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Viewing cable 09STATE60957, IRAQ -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09STATE60957 2009-06-12 16:21 2011-08-24 16:30 UNCLASSIFIED Secretary of State
VZCZCXYZ0009
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0957 1631646
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 121621Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD IMMEDIATE 0000
UNCLAS STATE 060957 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ -- 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  Iraq 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 Iraq 
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 Iraq 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 Iraq,s country narrative in the 2009 
TIP Report: 
 
------------------------ 
IRAQ (Tier 2 Watch List) 
------------------------ 
 
Iraq is both a source and destination country for men, women, 
and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual 
exploitation and involuntary servitude.  Iraqi women and 
girls, some as young as 11 years old, are trafficked within 
the country and abroad to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, 
UAE, Turkey, Iran, and possibly Yemen, for forced 
prostitution and sexual exploitation within households in 
these countries.  Some victims are sexually exploited in Iraq 
before being sold to traffickers who take them abroad.  In 
some cases, women are lured into sexual exploitation through 
false promises of work.  The more prevalent means of becoming 
a victim is through sale or forced marriage.  Family members 
have trafficked girls and women to escape desperate economic 
circumstances, to pay debts, or resolve disputes between 
families.  Some women and girls are trafficked within Iraq 
for the purpose of sexual exploitation through the 
traditional institution of temporary marriages (muta,a). 
Under this arrangement, the family receives a dowry from the 
husband and the marriage is terminated after a specified 
period.  When trafficked by persons other than family 
members, women can be placed at risk of honor killings if 
their families learn that they have been raped or forced into 
prostitution.  Anecdotal reports tell of desperate Iraqi 
families abandoning their children at the Syrian border with 
the expectation that traffickers on the Syrian side will pick 
them up and arrange forged documents so the young women and 
girls can stay in Syria in exchange for working in a 
nightclub or brothel. 
 
Iraqi boys, mostly from poor families of Turkmen and Kurdish 
origin, are trafficked within Iraq for the purpose of forced 
labor, such as street begging and sexual exploitation.  Iraqi 
men and boys who migrate abroad for economic reasons may 
become victims of trafficking.  Women from Ethiopia, 
Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines are trafficked into the 
area under the jurisdiction of the  Kurdistan Regional 
Government (KRG) for involuntary domestic servitude after 
being promised different jobs.  Over the past year, there was 
a credible report of women trafficked by the director of a 
women,s shelter in KRG area; the shelter was subsequently 
closed.  There were also reports that some foreign women 
recruited for work in beauty salons in the KRG area  had 
debts imposed on them and were coerced into prostitution. 
During 2008, dozens of Indonesian women trafficked to Iraq 
were trapped without assistance from law enforcement 
authorities.  IOM helped to rescue and repatriate several of 
these women. 
 
Iraq is a destination for men trafficked from Bangladesh, 
India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, 
and Thailand for involuntary servitude as construction 
workers, security guards, cleaners, and handymen.  There are 
reports that some workers were recruited by a labor broker to 
work for contractors or sub-contractors of U.S. Government 
agencies, but the services of this broker were discontinued 
subsequent to a U.S. government investigation.   The 
governments of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the 
Philippines ban their nationals from working in Iraq.  These 
bans are not effective, however, as some laborers circumvent 
the law or are deceived by labor brokers in their home 
countries into believing they were getting jobs in one of the 
Gulf states or Jordan.  They then find themselves in Iraq; 
their passports are confiscated and wages withheld to repay 
the broker for recruitment, transport, and costs of living. 
Others are aware they are coming to Iraq, but once in-country 
find that the terms of employment are not what they expected 
and they face coercion and serious harm financial or 
otherwise  if they attempt to leave. 
 
Men brought to Iraq by labor recruiters, some of whom 
reportedly provided labor for U.S. government contractors, at 
times found upon arrival that the jobs they expected were 
contingent on contracts that had not yet been awarded.  While 
in camps awaiting work, they were sometimes charged 
exorbitant prices for lodging and supplies, which increased 
their debts and prolonged the time required to pay them, 
typically ranging from six months to one year.  Some of these 
conditions may constitution human trafficking. 
 
Traffickers are predominantly male, but sometimes female 
family members traffic their own children or relatives. 
Traffickers include both large crime groups and small, 
family-based groups, as well as businesses such as employment 
agencies. Several factors contribute to human trafficking in, 
into, and out of Iraq.  Since the ousting of the former 
regime in 2003, reconstruction activity and provision of 
goods and services contracted by the government and the 
Multi-National Forces have drawn foreign workers (some 
30-50,000).  Instability and violence have made as many as 
four million Iraqis refugees in neighboring countries or 
internally displaced, many of them in economically desperate 
circumstances.  Finally, foreign workers are drawn to the KRG 
by relative stability, economic opportunity, and higher 
salaries compared to those at home. 
 
The Government of Iraq does not fully comply with the minimum 
standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is 
making significant efforts to do so.   In particular, despite 
the serious security challenges facing the government, it is 
committed to enacting comprehensive anti-human trafficking 
legislation, which it began to draft during the past year. 
Despite these overall significant efforts, the government did 
not show progress over the last year in punishing trafficking 
offenses using existing laws or identifying and protecting 
victims of trafficking.   During the reporting period, the 
government,s attention was devoted to other priorities, 
specifically, political reconciliation, restoration of 
security throughout the country, and economic reconstruction. 
 The Iraqi government did not take adequate action to monitor 
or combat trafficking in persons.  Notwithstanding the 
inattention to trafficking in the past year, some Iraqi 
officials have begun to recognize the problem, and the Legal 
Advisor,s Office of the Council of Ministers Secretariat has 
begun to draft comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation. 
 
Recommendations for Iraq:  Enact and implement a law that 
criminalizes all forms of trafficking; investigate, 
prosecute, and punish trafficking offenders; provide 
protection services to victims, ensure that they are not 
punished for acts committed as a direct result of being 
trafficked, and encourage their assistance in prosecuting 
offenders; train officials in methods to identify victims; 
undertake a campaign to raise public awareness of 
trafficking; take measures to screen migrant workers to 
identify human trafficking;  take steps to end the practice 
of forced marriages and curb the use of temporary marriages 
that force girls into sexual and domestic servitude; consider 
measures to reduce abuse of migrant workers who learn upon 
arrival in Iraq that the job they were promised does not 
exist; and regulate recruitment practices, including 
recruitment fees, of foreign labor brokers to prevent 
practices that facilitate forced labor. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The government did not prosecute trafficking cases in the 
past year. There were no mechanisms to collect data on 
offenses or enforcement.  Although no single law defines 
trafficking in persons or establishes it as a criminal 
offense, various provisions of Iraqi law apply to 
trafficking.  The 2005 Iraqi Constitution prohibits forced 
labor, slavery, slave trade, trafficking in women or 
children, and sex trade.  Several provisions of the Penal 
Code, dating from 1969, criminalize unlawful seizure, 
kidnapping, and detention by force or deception.  The 
prescribed penalty is up to 7 years in prison and up to 15 
years if the victim is a minor and force is used.  The 
penalty for sexual assault or forced prostitution of a child 
is 10 years, imprisonment, which is sufficiently stringent 
to deter, though not commensurate with the penalties 
prescribed for rape (15 years in prison).  Because coercion 
is not a legal defense, however, women who have been 
trafficked into prostitution have been prosecuted and 
convicted.  When women or girls are trafficked by family 
members into sexual exploitation, the crime often goes 
unreported because of the shame involved, or uninvestigated 
because of the courts, reluctance to intervene in what are 
considered internal family matters.  There is anecdotal 
evidence of occasional complicity in trafficking by 
officials.  An investigation of alleged trafficking involving 
the director of a women,s shelter in the KRG area had not 
been completed at the time of this Report. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The Iraqi government did not provide protection to victims of 
trafficking during the reporting period.  The government did 
not operate shelters for trafficking victims, nor offer 
legal, medical, or psychological services.  An NGO operated a 
shelter in Baghdad for women and girls who were victims of 
violence, although it is not known whether any of the people 
assisted were trafficking victims.  Six shelters for abused 
women and girls in the KRG areas received some support from 
the regional government.  A few NGOs provided legal 
assistance, counseling, and rehabilitation assistance to 
trafficking victims.  Iraq did not have formal procedures to 
identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such 
as women arrested for prostitution or the foreign workers 
imported to Iraq by labor brokers, some of whom reportedly 
provided workers for U.S. Government contractors and 
sub-contractors.  About half of the 1,000 men from 
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Sri 
Lanka men found in December 2008 living for months in squalid 
conditions in camps near Baghdad International Airport were 
repatriated with the assistance of the IOM; most of the rest 
found jobs in Iraq.  The government was not involved in 
investigating the abuses or repatriating the men.  Victims of 
trafficking reportedly were prosecuted for prostitution. 
There were documented cases of female victims being kept in 
&protective custody8 in detention centers to deter violence 
against them by their families and traffickers.  Abused 
children were typically placed in women's or juvenile 
prisons.  Since trafficking is not established as a crime in 
Iraq, the government did not encourage victims to assist in 
investigations or prosecutions of trafficking.  Foreign 
victims had no legal protection against removal to countries 
in which they may face hardship or retribution.  There was no 
victims, restitution program.  The draft law would establish 
a framework for assisting victims of trafficking.  It 
specifies the ways the government is obligated to assist 
victims, including by providing medical care and legal 
counseling.  The law also stipulates that victims must be 
provided with shelter appropriate to their sex and age group, 
physical and mental rehabilitation, and educational and job 
training opportunities.  As for foreign trafficking victims, 
the law requires that the authorities provide them with 
language and legal assistance and facilitate their 
repatriation. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Government of Iraq did not take measures to prevent 
trafficking in persons this reporting period, although some 
government officials have acknowledged that human trafficking 
is a problem.  In March 2009, a few Iraqi officials attended 
training offered by an NGO in drafting effective 
anti-trafficking legislation.  Local governments have held 
the view that trafficking is not a problem within their 
jurisdictions.  A KRG parliamentarian told the press in 
August that there was no trafficking of women in the KRG 
area.  The KRG Minister for Social Welfare did, however, call 
a high-level internal KRG meeting to look at the problem. 
The government does not sponsor any anti-trafficking 
campaigns.  Although the Ministry of Human Rights and the 
Ministry of State for Women,s Affairs have in the past 
expressed interest in running such a campaign, both lack 
funds and staffing.  The Minister of State for Women,s 
Affairs in February 2009 resigned over this lack of basic 
support; the ministry is now being led by an acting minister. 
 The government did not provide any specialized training for 
government officials to identify trafficking victims.  Law 
enforcement officials did not screen people leaving or 
entering Iraq for evidence of trafficking.  The borders of 
Iraq remained generally unsecured, with limited presence by 
understaffed law enforcement officials outside of designated 
border crossings.  The large numbers of internally displaced 
persons and refugees moving within Iraq and across its 
borders compounded the difficulty of identifying trafficking 
victims.  Iraq 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, any countries determined to be 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 was Iraq placed on the TIP Report in 2009?  Why was 
it ranked Tier 2 Watch List? 
 
A:   Iraq had been placed in the &Special Cases8 category 
of past Trafficking in Persons report because the 
determination had been made that Iraq was in political 
transition.  This year, the determination was made that Iraq 
should be ranked with other countries.  Iraq was placed on 
Tier 2 Watch List because it did not show evidence of 
progress in prosecuting human trafficking offenses, punishing 
trafficking offenses using existing laws, and identifying and 
protecting victims of trafficking.  The government,s 
attention was devoted to other priorities, specifically, 
political reconciliation, restoration of security throughout 
the country, and economic reconstruction.  The Iraqi 
government did not provide adequate protection to victims of 
trafficking during the reporting period.  The government did 
not operate shelters for trafficking victims, nor offer 
legal, medical, or psychological services. 
 
Q2:   What progress has Iraq made during the last year in 
combating trafficking? 
 
A:   Iraq is committed to enacting comprehensive anti-human 
trafficking legislation, which was drafted during the past 
year by the Legal Advisor,s Office of the Council of 
Ministers Secretariat. 
 
Q3:   What can Iraq do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A:   The Iraq government could: Enact and implement a law 
that criminalizes all forms of TIP; investigate, prosecute, 
and punish offenders; furnish protection services to victims, 
ensure that they are not punished for acts committed as a 
result of being trafficked, and facilitate their assistance 
to prosecute offenders; train officials in the law and in 
methods to identify victims; undertake a campaign to raise 
public awareness of trafficking; establish control over the 
flow of migrant workers brought into Iraq and effectively 
screen them to identify indicators of human trafficking; 
eliminate de jure and de facto discriminatory practices 
against women and girls that make them vulnerable to becoming 
victims of trafficking; curtail pooling of labor by requiring 
that persons entering Iraq for employment have a specific job 
offer; and regulate fees for brokers of foreign labor. 
 
12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON