VZCZCXRO7776
OO RUEHTRO
DE RUEHC #0972/01 1631717
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 121654Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI IMMEDIATE 7811

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 060972 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG LY
SUBJECT: LIBYA -- 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 Libya 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 Libya 
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 Libya 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 Libya,s country narrative in the 2009 
TIP Report: 
 
------------------------- 
LIBYA (TIER 2 WATCH LIST) 
------------------------- 
 
Libya is a transit and destination country for men and women 
from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia trafficked for the purposes 
of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.  Migrants 
typically seek employment in Libya as laborers and domestic 
employees or transit Libya en route to Europe.  Both migrants 
and trafficking victims are routinely smuggled through Libya 
to Europe, especially to or through Italy and Malta, en route 
to various locations on the continent.  Libya,s migrant 
population of 1.5 to 2 million represents about one-third of 
 
STATE 00060972  002 OF 004 
 
 
its overall population.  Although precise figures are 
unavailable, foreign observers estimate that one-half to one 
percent of foreigners (i.e., up to 20,000 people) may be 
victims of trafficking.  In some cases, smuggling debts and 
illegal status leave migrants vulnerable to coercion, 
resulting in cases of forced prostitution and forced labor; 
employers of irregular migrants sometimes withhold payment or 
travel documents.  As in previous years, there were reports 
that women from sub-Saharan Africa were trafficked to Libya 
for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation.  In May 
2008, Nigerian officials arrested one of their nationals, a 
resident of Libya, and rescued 21 young women who they 
claimed were being trafficked for the purpose of prostitution 
in Europe after paying the trafficker fees to work as maids 
in Libya. 
 
The Government of Libya does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  Despite 
these overall efforts, the government did not show evidence 
of progress in investigating and prosecuting trafficking 
offenses and protecting trafficking victims; Libya is 
therefore placed on Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
Recommendations for Libya:  Criminalize all forms of 
trafficking; increase law enforcement efforts to investigate 
and prosecute trafficking offenses; increase training of 
government officials to identify and provide protection to 
victims; develop a program to assist victims; and undertake 
an information campaign to raise public awareness of the 
problem of human trafficking. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The government did not publicly release statistics on 
investigations or prosecutions of trafficking offenses or 
convictions of trafficking offenders in 2008.  Press reports 
indicated that some traffickers were tried under other 
criminal statutes, though the disposition of those cases is 
unknown.  Although Libya does not have a single law 
specifically prohibiting trafficking in persons, it does have 
laws criminalizing prostitution and sexual exploitation, 
which could be used to prosecute sex trafficking offenses, 
but there were no indications that the government did so. 
The 1970 labor law does not criminalize forced labor, but 
penalizes some exploitative labor practices, including 
holding an employee's passport.  There is no evidence of 
government involvement in or tolerance of trafficking at any 
level. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The government took minimal steps to improve the protection 
of trafficking victims during the reporting period.  Using 
established procedures, law enforcement officials 
collaborated with IOM and UNHCR to screen for evidence of 
trafficking among populations of refugees and migrants, 
focusing particularly on individuals who appeared to be 
traveling on fraudulent documents or claiming a nationality 
other than their own.  In some migrant detention centers, an 
unknown number of migrants identified as potential victims 
were referred to NGOs and international organizations for ad 
hoc medical care and counseling; the government lacked a 
formal victim referral mechanism and legal services were 
unavailable to victims.  The government did not actively 
encourage victims to participate in the investigation and 
prosecution of trafficking offenders.  Like irregular 
migrants, trafficking victims may be susceptible to 
deportation or punishment for unlawful presence in Libya as a 
result of being trafficked. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
Public awareness of human trafficking as a phenomenon 
distinct from illegal immigration and smuggling is low in 
Libya, including among government officials.  During the 
reporting period, the government did not conduct any 
anti-trafficking public information campaigns.  The 
government, however, supported a series of workshops for law 
enforcement officials and NGOs to raise awareness of human 
trafficking.  During the year, the government provided 
in-kind assistance to IOM, including facilities, translation 
services, and transportation costs, which allowed IOM to 
provide anti-trafficking public awareness campaigns and law 
enforcement training to a larger audience than initially 
budgeted.  No information was available on measures to reduce 
the demand for commercial sex acts, or to prevent possible 
child sex tourism committed abroad by Libyan nationals.  The 
government collaborated with IOM to conduct anti-smuggling 
and anti-trafficking campaigns targeted to the irregular 
migrant community. 
 
 
 
STATE 00060972  003 OF 004 
 
 
¶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 
 
STATE 00060972  004 OF 004 
 
 
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 Libya placed on Tier 2 Watch List? 
 
A:    Libya was placed on Tier 2 Watch List because the 
government did not show evidence of progress in investigating 
and prosecuting trafficking offenses and protecting 
trafficking victims.  It did not publicly release statistics 
on investigations or prosecutions of trafficking offenses or 
convictions of trafficking offenders.  The government lacked 
a formal victim referral mechanism and legal services were 
unavailable to victims.  Trafficking victims may be 
susceptible to deportation or punishment for unlawful 
presence in Libya as a result of being trafficked.  The 
government did not actively encourage victims to participate 
in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking 
offenders. 
 
Q2:  What progress has Libya made in combating trafficking in 
the past year? 
 
A:  Law enforcement officials collaborated with IOM and UNHCR 
to screen for evidence of trafficking among populations of 
refugees and migrants, focusing particularly on individuals 
who appeared to be traveling on fraudulent documents or 
claiming a nationality other than their own.  In some migrant 
detention centers, an unknown number of migrants identified 
as potential victims were referred to NGOs and international 
organizations for ad hoc medical care and counseling.  The 
government provided in-kind assistance to IOM, including 
facilities, translation services, and transportation costs, 
which allowed IOM to provide anti-trafficking public 
awareness campaigns and law enforcement training to a larger 
audience than initially budgeted. 
 
Q3:  What can Libya do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A:  To advance its anti-trafficking efforts, the Government 
of Libya could: criminalize all forms of trafficking; 
increase law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute 
trafficking offenses; increase training of government 
officials to identify and provide protection to victims; 
develop a program to assist victims; and undertake an 
information campaign to raise public awareness of the problem 
of human trafficking. 
 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
 
¶13. Tripoli minimize considered. 
CLINTON