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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0435 1622026
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112002Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY TIRANA IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG AL
SUBJECT: ALBANIA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND 
DEMARCHE 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 
     ¶B. (B) STATE 005577 
 
 ¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10 
through 12. 
 
¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will 
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a 
press conference in the Department's press briefing room. 
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic 
and foreign news outlets.  Until the time of the Secretary's 
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or 
country narratives contained therein is prohibited. 
 
¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press 
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter.  Also provided 
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government 
of Albania of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent 
release.  The text of the TIP Report country narrative is 
provided, both for use in informing the Government of Albania 
and in any local media release by Post's public affairs 
section on June 16 or thereafter.  Drawing on information 
provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide the host 
government with the text of the TIP Report narrative no 
earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, 
EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 for 
SCA and EAP posts.  Please note, however, that any public 
release of the Report's information should not/not precede 
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16. 
 
¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at 
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 
release.  Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts 
in all countries appearing on the Report.  The Secretary's 
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of 
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and 
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis 
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website 
shortly after the June 16 event.  Ambassador de Baca will 
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign 
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on 
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local 
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform 
the appropriate official in the Government of Albania of the 
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points 
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of 
the country narrative provided in para 8.  For countries 
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it 
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the 
Report being released in Washington on June 16. 
 
¶6. Action Request continued:  Please note that, for those 
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with 
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw 
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement 
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the 
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the 
narrative text.  This engagement is important to establishing 
the framework in which the government's performance will be 
judged for the 2010 Report.  If posts have questions about 
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they 
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, 
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. 
 
¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared 
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the 
press guidance provided in para 11.  If Post wishes, a local 
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP 
Report's country narrative provided in para 8. 
 
¶8. Begin Final Text of Albania,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
--------------- 
ALBANIA (Tier 2) 
 
Albania is a source country for men, women, and children 
trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced 
labor, including forced begging.  Albanian victims are 
trafficked primarily to Greece, and also to Italy, Macedonia, 
Kosovo, Spain, France, the U.K. and other Western European 
countries, as well as within Albania.  Available data 
indicate that more than half the victims of trafficking are 
under the age of 18.  Most sex trafficking victims are women 
and girls between the ages of 15 and 25, and 90 percent are 
ethnic Albanian.  Ethnic Roma children are most at risk for 
forced begging.  There is evidence that Albanian men have 
been trafficked for forced labor to the agricultural sector 
of Greece and other neighboring countries. 
The Government of Albania does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The 
government demonstrated increased political will to combat 
human trafficking over the last year, particularly through 
progress made in its efforts to identify victims of 
trafficking.  Concerns remained regarding whether the 
government vigorously prosecuted labor trafficking offenders 
and public officials who participated in or facilitated human 
trafficking. 
Recommendations for Albania:  Vigorously investigate and 
prosecute law enforcement officials, complicity in 
trafficking; vigorously prosecute labor trafficking 
offenders; continue to work with NGOs and civil society to 
ensure full implementation of the national mechanism for 
referring victims to service providers; continue funding 
victim assistance and protection services, including 
shelters; and improve existing prevention programs in 
collaboration with NGOs, including joint activities targeted 
at reducing the demand for human trafficking. 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Albania made some progress in its 
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during 2008. 
Albania criminally prohibits sex and labor trafficking 
through its penal code, which prescribes penalties of five to 
15 years, imprisonment. These penalties are sufficiently 
stringent and exceed those prescribed for rape.  In 2008, 
Albania prosecuted 22 trafficking cases, compared with 49 in 
2007, and convicted 26 trafficking offenders, compared with 
seven in 2007.  All of the prosecutions and convictions 
involved sex trafficking of women or children.  In 2008, 
sentences for convicted trafficking offenders ranged from two 
to 25 years, imprisonment.  The government instituted 
routine anti-trafficking training for police recruits and 
current police officers, and organized additional training 
for judges and social service providers.  In an outreach 
effort to potential female victims, in 2008 the government 
assigned approximately 20 female anti-trafficking police 
officers to organized crime police units throughout the 
country.  Pervasive corruption at all levels and sectors of 
Albanian society remained an obstacle to reducing human 
trafficking in Albania.   The government reported that the 
cases of official complicity referenced in the 2008 Report 
were determined to have involved smuggling, not human 
trafficking. 
Protection 
---------- 
The Government of Albania boosted efforts to provide victims 
of trafficking with protection and assistance in 2008. 
Officials improved the functioning of the national victim 
referral mechanism and, as a result, identified 108 victims 
of trafficking in 2008, a five-fold increase from the 
previous year.  The government provided approximately 
$262,000 in funding to the government-operated victim care 
shelter, an increase of 16 percent over the previous year; it 
also provided occasional in-kind assistance, such as use of 
government buildings and land, to four additional NGO-managed 
shelters.  The government encouraged victims to participate 
in investigations and prosecutions of trafficking offenders; 
however, victims often refused to testify, or they changed 
their testimony as a result of intimidation from traffickers 
or fear of intimidation.  Victims were not penalized in 
Albania for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of 
their being trafficked. Albanian law provides for legal 
alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries 
where they may face hardship or retribution. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Government of Albania implemented several 
anti-trafficking prevention activities during the reporting 
period.  International organizations fund the majority of 
prevention campaigns, but the Ministry of Interior has funded 
the national toll-free, 24-hour hotline for victims and 
potential victims of trafficking since November 2007.  The 
Ministry of Education includes in its high school curriculum 
awareness-raising of the dangers of trafficking.  Senior 
government officials spoke out against human trafficking, and 
the government provided tax breaks to businesses that employ 
people at-risk for trafficking.  In 2008, the government 
approved a new national action plan on combating trafficking, 
which specifically addressed issues related to child 
trafficking.  The Ministry of Tourism took the lead in 
monitoring a code of conduct for the prevention of child sex 
tourism that 24 tourist agencies and hotels signed.  There 
was no evidence that the government undertook prevention 
activities specifically targeted at reducing the demand for 
commercial sex acts or forced labor. 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer 
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to 
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report 
country narrative: 
 
(begin non-paper) 
 
-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), 
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to 
Congress.  The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and 
create partnerships around the world in the fight against 
modern-day slavery.  The USG approach to combating human 
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in 
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol").  The TVPA 
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in 
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex 
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, 
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological 
manipulation.  While much attention has focused on 
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol 
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a 
showing that the victim was moved. 
 
-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that 
only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking 
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, 
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of 
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of 
three tiers.  Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum 
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking" 
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1.  Countries 
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, 
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum 
standards are classified as Tier 2.  Countries assessed as 
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making 
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. 
 
-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a 
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year. 
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to 
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the 
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of 
each year.  Countries are included on the "Special Watch 
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP 
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been 
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: 
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human 
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant 
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over 
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of 
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim 
population.  As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been 
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after 
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier 
¶3.  Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this 
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP 
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch 
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to 
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report).  The new law allows for a waiver 
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a 
determination by the President that the country has developed 
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make 
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the 
minimum standards. 
 
-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory 
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on 
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance 
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for 
participation by government officials or employees in 
educational and cultural exchange programs.   In addition, 
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to 
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other 
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, 
trade-related or certain types of development assistance) 
with respect to countries on Tier 3.  Countries classified as 
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's 
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in 
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier 
classification, would avoid such sanctions.  Guidelines for 
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared 
by Posts with host governments. 
 
-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of 
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of 
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and 
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon:  fraudulent 
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in 
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor 
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the 
flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship 
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal 
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor.  As the 
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced 
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and 
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion.  The 
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the 
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated 
"cost of coercion." 
 
-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on 
website www.state.gov/g/tip. 
 
-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the 
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State 
Department.  We are providing you an advance copy of your 
country's narrative in that report.  Please keep this 
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June 
¶16.  The State Department will also hold a general briefing 
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 
17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
(end non-paper) 
 
¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country 
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web 
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as 
possible after the TIP Report is released.  Funding for 
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human 
Rights Report.  Posts needing financial assistance for 
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX 
office. 
 
¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use 
with local media. 
----------------------------------------- 
 
Q1: Why was Albania upgraded to Tier 2 in 2009? 
 
A: The government demonstrated increased political will to 
combat human trafficking over the last year, particularly 
through progress made in its efforts to identify victims of 
trafficking.  Officials improved the functioning of the 
national victim referral mechanism and, as a result, 
identified 108 victims of trafficking in 2008, a five-fold 
increase from the previous year.  The government provided 
approximately $262,000 in funding to the government-operated 
victim care shelter, an increase of 16 percent over the 
previous year; it also provided occasional in-kind 
assistance, such as use of government buildings and land, to 
four additional NGO-managed shelters. 
 
Q2: What are some issues that Albania still needs to address? 
 
A: Concerns remained regarding whether the government 
vigorously prosecuted labor trafficking offenders and public 
officials who participated in or facilitated human 
trafficking. 
 
Q3: What can Albania do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons in the coming year? 
 
A: To improve its anti-trafficking performance, the 
Government of Albania 
could: vigorously investigate and prosecute law enforcement 
officials, complicity in trafficking; vigorously prosecute 
labor trafficking offenders; continue to work with NGOs and 
civil society to ensure full implementation of the national 
mechanism for referring victims to service providers; 
continue funding victim assistance and protection services, 
including shelters; improve existing prevention programs in 
collaboration with NGOs, including joint activities targeted 
at reducing the demand for human trafficking. 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. Post may want to highlight the work of Vera Lesko, one of 
Heroes in the Global Effort to Combat Trafficking in Persons 
honored by the Secretary of State in her 2009 TIP Report, in 
its engagement of local media. 
--------------------------------------- 
 
Albania 
------- 
Vera Lesko was one of the first people in Albania to 
recognize the problem of human trafficking.  Since 1997, she 
has risked danger to herself and her family to protect 
trafficking victims and prevent young women from falling prey 
to traffickers.  In 2001, Ms. Lesko,s organization, The 
Hearth Psycho-Social Center, opened the first shelter in the 
country for trafficked Albanian women and girls.  Along with 
a safe place to stay, the shelter offers returned victims 
legal and medical counseling, educational training, 
employment assistance, and family mediation services.  As a 
result of her work, Ms. Lesko has been beaten in public 
several times and felt it necessary to send her daughter to 
live with relatives in Italy because of threats to her 
safety.  Despite these regular attacks and her recent battle 
with breast cancer, Ms. Lesko continues her commitment to 
protect women and combat human trafficking. 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶13. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON