Aegean Sea.  Travel is in larger groups and may involve a 
variety of "middlemen" of different nationalities.  While most 
undocumented migrants are smuggled into Greece and then "set loose" 
by their smugglers, labor trafficking victims are received by local 
criminals / labor brokers who arrange for forced agricultural labor. 
 Oftentimes, fraudulent employment agencies in source countries are 
the initial point of recruitment for victims of labor trafficking. 
 
Roma children victims of trafficking are brought into Greece without 
documentation or with fraudulent family documents or birth 
certificates.  Destitute parents are known to "rent" or sell their 
children into forced labor.  In the case of parents accompanying and 
exploiting their own children for labor, children may travel with 
their parents using legitimate documentation. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP 
EFFORTS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
-- A. Does the government acknowledge that trafficking is a problem 
in the country?  If not, why not? 
 
The government publicly acknowledges that trafficking is a problem 
in Greece. 
 
-- B. Which government agencies are involved in anti- trafficking 
efforts and which agency, if any, has the lead? 
 
There are eight national ministries with official responsibility for 
anti-trafficking efforts.  The Interministerial Committee on 
Trafficking in Persons is comprised of nine Secretaries General (SG) 
from those ministries.  In 2008, the MFA SG became the chair of the 
Committee and created a new working-level interministerial task 
force to work more effectively on TIP issues. 
 
The responsibilities of each ministry: 
 
-- MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (MFA):  The MFA oversees the new 
working-level interministerial task force, negotiates bilateral and 
multilateral agreements such as the Child Repatriation Agreement 
with Albania, and coordinates the government's yearly report on its 
anti-trafficking efforts.  Hellenic Aid, the development arm of the 
MFA, funds NGO and IO initiatives such as shelters, anti-TIP 
training, victim services, and trafficking source country 
development projects.  Hellenic Aid cooperates with USAID in funding 
the Transnational Action against Child Trafficking (TACT) program in 
Albania.  The MFA Secretary General assigned to oversee anti-TIP 
activities is a senior Ambassador with a rank similar to that of an 
Under Secretary of State. 
 
-- MINISTRY OF JUSTICE (MOJ):  The MOJ supports and provides 
coordination and anti-TIP training for Greece's prosecutors and 
judges.  The MOJ collects prosecution, conviction, and sentencing 
 
ATHENS 00000203  007 OF 010 
 
 
data on TIP crimes.  Under Greek law, prosecutors have the legal 
authority to recognize an individual as an official victim of 
trafficking. 
 
-- MINISTRY OF INTERIOR (MOI):  The MOI is responsible for 
implementing Greece's migration policy, including the issuance of 
residency permits for recognized victims of trafficking.  The 
Department of Public Order oversees the Hellenic Police and its 
Anti-Trafficking Unit, which has primary responsibility for anti-TIP 
law enforcement and investigative activity.  Anti-Trafficking Unit 
officers receive specialized training from the government and NGOs 
(as well as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to conduct 
anti-TIP operations, support other police units on TIP issues, and 
protect victims.  The Anti-Trafficking Unit also exchanges 
intelligence and other information with prosecutors, NGOs, and 
health authorities.  In 2008, the Unit had 39 police officers, 
expected to grow to 45 in 2009. 
 
-- MINISTRY OF HEALTH (MOH):  The MOH is responsible for the medical 
care of trafficking victims, running shelters, operating a telephone 
hotline fr TIP victims, coordinating victim repatriationwith IOM, 
and emergency services.  EKKA, a network of two shelters for TIP 
victims, is operated by the MOH. 
 
-- MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT:  These two 
ministries are responsible for education, vocational training, 
counseling, and social support for victims.  (NOTE: NGOs report that 
these ministries are not particularly involved in anti-trafficking 
activities in practice.) 
 
-- MINISTRY OF FINANCE (MOF):  The MOF oversees financial policy for 
Greece and sets government-wide regulations on the disbursement of 
Greek funds, including grant funding to NGOs and other ministries. 
This directly affects NGOs and IOs, many of whom depend on 
government funding.  In early 2009, the MOF and the MFA agreed to 
remove a bank guarantee requirement for all Hellenic Aid TIP-related 
grants - a relatively new restriction that would have prevented most 
small anti-TIP NGOs from receiving grant funds. 
 
-- C. What are the limitations on the government's ability to 
address this problem in practice?  For example, is funding for 
police or other institutions inadequate?  Is overall corruption a 
problem?  Does the government lack the resources to aid victims? 
 
Despite numerous successes, the government still has multiple 
limitations on its ability to address trafficking effectively. 
Victim identification procedures, especially among front-line Border 
Police, Coast Guard, and "vice squad" officers (part of the 
Prostitution and Gambling Division), need to be strengthened.  Greek 
courts, especially at the appeals level, need to reduce the number 
of suspended sentences given to traffickers and complicit officials 
and make sure jail time is served.  (NOTE: This problem is not 
unique to trafficking offenses; enforcement of sentencing is a 
problem in many other areas of criminal justice as well.  END NOTE.) 
 Obtaining statistics on many TIP-related indicators continues to be 
challenging.  The Greek Parliament ratified a Child Repatriation 
Agreement with Albania in July 2008; however, implementation of the 
agreement has been slow.  Greece has signed but still has not 
ratified the Council of Europe's Convention on Action against 
Trafficking.  NGOs complained that grant disbursement delays and new 
grant reporting requirements have created financial difficulty for 
anti-TIP organizations. 
 
VICTIM IDENTIFICATION: 
 
NGOs universally reported that victim identification was the 
government's greatest limitation in combating trafficking in 
persons.  In 2008, Human Rights Watch, the UNHCR, multiple domestic 
NGOs, and the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights all 
criticized Greece for failing to ensure that proper victim 
identification procedures were used by the front-line Border Police, 
Coast Guard, and "vice squad."  While the specialized 
Anti-Trafficking Police did a good job with victim identification 
and support, NGOs stated that trafficking victims were far more 
likely to be first encountered by a Border Police or Coast Guard 
officer detaining illegal migrants or a "vice squad" officer 
 
ATHENS 00000203  008 OF 010 
 
 
patrolling a red-light district.  Thus, proper training and 
implementation of victim identification techniques is crucial for 
these front-line government workers. 
 
Doctors and nurses in Greek hospitals, some of whom provide free 
care and STD checkups to sex workers, lack training and the means of 
how to identify and report confidentially trafficking victims. 
Proper training and creating guidelines on confidentiality is 
important, however, because if traffickers realize that health care 
workers report potential victims, sex workers and trafficking 
victims may be "driven underground" and denied health care by their 
handlers. 
 
In 2008, the government made multiple efforts to address this 
problem.  The Anti-TIP Police provides regular training to "vice 
squad" officers on victim identification, and the MOJ and MFA, in 
coordination with IOM, have provided anti-trafficking training to 
Coast Guard officers.  The Anti-TIP Police distributed nteractive 
training guides on the governmen's "Ilaeira" anti-TIP initiative to 
all polic commanders in the country. 
 
SENTENCING TRAFFICKERS: 
 
Greek courts, especially at the appeals level, need to reduce the 
number of suspended sentences given to traffickers and complicit 
officials and make sure jail time is served.  Sentencing data from 
the MOJ reveals that first instance courts, when they convict 
traffickers, give relatively tough sentences.  The Greek legal 
system allows defendants to appeal up to two times, to the appeals 
level and then to the Supreme Court.  In 2008, there were multiple 
examples of appeals courts giving more lenient treatment to 
traffickers than first instance courts.  In previous years, 
complicit officials and police officers have been given suspended 
sentences in lieu of jail time.  In addition, some NGOs have accused 
Greek prosecutors and judges of prosecuting foreign defendants more 
aggressively than Greek traffickers.  (NOTE: Part of the problem is 
structural, as proseutors and courts in Greece are very independent 
and wary of interference from the Ministry ofJustice.  Another 
problem is a generally inefficient judicial system, which allows 
cases to drag on for years - sometimes with dangerous suspected 
traffickers set free on bail in the interim.  Greek courts use a 
largely paper-based system to track cases, adding to judicial 
inefficiency.  Enforcement of sentencing is a problem in many other 
areas of criminal justice as well.  Thus, ensuring coordinated 
action against traffickers is a challenge for the Greek government. 
END NOTE.) 
 
To address this issue, the MFA and MOJ, in cooperation with IOM, 
organized multiple anti-trafficking training conferences for 
prosecutors in 2007 and 2008.  These events focused on awareness 
building, legal techniques, and victim identification.  The IOM 
plans to expand this program to judges in 2009. 
 
TIP STATISTICS: 
 
Many TIP-related statistics, such as countrywide TIP victim 
estimates, are unavailable or very hard to obtain.  As the 
government oly recently revived regular meetings of the 
Inerministerial Committee on Trafficking in Persons, coordination 
of data between government agencies is limited.  The Ministry of 
Justice, which maintains case files for prosecutors and the court 
system, lacks modern databases and must compile many trafficking 
statistics by hand, from paper files. 
 
Recognizing this limitation, the MFA, MOJ, and IOM began joint work 
on a comprehensive trafficking database to enhance the government's 
collection and dissemination of law enforcement, judicial, and 
victim-related statistics.  The MFA will own and operate the 
database, the police and the MOJ will provide law enforcement 
(arrests and investigations) and judicial (convictions and 
sentences) statistics on trafficking crimes, and IOM will work with 
NGOs and government-run shelters to provide victim support and 
identification data.  The MFA expects an initial version of the 
database to be in operation by the end of 2009. 
 
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS: 
 
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NGOs and international organizations universally praised Greece's 
anti-trafficking laws as robust and in line with international 
standards.  (Proper implementation of the law, all agreed, was the 
challenge.) 
 
At the end of the reporting period, however, Greece had not yet 
moved forward on two important legal agreements.  The Greek 
Parliament ratified a Child Repatriation Agreement with Albania in 
July 2008; however, implementation of the agreement has been slow. 
Additionally, Greece has signed but still has not ratified the 
Council of Europe's Convention on Action against Trafficking. 
 
FUNDING: 
 
Overall, the government does not lack the resources to aid TIP 
victims and combat human trafficking.  The government continued 
making funds available for training of police personnel and for key 
civil servants, including judges, prosecutors, psychologists, social 
workers, and the personnel responsible for issuing residence 
permits.  In addition, the government provided grant funding for a 
wide variety of NGO projects to combat TIP.  This funding came from 
multiple government ministries:  The MFA, MOJ, MOI, and the MOH, 
among others. 
 
The commander of the Anti-Trafficking Police reported that he had 
excellent funding support from Hellenic Police headquarters and that 
he expected his unit to grow from 39 to 45 officers in 2009. 
 
Despite the availability of government funding, over the last three 
years, many anti-trafficking NGOs throughout the country have 
reported delays with and increasingly limited access to grant 
funding from Hellenic Aid, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry 
of Employment.  Grant disbursement delays forced two TIP shelters 
(KLIMAKA and ENOW) to shut down in 2008.  In addition, a new 
regulation from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) requiring bank 
guarantees for NGOs and an older regulation reducing the 
government's contribution to 50 percent of a project's funding 
adversely affected smaller NGOs, many of which do not have 
sufficient resources to find funding elsewhere. 
 
In response to Embassy engagement, the MFA and the MOF announced in 
early 2009 that they would remove the bank guarantee requirement for 
Hellenic Aid grants to anti-Trafficking NGOs - an important step in 
restoring funding to these organizations.  In addition, Hellenic Aid 
made domestic, regional, and international trafficking projects a 
key priority for its 2008 grant cycle, approving anti-TIP grants 
worth 1,399,421 euro (1,960,000 USD).  515,738 euro (722,000 USD, or 
37 percent) was designated for NGOs, while 883,683 euro (1,238,000 
USD, or 63 percent) was earmarked for government-run 
anti-trafficking projects.  The Director of Hellenic Aid stated that 
anti-trafficking projects would continue to be a priority for 2009. 
 
 
(NOTE: Despite Hellenic Aid's continued support of TIP-related NGOs 
and programs, it is not clear if this funding will be sustainable 
over the long term.  As Greece continues to modernize and follow 
international best practices for NGO funding, the government needs 
to put in place a system that will help make funding for TIP NGOs 
sustainable.  END NOTE.) 
 
-- D. To what extent does the government systematically monitor its 
anti-trafficking efforts (on all fronts -- prosecution, victim 
protection, and prevention) and periodically make available, 
publicly or privately and directly or through regional/international 
organizations, its assessments of these anti-trafficking efforts? 
 
The government does an adequate job of monitoring its own 
anti-trafficking efforts, but there are inconsistencies from 
ministry to ministry. 
 
-- POLICE: The Anti-Trafficking Police (under the Department of 
Public Order, in the Ministry of Interior) have dedicated experts 
who analyze and report on anti-trafficking law enforcement 
operations.  Major operations are publicized and the police 
cooperate closely with international organizations (such as IOM) and 
 
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NGOs to provide law enforcement assessments.  The police, in 
coordination with IOM and other NGOs, also publish and distribute 
interactive anti-trafficking training manuals and case studies to 
law enforcement officers throughout Greece. 
 
-- MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: The MFA coordinates a working-level 
interministerial task force which oversees the Greek government's 
efforts to combat TIP.  Every year, the MFA provides the Embassy and 
select IOs and NGOs with a comprehensive, detailed assessment of the 
government's anti-TIP efforts.  This assessment covers all fronts - 
law enforcement and prosecution efforts, victim protection, public 
awareness efforts, and NGO activities.  However, this report is not 
made public.  (COMMENT:  In many countries, the police, Ministry of 
Health, or the Ministry of Justice would be the proper lead agency 
on anti-TIP coordination.  In Greece, however, the MFA has a lead 
role, which officials explain is due to the fact that TIP victims 
are almost universally non-Greek foreigners.  Additionally, USG 
pressure on Greece, via the annual TIP Report, is seen as a "foreign 
relations" issue for the MFA to handle.  END COMMENT.) 
 
-- MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, COURT SYSTEM: The Ministry of Justice, 
prosecutors, and judges keep statistics and files on 
anti-trafficking cases but do not systematically analyze 
trafficking trends.  Their data is passed on to the MFA for 
analysis and assessment there. 
 
-- MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND WELFARE:  The Ministry of Health produces 
trafficking assessments through its government-run shelters on an ad 
hoc basis.  This information is provided to NGOs and other 
ministries. 
 
The absence of reliable statistics on certain trafficking-related 
metrics continues to be a barrier to assessing anti-trafficking 
efforts. 
 
¶4.  (U) Greece 2009 TIP Report Submission continued SEPTEL. 
 
SPECKHARD