VZCZCXYZ0005
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0278/01 0651045
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061045Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2352

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000278 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G-ACBLANK, SKRONENBERG, WHA/CAR BPREMONT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF DR
SUBJECT: TIP REPORT 2009 Q SUBMISSION FROM EMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO, 
DR 
 
REF: A) 08 STATE 132759, B) 08 SANTO DOMINGO 1717, C) 08 SANTO 
DOMINGO 1815, D) SANTO DOMINGO 260 
 
¶1.  (U) This constitutes Embassy Santo DomingoQs initial submission 
and response to ref A for the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
annual report.  Post may add information if/as GODR officials or 
other sources provide any further details.  Per ref A paragraph 1, 
the following is submitted in response to, and keyed to, questions 
posed in ref A paragraphs 23-27.   See also comment section in this 
cable to help put the DRQs TIP situation in full perspective. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Comment and Overview:  The Dominican Republic ranks as a 
middle-income country but 43 percent of its 9 million people live in 
poverty.  Therefore, progress on combating trafficking in persons 
competes for government attention with issues such as lack of 
potable water, health, job creation, and the recurrence of Dengue 
fever outbreaks.  Several non-governmental organizations have taken 
the lead and are working with the GODR on prevention and/or 
protection and assistance to victims of human smuggling and 
trafficking in persons Q concepts covered by the same Dominican law. 
 Data on human trafficking are uncertain, and such data as may be 
mentioned by governmental or non-governmental sources tend to mix 
smuggling and trafficking together.  Thus, in late 2007, the NGO 
QCentro de Orientacion e Investigacion IntegralQ (COIN) indicated 
that a hotline it operated received 150 to 200 calls a month from 
people with Qirregular migration, human smuggling and trafficking 
issues.  One concrete figure that has emerged is that IOM helped 28 
trafficking victims during the reporting period.  While most of 
these seem not to have been Dominican, IOM reported that the GODR 
referred apparent trafficking victims to IOM for their assistance. 
As with other countries, the number of smuggling prosecutions and 
convictions over the last several years has been far greater than 
QtraffickingQ cases.  End Comment. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The countryQs TIP situation (reftel A para 23): 
 
¶A.  Sources of information: Information on trafficking comes mostly 
from NGOs and GODR officials, as well as some press reports. 
 
¶B.  Nature/circumstances of trafficking:  The DR appears to be a 
source, transit and destination country.  There is no civil war or 
area outside GODR control (but see ref B). People are trafficked in 
the DR and from there to wealthier countries. People are trafficked 
for the purpose of making money for unscrupulous persons. It is 
possible that any sector might have trafficked individuals, but 
there are generally no reliable data.  One exception is a recent 
Centro Solidaridad study. That NGO indicated that, in the 
construction sector,  three (3) percent of those Haitians who were 
smuggled into the DR considered themselves to have been trafficked. 
The overall situation remains the same since the last TIP report: 
poverty (43 percent of the DRQs population), corruption (see 
Transparency International reports), under-education and 
under-employment (unemployment officially stands at about 14 
percent), continue to set the stage for the exploitation of 
individuals, sometimes including the Qforce, fraud and coercion 
that Qtrafficking in personsQ involves. 
 
¶C.  Conditions: Victims are trafficked from desperate poverty to 
desperate poverty, in all likelihood.   Principal destination 
countries were in Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America. 
 
¶D.   Vulnerability: As noted, 43 percent of Dominicans are in 
poverty, with 16-18 percent in dire poverty.  Almost certainly, 
women, children and Haitians are generally worse off among those 
poor. 
 
¶E. TIP Methods:  Unknown because hidden. Press reports indicate that 
low-level traffickers, or at least brokers for traffickers, live and 
operate at the community level and seek to recruit among persons 
looking for some sort of work.  Complicity at various levels of 
officialdom, thanks to bribery or payoffs, is widely believed to 
facilitate or permit smuggling, of which a portion may constitute 
trafficking. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Government Anti-TIP Efforts (ref A para 24): 
 
¶A.  Government views: The GODR tends to see human smuggling as a 
greater problem than trafficking, in terms both of quantity (i.e. 
more people are victims of human smuggling) and socio-politically 
(i.e., the smuggling of cheap Haitian labor into the country and of 
Dominicans out of the DR to seek work have real and perceived 
impacts on the DRQs society and economy). 
 
¶B.  Government agencies: Numerous government agencies are involved 
in dealing with human smuggling and trafficking, including a 
National Commission against Trafficking in Persons (whose aim is to 
facilitate interagency cooperation) in which the Ministries of 
Foreign Affairs, Interior and Police, Education, Tourism, Public 
Health, Women, and the National Council for Children, among others, 
participate.  CESFRONT is a military entity designed to secure the 
 
land border with Haiti; accordingly it may indirectly help fight 
trafficking by seeking to block human smuggling of Haitians to the 
extent, if any, that such smuggling may also encompass trafficking. 
(Note:  Sources for the GODR point out that Haitian cane workers 
Qare technically able to leave worksites.Q End Note.) 
 
¶C. Government limitations: Lack of resources, corruption, and 
generally weak rule of law limit the governmentQs ability to address 
trafficking in persons. 
 
¶D. Government oversight: The prosecution service and the 
inter-agency commission to combat trafficking provided information 
on anti-TIP efforts.  The GODR also provided, via its Embassy in 
Washington, D.C., a lengthy document describing the DRQs efforts. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Investigation and Prosecution (ref A para 25): 
 
¶A. Relevant law: The DR has a law that covers both human smuggling 
and human trafficking, Law 137-03, which prescribes penalties of up 
to 20 yearsQ imprisonment as well as fines. Also, according to the 
prosecutorQs service, persons who may have been involved in 
trafficking have been prosecuted for Qpimping.Q  Law 136-03 may be 
applied when, in a given case, minors are involved.  Other relevant 
laws worth noting include: 
- Law 53-07 (Technology Crime Law) (2007), criminalizing the 
electronic distribution of child pornography as well as prescribing 
penalties of 2 to 4 years imprisonment for the purchase or 
possession of child pornography; 
- Labor Code, Principle II, prohibiting forced labor; 
- Penal Code, various provisions. 
 
¶B. Sex Trafficking penalties: Same as above regarding Law 137-03: 15 
to 20 years of prison, plus fines. 
 
¶C.  Labor Trafficking:  Once again, Law 137-03 would apply, with its 
Article 3 being used if/when passports are taken away or 
contractually agreed work conditions are altered.  See also Embassy 
Santo DomingoQs report regarding labor issues in the country (ref 
D). 
 
¶D. Rape penalties: The law on trafficking in persons and human 
smuggling contains no provisions regarding rape, as sexual assault 
(QaggressionQ or rape) is covered by the Criminal Code. 
 
¶E.  Law Enforcement Statistics: See ref C. There are currently four 
known investigations underway for trafficking in persons.  It is 
important to note that the GODR has been prosecuting human 
smuggling, and has 23 investigations underway.  Also, the GODRQs 
submission, subsequent to the Interim Assessment, to the State 
Department in Washington includes the following enforcement actions 
by the GODR: 
 
-- Over the past three years the Migration Directorate has fired 400 
inspectors for possible involvement in smuggling and trafficking of 
persons; other agencies have taken similar actions against their 
officials who abuse their positions.  In the first four months of 
the current Fernandez administration (since August 2008), 45 
inspectors have been removed from their positions.  Five of them are 
Qin the legal systemQ (presumably meaning under active 
investigation) and two already are under preventative detention. 
Numerous other officials have been suspended or disciplined. 
 
-- The National District prosecuting attorney filed charges in June 
2007 against Doris Altagracia Vasquez, a high-level official in the 
Ministry of Labor, for involvement in a trafficking scheme that 
lured citizens with false offers of employment in Spain and Canada. 
Post awaits information from the ProsecutorQs office of any recent 
developments. 
 
In addition, the GODR reports the following cases or actions: 
 
--  Renato Bregu, Albanian citizen, for Trafficking in Persons.  In 
May 2007, two victims lodged charges against Bregu for violation of 
Law 137-03 for the organization of illegal trips.  Through 
Resolution No. 613-07-00184, dated May 2007, the Magistrate Judge of 
the Dajabon Judicial District imposed an order of custody. 
 
--  Santo Valdez Cuello, Farcoleni Rivera Santana and joint-parties, 
were convicted and sentenced to 20, five and three years 
imprisonment (under Law 137-03), by the Court of First Instance of 
the Judicial District of Santo Domingo. 
 
With respect to the case involving Dominicans trafficked to 
Istanbul, Turkey, the GODR reports that a court in Altagracia has 
issued an arrest warrant for Yeyto Toledo. 
 
No new information has been provided, to date, by the GODR regarding 
the case, dating from August 2007, of a foreigner alleged to have 
been involved in trafficking and forcing 14 Haitian women to perform 
lewd acts in front of a video camera.  However, it is known that the 
 
 
Santo Domingo national district prosecutor charged one foreigner, 
and two other foreigners were deported in this case. 
 
Finally, the Attorney GeneralQs office reports that criminal laws 
other than Law 137-03 may be used to provide a legal basis for 
prosecutions, and that such laws may be preferable Qwhen a risk of 
re-victimization exists. 
 
¶F. Training: The GODR has reported that there have been multiple 
training opportunities for government officials.  For example, in 
August 2008 a QWorkshop InspectionQ course was given for migration 
officials on detecting of false and altered documents, enhancing 
technical abilities for inspection of travel documents and visas, 
detecting imposters.  This training was done in coordination with 
the IOM and the Undersecretary for Consular and Migratory Affairs of 
the Foreign Ministry.  NGOs report that efforts were also underway 
in 2008 to develop methodologies for future training. 
 
¶G. Inter-governmental cooperation: The GODR cooperates with other 
nations, including the United States on trafficking cases.  See item 
H, below, and ref C.  During the reporting period, the Office of the 
Prosecutor agreed in principle to establishing a specialized Human 
Trafficking and Sex Crimes Unit to include prosecutors from the 
Attorney GeneralQs office, vetted members of the National Police, 
Dominican Customs and Dominican Immigration officers, assuming USG 
funding becomes available. 
 
¶H. Extraditions: There are no pending requests for extradition to 
the U.S. of alleged trafficking offenders. As indicated previously, 
the GODR has worked with other governments, but whether extradition 
was involved is unknown.  For instance, the government also worked 
with Swiss authorities, who have arrested several German citizens on 
charges of suspected trafficking. 
 
¶I. Government involvement: As noted above, corruption in the DR is 
pervasive.  The NGO community generally thinks it reasonable to 
believe that smuggling, of which a portion may constitute 
trafficking, may sometimes be facilitated by the corruption of 
government officials. 
 
¶J. Steps to counter possible official complicity:  The prosecutorQs 
service acknowledged that no officials were prosecuted during the 
reporting period.  However, as noted above, various officials have 
been fired or otherwise punished (see item E, above). 
 
¶K. Prostitution:  While prostitution is not prohibited by law, 
activities often associated with it, such as pimping, are illegal. 
 
¶L. Peace-keeping forces:  Question not applicable; the DR does not 
contribute troops to international peace-keeping operations. 
 
¶M. Child Sex Tourism and extraterritorial application of DR law: 
Child sex tourism appears to exist, but the GODR has cooperated, for 
instance, with U.S. law enforcement in one or more cases.  One NGO 
reports that brothel owners now card women, so as to prevent 
under-aged females from being sex workers.  The extraterritorial 
application of Dominican law does not exist, but a proposal to amend 
Law 137-03 to permit extraterritorial application was under 
consideration in 2008. 
 
The GODR reports that Qthe Prevention Unit of the Department of 
Alien Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons, in coordination with the 
Ministries of Labor and Education, has (undertaken) outreach 
training at schools around the country.  The courses warn children 
of the dangers of alien smuggling, commercial sexual exploitation, 
and trafficking.Q   The GODR has also noted that the QNational 
Association of Hotels and Restaurants (ASONAHORES) signed the Code 
of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation 
in Travel and Tourism sponsored by UNICEF and ECPAT (End Child 
Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual 
Purposes).  For several years, training has been provided to workers 
in the tourism industry through the module QRole of the tourist 
sector in the prevention of abuse and commercial sexual exploitation 
of children and adolescents,Q based on material produced by the 
World Tourism Organization.  Individual companies also are active in 
these efforts, including a national campaign against the commercial 
sexual exploitation of children and adolescents by Burger King 
restaurants and advertisements in Palacio del Cine cinemas.Q  Also, 
notices are posted in Santo DomingoQs international airport listing 
the penalties under Dominican law for the criminal offense of the 
commercial sexual exploitation of minors. 
 
In addition to the several international labor conventions to which 
the DR is a party, the country has specific laws of some relevance 
including: 
 
- Labor Code, Articles 410 and 411, criminalizing child prostitution 
and pornography, prescribing penalties for sexual abuse of children 
of 20 to 30 years imprisonment and fines from 100 to 150 times the 
minimum wage 
 
 
-  Law 136-03, Articles 34 Q 44 (Code for Protection of Fundamental 
Rights of Children and Adolescents), assigning high priority to the 
rights of children and adolescents, defining legal obligations and 
responsibility for children and adolescents, coordinating design and 
execution of policies, services and assistance, and defining 
relative obligations of the government and family and participation 
of NGOs 
 
-  Law 53-07 (2007), criminalizing the electronic distribution of 
child pornography 
 
See also ref D, as already indicated, for additional information. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Protection and Assistance (ref A para 26): 
 
¶A. Protection of victims: The Dominican Criminal Procedure Code 
contains mechanisms for the protection of witnesses and victims.  An 
office for this purpose exists in the Public Ministry, but is 
non-functional.  In practice, authorities tend to assist victims 
when they may act as witnesses. 
 
¶B.  Shelters:  The QRed de Religiosas contra la TrataQ run by the 
Adoratrices sisters, a Spanish order of nuns, provides religious 
refugee centers for assistance to trafficking victims (one large 
shelter is reportedly in Haina and another in San Cristobal, with 
smaller ones around the country).  These facilities are used by IOM 
to assist victims, but IOM was working closely with the GODR to 
identify a new location that can be adapted to assist only 
trafficking victims.  IOM plans to turn such a facility over to the 
GODR after running it for one year. 
 
Also, COIN operates a shelter or case center (El Centro de Acogida) 
for trafficked women returned to the DR, assisting with medical and 
legal services, and reintegration by promoting continued education, 
as well as helping victims find employment. 
 
For minors, shelters are managed by the GODR agency CONANI (the 
Consejo Nacional para la Ninez y la Adolescencia). 
 
IOM helped 28 victims during the reporting period, of whom 75 
percent used a shelter, and 95 percent of those victims were 
foreigners. 
 
The GODR helps to fund the shelters run by the above-mentioned 
religious order. The amount the GODR spends to help support shelters 
has not yet been shared with Post. 
 
¶C.  Government services: With the exception of CONANIQs services to 
minors, the GODR does not have facilities where legal assistance, 
medical or psychological services are provided to victims of 
trafficking. However, through CIPROM (Comite Inter-institucional de 
Proteccion a la Mujer Migrante) and the involvement of the GODR 
Ministry for Women, as well as management by COIN, a lawyer and a 
psychologist are available to victims.  Additionally, a national 
hotline, QLlama y Vive (Call and Live)Q, for prevention and victim 
assistance in cases of sexual and labor exploitation, was launched 
in July 2007 by the Attorney GeneralQs office with support from the 
Ricky Martin Foundation and International Organization for Migration 
(IOM). 
 
¶D. (Non-) Deportation of Victims:  Generally, the GODR prevents 
deportation by utilizing the services of IOM to facilitate the 
return of trafficking victims to their homelands.  In at least one 
case during the reporting period, the GODR QvalidatedQ the 
permission of one victim to maintain residency status in the DR. 
 
¶E. Reintegration assistance: While the GODR does not appear to have 
formal long-term reintegration assistance programs, the First LadyQs 
office has facilitated access by trafficking victims to medium and 
long-term social assistance programs, particularly linked to 
psychological, financial and/or counseling support.  At the same 
time, the GODRQs Instituto Nacional de Formacion Tecnico Profesional 
(INFOTEP) and its Education and Prevention Unit have initiated 
courses in the area of Boca Chica Q training through which 
individuals acquire food preparation and QdomesticQ skills (the 
latter presumably meaning training as a domestic / maid). 
 
Also, the GODR reports that in June 2008 a GODR delegation 
participated in QStrengthening Regional Cooperation for the 
Reintegration of Trafficking VictimsQ workshop in Managua, 
Nicaragua, which identified minimum standards to produce a regional 
action project on reintegration of trafficking victims. 
Representatives of the following GODR agencies participated: 
 
-- Secretaria de Estado de Relaciones Exteriores (Foreign Ministry) 
(from its Section on Trafficking and Smuggling of People, the 
Seccion de Trata y Trafico de Personas) 
-- Despacho de la Primera Dama (First Lady's Office) 
-- CONANI  -- Secretaria de Estado de la Mujer (Ministry for Women). 
 
 
 
¶F.  Referral process:  See items B, C and D above.  While the GODR 
does not have a formal system to refer victims to NGOs that can 
provide assistance, that clearly does happen (see items C, above and 
G, below) and a GODR inter-agency commission worked on a national 
plan to rationalize cooperation among agencies or organizations that 
deal with trafficking so as to address this issue. 
 
¶G.  TIP numbers:  Data on the number of trafficking victims is 
unavailable.  Estimates have varied through the years.  IOM says it 
assisted 28 victims during the reporting period. The GODR transfers 
cases to IOM for direct assistance and/or to other entities, often 
affiliated with IOM. 
 
¶H. Proactive search for victims:  The prosecution service has 
indicated that it proactively looks for possible trafficking victims 
when dealing with other offenses, but no concrete instances have 
been cited.  At the same time, the anti-trafficking publicity or 
prevention campaigns (such as noted in this cable) constitute a 
means for having persons step forward with information, thus helping 
to proactively identify potential victims.  Additionally, 
identification of potential victims will be part of orientation 
training by IOM in 52 municipalities and provinces of the DR via 
CIPROM. 
 
¶I.  VictimsQ rights:  VictimsQ rights are generally respected, but 
there are reports that authorities do not always provide often poor, 
timid victims with a sympathetic initial hearing, when/if the 
alleged victim is trying to report an incident. According to IOM, 
victims are not detained, nor are they imprisoned. In general, the 
GODR immediately turns cases over to IOM to assist victims and 
protect their rights. 
 
¶J.  Testimony: The GODR sought to have more victims assist in 
investigations and prosecutions, but very few victims were willing 
to help.  For instance, in the case of some 14 Ecuadorian women who 
were rescued, only one stayed behind to help the GODR, while the 
rest returned to Ecuador.  GODR sources report that QdealsQ are 
struck between apparent victims and traffickers, whereby the victims 
Q through their attorneys in some cases Q receive compensation from 
the alleged traffickers in lieu of helping with a criminal 
prosecution.  (Note: The report that deals are negotiated instead of 
strict application of the law was confirmed by one NGO.  End Note.) 
 
 
¶K.  Awareness: Dominican officials going overseas were provided with 
trafficking awareness training to better assist possible victims, 
via NGOs.  (See also QPreventionQ section, below.) 
 
¶L.  Assistance: While the GODR does not have a formal system to 
provide aid to its nationals who are repatriated as victims of 
trafficking, it does work with organizations, such as IOM, to 
facilitate the return of Dominican victims abroad to their homes. 
 
¶M.  NGO involvement:  Several NGOs or international groups help 
address trafficking issues and/or help victims.  These include: 
COIN, IOM, Centro Solidaridad, and UNICEF. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Prevention (ref A para 27): 
 
¶A.  The government conducted anti-trafficking information and/or 
education campaigns.  Efforts often targeted Qat riskQ populations 
without categorizing by type of risk (e.g., sexual exploitation, 
labor) to address the most compelling needs.  According to attorneys 
working on behalf of the GODR, Qthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs has 
developed a worldwide network of consular officers trained to 
recognize and assist Dominican victims of trafficking.Q  COIN and 
the IOM counsel women planning to accept job offers in Europe and 
the eastern Caribbean about immigration, health, and other problems, 
including the dangers of trafficking, forced prostitution and forced 
domestic servitude.  COIN administers the Center for Health and 
Migration Informaion for Migrant Women, which conducts community 
ducation campaigns in high-risk areas on these isses as well as 
legal work requirements. 
 
Other xamples included: 
 
-- March 2008, the GODR entit INFOTEP (Instituto Nacional de 
Formacion TecnicoProfesional), and the NGO EDUCA agreed to 
implemnt a program to provide technical training to 2,50 young 
people in vulnerable circumstances. 
 
--January 2008, QEducando para combatir la explotacin laboral 
infantile,Q was launched, supported by the GODR and US Department of 
Labor (DOL), and adinistered by the Dominican NGO EDUCA (Accion 
par la Educacion Basica) to target education services through the 
existing Espacios para Crecer and vocational and microbusiness 
programs to 10,000 children involved in, or at risk of involvement 
in, the worst forms of child labor, which includes commercial sexual 
 
exploitation and other work situations, through programs in 11 areas 
involving partnering with UCNE, Catholic Relief Services, 
FUDECO/Save the Children, Plan Internacional, Vision Mundial, 
Instituto Dominicano de Desarollo (IDDI), FUNDAPRIN, SAMANENSES and 
FUNDAZUCAR. 
 
-- The GODR reported that a variety of its agencies engaged in 
information campaigns, including: 
   - Attorney General: La Ley Pega Fuerte (legal penalties) 
   - Migration Directorate: No Al Comercio Humano (legal 
prohibitions) 
   - Navy: Campana Contra Los Viajes Ilegales (illegal trips) 
   - Secretary of State for Women: Impresion Popular de la Ley 
137-03 (understanding law) 
   - Programa Radial: QMujer Conoce Tus Derechos 
(anti-trafficking) 
 
-- August 2008, QWorkshop InspectionQ held for migration officials 
on detecting of false and altered documents, enhancing technical 
abilities for inspection of travel documents and visas, and 
detecting imposters; done in coordination with IOM and the 
Undersecretary for Consular and Migratory Affairs of the Foreign 
Ministry. 
 
-- Also, the Labor MinistryQs QAction On Child LaborQ initiative 
targeted bateyes in Barahona, Bahoruco and Independencia, and 
covered issues such as trafficking, health conditions, and work 
accidents; this effort provided options through school and 
recreational programs and medical and legal assistance and 
training. 
 
¶B.  Although CESFRONT (see above) is working to improve border 
security, the border with Haiti is not particularly well defended. 
See, e.g., ref B.  While the GODR does not otherwise specifically 
monitor patterns of migration for evidence of trafficking, NGO (IOM) 
training has, in principle, helped to raise the capacity of GODR 
officials to identify possible trafficking victims. 
 
¶C. In October 2007, President Fernandez established a National 
Commission against Trafficking in Persons to combat trafficking via 
interagency cooperation, and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs 
(MFA), Interior and Police, Education, Tourism, Public Health, 
Women, and the National Council for Children, among others, 
participate.   This National Commission continued its work during 
the reporting period, particularly the writing of the national plan 
which was unveiled in December 2008. 
 
Additionally, CIPROM has been working since 1999 and, during the 
reporting period, developed an anti-TIP training course for key 
government and civil society actors, as well as assisting 
trafficking victims through its financial support of the shelter run 
by COIN. 
 
¶D. The inter-agency National Commission Against Trafficking put 
together an action plan, which was formally launched December 11, 
¶2008.  As of January 2009, however, the budget available to 
implement the plan was uncertain. The agencies involved in the 
National Commission against Trafficking included the following 
Ministries and agencies (as also indicated above):  MFA, Interior, 
Education, Labor, Tourism, Public Health, Secretariat for Women, 
Prosecutor General, National Police, Migration Directorate, Tourist 
Police, Navy, National Youth Council, and the First LadyQs Office. 
 
¶E.  As prostitution, but not other often associated activities, is 
legal, the question of reducing demand is of little relevance. 
However, GODR raids on brothels have caused owners to the check 
identity cards of women, so as to minimize the possibility that 
there are under-age sex workers. 
 
¶F.  The GODR has been working actively with U.S. agencies to address 
international child sex tourism by nationals of the country.  GODR 
authorities have assisted with the investigation of at least two sex 
tourism and child pornography cases.  The Attorney GeneralQs office 
agreed to the concept of creating, with U.S. support, a Human 
Trafficking and Sex Crimes Unit to include Dominican National Police 
Officers, Dominican Customs officers and Dominican Immigration 
officers.  Moreover, two sex tourism cases were, at yearQs end, 
being prosecuted (one in the Dominican Republic, the other in Puerto 
Rico, but linked to and supported by, the Dominican Republic). 
 
Additionally, per GODR sources, QNGOs conducted programs on 
prostitution and child sexual exploitation for hotel and industrial 
zone workers, male and female prostitutes and other high-risk 
groups. 
 
¶G. Again, the GODR has not contributed more than 100 troops to 
international peacekeeping.  However, the UN itself has reported on 
the trafficking of Dominican women to Haiti to work in brothels 
frequented by the UN Stabilization Mission peacekeepers (UNSCR 
Resolution 1840 of 2008). 
 
 
BULLEN