VZCZCXYZ0589
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBR #1468/01 3491855
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151854Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0141
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO

UNCLAS BRASILIA 001468 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL ELAB ECON PGOV SOCI KTIP BR
SUBJECT: Trafficking in Persons and Child Sex Exploitation in the 
State of Goias 
 
¶1.  Summary:  The state of Goias, which surrounds Brasilia, has one 
of the highest incidences of human trafficking in Brazil; it also 
has a number of officials in the state with a strong commitment to 
dealing with the problem.  In light of impending direct flights 
between Brasilia and Atlanta, which along with facilitating 
legitimate travel to the United States also open up new 
opportunities for traffickers, and in the wake of a successful 
seminar on the subject of trafficking in the state capital of 
Goiania, the U.S. Mission is looking into how the USG might enhance 
cooperation to stop human trafficking in the state.  End summary. 
 
 
 
Seminar 
 
 
 
¶2.  On November 18, the Public Ministry (Prosecutor's Office) of 
the state of Goias, in partnership with the Supreme Court of Goias, 
Association of Children's Advocates of Goias, Federal Senate and 
the U.S. Mission in Brazil, held a day-long seminar on "Confronting 
Trafficking in Persons and the Sexual Exploitation of Children and 
Adolescents."  Members of all the sponsoring organizations spoke, 
including from the U.S. Mission Charge d'Affaires Lisa Kubiske, an 
official of the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) and the fraud officer from U.S. 
Consulate General Rio de Janeiro.  About 600 people were in 
attendance - lawyers, judges, police, teachers, social workers, 
members of NGOs and representatives of the trucking, taxi and 
tourism industries. 
 
 
 
Situation in Goias 
 
 
 
¶3.  The state of Goias, which surrounds the Federal District in 
central-western Brazil, has one of the highest incidences of human 
trafficking in the country.  At least four out of five cases of 
persons trafficked are for the purpose of sexual exploitation, with 
the remaining fifth for forced labor of other kinds.  From 2004 to 
early 2009, 45 accusations of enticement for trafficking of women 
were presented to the Federal Public Ministry in Goias. 
(Trafficking is primarily a federal matter.)  During the same 
period, the Federal Police in Goias conducted 32 joint operations 
on trafficking of women with police in Spain, Portugal, Switzerland 
and Italy. 
 
 
 
¶4.  In December 2008, the state Public Ministry identified 582 
"points of prostitution" in Goias, at which 131 cases of child 
prostitution were discovered.  Significantly, almost 90 percent of 
the prostitutes interviewed had come from other states.  Prosecutor 
Everaldo Sebastiao de Sousa, coordinator of the state Public 
Ministry's Youth Support Center, said that police repression 
succeeds only in moving points of prostitution, not eliminating 
them. 
 
 
 
¶5.  Prosecutor General Eduardo Abdon Moura, head of the state 
Public Ministry, told seminar participants that law enforcement 
alone, no matter how effective, cannot stop human trafficking and 
the sexual exploitation of children; it is necessary to create 
conditions so that trafficked persons have alternatives and are not 
re-victimized.  That requires the coordinated efforts of many 
governmental and nongovernmental actors, with the strengthening of 
networks of protection and assistance and establishment of 
shelters.  So far 51 municipalities in the state have created 
Forums for Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children and 
Adolescents, and in December 2008, in partnership with the Federal 
Ministry of Justice, the state Public Ministry set up a Nucleus for 
Confronting Trafficking in Persons with 40 other institutions and 
that has a special focus on prevention. 
 
 
 
Proposals 
 
 
 
¶6.  Moura proposed to state court Judge Luiz Claudio Veiga Braga, 
representing Chief Justice of Goias Paulo Teles, that the state 
judiciary create specialized courts for crimes against children and 
 
 
adolescents to ensure that such cases are handled sensitively, 
effectively and expeditiously.  State court judge Rinaldo Aparecido 
Barros noted that judges should be "agents of social 
transformation" to attack the evils/crimes of pedophilia, child 
pornography, child prostitution, sex tourism and trafficking in 
persons.  He said that one of the biggest problems in dealing with 
the issue was the silence of the victims, and "the longer a child 
remains silent, the worse the physical, psychological and 
behavioral consequences." 
 
 
 
¶7.  Barros, as judge, and Bernardo Boclin Borges, as prosecutor, 
were involved in the most notorious child prostitution case in the 
state's history - in the town of Niquelandia, 270 kilometers from 
Brasilia, in 2007.  According to Borges, the mayor, the mayor's 
daughter, several municipal officials and local business owners 
operated a ring in which they exploited children and adolescents as 
young as 14 years old.  Although 13 of some 24 participants in the 
ring were indicted, 11 for having sex with children, until now none 
has been convicted.  Some of the accused have said in their defense 
that the children were willing sellers of sex. 
 
 
 
¶8.  Federal prosecutor Guilherme Schelb spoke on methods for 
identifying child victims of physical and sexual abuse, 
prostitution and trafficking and how to investigate such cases.  He 
noted that these crimes are taking place under the noses of 
teachers, family members, social workers and police, who should 
know better.  He stressed that drug use and adult prostitution were 
intimately linked to the problem of sexual exploitation of 
children. 
 
 
 
Possible U.S. role 
 
 
 
¶9.  In her remarks, Charge Kubiske highlighted the successful 
U.S.-Brazilian cooperation to eradicate human trafficking and 
protect children and adolescents.  She noted, however, that that 
success has been partial and that there was scope for much greater 
cooperation.  She urged the seminar participants to consider 
concrete measures that might now be taken to shut down the 
traffickers and the businesses that support them, to better detect 
international trafficking networks, to better care for victims, 
offering them alternatives in life, and to prevent 
re-victimization.  She said:  "This is not an American problem or a 
Brazilian problem, but a worldwide problem that affects 
individuals, families and communities on every continent.  Those of 
us who wish to solve this problem must therefore work across 
international borders." 
 
 
 
¶10.  There was a consensus among seminar participants around 
certain aspects of human trafficking in Goias: 
 
 
 
-- There is a need to raise community awareness so that victims, 
traffickers and sexual predators can be more readily identified. 
 
-- Law enforcement needs better training to rescue victims and 
arrest traffickers, buyers of child sex and pimps. 
 
-- There must be far greater certainty of punishment in order to 
reduce the demand for trafficking in persons. 
 
 
 
¶11.  Over lunch with de Sousa, Barros, Borges and Schelb, poloff 
asked how coordination with the United States to stop trafficking 
could be improved.  They noted that there already was fruitful 
collaboration with the Resident Legal Adviser (RLA)  (Note:  The 
RLA program has since been shut for lack of USG funding.  End 
note.), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) representative, 
officials of DHS/ICE and others.  There has been discussion, for 
example, about developing a joint anti-trafficking task force that 
would focus on "visa turnarounds" who are sent back to Brazil from 
the U.S. border because of suspicion that they are intending to 
work as prostitutes.  If such persons could be located quickly on 
their return to Brazil and were willing to cooperate, they could 
conceivably provide valuable information on human trafficking 
 
 
rings.  Our interlocutors suggested that U.S. Mission officials 
attend future meetings in Goias of the Nucleus for Confronting 
Trafficking in Persons. 
 
 
 
¶12.  Comment:  The planned non-stop flights between Brasilia (which 
has the nearest international airport to Goias) and Atlanta to be 
operated by Delta Airlines, starting on December 18, while 
obviously welcome in terms of facilitating legitimate tourism, 
business and government travel, have also opened up new 
possibilities for trafficking women and children to and through the 
United States.  The U.S. Mission therefore believes the time is 
right to increase cooperation to address the serious trafficking 
problem in the state of Goias. 
KUBISKE