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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0555 1622321
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O 112252Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060555 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG TD
SUBJECT: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO -- 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 Trinidad and Tobago 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 Trinidad and Tobago 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 Trinidad and 
Tobago 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 Trinidad and Tobago,s country 
narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
Trinidad and Tobago (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 
 
Trinidad and Tobago is a destination and transit country for 
women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial 
sexual exploitation.  In some instances, women and girls from 
Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and the Dominican 
Republic have been identified as trafficking victims in 
Trinidadian brothels and casinos.  Last year the government 
identified five Colombian victims in the country; neighboring 
governments in Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname identified 
additional victims.  Foreign victims, including women who 
voluntarily enter the country to engage in prostitution, may 
subsequently be trafficked after being deceived by 
unscrupulous recruiters about the true nature and conditions 
of their employment.  Additional reporting suggests that men 
from China and Guyana may be trafficked to Trinidad and 
Tobago for labor exploitation in construction and other 
sectors.  Trinidad and Tobago also is a transit point to 
Caribbean destinations such as Barbados and the Netherlands 
Antilles for traffickers and their victims. 
 
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago 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, senior Trinidadian 
officials publicly condemned human trafficking, noting that 
the country is a destination point for trafficked persons. 
The government worked closely with IOM and other Caribbean 
governments to draft model anti-trafficking laws for the 
region, and to develop standards for victim repatriation and 
care.  The government also increased anti-trafficking 
training for law enforcement, and collaborated with IOM on 
additional awareness-raising measures.  However, vigorous 
government efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking 
crimes under existing laws remained lacking, and adequate 
victim services were extremely limited. 
 
 
Recommendations for Trinidad and Tobago:  Enact legislation 
to prohibit all forms of human trafficking; increase efforts 
to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and to 
convict and sentence trafficking offenders; increase victim 
services and protection efforts, particularly for foreign 
victims; develop formal procedures to identify trafficking 
victims among vulnerable populations; continue to increase 
anti-trafficking training and efforts to raise public 
awareness. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago demonstrated some 
progress in anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the 
last year.  While Trinidad and Tobago has no specific laws 
prohibiting human trafficking, trafficking offenders could be 
prosecuted under trafficking-related offenses such as 
kidnapping, rape, or procuring a person for prostitution. 
Penalties for such crimes range from 15 years, to life 
imprisonment, which are sufficiently stringent and 
commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious 
crimes.  Last year the government worked closely with IOM and 
neighboring countries to draft model anti-trafficking 
legislation for the Caribbean, and engaged experts from the 
Canadian High Commission to assist with writing an 
anti-trafficking law for Trinidad and Tobago.  During the 
reporting period, the government achieved no prosecutions, 
convictions, or sentences of trafficking offenders.  In past 
years, Trinidadian law enforcement have utilized proactive 
strategies such as brothel raids to enforce anti-prostitution 
laws and prosecute the owners of such establishments, though 
formal procedures to identify trafficking victims during such 
operations are not typically utilized.  In partnership with 
IOM, the government provided anti-trafficking training to 
more than 1,500 law enforcement officers last year, and 
published reference guides for immigration and police 
personnel.  No allegations of trafficking-related corruption 
were reported. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The Trinidadian government made limited efforts to assist 
trafficking victims during the reporting period, relying on 
international organizations and NGOs to provide care and 
services for identified victims.  The government encouraged 
crime victims, including trafficking victims, to assist with 
the investigation and prosecution of offenders, and provided 
interpreters for non-English speaking complainants.   Foreign 
victims were not eligible to receive government-provided 
services such as medical assistance, counseling, or legal 
assistance with filing a complaint.  Moreover, the government 
did not employ formal procedures for identifying victims of 
sex or labor trafficking among vulnerable populations, such 
as prostituted women in brothels or foreign migrant workers. 
The government did not provide foreign trafficking victims 
with legal alternatives to removal to countries where they 
may face hardship or retribution; most foreign victims were 
detained and deported without being identified as trafficking 
victims.  However, the government recently instituted a 
protocol where identified foreign trafficking victims are 
maintained in NGO safe houses until authorities in the 
victim,s home country can be contacted to assist with travel 
documents and repatriation.  In January 2009, government 
immigration officials met with Colombian counterparts to 
discuss procedures for identifying and sheltering Colombian 
trafficking victims found in Trinidad and Tobago, and as well 
as their safe return to Colombia; the workshop occurred due 
to a 2007 brothel raid in which more than 70 Colombian 
nationals, some of whom were believed to be trafficking 
victims, were detained and deported for being in Trinidad and 
Tobago illegally. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
In collaboration with international and local NGOs, the 
government increased its efforts to educate the public about 
the dangers of trafficking.  Senior government officials 
condemned human trafficking publicly, and emphasized the need 
to protect victims.  During 2008, law enforcement officers 
and an IOM expert on investigating and prosecuting sexual 
offenses conducted several raids of brothels where foreign 
women engage in prostitution, thus addressing demand for 
commercial sex acts by arresting and prosecuting &clients.8 
  The ILO and the government distributed informational 
brochures on regional child labor and protection concerns 
such as slavery, debt bondage, child drug trafficking, 
prostitution, and trafficking children in the Caribbean. 
The government also enacted laws to keep children in school, 
and raised the working age from 14 to 16 as measures to 
prevent child labor.  No additional efforts to reduce demand 
for adult forced labor were reported. 
 
---------------------------------- 
 
 
¶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 is Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago) 
included in the Report this year?  Why was it given a ranking 
of Tier 2 Watch List? 
 
¶A.  Trinidad and Tobago was placed on the TIP Report because 
there is evidence that it is a country of origin, transit, or 
destination for victims of severe forms of trafficking.  The 
Government of Trinidad and Tobago 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, senior Trinidadian officials publicly 
condemned human trafficking, noting that the country is a 
destination point for trafficked persons.  The government 
worked closely with IOM and other Caribbean governments to 
draft model anti-trafficking laws for the region, and to 
develop standards for victim repatriation and care.  The 
government also increased anti-trafficking training for law 
enforcement, and collaborated with IOM on additional 
awareness-raising measures.  However, vigorous government 
efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes under 
existing laws remained lacking, and adequate victim services 
were extremely limited. 
 
Q2.  What is the nature of the trafficking problem in 
Trinidad and Tobago? 
 
¶A.  Trinidad and Tobago is a destination and transit country 
for women and children trafficked for the purpose of 
commercial sexual exploitation.  In some instances, women and 
girls from Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and the 
Dominican Republic have been identified as trafficking 
victims in Trinidadian brothels and casinos.  Last year the 
government identified five Colombian victims in the country; 
neighboring governments in Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname 
identified additional victims.  Foreign victims, including 
women who voluntarily enter the country to engage in 
prostitution, may subsequently be trafficked after being 
deceived by unscrupulous recruiters about the true nature and 
conditions of their employment.  Additional reporting 
suggests that men from China and Guyana may be trafficked to 
Trinidad and Tobago for labor exploitation in construction 
and other sectors.  Trinidad and Tobago also is a transit 
point to Caribbean destinations such as Barbados and the 
Netherlands Antilles for traffickers and their victims. 
 
 
Q3.  How can Trinidad and Tobago show progress in its 
anti-trafficking efforts? 
 
¶A.  The government could enact legislation to prohibit all 
forms of human trafficking; increase efforts to investigate 
and prosecute trafficking offenses, and to convict and 
sentence trafficking offenders; increase victim services and 
protection efforts, particularly for foreign victims; develop 
formal procedures to identify trafficking victims among 
potential trafficking populations; continue to increase 
anti-trafficking training and efforts to raise public 
awareness. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON