VZCZCXRO6899
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1319/01 3281050
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241050Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0929
INFO RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2024
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001319 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/RA AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KTIP KCRM KWMN PGOV SMIG TI
SUBJECT: TAJIK TIP COMMISSION: EVOLVING DESPITE A SOVIET DINOSAUR 
 
DUSHANBE 00001319  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Recent meetings on Trafficking in Persons 
(TIP) highlighted progress the Government of Tajikistan (GOTI) 
is making in fighting TIP, and the barriers -- mainly 
organizational and intellectual -- that impede progress.  The 
GOTI's Inter-Ministerial Commission on Combating TIP is 
developing a victim referral mechanism and can explain and 
defend Tajikistan's TIP fighting record in some detail.  But 
dominating the commission is a Deputy Foreign Minister who 
embodies the Soviet mentality that denial is the best policy. 
End Summary. 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) On November 17, at an OSCE roundtable, high-ranking 
members of the Inter-Ministerial Commission on Combating TIP 
presented the recommendations of six Tajik officials who 
recently travelled to Serbia and Macedonia to study anti-TIP 
policies and victim referral mechanisms.  The OSCE's 
Anti-Trafficking Officer praised Tajikistan's efforts in 
combating TIP and said the Commission was working hard to make 
further progress.  The Ministry of Labor's International 
Department Chief, Yahyo Vahobov, said the Commission would work 
to improve coordination on TIP policy within the Tajik 
government and establish a functioning victim referral 
mechanism, based on best practices discussed in meetings with 
Serbian and Macedonian government officials, NGOs, and law 
enforcement bodies. 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Deputy Minister of Justice Azamat Izomov conceded that 
the government needed to improve its partnerships with NGOs in 
assisting victims and executing public information campaigns. 
Though the government worked with the NGO "Modar" to disseminate 
TIP information from 2006-2008, the public outreach campaign 
ended when Modar closed due to lack of funding.  Izomov called 
for new partnerships with NGOs to launch further outreach. 
After touting the Commission's efforts to combat TIP, Izomov 
said Tajikistan needed to do a better job reporting its positive 
steps to the international community.  "We have difficulty 
advertising our work outside Tajikistan, so some think we are 
not doing anything." 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Secretary of the Commission, Ahtam Abdulloev, 
briefed Poloff separately on the government's efforts to combat 
forced child labor during the cotton harvest.  Abdulloyev, who 
is concurrently a senior official in the Presidential Apparatus, 
said the government was strictly enforcing the President's April 
order forbidding local officials from using forced child labor. 
Embassy contacts in Sughd and Khatlon Oblasts confirm that 
officials have not cancelled school to deploy children in the 
2009 harvest, as was the case in 2008.  However, young children 
continue to work in the cotton harvest outside of school hours 
to earn extra money.  In Sughd and Khatlon Oblasts, authorities 
have directed government employees, including doctors and 
teachers, to pick cotton for up to 15 days as "volunteers" in 
lieu of their regular duties for their standard salaries.  In 
some cases, these employees have hired day-laborers to work in 
the fields on their behalf. 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) While the Government of Tajikistan clearly has gotten 
religion in some quarters concerning TIP and forced labor, a 
November 5 meeting with the Commission Against Trafficking in 
Persons, which has lacked a Director since January, highlighted 
some intellectual obstacles that members of the government must 
overcome to more effectively deal with TIP.  Commission Chair 
Deputy Foreign Minister Abdullo Yuldashev thanked the USG for 
its interest in TIP in Tajikistan, but then began to speak about 
how much the situation in Tajikistan had improved, and the lack 
of appreciation among foreigners for this.  Apparently enjoying 
himself, he suggested that foreign diplomats spent their time in 
discos without appreciating that such diversions did not exist a 
decade ago.  Yuldashev said "we should not waste money on 
seminars and training" but should instead devote all resources 
to job creation.  "When people are busy they won't be as 
interested in departing.  Let's not spend money on a conference. 
 Let's open a sewing shop with twenty machines. By doing that, 
we can save twenty women from slavery." 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Getting back on topic, Yuldashev outlined the MFA's 
efforts to support Tajik migrants abroad.  In Dubai, it 
increased consular staff to three officers -- a relatively large 
presence for Tajikistan.  "We are trying to track living 
conditions in Russia, but it is not easy.  The President meets 
 
DUSHANBE 00001319  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
with Tajik workers in countries he visits."  In Moscow, the 
Tajik Migration Agency increased staff to 13, and the MFA 
appointed Honorary Consuls in Kaliningrad and Archangelsk.  The 
Inter-Agency Commission's report on TIP states that the 
government, in cooperation with International Organizations, 
facilitated the return of 22 victims of trafficking from July 
2008 to June 2009.  Yuldashev lamented that it was difficult to 
prevent girls from "getting into bad situations" abroad because 
exit visas are not required to depart Tajikistan. 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Asked about the government's efforts to stop forced 
labor in the cotton fields, Yuldashev at first expressed 
surprise that cotton labor was connected to TIP.  Then he 
extolled the collectivist tradition of the Tajik cotton harvest. 
 "We have gathered cotton for 3,000 years, since the time of 
Zarathustra.  It is part of our tradition.  Everyone is 
involved, not forced."  He defended child participation in the 
harvest.  "Gathering cotton is not harsh labor.  It was a 
holiday under socialism."  Told that forced labor remained a 
major concern to the USG, Yuldashev insisted that "None of the 
institutions in Dushanbe, Kurgan-Teppe, or Kulyab have sent 
their students to the fields after the President's Address to 
Parliament" in which Rahmon ordered officials to cease 
employment of child labor in the cotton harvest.  "The 
government has solved this, to the detriment of students who 
want to earn money." 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Emboffs raised the issue of ensuring that allegations 
of mistreatment of returned TIP victims are properly 
investigated noting the still unresolved questions about three 
returned trafficking victims who allegedly were assaulted by 
members of the Committee on National Security (GKNB) in 2008. 
Yuldashev impatiently (and revealingly) commented "This type of 
case does not rise to the level of our international relations," 
and that the allegations were "a lot of noise."  A GKNB officer 
present said the case was investigated and that "the charges 
were groundless," but would not elaborate on the mechanism used 
to conduct the investigation or answer any other questions 
related to the case. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) Yuldashev said answers to any of the Emboffs' 
additional questions were included in the Commission's Report on 
TIP.  The Embassy requested a copy of this report on June 16, 
after the Commission announced its completion.  On October 29, 
the Embassy received the 39-page report, in Tajik.  At the time 
of the November 5 meeting, Embassy staff had been able to 
translate only a brief summary of the report.  When Emboffs 
noted they had not had time to translate the full report, but 
would like to discuss specific questions that the report might 
answer, Yuldashev seized the opportunity to stop the meeting. 
He ordered those around him to answer no further questions from 
the U.S. side, telling Emboffs to "learn the contents of the 
report" before any further discussions would take place.  The 
meeting ended on this sour note. 
 
 
 
¶10. (SBU) After further review of their report, post has found 
that it answers few of the questions posed by the State 
Department.  Post has sent an unofficial translation of the 
report to G/TIP by email. 
 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) COMMENT:  There are positives and negatives in our 
recent interactions with the TIP commission.  The 
Anti-Trafficking Commission has focused significant political 
attention to TIP issues and cooperated with the USG and other 
partners on program implementation.  It is significant that, 
despite Yuldashev's personal view that cotton harvesting is "not 
harsh labor," officials did not deploy students to the fields 
during the 2009 harvest.  The appointment of a senior official 
from the President's apparatus to serve as Commission secretary 
and enforce the ban on forced child labor signals the 
government's eagerness to make progress on TIP, if only to 
improve its TIER 2-Watchlist status.  Tajikistan's efforts to 
assist trafficking victims in Dubai and Russia are also positive 
and are possibly an area for greater USG engagement.  The lack 
of comprehension of our concerns about TIP shown by Yuldashev is 
a manifestation of the persistent and strong influence of Soviet 
attitudes in the government; some prefer denial to engagement on 
difficult issues which require reform and self-criticism.  END 
COMMENT 
QUAST