VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0552 1622317
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112250Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY KINGSTON IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060552 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG JM
SUBJECT: JAMAICA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND 
DEMARCHE 
 
REF: (A) STATE 59732 (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 Jamaica 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 Jamaica 
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 Jamaica 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 Jamaica,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
Jamaica (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 
 
Jamaica is a source, transit, and destination country for 
women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation and forced labor.  The majority of victims are 
poor Jamaican women and girls, and increasingly boys, who are 
trafficked from rural to urban and tourist areas for 
commercial sexual exploitation.  Victims are typically 
recruited by persons close to them or newspaper 
advertisements promoting work as spa attendants, masseuses, 
or dancers; after being recruited, victims are coerced into 
prostitution.  Jamaican children also may be subjected to 
conditions of forced labor as domestic servants.  Child sex 
tourism in resort areas has been identified as a problem. 
Reportedly women from the Dominican Republic, Russia, and 
Eastern Europe who have been trafficked into Jamaica,s sex 
 
trade have also been forced to transport illegal drugs.  Some 
Jamaican women and girls have been trafficked to Canada, the 
United States, the Bahamas, and other Caribbean destinations 
for commercial sexual exploitation. 
 
The Government of Jamaica does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  During 
the reporting period, the government of Jamaica made strong 
progress in the prosecution of trafficking offenders and 
continued solid efforts to prevent human trafficking, 
although its services to trafficking victims remained largely 
inadequate. 
 
Recommendations for Jamaica: expand efforts to investigate, 
convict and punish traffickers for their crimes; extend 
training on human trafficking issues among law enforcement 
agencies; increase funding for shelter services and other 
assistance to victims; continue awareness campaigns aimed at 
vulnerable populations, especially young people. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Jamaica took significant steps to 
apprehend, investigate, prosecute, and convict trafficking 
offenders during the last year. The government prohibits all 
forms of trafficking through its comprehensive &Trafficking 
Act of Jamaica,8 which went into effect in 2007.  The Act, 
which prescribes sufficiently stringent penalties of up to 10 
years, imprisonment, applies to those who committed, 
facilitated, or knowingly benefited from the offense.  If a 
corporate body is involved, every director, manager, 
secretary, or other similar officer may be liable.  During 
the year, the government reported its first convictions for 
conspiracy to traffic in persons.  In November 2008, two men 
convicted of trafficking offenses committed before enactment 
of the new law were each sentenced to 12 months in prison in 
accordance with the trafficking statutes of the Child 
Protection Act.  The alleged traffickers in the four trials 
currently underway, however, were all charged under the 2007 
anti-trafficking law.  The National Anti-Trafficking Task 
Force allows for coordination among various NGOs and 
government agencies -- internal, international, and 
multilateral -- on trafficking-related matters as per the 
national action plan.  The police anti-trafficking unit works 
closely with liaison officers at the Department of Public 
Prosecution (DPP), where specially-trained officials provide 
guidance on which cases should be prosecuted under 
trafficking laws.  Police and judicial officials received 
anti-trafficking training from IOM and other organizations. 
No reports of official complicity with human trafficking were 
received in 2008. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
During the reporting period, the government made limited 
progress in its efforts to ensure victims, access to 
medical, psychological, legal, and victim protection services 
through a formal referral process.  Existing law provides for 
the government to assist victims with: understanding the laws 
of Jamaica and their rights; obtaining any relevant documents 
and information to assist with legal proceedings; replacing 
travel documents; any necessary language interpretation and 
translation; meeting expenses related to criminal proceedings 
against the traffickers; and provision of shelters and 
assistance to cover expenses.  A lack of financial resources 
seriously constrains the government,s ability to provide 
these services.  With the funding that is available, however, 
the government has begun construction of a shelter for women 
and children trafficking victims scheduled to open by 
mid-2009.  As specialized shelters for trafficking victims 
remain largely unavailable, law enforcement and social 
service agencies refer victims to safe houses for abuse 
victims that are run by NGOs.  Law enforcement, immigration, 
and social services personnel use established formal 
mechanisms to proactively identify victims of trafficking 
among high-risk populations they are likely to encounter, and 
to refer these victims to NGOs for short- or long-term care. 
Pursuant to its anti-trafficking statute, Jamaican 
authorities encourage victims to assist in the investigation 
and prosecution of their traffickers.  Victims may also 
independently file civil suits or take other legal action 
against their traffickers.  One victim assisted in the 
investigation and prosecution of traffickers during the 
reporting period.  Victims are not penalized for immigration 
violations or other unlawful acts committed as a direct 
result of being trafficked.  The Jamaican government allows 
foreign trafficking victims participating in a law 
enforcement investigation or prosecution to stay in Jamaica 
until their cases have been completed and their safe return 
to their home countries is certain. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The government made steady efforts to further raise the 
public,s awareness of trafficking during the reporting 
period.  The government conducted anti-trafficking education 
campaigns in schools and rural communities.  Local NGOs used 
videos and live theatrical performances to highlight the 
dangers of trafficking, and also included anti-trafficking 
components in outreach to vulnerable populations, especially 
in popular tourist destinations.  The campaigns targeted 
potential trafficking victims.  Having previously eliminated 
their use in nightclubs, the government further tightened 
issuance of &exotic dancer8 permits for Jamaican hotel 
establishments by increasing the permit fee significantly 
beyond the financial reach of the hotels.  This may be 
effective in preventing sex trafficking. Increased government 
collaboration with Jamaica,s hotel and tourism industry 
would assist efforts to prevent child and adult sex tourism 
in resort areas; despite reported sexual exploitation of 
Jamaican children by foreign tourists, no investigations or 
prosecutions of such suspected criminal activity committed by 
foreign tourists were reported by the government. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶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.   What is the nature of the trafficking problem in 
Jamaica? 
 
¶A.  Jamaica is a source, transit, and destination country for 
women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation and forced labor.  The majority of victims are 
poor Jamaican women and girls, and increasingly boys, who are 
trafficked from rural to urban and tourist areas for 
commercial sexual exploitation.  Jamaican children also may 
be subjected to conditions of forced labor as domestic 
servants.  Child sex tourism in resort areas has been 
identified as a problem.  Reportedly women from the Dominican 
Republic, Russia, and Eastern Europe who have been trafficked 
into Jamaica,s sex trade have also been forced to transport 
illegal drugs. 
 
Q2.  How is Jamaica making significant efforts to comply with 
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking? 
 
¶A.  During the past year, the government made strong progress 
in the prosecution of trafficking offenders and continued 
solid efforts to prevent human trafficking,  In 2008, the 
government recorded its first convictions for conspiracy to 
traffic in persons.  The two traffickers were each sentenced 
to 12 months, imprisonment because the law in effect at the 
time of their arrest did not allow for more stringent 
penalties.  The alleged traffickers in the four trials 
currently underway, however, were all charged under the 
anti-trafficking law which went into effect in 2007; if 
convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 10 years, 
imprisonment. 
 
Q3.  What else could Jamaica do to combat trafficking? 
 
¶A.  Further activities could include increasing efforts to 
investigate, convict and punish traffickers for their crimes; 
extending training on human trafficking issues among law 
enforcement agencies; increasing shelter services and other 
assistance to victims; and continuing the public awareness 
campaigns aimed at those who are vulnerable to trafficking, 
especially young people. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON