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OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHNEH
DE RUEHC #1415/01 1661327
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O 151302Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 5199
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI IMMEDIATE 9500
RUEHNEH/AMCONSUL HYDERABAD IMMEDIATE 0061
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA IMMEDIATE 3277
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI IMMEDIATE 2469

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 STATE 061415 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG IN
SUBJECT: INDIA -- 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 India 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 India 
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 India 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 India,s country narrative in the 2009 
TIP Report: 
 
------------------------- 
INDIA (Tier 2 Watch List) 
------------------------- 
 
India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, 
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced 
labor and commercial sexual exploitation.  Internal forced 
labor may constitute India's largest trafficking problem; 
men, women, and children in debt bondage are forced to work 
 
STATE 00061415  002 OF 008 
 
 
in industries such as brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, 
and embroidery factories.  Although no comprehensive study of 
forced and bonded labor has been carried out, some NGOs 
estimate this problem affects tens of millions of Indians. 
Those from India,s most disadvantaged social economic strata 
are particularly vulnerable to forced or bonded labor and sex 
trafficking.  Women and girls are trafficked within the 
country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation 
and forced marriage.  Children are also subjected to forced 
labor as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and 
agricultural workers.  In recent years, there has been an 
increase of sex trafficking to medium-sized cities and 
satellite towns of large cities. 
 
India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal 
and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial 
sexual exploitation.  There are also victims of labor 
trafficking among the thousands of Indians who migrate 
willingly every year to the Middle East, Europe, and the 
United States for work as domestic servants and low-skilled 
laborers.  In some cases, such workers are the victims of 
fraudulent recruitment practices committed in India that lead 
them directly into situations of forced labor, including debt 
bondage; in other cases, high debts incurred to pay 
recruitment fees leave them vulnerable to exploitation by 
unscrupulous employers in the destination countries, where 
some are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, 
including non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, 
unlawful withholding of passports, and physical or sexual 
abuse.  Men and women from Bangladesh and Nepal are 
trafficked through India for forced labor and commercial 
sexual exploitation in the Middle East. Over 500 Nepalese 
girls were jailed in the state of Bihar on charges of using 
false documents to transit India in the pursuit of employment 
in Gulf countries.  Indian nationals travel to Nepal and 
within the country for child sex tourism. 
 
The Government of India does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  Despite 
these significant efforts, India has not demonstrated 
sufficient progress in its law enforcement efforts to address 
human trafficking, particularly bonded labor; therefore, 
India is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.  India,s central 
government faces several challenges in demonstrating a more 
robust anti-trafficking effort:  states under the Indian 
Constitution have the primary responsibility for law 
enforcement and state-level authorities are limited in their 
abilities to  effectively confront interstate and 
transnational trafficking crimes; complicity in trafficking 
by many Indian law enforcement officials and overburdened 
courts impede effective prosecutions; widespread poverty 
continues to provide a huge source of vulnerable people; and 
the Indian government faces other equally pressing priorities 
such as basic healthcare, education, and counterterrorism. 
During the reporting period, the central government continued 
to improve coordination among a multitude of bureaucratic 
agencies that play a role in anti-trafficking and labor 
issues.  Government authorities continued to rescue victims 
of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and forced 
child labor.  Several state governments (Andhra Pradesh, 
Bihar, Maharashtra, Goa, and West Bengal) demonstrated 
significant efforts in prosecution, protection, and 
prevention, although largely in the area of trafficking for 
commercial sexual exploitation. 
 
Recommendations for India:  Continue to expand central and 
state government law enforcement capacity to conduct 
intrastate and interstate law enforcement activities against 
trafficking and bonded labor; consider expanding the Central 
Ministry of Home Affairs &nodal cell8 on trafficking to 
coordinate law enforcement efforts to investigate and arrest 
traffickers who cross state and national lines; significantly 
increase law enforcement efforts to decrease official 
complicity in trafficking, including prosecuting, convicting, 
and punishing complicit officials with imprisonment; continue 
to increase law enforcement efforts against sex traffickers, 
including prosecuting, convicting, and punishing traffickers 
with imprisonment; improve central and state government 
implementation of protection programs and compensation 
schemes to ensure that certified trafficking victims actually 
receive benefits, including compensation for victims of 
forced child labor and bonded labor, to which they are 
entitled under national and state law; and increase the 
quantity and breadth of public awareness and related programs 
to prevent both trafficking for labor and commercial sex. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
 
STATE 00061415  003 OF 008 
 
 
Indian government authorities made significant progress in 
law enforcement efforts against sex trafficking and forced 
child labor during the year, but made little progress in 
addressing bonded labor.  The government prohibits some forms 
of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation through the 
Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA).  Prescribed 
penalties under the ITPA, ranging from seven years' to life 
imprisonment, are sufficiently stringent and commensurate 
with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. 
India also prohibits bonded and forced labor through the 
Bonded Labor (Abolition) Act of 1976, the Child Labor 
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986, and the Juvenile 
Justice Act of 1986.  These laws were ineffectively enforced, 
and their prescribed penalties*a maximum of three years in 
prison*are not sufficiently stringent.  Indian authorities 
also use Sections 366(A) and 372 of the Indian Penal Code, 
prohibiting kidnapping and selling minors into prostitution, 
respectively, to arrest traffickers.  Penalties prescribed 
under these provisions are a maximum of ten years' 
imprisonment and a fine.  Although Section 8 of the ITPA 
allows the arrest of trafficked women for soliciting, the 
Indian cabinet debated for another year proposed amendments 
that would give trafficking victims greater protections. 
 
State governments continued to demonstrate efforts to address 
forced child labor, but failed to punish most traffickers. 
During the year, the New Delhi government rescued more than 
100 -children from forced labor situations, such as the 
February 2009 rescue of 35 children found enslaved in four 
small factories making leather products under hazardous and 
forced conditions without pay.  In Jharkhand  (with a 
population of 29 million people), the state labor ministry 
and police, in collaboration with an NGO, conducted raids on 
120 establishments during a planned operation and rescued 208 
children from forced or bonded labor situations. 
 
The central government and state governments continued to 
demonstrate efforts to combat sex trafficking of women and 
children, though convictions and punishments of sex 
traffickers were infrequent.  The central government's 
National Crime Records Bureau provided limited comprehensive 
data, compiled from state and union territory governments, on 
actions taken against sex trafficking offenses in 2007.   The 
2007 data indicated that 4,087 cases were registered 
(investigations started) which likely includes sex 
trafficking cases referred to courts for prosecution as well 
as cases investigated and closed without such referrals. 
This data did not include reported prosecutions and 
convictions.  Data for 2008 will not be available until 2010. 
 
In Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Goa, and West Bengal 
(with a combined population of 360 million people), 
government officials registered 964 sex trafficking cases, 
conducted 379 rescue operations, helped rescue 1,653 victims, 
arrested 1,970 traffickers (including 856 customers), 
convicted 30 sex traffickers, helped rehabilitate 876 sex 
trafficking victims, and trained 13,490 police officers and 
prosecutors.  In Mumbai, authorities prosecuted 10 sex 
trafficking cases but obtained no convictions in 2008.  In 
Andhra Pradesh, courts convicted and sentenced eleven 
traffickers to imprisonment for 10 to 14 years.  Tamil 
Nadu,s state government reported arrests of 1,097 sex 
trafficking offenders in 2008, though the number of 
trafficking prosecutions and convictions during the reporting 
period was not reported.  The city of Pune attained its first 
sex trafficking conviction in 2008. 
 
During the reporting period, the central government made 
little progress to investigate, prosecute, convict, and 
punish labor trafficking offenders.  However, it allocated 
$18 million to the Ministry of Home Affairs to create 297 
anti-human trafficking units across the nation to train and 
sensitize law enforcement officials. According to NGOs, 
state-level officials who received such training in the past 
are increasingly recognizing women in prostitution as 
potential victims of trafficking and therefore not arresting 
them for solicitation.  In Tamil Nadu (with a population of 
65 million people), an NGO reported a significant improvement 
in how police file charges in bonded labor cases.  The police 
now also employ the Indian Penal Code's tougher provisions, 
which allow bonded labor cases to be processed more quickly 
through the judicial system. 
 
The significant problem of public officials, complicity in 
sex trafficking and forced labor remained largely unaddressed 
by central and state governments during the reporting period. 
 Corrupt law enforcement officers reportedly continued to 
facilitate the movement of sex trafficking victims, protect 
brothels that exploit victims, and protect traffickers and 
 
STATE 00061415  004 OF 008 
 
 
brothel keepers from arrest and other threats of enforcement. 
 India reported no prosecutions, convictions, or sentences of 
government officials for trafficking-related offenses during 
the reporting period. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
India,s efforts to protect victims of trafficking varied 
from state to state.  Protection efforts often suffered from 
a lack of sufficient financial and technical support from 
government sources, and protection for victims of labor 
trafficking remained very weak.  Under its Swadhar program ) 
which covers a broad range of activities of which anti-sex 
trafficking is one --  the government supports over 200 
shelters with an annual budget of more than $1 million to 
provide care for more than 13,000 women and girls rescued 
from a range of difficult circumstances, including sex 
trafficking.  The Ministry of Women and Child Development 
continued to give grants under its Ujjawala program for the 
prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration of sex 
trafficking victims.  The ministry approved funding for at 
least 53 state projects under this program, benefiting more 
than 1,700 victims.  Since August 2008, the ministry provided 
the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, and Nagaland 
almost $243,000 for 18 projects at 12 rehabilitation centers. 
 Andhra Pradesh established a fund specifically for victim 
rehabilitation, giving victims rescued from sexual 
exploitation $200 in temporary relief.  Tamil Nadu began 
providing free legal aid and drug and alcohol addiction 
counseling services in state shelters to trafficking victims. 
 The Delhi government established a helpline staffed by NGOs 
in February 2009 to help rescue children found begging. 
 
Although victims of bonded labor are entitled to 20,000 
rupees ($400) from the government if they are certified as 
victims of bonded labor and may be housed in government 
shelters, disbursement of rehabilitation funds is sporadic 
and the quality of care in many shelters is not high.  NGOs 
reported that some corrupt local officials take unlawful 
&commissions8 from the rehabilitation packages.  Overall, 
government authorities do not proactively identify and rescue 
bonded laborers, so few victims receive assistance, though 
Tamil Nadu showed the greatest effort to identify and assist 
victims of bonded labor.  In other states, NGOs provided the 
bulk of protection services to bonded labor victims. 
 
The central government,s Ministry of Overseas Indian 
Affairs, during the reporting period, showed resolve to 
address the trafficking of Indian migrant workers. For 
example, in September 2008, the Government ordered an inquiry 
after reports surfaced of girls from northeastern India being 
trafficked to Malaysia for sex work. The Government arrested 
the travel agent, promptly rescued the girls and paid for 
their repatriation to India.   The Ministry also drafted an 
amendment to the Emigration Act that would increase 
administrative penalties for Indian labor recruitment 
agencies involved in fraudulent recruitment or human 
trafficking.  Some Indian diplomatic missions in destination 
countries, especially those in the Middle East, provide 
significant services, including temporary shelters to 
nationals who have been trafficked.   Some foreign victims 
trafficked to India are not subject to removal.  Those who 
are subject to removal are not offered legal alternatives to 
their removal to countries where they may face hardship or 
retribution.  NGOs reported in the past some Bangladesh 
victims of sex trafficking were pushed back across the border 
without protection services.  During the reporting period, 
India worked closely with Bangladesh on resolving 
cross-border trafficking issues, including formally 
designating a government official to handle such issues 
during Home Secretary-level discussions in August 2008. 
 
Government shelters for sex trafficking victims are found in 
all major cities, but the quality of care varies widely.  In 
Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, 
state authorities operated homes for minor victims of sex 
trafficking.  Although states have made some improvements to 
their shelter care, victims in these facilities do not 
receive comprehensive protection services, such as 
psychological assistance from trained counselors.  Many 
victims decline to testify against their traffickers due to 
fear of retribution by traffickers and India's sluggish and 
overburdened judicial system.  The government does not 
actively encourage victims to participate in cases against 
their traffickers. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
India continued to conduct information and education 
 
STATE 00061415  005 OF 008 
 
 
campaigns against trafficking in persons and child labor.  In 
late 2008 the central government completed its 18-month long 
consultation process with government and NGO stakeholders on 
a comprehensive "Integrated Plan of Action to Prevent and 
Combat Human Trafficking with Special Focus on Children and 
Women."  Overall, the government,s anti-trafficking policies 
and programs remained framed by the limited perspective of 
human trafficking defined as the trafficking of women and 
children for sexual exploitation, in line with the 2002 South 
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Convention on 
Combating Trafficking of Women and Children for Prostitution. 
  Kerala (with a population of 33 million people and India's 
largest source of laborers who migrate overseas regularized 
recruitment agencies and introduced a toll free number for 
potential migrants.  In January 2009, the central government 
approved a nationwide model that merges its national 
educational and poverty alleviation programs together to 
combat child labor. 
 
While the government made modest efforts to prevent 
trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, it did not 
report new or significant efforts to prevent the large 
problem of bonded labor.  The Ministry of Women and Child 
Development remained the central government,s coordinator of 
anti-trafficking policies and programs, though its ability to 
enhance interagency coordination and accelerate 
anti-trafficking efforts across the bureaucracy remained 
weak.  In August 2008, a UN report alleged several Indian 
peacekeepers posted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
had been involved in paying minor Congolese girls for sex in 
2007 and 2008.  In March 2009, the Indian military exonerated 
the soldiers after conducting an investigation.  According to 
a Government of India official, training for Indian soldiers 
deployed in peacekeeping missions includes awareness about 
trafficking.  In May 2008, the Ministry of Women and Child 
Development created a think-tank to expand public-private 
partnerships to play a greater role in preventing and 
combating human trafficking. 
 
Following agreements reached prior to this reporting period 
with Middle Eastern labor destination countries, the Indian 
prime minister in November 2008 signed a major agreement with 
Oman to combat illegal recruitment and human trafficking 
during his visit there.  The agreement stipulates that terms 
and conditions of employment in Oman shall be defined by an 
individual employment contract between the employee and the 
employer and authenticated by Oman's Ministry of Manpower. 
 
The Ministry of Labor and Employment issued a &Protocol on 
Prevention, Rescue, Repatriation, and Rehabilitation of 
Trafficked and Migrant Child Labor8 in May 2008 to guide 
state and district-level authorities and NGOs, and expanded 
the central government,s list of occupations that are banned 
from employing children.  The government undertook several 
measures to reduce demand for commercial sex acts during the 
reporting period, such as the arrests of 856 customers of 
prostitution in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Goa, and 
West Bengal.  India 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. 
 
STATE 00061415  006 OF 008 
 
 
-- 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 
 
STATE 00061415  007 OF 008 
 
 
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 India again given a ranking of Tier 2Watch List? 
 
¶A. The Government of India does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. India has 
not demonstrated sufficient progress in its law enforcement 
efforts to address human trafficking, particularly bonded 
labor and, therefore, India is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
Q2. What progress did India make in the past year? 
 
¶A. Indian government authorities made significant progress in 
law enforcement efforts against sex trafficking and forced 
child labor during the year.  During the year, the New Delhi 
government rescued more than 100 children from forced labor 
situations, such as the February 2009 rescue of 35 children 
found in bonded labor  in four small factories making leather 
products under hazardous and forced conditions without pay. 
In Jharkhand  (with a population of 29 million people), the 
state labor ministry and police, in collaboration with an 
NGO, conducted raids on 120 establishments during a planned 
operation and rescued 208 children from forced or bonded 
labor situations. 
 
Many state governments made significant progress, including 
the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Goa, and 
West Bengal. Government officials registered 964 sex 
trafficking cases, conducted 379 rescue operations, helped 
rescue 1,653 victims, arrested 1,970 traffickers (including 
856 customers), convicted 30 sex traffickers, helped 
rehabilitate 876 sex trafficking victims, and trained 13,490 
police officers and prosecutors. 
 
Q3. What can India do to improve its fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
¶A.  To improve its anti-trafficking efforts, the Government 
of India could:  continue to expand central and state 
government law enforcement capacity to conduct intrastate and 
interstate law enforcement activities against trafficking and 
bonded labor; consider expanding the Central Ministry of Home 
Affairs &nodal cell8 on trafficking to coordinate law 
enforcement efforts to investigate and arrest traffickers who 
cross state and national lines; significantly increase law 
enforcement efforts to decrease official complicity in 
trafficking, including prosecuting, convicting, and punishing 
complicit officials with imprisonment; continue to increase 
law enforcement efforts against sex traffickers, including 
prosecuting, convicting, and punishing traffickers with 
imprisonment; improve central and state government 
implementation of protection programs and compensation 
schemes to ensure that certified trafficking victims actually 
receive benefits, including compensation for victims of 
forced child labor and bonded labor, to which they are 
entitled under national and state law; and increase the 
quantity and breadth of public awareness and related programs 
to prevent both trafficking for labor and commercial sex. 
 
¶12. Post may want to highlight the work of Dr. Sunitha 
Krishnan one of Heroes in the Global Effort to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons honored by the Secretary of State in 
her 2009 TIP Report, in its engagement of local media Dr. 
Sunitha Krishnan established the NGO Prajwala in 1996 after 
the evacuation of one of the oldest red-light districts in 
Hyderabad.  Dr. Krishnan, who survived sexual violence as a 
teenager, has rescued thousands of children from severely 
abusive conditions and restored their childhoods.  Prajwala 
now runs a successful second-generation prevention program in 
17 transition centers for children of prostituted women.  The 
NGO,s strategy is to remove women from brothels by giving 
 
STATE 00061415  008 OF 008 
 
 
their children educational and career opportunities.  Dr. 
Krishnan and her staff train survivors in carpentry, welding, 
printing, masonry, and housekeeping.  Prajwala has used 
videos of victim statements to advocate for better legal 
protection of trafficking survivors, and it has created an 
alliance of 30 citizen groups to replicate the 
organization,s work in other Indian states. 
 
¶13. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON