VZCZCXYZ0006
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0620 1630106
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 120042Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060620 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG ES
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR -- 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 El Salvador 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 El Salvador 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 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 OOB local time 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 El Salvador 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 El Salvador,s country narrative in 
the 2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
EL SALVADOR (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 
 
El Salvador is a source, transit, and destination country for 
women and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial 
sexual exploitation and forced labor.  Most victims are 
Salvadoran women and girls trafficked within the country from 
rural to urban areas for commercial sexual exploitation, 
although some adults and children are trafficked internally 
for forced agricultural labor.  The majority of foreign 
victims are women and children from Nicaragua, Honduras, 
Guatemala, Mexico, and Colombia who travel to El Salvador in 
response to job offers, but are subsequently forced into 
prostitution or domestic servitude.  Some adults and children 
from neighboring countries are subject to forced labor in 
agriculture and apparel assembly.  Salvadorans have been 
trafficked to Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, the United States, 
Spain, and Italy, for commercial sexual exploitation. 
 
The Government of El Salvador 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 sustained strong 
anti-trafficking prosecution, protection, and prevention 
activities, though it neglected to take adequate measures to 
protect adult trafficking victims and to confront 
trafficking-related corruption. 
 
Recommendations for El Salvador:  Continue to strengthen law 
enforcement efforts against trafficking offenders; 
investigate and prosecute, as appropriate, reports of forced 
labor and domestic servitude, as well as allegations relating 
to public officials who may be involved with trafficking 
activity; increase use of pro-active law enforcement 
techniques such as brothel raids to rescue victims; increase 
victim services and assistance, particularly for adults; and 
strengthen statutory penalties for trafficking-in-persons 
crimes. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of El Salvador sustained solid law enforcement 
efforts against trafficking offenders during the reporting 
period.  Article 367B of the Salvadoran Penal Code prohibits 
all forms of human trafficking and prescribes penalties of 
four to eight years, imprisonment.  Sentences may be 
increased by one-third when the offense is accompanied by 
aggravated circumstances, such as when the victim is a child 
or the defendant is a public official.  Such penalties are 
sufficiently stringent but do not appear commensurate with 
penalties prescribed for serious offenses such as rape, which 
carries a punishment of six to 20 years, imprisonment. 
Since passage of El Salvador,s anti-trafficking statute in 
2004, some prosecutors have elected to charge 
trafficking-related crimes under the country,s rape statute 
in order to secure heavier mandatory sentences against 
offenders.  In 2008, the government,s dedicated 
anti-trafficking police and prosecutorial units brought 
charges in 15 cases of human trafficking, obtaining 8 
convictions with sentences ranging from four to 10 years, 
imprisonment.  Such results compare with 46 prosecutions and 
five convictions secured in 2007.  The majority of the 
government,s law enforcement efforts focused on trafficking 
for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, though a 
smaller number of cases related to forced labor.  During the 
reporting period, police conducted undercover trafficking 
investigations and acted on trafficking-related tips to 
execute raids on brothels and commercial sex sites.  The 
government also cooperated with neighboring foreign 
governments on anti-trafficking investigations.  Despite 
credible reports of public officials involved with 
trafficking activity, particularly in the department of 
Chalatenango, no investigations or prosecutions of such 
officials were opened during the reporting period. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The Salvadoran government increased victim assistance last 
year.  With U.S. and international assistance, the government 
re-opened a dedicated shelter for trafficking victims in 
January 2008.  The shelter houses approximately 20 child 
trafficking victims. The country,s federal agency for 
children and adolescents, ISNA, also operated a national 
network of 11 shelters to provide secure housing, 24-hour 
medical attention, psychological counseling, and vocational 
workshops to victims of abuse, including trafficking victims. 
 However, most government assistance and services were 
directed to child trafficking victims, and were not readily 
accessible to adult or male trafficking victims.  NGOs noted 
that government support services typically cease once a 
victim leaves shelter care, and that trafficking victims 
could benefit from greater reintegration assistance.  The 
government trained personnel, including consular officers, on 
identifying trafficking victims abroad; consular officials 
identified four trafficking victims during the reporting 
period.  Domestically, Salvadoran authorities encouraged 
victims to assist with law enforcement efforts; 57 victims 
participated in the investigation and prosecution of their 
traffickers during the reporting period, though others did 
not do so due to social stigma or fear of reprisals from 
their traffickers. Victims generally are not charged, jailed, 
or penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result 
of being trafficked. The government does not provide a formal 
legal alternative to deportation to a country where a 
trafficking victim may face hardship or retribution, though 
law enforcement and social service officials may request 
residency status for a victim on a case-by-case basis. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Salvadoran government sustained anti-trafficking 
prevention efforts during the reporting period. The 
government ran information and education campaigns, and 
operated an anti-trafficking hotline.  During the reporting 
period, the government trained more than 5,000 officials 
across the country on preventing human trafficking.  Border 
agents received training to detect trafficking activity and 
irregular migration patterns, and referred identified 
trafficking cases for further police investigation. 
Salvadoran troops assigned to peacekeeping operations receive 
anti-trafficking training before deployment.  No specific 
government efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts 
or forced labor were reported over the last year. 
 
¶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. 
 
-- 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 was El Salvador given a ranking of Tier 2? 
 
A: The Government of El Salvador 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 sustained strong 
anti-trafficking prosecution, protection, and prevention 
activities, though it neglected to take adequate measures to 
protect adult trafficking victims and to confront 
trafficking-related corruption. 
 
Q2: What is the nature of El Salvador,s trafficking problem? 
 
A: El Salvador is a source, transit, and destination country 
for women and children trafficked for the purposes of 
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.  Most 
victims are Salvadoran women and girls trafficked within the 
country from rural to urban areas for commercial sexual 
exploitation, although some adults and children are 
trafficked internally for forced agricultural labor.  The 
majority of foreign victims are women and children from 
Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and Colombia who 
travel to El Salvador in response to job offers, but are 
subsequently forced into prostitution or domestic servitude. 
Some adults and children from neighboring countries are 
subject to forced labor in agriculture and apparel assembly. 
Salvadorans have been trafficked to Guatemala, Mexico, 
Belize, the United States, Spain, and Italy, for commercial 
sexual exploitation. 
 
Q3: How can El Salvador improve its anti-trafficking efforts? 
 
A: To advance its efforts to combat human trafficking, the 
Government of El Salvador could:  continue to strengthen law 
enforcement efforts against trafficking offenders; 
investigate and prosecute, as appropriate, reports of forced 
labor and  domestic servitude, as well as allegations 
relating to public officials who may be involved with 
trafficking activity; increase use of pro-active law 
enforcement techniques such as brothel raids to rescue 
victims; increase victim services and assistance, 
particularly for adults; and strengthen statutory penalties 
for trafficking-in-persons crimes. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON