VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0452 1622046
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112012Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG SN
SUBJECT: SINGAPORE -- 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. 
 
¶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 Singapore 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 Singapore 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 Singapore 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 Singapore,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
SINGAPORE (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 
Singapore is a destination country for women and girls 
trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. 
Some women from Thailand and the Philippines who travel to 
Singapore voluntarily for prostitution or work are 
subsequently deceived or coerced into sexual servitude.  Some 
foreign domestic workers are subject to conditions that may 
be indicative of labor trafficking, including physical or 
sexual abuse, confiscation of travel documents, confinement, 
inadequate food, rest, or accommodation, deceptions about 
wages or conditions of work, and improper withholding of pay. 
 Some Singaporean men travel to countries in the region for 
child sex tourism. 
The Government of Singapore does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. 
Singapore secured convictions of two defendants for sex 
trafficking-related crimes, including the first conviction 
under a recently amended law criminalizing the commercial 
sexual exploitation of children between 16 and 18 years of 
age.  Singapore strengthened the Conditions of Work Permits 
for foreign domestic workers and collected unpaid wages on 
behalf of such workers in 276 cases.  The government did not 
take adequate measures to protect victims of trafficking 
particularly foreign domestic workers subjected to forced 
labor conditions.  While Singapore has made progress in 
combating trafficking to date, it can and should do more to 
investigate and prevent trafficking and to identify and 
assist trafficking victims. 
Recommendations for Singapore:  Prosecute the maximum 
possible number of cases involving the trafficking of 
children under the age of 18 for commercial sexual 
exploitation; prosecute employers and employment agencies who 
unlawfully confiscate workers, passports as a means of 
intimidating workers or holding them in a state of 
involuntary servitude, or use other means to extract forced 
labor; expand investigations and prosecutions in adult sex 
trafficking cases;  develop robust procedures to identify 
potential traffickers and trafficking victims by immigration 
officers at ports of entry and other law enforcement 
personnel;  devote additional resources to systematically 
identifying and quantifying sex and labor trafficking within 
and across national borders, as well as indicators (such as 
certain unlawful labor practices) that are common associated 
with trafficking, and publish findings and follow-up; use the 
findings to improve the anti-trafficking training of police, 
immigration, and Ministry of Manpower officers, as well as 
judicial personnel, carry out targeted anti-trafficking law 
enforcement operations, conduct focused public information 
campaigns, and make appropriate adjustments to administrative 
rules or procedures relating to the prevention of trafficking 
or the protection of trafficking victims; study ways to make 
affordable legal aid to trafficking victims to enable them to 
obtain redress by pursuing civil suits against their 
traffickers; reduce the demand for commercial sex acts in 
Singapore by vigorously enforcing existing laws against 
importing women for purposes of prostitution, trafficking in 
women and girls, importing women or girls by false pretenses, 
living or trading on prostitution, and keeping brothels; 
increase cooperative exchange of information about potential 
trafficking issues with NGOs and foreign diplomatic missions 
in Singapore; conduct public awareness campaigns to inform 
citizens and residents of the recent amendments to the Penal 
Code and the penalties for involvement in trafficking for 
sexual exploitation or forced labor; and cooperate with 
foreign governments to institutionalize procedures for 
reporting, investigating, and prosecuting child sex tourism 
committed overseas by Singaporean citizens and permanent 
residents. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Singapore demonstrated some law enforcement 
efforts to combat trafficking in persons during the reporting 
year.  Singaporean law criminalizes all forms of trafficking, 
through its Penal Code, Women,s Charter, Children and Young 
Persons Act, Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, Employment 
Agencies Act, Employment Agency Rules, and the Conditions of 
Work Permits for foreign domestic workers.  Penalties 
prescribed for sex trafficking, including imprisonment, 
fines, and caning, are sufficiently stringent and 
commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, as 
are penalties prescribed for labor trafficking.  The 
Singapore Police Force investigated 54 reports of sex 
trafficking during the reporting period; two cases resulted 
in prosecutions, while the others reportedly were closed due 
to lack of substantiating evidence.  The government 
prosecuted and secured the convictions of two trafficking 
offenders in 2008, both for sex trafficking offenses.  One 
trafficker who brought a Filipina woman into Singapore for 
the purpose of prostitution was fined $8,000 with an 
alternative sentence of 12 weeks, imprisonment if she failed 
to pay the fine.  Another trafficker who brought an underage 
Chinese girl to Singapore for commercial sexual exploitation 
was sentenced to one year in prison.  There were no criminal 
prosecutions of labor agency representatives for trafficking 
crimes in 2008; the government prosecuted some employers for 
physical or sexual abuse of foreign domestic workers, for 
&illegal deployment8 (unlawfully requiring a worker to work 
at premises other than those stated in the work permit), for 
failing to pay wages due, or for failing to provide 
acceptable accommodation or a safe working environment. 
There were no reports of government officials, complicity in 
trafficking crimes during the reporting period. 
 
Protection 
------------ 
The government did not show appreciable progress in 
protecting trafficking victims, particularly foreign domestic 
workers subjected to forced labor conditions. The government 
does not operate victim shelters, but instead referred 
potential victims of trafficking to NGO shelters or foreign 
embassies over the reporting period.  Although two foreign 
embassies in Singapore documented over 150 women allegedly 
trafficked into Singapore for the purpose of commercial 
sexual exploitation, the government only identified two 
trafficking victims during the reporting period.  One 
identified victim, a Chinese girl, was referred by the 
government to an NGO-operated shelter during the prosecution 
of her trafficker.  The other victim returned voluntarily to 
the Philippines before a report was filed with the police. 
In 2008, one NGO reported offering assistance to over 850 
foreign workers, some of whom claimed they had experienced 
trafficking-related conditions, such as fraudulent 
recruitment, withholding of documents, confinement, threats 
of serious financial harm related to recruitment debts as 
part of a scheme to keep the worker performing the relevant 
labor or service, and physical abuse.  In a survey of 206 
migrant workers who resided at the shelter, 95percent 
reported that their employer or employment agency in 
Singapore held their passport, a known contributing factor to 
trafficking if done as a means to keep the worker performing 
a form of labor or service.  The Philippine Embassy in 
Singapore reported contacts from 136 potential sex 
trafficking victims whose claims Philippine authorities 
determined to be credible.  Six other diplomatic missions in 
Singapore reported a combined total of 21 to 23 potential or 
confirmed sex trafficking victims.  Law enforcement efforts 
aimed at curbing prostitution may have resulted in victims of 
sex trafficking being penalized for acts committed as a 
direct result of being trafficked.  In 2008, the police 
arrested 5,047 foreign women for prostitution, who were 
generally incarcerated and then deported.  The number of 
trafficking victims among this group is unknown; however, 
government measures to proactively identify potential 
trafficking victims among this vulnerable population, if any, 
appear to have been limited during the majority of the 
reporting period.  At least 53 of those reportedly arrested 
and deported without being formally identified and provided 
with appropriate protective services were children, who 
should therefore have been classified as crime victims under 
Singapore,s amended Penal Code.  The government encourages 
identified victims to assist in the investigation and 
prosecution of trafficking offenders, and makes available to 
all foreign victims of crime temporary immigration relief 
that allows them to reside in Singapore pending conclusion of 
their criminal case.  Singapore does not otherwise provide 
trafficking victims with a legal alternative to removal to 
countries where they may face hardship or retribution. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Singaporean government demonstrated some increased 
efforts to prevent trafficking in persons during the year. 
The government expanded its information campaign that aims to 
raise awareness among foreign workers of their rights and 
resources available, in an effort to prevent incidents of 
trafficking.  It continued to print information on 
employees, rights and police hotline numbers for domestic 
workers on prepaid phone cards. The Ministry of Manpower has 
a biannual newsletter, published in multiple languages, that 
it mails directly to all 180,000 foreign domestic workers. 
All foreign domestic workers working in Singapore for the 
first time attend a compulsory course on domestic safety and 
their employment rights and responsibilities.  The government 
undertook some administrative actions for violations of labor 
laws potentially related to trafficking, including employer 
fines and license suspensions for several employment 
agencies.  It also strengthened the terms of work permits to 
expressly prohibit employers from making unauthorized 
deductions from domestic workers' salaries.  Throughout the 
reporting period, at least 25 employers were convicted of 
physically or sexually abusing their foreign domestic workers 
and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from a few 
weeks to over two years, depending on the severity of the 
abuse.  Some male employers convicted of sexual abuse were 
also sentenced to caning.  The government did not undertake 
specific measures to reduce demand for commercial sex acts 
involving adults in the legalized commercial sex industry in 
Singapore.  Singapore has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP 
Protocol. 
¶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 Singapore again given a ranking of Tier 2? 
 
A: The Government of Singapore does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. 
Singapore secured convictions of two defendants for sex 
trafficking-related crimes, including the first conviction 
under a recently-amended law criminalizing the commercial 
sexual exploitation of children between 16 and 18 years of 
age.  The government did  not take adequate measures to 
protect victims of trafficking, particularly foreign domestic 
workers subjected to forced labor conditions.   While 
Singapore has made progress in combating trafficking to date, 
it can and should do more to investigate and prevent 
trafficking and to identify and assist trafficking victims. 
 
Q2: What progress has Singapore made in the past year? 
 
A: The government prosecuted and convicted two trafficking 
offenders in 2008, both for sex trafficking offenses.  The 
Government expanded its information campaign that aims to 
raise awareness among foreign workers of their rights and 
resources available, in an effort to prevent incidents of 
trafficking.  It continued to print information on 
employees, rights and police hotline numbers for domestics 
on prepaid phone cards. 
 
Q3: What efforts could Singapore make to improve its fight 
against trafficking in persons? 
 
A: The Government of Singapore could:  prosecute the maximum 
possible number of cases involving the commercial sexual 
exploitation of children under the age of 18; prosecute 
employers and employment agencies who unlawfully confiscate 
workers, passports as a means of intimidating workers or 
holding them in a state of involuntary servitude, or use 
other means to extract forced labor; expand investigations 
and prosecutions in adult sex trafficking cases; develop 
robust procedures to identify potential traffickers and 
trafficking victims by immigration officers at ports of entry 
and other law enforcement personnel; reduce the demand for 
commercial sex acts in Singapore by vigorously enforcing 
existing laws against importing women for purposes of 
prostitution, trafficking in women and girls, importing women 
or girls by false pretenses, living or trading on 
prostitution, and keeping brothels; increase cooperative 
exchange of information about potential trafficking issues 
with NGOs and foreign diplomatic missions in Singapore; 
conduct public awareness campaigns to inform citizens and 
residents of the recent amendments to the Penal Code and the 
penalties for involvement in trafficking for sexual 
exploitation or forced labor; and cooperate with foreign 
governments to institutionalize procedures for reporting, 
investigating, and prosecuting overseas child sex tourism by 
Singaporean citizens and permanent residents. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON