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P 231803Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000298 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, EUR/PGI, EUR/WE 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
PASS TO ACBLANK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB SP
KTIP 
SUBJECT: SPAIN:  SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FOR NINTH ANNUAL 
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT 
 
REF: A. ROFMAN-CLIFTON EMAIL - MARCH 13 
     ¶B. MADRID 187 
     ¶C. SECSTATE 05577 
     ¶D. 08 SECSTATE 132759 
 
MADRID 00000298  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
1.(SBU) This cable contains information specifically 
requested in REFTEL A, as a supplement to Embassy Madrid's 
ninth annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report (REFTEL B). 
Embassy POC is Political Officer Hugh Clifton, Tel. (34) 
91-587-2294, Fax. (34) 91-587-2391. 
 
//LEGAL STATISTICS// 
 
¶2. (SBU)  The Spanish National Police (SNP) once again 
furnished Post with a restricted internal report that 
provides detailed information on TIP enforcement trends, 
including TIP-related arrests and the number of trafficking 
victims identified during the reporting period.  The report 
indicates that within Spain, police dismantled a total of 69 
trafficking networks for sexual exploitation and 17 
trafficking networks for the purposes of forced labor. 
Police arrested 403 individuals involved in sexual 
trafficking and 68 people affiliated with trafficking for 
forced labor.  The SNP reported identifying 771 victims of 
sexual exploitation and 133 victims of forced labor 
trafficking in 2008.  During the reporting period, Spanish 
law enforcement officials actively coordinated with 
counterparts in 11 different countries to investigate and 
arrest traffickers, and conducted a number of joint 
operations.  The Spanish National Police tell us that in 2007 
they participated in cooperative investigations with Algeria, 
Brazil, Cape Verde, France, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, 
Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Sweden and Tunisia. 
 
//JUDICIAL STATISTICS// 
 
¶3. (SBU) Additional information on specific TIP-related 
investigations, convictions and sentencing in Spain was 
available on-line through a subscription service to the 
Spanish affiliate of WESTLAW (www.westlaw.es), whose database 
includes data on a sub-set - but not all - of Spanish 
TIP-related prosecutions.  In 2008, our best information 
indicates the government prosecuted 135 cases of trafficking 
and secured 107 convictions with an average sentence of a 
little more than four years.  Approximately 36 percent of 
those convicted received a sentence of greater than 4 years, 
while more than half (54 percent) of those convicted received 
a fine and/or a suspended sentence.  During the reporting 
period, 14 people were convicted of forced labor trafficking 
and sentenced to an average of nearly 3.5 years behind bars. 
 
//ADVANCE COPY OF OSCE REPORT// 
 
¶4. (SBU) Post does not have access to an advance copy of the 
soon-to-be-published OSCE report on trafficking in persons in 
Spain nor have we received any insider tips on its projected 
contents. 
 
//NGO RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE GOS'S ANTI-TIP 
EFFORTS// 
 
¶5. (SBU) Most of the TIP-related NGOs and independent experts 
consulted by the Embassy remarked that they were pleased to 
have a 30-day opportunity during September-October to 
formally contribute to the development of the GOS's national 
plan to combat TIP for the purposes of sexual exploitation 
and added that they view the December 2008 approval of the 
plan by the Council of Ministers as an important, 
long-awaited step to combat TIP in Spain.  However, several 
Embassy contacts suggested that they would have liked to have 
had more of a say in the drafting of the GOS's national 
action plan and would have liked to have been given more time 
to reflect on the government's draft.  One respected industry 
expert, Gentiana "Genta" Susaj, expressed concern that the 
plan focuses too much on TIP as an illegal immigration 
problem rather than on the need to focus on the protection of 
victims.  She complained that the plan did not call for any 
changes to the existing practice of making legal protection 
for victims conditional upon their cooperation in denouncing 
 
MADRID 00000298  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
those that have abused them.  As mentioned in REFTEL B, the 
Spanish Network against Trafficking in Persons is actively 
engaged in lobbying the GOS for extensive measures - possibly 
even the establishment of a GOS Protocol - to identify 
prospective TIP victims.  The Spanish branch of Save the 
Children suggests that the GOS advocates that a child who is 
a possible TIP victim should automatically be given temporary 
lodging for humanitarian reasons, separate from the police 
investigation.  The child should also then be given a legal 
representative to defend his or her interests during the 
ensuing process. The NGO has also lobbied for a more 
concerted effort by the GOS to establish a comprehensive 
database for statistics on TIP victims, and for re-doubled 
efforts to inform the public of the penalties for engaging in 
sexual activity with children, whether TIP victims or not. 
 
//PART III of OPERATION ZARPA// 
 
¶6. (SBU) During the reporting period, the GOS continued to 
dismantle what has been described as the largest network for 
trafficking in Russian women for sexual exploitation.  The 
trafficked women's final destination was Spain and other 
countries in the EU.  In April 2008 some 70 SNP officers 
conducted 84 arrests in the provinces of Almeria, Granada, 
Lerida, and Gerona.  These detentions took place as part III 
of Operation ZARPA, an ongoing SNP investigation that began 
in November 2006, and whose first detentions took place in 
April 2007 and continued with part II in June 2007.  As a 
combined result of the operation's three phases, more than 
400 people, mostly women, have been arrested for unlawful 
residence in Spain while an additional 53 have been 
implicated in Russia, according to the Spanish Ministry of 
Interior (MOI).  The detentions in the latest phase were made 
possible by the abundance of evidence and testimony obtained 
by investigators in the previous phases.  According to the 
MOI, the women were treated simply as "merchandise" by their 
exploiters, who crammed the women and beds into every 
available space in their residences/workplaces.  Money for 
each victim trafficked into Spain was sent back to Russia, 
but never in payments greater than 3,000 euros, in order to 
avoid attracting the attention of Spanish or Russian 
authorities.  According to investigators' analysis, the 
amount of funds sent to Russia by this network may have 
exceeded two million euros.  For this third phase of 
Operation ZARPA alone, Spanish police confiscated 123,000 
euros in cash, a range of firearms, ammunition and electric 
shock devices, numerous vehicles and plane tickets, a handful 
of PCs, cameras and video equipment, as well as ID cards and 
Russian passports. 
 
//NATIONAL GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN// 
 
¶7. (SBU) Following a national election campaign that consumed 
the attention of the government early in 2008, the national 
government was largely focused throughout the remainder of 
the year on formulating and establishing its plan to combat 
TIP for the purposes of sexual exploitation.  Consequently, 
aside from the exposure that the government's extensive 
deliberations received in the national and local media, there 
was not a specific, sustained media campaign throughout the 
year to promote public awareness of efforts to combat TIP. 
Nevertheless, the GOS did participate in events organized by 
NGOs focused on TIP.  For example, the Spanish affiliate of 
Save the Children organized several workshops throughout 2008 
in which the national government's Ministry of Education, 
Social Policies and Sports and the Spanish Agency for 
International Cooperation - roughly equivalent to USAID - 
participated and/or contributed financing.  Meanwhile, at the 
municipal level, the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla 
ran their own public awareness campaigns, according to the 
Spanish Network against Trafficking in Persons.  The Basque 
regional government and the city hall of Vitoria - the Basque 
regional capital - also participated in events sponsored by 
Save the Children. 
 
//EFFORTS TO PREVENT CHILD SEX TOURISM// 
 
¶8. (SBU) During the reporting period, the GOS - through the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the Ministry of 
 
MADRID 00000298  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Industry, Tourism and Commerce's General Secretariat for 
Tourism, the SNP, and others - continued its participation in 
a UNICEF-sponsored campaign to sensitize the Spanish public 
to the existence of child sex tourism and to remind them of 
the punishments for this activity.  The Spanish-language 
website for the campaign is www.NoHayExcusas.org. 
Information provided by the Ministry of Equality to the 
Embassy suggests that the campaign has reached 370,000 people 
via the website, banner, radio, and promotional materials. 
CHACON