VZCZCXRO5277
PP RUEHTRO
DE RUEHC #2489/01 3032310
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 302248Z OCT 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 5387
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3804
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 9298
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1589
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 3778
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA PRIORITY 1501
RUEHMK/AMEMBASSY MANAMA PRIORITY 6909
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT PRIORITY 1379
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA PRIORITY 0174
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY 0605
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 3305

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 112489 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KTIP KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG AG BH EG AE LY MU LE
TU, QA, YM, 
SUBJECT: NEA: INSTRUCTIONS FOR 2009 TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT 
 
REF: NONE 
 
1.(U) This is an action cable; action request in paras 5 and 
¶6. 
 
2.(SBU) The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended in 
2003, requires the Secretary of State to submit a "Special 
Watch List" of countries on the TIP Report that either 1) had 
moved up a tier on the TIP Report over the last year or 2) 
were ranked on Tier 2 but a) had not shown evidence of 
increasing efforts to address severe forms of TIP from the 
previous year, b) were placed on Tier 2 because of 
commitments to carry out additional future actions over the 
coming year, or c) had a significant or significantly 
increasing number of victims of severe forms of TIP. 
 
3.(SBU) The "Special Watch List" has been submitted to 
Congress, as required, along with the President's 
determinations for sanctions of Tier 3 countries.  The TVPA, 
as amended, now requires the Secretary to submit to Congress 
an Interim Assessment on the Special Watch List countries no 
later than February 1, 2010. 
 
4.(SBU) The Interim Assessment, which the Department plans to 
release on January 5, 2010, will serve as a narrowly-focused 
progress report, assessing only a country's key deficiency(s) 
highlighted in the June 2009 TIP Report.  Measuring progress 
or lack of progress in addressing these deficiencies (the 
basis for which the country was placed on the Watch List 
initially) is the main purpose of the Interim Assessment. 
This will not/not serve as a large-scale analysis of 
anti-trafficking efforts in the relevant country.  Similarly, 
it will not describe the trafficking problem in that country 
(readers can refer to the 2009 TIP Report for that). 
Finally, it will not mention Tiers or allude to progress in 
achieving a higher tier or, conversely, forecast a fall to a 
lower tier. 
 
5.(U) Action Request for Action Addressees:  Please answer 
the questions addressed to your Post in para 6 in concise 
analytical terms, citing examples of the progress (or lack 
thereof) sparingly.  Post's submission should not exceed four 
or five paragraphs.  The final Interim Assessment will 
include a narrative of no more than half a page on each 
country's progress.  Please provide these responses to the 
Department via front-channel cable -- slugged for NEA/RA and 
G/TIP -- no later than November 16. 
 
¶6. (U) Interim Assessment Requirements: 
 
A:  FOR EMBASSY ALGIERS:  Please summarize the progress, or 
lack thereof, the Government of Algeria has made in (a) 
implementing Algeria,s new anti-trafficking law through 
training of law enforcement and judicial officials, 
investigating potential offenses, and prosecuting offenders; 
(b) strengthening institutional capacity to identify victims 
of trafficking among illegal migrants; (c) improving serves 
available to trafficking victims, such as shelter medical, 
psychological, and legal aid; (d) ensuring victims are not 
punished for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of 
their being trafficked; and (e) undertaking a campaign to 
increase public awareness of trafficking.  Please report on 
any other significant developments. 
 
¶B.  FOR EMBASSY MANAMA: Please summarize the progress, or 
lack thereof, the Government of Bahrain has made in (a) 
significantly increasing investigations and prosecutions of 
trafficking offenses ) particularly those involving forced 
labor ) and convicting and punishing trafficking offenders; 
(b) instituting and applying formal procedures to identify 
victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as 
domestic workers who have fled from abusive employers and 
prostituted women, and referring identified victims to 
protective services; (c) and ensuring that victims of 
trafficking are not punished for acts committed as a direct 
result of being trafficked, such as illegal migration or 
prostitution.  Please report on any other significant 
 
STATE 00112489  002 OF 003 
 
 
developments. 
 
¶C. FOR EMBASSY CAIRO:  Please summarize the progress, or lack 
thereof, the Government of Egypt has made in (a) 
substantially increasing law enforcement activity against 
trafficking, including the growing problems of the 
involuntary domestic servitude of children and child sex 
trafficking; (b) drafting and enacting legislation 
criminalizing all forms of human trafficking; (c) instituting 
and applying a formal victim identification procedure to 
ensure that trafficking victims are not punished or otherwise 
treated as criminals for acts committed as a direct result of 
being trafficked; (d) providing in-kind or financial support 
to NGOs providing protection services to victims; and (e) 
implementing a comprehensive public information campaign to 
educate the public on the definition and dangers of 
trafficking.  Please report on any other significant 
developments. 
 
¶D. FOR EMBASSY BAGHDAD:  Please summarize the progress, or 
lack thereof, the Government of Iraq has made in (a) enacting 
and implementing a law that criminalizes all forms of 
trafficking; (b) investigating, prosecuting, and punishing 
trafficking offenders; (c) providing protection services to 
victims, ensuring that they are not punished for acts 
committed as a direct result of being trafficked, and 
encouraging their assistance in prosecuting offenders; (d) 
training officials in methods to identify victims; (e) 
undertaking a campaign to raise public awareness of 
trafficking; (f) taking measures to screen migrant workers to 
identify human trafficking; (f) taking steps to end the 
practice of forced marriages and curbing the use of temporary 
marriages that force girls into sexual and domestic 
servitude; (g) considering measures to reduce abuse of 
migrant workers who learn upon arrival in Iraq that the job 
they were promised does not exist; and (h) regulating 
recruitment practices, including recruitment fees, of foreign 
labor brokers to prevent practices that facilitate forced 
labor.  Please report on any other significant developments. 
 
¶E. FOR EMBASSY BEIRUT:  Please summarize the progress, or 
lack thereof, the Government of Lebanon has made in (a) 
Criminalizing all forms of trafficking in persons; (b) 
investigating and prosecuting trafficking offenses under 
existing law and convict and punish trafficking offenders; 
(c) developing and instituting formal procedures to identify 
victims of trafficking among vulnerable populations, such as 
women holding &artist8 work permits and foreign domestic 
workers who have escaped from abusive employers; (d) 
considering measures to lessen the abuse of the &artist8 
work permit as a conduit for sex trafficking; (e) enforcing 
Lebanese law prohibiting the confiscation of passports of 
foreign maids; (f) implementing the March 2009 Labor Code 
revision that provides a unified contract; and (g) ensuring 
that victims of trafficking are referred to protection 
services rather than detained for crimes committed as a 
direct result of being trafficked, such as immigration 
violations and prostitution.  Please report on any other 
significant developments. 
 
¶F. FOR EMBASSY TRIPOLI:  Please summarize the progress, or 
lack thereof, the Government of Libya has made in (a) 
criminalizing all forms of trafficking; (b) increasing law 
enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking 
offenses; (c) increasing training of government officials to 
identify and provide protection to victims; (d) developing a 
program to assist victims; and (e) undertaking an information 
campaign to raise public awareness of the problem of human 
trafficking.  Please report on any other significant 
developments. 
 
¶G. FOR EMBASSY MUSCAT:  Please summarize the progress, or 
lack thereof, the Government of Oman has made in (a) 
increasing investigations and prosecutions of trafficking 
crimes and convictions and punishment of trafficking 
offenders; (b) continuing the training of government 
officials in all relevant departments to recognize and 
respond appropriately to human trafficking crimes; 
(c)instituting formal procedures for identifying trafficking 
victims among women in prostitution and illegal migrants and 
transferring them to care facilities; (d)  completing 
construction and beginning operation of a shelter that 
 
STATE 00112489  003 OF 003 
 
 
provides appropriate protection services to both labor and 
sex trafficking victims, including shelter and medical, 
psychological, and legal assistance; and (e) enacting and 
enforcing penalties for employers who withhold their 
employees, passports as a measure to prevent labor 
trafficking.  Please report on any other significant 
developments. 
 
¶H. FOR EMBASSY DOHA:  Please summarize the progress, or lack 
thereof, the Government of Qatar has made in (a) enacting the 
draft comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation; 
(b)significantly increasing efforts to investigate and 
prosecute trafficking offenses, and convicting and punishing 
trafficking offenders; (c) instituting and consistently 
applying formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking 
among vulnerable groups, such as those arrested for 
immigration violations or prostitution; and (d) abolishing or 
significantly amending provisions of Qatar,s sponsorship law 
) such as the provision requiring workers to obtain their 
sponsor's permission to leave Qatar -- to prevent the forced 
labor of migrant workers.  Please report on any other 
significant developments. 
 
¶I. FOR EMBASSY TUNIS:  Please summarize the progress, or lack 
thereof, the Government of Tunisia has made in (a) utilizing 
existing criminal statutes on forced labor and forced 
prostitution to investigate and prosecute trafficking 
offenses and convict and punish trafficking offenders; (b) 
undertaking a baseline assessment to better understand the 
scope and magnitude of the human trafficking problem; (c) 
raising public awareness of human trafficking; (d) developing 
a specific and comprehensive national law against human 
trafficking that includes both transnational and internal 
trafficking; and (e)  instituting a formal victim 
identification mechanism to identify and refer trafficking 
victims to protection services.  Please report on any other 
significant developments. 
 
¶J. FOR EMBASSY ABU DHABI:  Please summarize the progress, or 
lack thereof, the Government of the United Arab Emirates has 
made in (a) increasing efforts to investigate and prosecute 
human trafficking offenses, particularly those involving 
labor exploitation, and convicting and punishing trafficking 
offenders, including recruitment agents (both locals and 
non-citizens) and employers who subject others to forced 
labor; (b) developing and instituting formal procedures for 
law enforcement and Ministry of Labor officials to 
proactively identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable 
groups such as workers subjected to labor abuses, those 
apprehended for violations of immigration laws, domestic 
workers who have fled their employers, and foreign females in 
prostitution; (c) improving protection services for victims 
of sex trafficking and forced labor, including adequate and 
accessible shelter space, referral to available legal aid, 
and credible recourse for obtaining financial restitution; 
(d) considering sustaining and expanding the pilot program 
involving recruitment of foreign laborers in key source 
countries in order to eliminate recruitment fraud and other 
contributing factors to debt bondage and forced labor; (e) 
ensuring trafficking victims are not incarcerated, fined, or 
otherwise penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct 
result of being trafficked; (f) considering conducting 
interviews of potential trafficking victims in safe and 
non-threatening environments with trained counselors 
(preferably conversant in the victims' language); (g) 
collaborating with sending countries of laborers and domestic 
workers on investigations of recruiting agencies that engage 
in trafficking; and (h) working proactively with NGOs to 
provide services for victims and educate both employers and 
workers on the practices that constitute human trafficking, 
and how to prevent them.  Please report on any other 
significant developments. 
 
¶K. FOR EMBASSY SANAA:  Please summarize the progress, or lack 
thereof, the Government of Yemen has made in (a) taking law 
enforcement action against human trafficking; (b) improving 
protection services available to victims of trafficking for 
commercial sexual exploitation; and (c) instituting a formal 
victim identification mechanism to identify and refer victims 
to protection services.  Please report on any other 
significant developments. 
CLINTON