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DE RUEHC #0592 1630004
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O 112340Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY ASMARA IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060592 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG ER
SUBJECT: ERITREA -- 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 Eritrea 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 Eritrea 
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 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 Eritrea 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 Eritrea,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
---------------- 
ERITREA (TIER 3) 
---------------- 
 
Eritrea is a source country for men, women, and children 
trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial 
sexual exploitation.  In connection with a national service 
program in which men aged 18 to 54 and women aged 18 to 47 
provide military and non-military service, there have been 
repeated reports that some Eritreans in military service are 
used as laborers on some commanding officers, personal 
properties, as well as in the construction and agricultural 
sectors, functions outside the scope of the Proclamation of 
National Service (No. 82/1995).  There are also reports that 
some national service workers are required to continue their 
service indefinitely, beyond the 18 months specified by law, 
with many required to serve in their positions for over 10 
years.  In 2007, approximately 40 national service workers 
were sent to hotels in the United Arab Emirates.  Similar 
reports in 2008 maintained that the government sent national 
service employees to work in hotels in southern Sudan.  The 
conditions of such service, including requirements that the 
workers migrate to other countries for work, go beyond those 
required of national service participants as outlined in 
Proclamation No. 82/1995.  Reports concerning these workers 
also noted that, with the exception of a small stipend, pay 
for their work was remitted directly to the Eritrean 
government.  The government remains complicit in conscripting 
children into military service. 
 
Each year, large numbers of migrant workers depart Eritrea in 
search of work, particularly in the Gulf States, where some 
likely become victims of forced labor, including in domestic 
servitude, or commercial sexual exploitation.  In 2008, six 
Eritrean women and two Eritrean girls were identified as 
victims of sex trafficking in Norway.  In addition, thousands 
of Eritreans flee the country illegally, mostly to Sudan, 
Ethiopia, and Kenya where their illegal status makes them 
vulnerable to situations of human trafficking. 
 
The Government of Eritrea does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is 
not making significant efforts to do so.  The Eritrean 
government does not operate with transparency and published 
neither data nor statistics regarding its efforts to combat 
human trafficking; it did not respond to requests to provide 
information for this report. 
 
Recommendations for Eritrea:  Take steps to curb abuses of 
Eritrean citizens in the national service program; pass and 
enforce a comprehensive anti-trafficking statute; provide 
education to all levels of government and the general public 
on the issue of human trafficking; and cease the unlawful 
conscription of children into military service. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Eritrea made no known progress in 
prosecuting and punishing trafficking crimes over the 
reporting period.  Articles 605 and 607 of the Eritrean 
Criminal Code prohibit trafficking in women and young persons 
for sexual exploitation; procuring women and children to 
engage in prostitution is punishable by up to five years, 
imprisonment, which is not commensurate with punishments 
prescribed for other grave crimes.  Forced labor and slavery 
are prohibited, except when authorized by law, under Article 
16 of the ratified, but suspended, Eritrean Constitution, but 
there are no known laws or enabling proclamations specific to 
trafficking for labor exploitation.  Proclamation 11/199 
prohibits the recruitment of children under 18 years of age 
into the armed forces.  The government did not publish 
information on investigations or prosecutions, if any, of 
human trafficking offenses during the reporting period. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The government did not appear to provide any significant 
assistance to victims of trafficking during the reporting 
period.  The Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare oversees the 
government,s trafficking portfolio, but individual cases of 
transnational human trafficking are reportedly handled by the 
Eritrean embassy in the country of destination; information 
regarding embassy efforts to assist trafficking victims was 
not provided.  The government has no known facilities 
dedicated to trafficking victims and does not provide funding 
or other forms of support to NGOs for services to trafficking 
victims.  The government severely limited the number of 
foreign NGOs permitted to operate in the country; of the few 
remaining NGOs, none operated anti-trafficking programs. 
During the reporting period, the government operated a 
program to identify children involved in commercial sexual 
exploitation and reintegrate them with their families. 
Nearly 300 children engaged in prostitution received support 
through this program in 2007; the government did not make 
available similar information on the programs, 
accomplishments in 2008.  It is not known whether the 
government encouraged victims, assistance in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes or 
whether it provided legal alternatives to the removal of 
foreign victims to countries where they would face hardship 
or retribution.  The government did not ensure that victims 
are not inappropriately incarcerated, fined, or otherwise 
penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct 
result of being trafficked. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The government made no known efforts to prevent future 
incidences of trafficking during the reporting period. 
Eritrean media, all state-owned, made neither public 
announcements nor media presentations regarding human 
trafficking during the reporting period.  There were no 
anti-trafficking education campaigns.  However, the National 
Union of Eritrean Youth and Students actively warned the 
populace of the dangers of leaving the country, including the 
prospects of being sold into slave labor or sexual servitude. 
 The National Confederation of Eritrean Workers carried out 
similar campaigns to alert workers of the dangers of entering 
a country illegally.  Although the government does not 
publicly acknowledge human trafficking as a problem, an 
office exists within the Ministry of Labor to handle labor 
cases, including human trafficking; the accomplishments of 
this office during 2008 are unknown.  Limited resources and a 
small number of inspectors impeded the ministry,s ability to 
conduct investigations; the government did not provide 
information on the number of child labor inspections it 
carried out in 2008.  The government is implementing a 
national plan of action on child labor that primarily focuses 
on integrating or reintegrating children with families, 
communities, and schools as a means of preventing child 
labor, or rehabilitating children engaged in child labor. 
The Ministry of Labor reportedly reviewed all applications 
for permits to grant passports and exit visas to legal 
migrant workers, and immigration agents closely monitored 
anyone entering or leaving the country.  Eritrea 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 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 Eritrea included in the 2009 TIP Report? 
 
A:  Eritrea was included in the TIP Report for the first time 
as a result of increased evidence of the victimization of 
Eritreans by situations of human trafficking.  Abuses 
associated with the government,s National Service Program 
amount to human trafficking.  There have been repeated 
reports that some Eritreans in military service are used as 
laborers on commanding officers, personal properties, as 
well as in the construction and agricultural sectors.  There 
are also reports that some national service workers are 
required to continue their service indefinitely, beyond the 
18 months specified by law, with many required to serve in 
their positions for over ten years.  In 2008, similar reports 
indicate the government sent national service employees to 
work in hotels in southern Sudan and collected the majority 
of their wages.  The government also remains complicit in 
compulsorily conscripting children into military service. 
Many Eritrean migrant workers likely become victims of forced 
labor in domestic servitude or commercial sexual 
exploitation, particularly in the Gulf States.  In 2008, six 
Eritrean women and two Eritrean girls were identified as 
victims of sex trafficking in Norway. 
 
Q2:  Why is Eritrea ranked Tier 3? 
 
A:   Eritrea did not make significant efforts to combat human 
trafficking during the reporting period.   The government 
made no known progress in prosecuting and punishing 
trafficking crimes, did not appear to provide any significant 
assistance to victims of trafficking, and undertook no known 
efforts to prevent future incidences of trafficking during 
the reporting period.  The Eritrean government published 
neither data nor statistics regarding its efforts to combat 
human trafficking, and did not respond to requests to provide 
information for this report. 
 
Q3: What can Eritrea do to improve its fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A: To advance its anti-trafficking efforts, the Government of 
Eritrea could:  take steps to curb abuses of Eritrean 
citizens in the national service program; pass and enforce a 
comprehensive anti-trafficking statute; provide education to 
all levels of government and the general public on the issue 
of human trafficking; and cease conscription of children into 
military service. 
 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON