VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0594 1630008
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112343Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060594 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA -- 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 Ethiopia 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 
Ethiopia 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 Ethiopia 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 Ethiopia,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
----------------- 
ETHIOPIA (TIER 2) 
----------------- 
 
Ethiopia is a source country for men, women, and children 
trafficked primarily for the purposes of forced labor and, to 
a lesser extent, for commercial sexual exploitation.  Rural 
Ethiopian children are trafficked for domestic servitude and, 
less frequently, for commercial sexual exploitation and 
forced labor in agriculture, traditional weaving, gold 
mining, street vending, and begging.  Young women from all 
parts of Ethiopia are trafficked for domestic servitude 
primarily to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E., but also 
to Bahrain, Djibouti, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.  Djibouti, 
Egypt, and Somaliland are reportedly the main transit routes 
for trafficked Ethiopians.  Some women are trafficked into 
the sex trade after arriving at their destinations.  Small 
numbers of men are trafficked to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf 
States for low-skilled forced labor.  While the number of 
registered labor migration employment agencies rose from 36 
to 90 between 2005 and 2008, the government significantly 
tightened its implementation of regulations governing these 
agencies over the same period.  This resulted in an increase 
in trafficked Ethiopians transiting neighboring countries 
rather than traveling directly to Middle Eastern 
destinations. 
 
The Government of Ethiopia does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  While 
the Ethiopian government's ongoing efforts to provide 
pre-departure orientation to Ethiopian migrant workers and 
partner with a local NGO to detect cases of child trafficking 
within the country are notable, its limited capacity to 
prosecute trafficking crimes is a continued cause for 
concern.  Police investigators remain unable to properly 
distinguish trafficking cases from those of other crimes or 
to conduct thorough investigations, and the judicial system 
routinely is unable to track the status of trafficking cases 
moving through the courts. 
 
Recommendations for Ethiopia:  Improve the investigative 
capacity of police and enhance judicial understanding of 
trafficking to allow for more prosecutions of trafficking 
offenders, particularly perpetrators of internal child 
trafficking; institute trafficking awareness training for 
diplomats posted overseas; engage Middle Eastern governments 
on improving protections for Ethiopian workers and developing 
a mechanism to refer trafficking victims for assistance; 
partner with local NGOs to increase the level of services 
available to trafficking victims returning from overseas; and 
launch a campaign to increase awareness of internal 
trafficking at the local and regional levels. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
While the government sustained its efforts to prosecute and 
punish international trafficking offenders and initiated 
investigations of internal child trafficking during the 
reporting period, prosecution of internal trafficking cases 
remained nonexistent.  In addition, law enforcement entities 
continued to exhibit an inability to distinguish human 
trafficking from smuggling, rape, abduction, and unfair labor 
practices.  Articles 596 through 600 and 635 of Ethiopia's 
Penal Code prohibit all forms of trafficking for labor and 
sexual exploitation. 
 
The Federal High Court,s 11th Criminal Bench was established 
in late 2007 to hear cases of transnational trafficking, as 
well as any trafficking cases discovered in the jurisdiction 
of Addis Ababa.  In June 2008, the court sentenced a man 
under Proclamation 104/1998 to 15 years imprisonment and 
fined him $1,357 for illegally sending an Ethiopian woman to 
Lebanon where she was forced to work as a domestic servant 
and later thrown from a building by her employer.  A second 
defendant received five years, imprisonment and a $452 fine 
for facilitating the same woman,s trafficking for domestic 
servitude.  In 2008, police at Addis Ababa,s central bus 
terminal received 899 reports of internal child trafficking, 
an increase over the previous year.  However, unlike prior 
reporting periods, the unit did not provide statistics on the 
number of cases referred to the prosecutor,s office in 2008 
or the status of cases referred to the prosecutor,s office 
in the preceding year.  Some local police and border control 
agents are believed to have accepted bribes to overlook 
trafficking. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
Although the government lacks the resources to provide direct 
assistance to trafficking victims or to fund NGOs that 
provide victim care, police employ victim identification and 
referral procedures in the capital, regularly referring 
identified internal trafficking victims to NGOs for care. 
During the year, the Child Protection Units (CPUs) ) joint 
police-NGO identification and referral units operating in 
each Addis Ababa police station ) rescued and referred 
children to the CPU in the central bus terminal, which is 
dedicated exclusively to identifying and obtaining care for 
trafficked children.  In 2008, this unit identified 899 
trafficked children, 75 percent of whom were girls.  It 
referred 93 trafficked children to NGO shelters for care and 
family tracing and reunified 720 children with parents or 
relatives in Addis Ababa and in outlying regions.  Local 
police and officials in the regional administrations assisted 
in the return of the children to their home areas.  The Addis 
Ababa city government,s Social and Civil Affairs Department 
reunified an additional 46 children with their families in 
the capital and placed 40 children in foster care in 2008. 
During the year, police in Dessie Town, Amhara region 
replicated the CPU,s social programs without international 
assistance.  In July 2008, the government assisted IOM with 
the repatriation of Ethiopian trafficking victims from Dar es 
Salaam to their home regions.  Ethiopian missions in Jeddah, 
Riyadh, and Beirut have offices that provide general services 
to the local Ethiopian community, including limited referrals 
for labor-related assistance.  The Ethiopian government 
showed no sign of engaging the governments of these 
destination countries in an effort to improve protections for 
Ethiopian workers and obtain protective services for those 
who are trafficked.  The government made no effort to 
interview returned victims about their experiences in the 
Middle East.  Returned women rely heavily on the few NGOs 
that work with adult victims and psychological services 
provided by the government,s Emmanuel Mental Health 
Hospital.  In 2008, there were no reports of trafficking 
victims being detained, jailed, or prosecuted for violations 
of laws, such as those governing immigration.  While police 
encourage trafficking victims, participation in 
investigations and prosecutions, resource constraints prevent 
police from providing economic incentives to victims.  In 
January 2009, the government passed the Charities and 
Societies Proclamation, which, among other things, prohibits 
foreign-funded NGOs from informing victims of their rights 
under Ethiopian law or advocating on behalf of victims; this 
proclamation may have a negative impact on Ethiopia,s 
protection of trafficking victims. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
Ethiopia's efforts to prevent international trafficking 
increased, while measures to heighten awareness of internal 
trafficking remained limited.  In May 2008, after a series of 
deaths of Ethiopian maids in Lebanon, the government 
officially banned its citizens from traveling to the country; 
the ban remains in effect.  During the reporting period, the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA), employing two 
full-time counselors, provided 18,259 migrating workers with 
three-hour pre-departure orientation sessions on the risks of 
labor migration and the conditions in receiving countries. 
While these pre-departure preventative measures are 
commendable, they need to be matched by meaningful victim 
protection measures provided by the Ethiopian government in 
the countries for where the workers were destined.  In 
addition, Private Employment Agency Proclamation 104/1998 
governs the work of international employment agencies and 
protects Ethiopian migrant workers from fraudulent 
recruitment or excessive debt situations that could 
contribute to forced labor.  These statutes prescribe 
punishments of five to 20 years' imprisonment, which are 
sufficiently stringent and exceed those prescribed for other 
grave crimes, such as rape.  In 2009, an amendment to 
Proclamation 104/98 outlawing extraneous commission fees and 
requiring employment agencies to open branch offices in 
countries to which they send migrant workers was submitted to 
parliament for review.  In January 2008, the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs established a Women,s and Children,s 
Trafficking Controlling Department to collect data from 
Ethiopian diplomatic missions, NGOs, and police sub-stations 
on the status of migrant workers.  Though this office has not 
yet issued its first report, in December it hosted an 
inter-ministerial discussion on child trafficking and labor 
abuse for mid-level government officials from the Ministries 
of Labor, Justice, and Women and Children,s Affairs.  During 
the year, state-controlled Ethiopian Radio aired IOM,s 
public service announcements in four languages, as well as a 
program for listeners in Addis Ababa on the risk of 
trafficking through visa fraud.  The Ministry of Education, 
in partnership with an NGO, revised primary school textbooks 
to include instruction on child labor and trafficking in the 
curriculum.  Four teachers, training colleges in Southern 
Nations Nationalities Peoples, Regional State incorporated 
these topics in their teaching materials in 2008.  The 
government did not undertake efforts to reduce demand for 
commercial sex acts during the reporting period.  Before 
deploying Ethiopian soldiers on international peacekeeping 
missions, the government trained them on human rights issues, 
including human trafficking.  Ethiopia 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:  What progress has Ethiopia made in the last year? 
 
A:  The government convicted and sentenced to prison two 
individuals for illegally sending an Ethiopian woman to 
Lebanon where she was later thrown from a building by her 
employer.  A joint police-NGO identification and referral 
unit at Addis Ababa,s central bus terminal identified and/or 
received from other units 899 trafficked children.  It 
referred such children to NGO shelters and reunified 720 with 
parents or relatives.  The Addis Ababa city government,s 
Social and Civil Affairs Department reunified additional 
children with their families in the capital and placed 
children in foster care.  In May 2008, after a series of 
deaths of Ethiopian maids in Lebanon, the government 
officially banned its citizens from traveling to the country. 
 The Ministry of Labor employed two full-time counselors who 
provided 18,259 migrating workers with three-hour 
pre-departure orientation sessions on the risks of labor 
migration and the conditions in receiving countries. 
 
Q2:  What can Ethiopia do to improve its fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A:  Ethiopia,s limited capacity to prosecute trafficking 
crimes is a continued cause for concern.  Police 
investigators remain unable to properly distinguish 
trafficking cases from those of other crimes or to conduct 
solid, well-documented investigations, and the judicial 
system routinely fails to track the status of trafficking 
cases moving through the courts.  Prosecution of internal 
trafficking cases remained nonexistent. 
 
To further its anti-trafficking efforts, the Ethiopian 
government could: improve the investigative capacity of 
police and enhance judicial understanding of trafficking to 
allow for more convictions of trafficking offenders, 
particularly perpetrators of internal child trafficking; 
institute trafficking awareness training for diplomats posted 
overseas; instruct Ethiopian missions in Middle Eastern 
countries to engage host governments on improving protections 
for Ethiopian workers and developing a mechanism to refer 
trafficking victims for assistance; partner with local NGOs 
to increase the level of services available to trafficking 
victims returning from overseas; and launch a campaign to 
increase awareness of internal trafficking at the local and 
regional levels. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON