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DE RUEHC #0598 1630022
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O 112359Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY PORT LOUIS IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060598 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG MP
SUBJECT: MAURITIUS -- 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 Mauritius 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 Mauritius 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 Mauritius 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 Mauritius,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
------------------ 
MAURITIUS (TIER 1) 
------------------ 
 
Mauritius is a source for children trafficked within the 
country for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. 
Secondary school-age girls and, to a lesser extent, younger 
girls from all areas of the island, including from Rodrigues 
Island, are induced into prostitution, often by their peers, 
family members, or businessmen offering other forms of 
employment.  Taxi drivers are known to provide transportation 
and introductions for both the girls and the clients.  Boys 
whose mothers engage in prostitution are reportedly forced 
into prostitution at a young age.  Some drug-addicted women 
are forced to engage in prostitution by their boyfriends, who 
serve as pimps. 
 
The Government of Mauritius fully complies with the minimum 
standards for the elimination of trafficking.  Mauritius 
sustained its strong efforts to identify, address, and 
prevent incidences of trafficking during the reporting 
period.  Government officials demonstrated an increasing 
level of awareness of human trafficking and commitment to 
addressing the problem.  Public awareness projects, 
particularly those convened for school students by police 
officers and the National Children,s Council, were 
frequently conducted and broad-reaching.  Mauritius, 
parliament passed a comprehensive human trafficking law in 
April 2009. 
 
Recommendations for Mauritius:  Utilize newly passed 
anti-trafficking legislation to investigate and prosecute 
trafficking offenses and convict and punish trafficking 
offenders; designate an official coordinating body or 
mechanism to facilitate improved anti-trafficking 
communication and coordination among the relevant ministries, 
law enforcement entities, working groups, and NGOs; and 
increase protective services available to victims of child 
commercial sexual exploitation, particularly in regard to 
safe shelter and educational opportunities. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Mauritian government demonstrated increased 
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, vigorously 
investigating cases of human trafficking throughout the year. 
 During the year, the State Law Office drafted the Combating 
of Trafficking in Persons Bill and the Office of the Attorney 
General held consultations with relevant ministries and 
government agencies, including the Prime Minister,s Office, 
Ministry of Women,s Rights, Child Development, and Family 
Welfare (MOWCD), and the Mauritius Police Force on the law,s 
implementation.  The law, which was introduced in the Cabinet 
and passed by the parliament in April 2009, prescribes 
punishment of up to 15 years, imprisonment for convicted 
offenders, penalties which are sufficiently stringent and 
commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes. 
The Child Protection Act of 2005 prohibits all forms of child 
trafficking and prescribes punishment of up to 15 years, 
imprisonment for convicted offenders.  In November 2008, 
however, the government passed the Judicial Provisions Act 
which provided for increased penalties for various offenses; 
the act prescribes punishment for child trafficking offenses 
of up to 30 years, imprisonment.  The government reported 
eight child sex trafficking convictions during 2008: three 
under a brothel-keeping statute and five under a &debauching 
youth8 statute.  Sentences for these convicted offenders 
ranged between three months, and three years, imprisonment, 
with fines up to an equivalent $1,764.  In January 2009, 
police in Curepipe arrested and charged a massage parlor 
owner for allegedly exploiting three girls in prostitution 
within the spa.  Police completed the investigation resulting 
from the January 2008 arrest of a man and woman charged with 
inducing their 12-year-old niece into prostitution and 
referred the case to the Office of the Director of Public 
Prosecution.  Ten trafficking cases remain under 
investigation, including two for brothel-keeping and three 
for causing a child to be engaged in prostitution.  The 
Mauritius Police Force utilized a database for tracking 
trafficking-related cases. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The government sustained its protection of child trafficking 
victims during the reporting period, paying NGO shelters $6 
per day for the protection of each child, including victims 
of trafficking.  Government officials regularly referred 
children to these organizations for shelter and other 
assistance.  The government-funded, NGO-run drop-in center 
for sexually abused children, which provided counseling to 
approximately 16 girls engaged in prostitution in 2008, 
advertised its services through bumper stickers, a toll-free 
number, and community outreach; its social worker continued 
to promote the services in schools and local communities. 
Nonetheless, due the drop-in center,s lack of shelter 
facilities and the often crowded conditions at NGO shelters, 
comprehensive protective services were not readily available 
to all victims identified within the country.  To remedy 
this, the MOWCD acquired land and obtained funding to 
construct a residential center for victims of child 
commercial sexual exploitation late in the year.  The 
ministry also operated a 24-hour hotline for reporting cases 
of sexual abuse; three cases of child prostitution were 
reported to the hotline in 2008.  Mauritius has a formal 
protocol on the provision of assistance to all victims of 
sexual abuse; minors victimized by commercial sexual 
exploitation are accompanied to the hospital by a child 
welfare officer and police work in conjunction with this 
officer to obtain a statement.  Medical treatment and 
psychological support were readily available at public 
clinics and NGO centers in Mauritius.  In December 2008, the 
parliament passed the Child Protection (Amendment) Act, which 
created a child mentoring scheme to provide support and 
rehabilitation to children in distress, including children 
engaged in prostitution.  In May 2008, the government 
launched a capacity-building program for its five District 
Child Protection Committees, which report cases of vulnerable 
children in their respective localities, including those 
involving child prostitution.  The government encourages 
victims, assistance in the investigation and prosecution of 
trafficking crimes.  The government ensures 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 notable efforts to prevent the sex 
trafficking of children and reduce the demand for commercial 
sex acts during the year.  In 2008, the Ministry of Tourism, 
Leisure, and External Communications published and 
distributed to hotels and tour operators 3,000 pamphlets 
regarding the responsibility of the tourism sector to combat 
child sex trafficking.  Law enforcement and child welfare 
officials conducted surveillance at bus stops, night clubs, 
gaming houses, and other places frequented by children to 
identify and interact with students who were at a high risk 
of sex trafficking.  The Police Family Protection Unit and 
the Minor,s Brigade, in conjunction with the MOWCD,s Child 
Development Unit, conducted a widespread child abuse 
awareness campaign at schools and community centers that 
included a session on the dangers and consequences of 
engaging in prostitution; this campaign reached over 12,035 
persons in 2008, including 145 parents, 300 primary school 
teachers, and 35 youth leaders.  In addition, the police 
provided specific training on avoiding child prostitution to 
over 100 children in Flic en Flac, a tourist destination on 
the west coast of the island. 
 
 
¶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 Mauritius upgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 1? 
 
A:  The Parliament,s passage of a comprehensive human 
trafficking law in April 2009 brought Mauritius into full 
compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of 
trafficking. 
 
Q2:  What anti-trafficking progress has Mauritius made in the 
last year? 
 
A:  Mauritius sustained its strong efforts to identify, 
address, and prevent incidences of trafficking during the 
reporting period.  Government officials demonstrated an 
increasing level of awareness of human trafficking and 
commitment to addressing the problem.  Public awareness 
projects, particularly those convened for school students by 
police officers and the National Children,s Council, were 
frequently conducted and broad-reaching.   In addition, 
Mauritius passed a comprehensive human trafficking statute in 
April 2009 and worked to improve the protections available to 
trafficking victims. 
 
Q3:  What can Mauritius do to further its fight against human 
trafficking? 
 
A: To advance its anti-trafficking efforts, the Government of 
Mauritius could:  Utilize newly passed anti-trafficking 
legislation to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses 
and convict and punish trafficking offenders; designate an 
official coordinating body or mechanism to facilitate 
improved anti-trafficking communication and coordination 
among the relevant ministries, law enforcement entities, 
working groups, and NGOs; and increase protective services 
available to victims of child commercial sexual exploitation, 
particularly in regard to safe shelter and educational 
opportunities. 
 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON