Wikileaks - MDCII
249013 2/16/2010 16:12 10MADRID183 Embassy Madrid UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 09MADRID1101|10STATE2094 VZCZCXRO4695 RR RUEHIK DE RUEHMD #0183/01 0471612 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 161612Z FEB 10 FM AMEMBASSY MADRID TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1946 INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0139 RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4368 RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0764 RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 0037 RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0018 RUEHBM/AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST 1426 RUCNCLC/CHILD LABOR COLLECTIVE RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 0003 RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0996 RUEHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA 0743 UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 16 MADRID 000183
SENSITIVE SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP (Jennifer Donnelly), G (Laura Pena), EUR/PGI (Jody Buckneberg) EUR/WE (Alex McKnight, Stacie Zerdecki) INL, DRL, PRM DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID
E.O. 12958: DECL: N/A TAGS: KTIP, KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ASEC, PREF, ELAB, KMCA, SP SUBJECT: TENTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT FOR SPAIN
REF: STATE 2094 09 MADRID 1101
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1. (SBU) Pursuant to Ref A, the following is input from Embassy Madrid and CG Barcelona for the tenth annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. Post will need to supply an update cable to incorporate additional legal and judicial statistics. Embassy POC is POLOFF Hugh Clifton, Tel. (34) 91-587-2294, fax (34) 91-587-2391. POL/MGT Officer Darby Parliament is the POC at the Consulate General in Barcelona: Tel. (34)93-280-2227, fax (34)93-205-7764.
Staff hours spent in preparation of this report are as follows: POLITICAL COUNSELOR, FS-O1: 1 HOUR POLITICAL OFFICER, FS-04: 65 HOURS POLITICAL SPECIALIST, LES-10: 25 HOURS CONSULATE POLITICAL/MGMT OFFICER, FS-03: 10 HOURS CONSULATE POLITICAL SPECIALIST, LES-10: 10 HOURS
//OVERVIEW//
2. (SBU) Spain maintains an active set of political, legal and social mechanisms to combat trafficking in persons (TIP). The Spanish government (GOS) places a high priority on fighting TIP and coordinates this fight with national and international law enforcement, regional and local governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). During the reporting period, Spain undertook a broad array of measures to assist trafficking victims, take down trafficking networks, prosecute perpetrators, prevent future trafficking, and reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. Spain's efforts were highlighted by the multi-faceted implementation of the government's ambitious, three-year, 61-point plan to combat TIP for the purposes of sexual exploitation, which was approved in December 2008 and came into force in January 2009. The GOS has strict rules on the books for Spanish nationals caught participating in international child sex tourism, and Spanish peacekeepers deployed abroad receive anti-TIP training through participation in multilateral efforts. The GOS is firmly committed to combating TIP and undertook a series of concrete actions in 2009 to carry out this political will. Post firmly believes that the GOS's efforts during 2009 merit Spain's continued inclusion in the Tier 1 category of countries combating TIP.
3. (SBU) Spain remains both a transit and destination country for internationally trafficked persons, primarily women between the ages of 18 to 25 trafficked for prostitution. Spain is generally not a country of origin for trafficking. Statistical data and information on Spanish government efforts to combat TIP come from the Ministry of Interior, which includes the Spanish National Police (SNP) and the Civil Guard (GC), the Spanish national courts, and NGOs.
//STATISTICS AND DATA//
4. (SBU) Post fully expects the SNP once again to furnish us with a restricted internal report that provides detailed information on TIP enforcement trends, including TIP-related arrests and the number of trafficking victims identified during the reporting period. Post will provide this information septel. The GOS continues to distinguish between trafficking crimes and migrant smuggling, and government statistics and information clearly reflect this distinction.
//SPAIN'S TIP SITUATION//
5. (SBU) Checklist 25 A. Statistical data and information on Spanish government efforts to combat TIP come from the Ministry of Interior - which includes the Spanish National Police (SNP) and the Civil Guard (GC) as well as the Ministry of Justice, the Spanish national courts, and NGOs. The Spanish Network Against TIP, a coalition of more than 20 diverse and active NGOs, claims that there
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are at least 50,000 people in Spain who are victims of TIP. Spanish security services dispute this number as too large, although they do not offer their own estimates. The GC reported in 2008 that 90 percent of TIP victims in Spain are foreign nationals. As in previous years, information on specific TIP-related investigations, convictions and sentencing was available through an on-line subscription to the Spanish affiliate of WESTLAW (www.westlaw.es), whose database includes data on a sub-set - but not all - of Spanish TIP-related prosecutions. The Prosecutor's Office has made commendable progress in normalizing the compilation of its TIP-related judicial statistics and the Organized Crime Intelligence Center (CICO) is making solid progress in its one-stop shop database on TIP-related law enforcement data.
6. (SBU) Checklist 25 B - D. Spain continues to be both a destination and transit country for trafficked persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and to a lesser degree, forced labor. Spain is generally not a country of origin for trafficking and the MFA informed Post that it knew of no such cases during 2009. Trafficking in women and girls is mostly for sexual exploitation and prostitution. According to Spanish law enforcement and NGOs, trafficked women traditionally have been 18 to 25 years of age, with some girls as young as 16. Women were trafficked primarily from Eastern Europe (Romania and Russia), Latin America (Brazil and Colombia), and sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria). Data published by the Spanish media in May 2009 indicates that various regions in Spain favor women from one country or another, revealing geographical preference has a hand in the market. For example, in Cantabria, 90 percent are Brazilian; in Girona, the vast majority is from Romania. Project Esperanza ("Project Hope"), one of the leading anti-TIP NGOs, has told Post that Romanian TIP victims form the largest victim group by nationality in Spain while Chinese TIP victims are a very small community in Spain.
7. (SBU) Checklist 25 E. In Spain, trafficking networks take a variety of forms and operate under diverse conditions, making them difficult to control. The SNP's UCRIF unit publicly has noted that the traffickers can be run by a couple, a gang of friends, or by massive, highly structured groups that operate across borders as multinational operations. In recent years, law enforcement authorities and NGOs have seen increasing incidents of victims being trafficked by individuals and smaller groups of traffickers. Proyecto Esperanza in 2009 reported that traffickers are most often groups of delinquents or organized crime groups and less often smaller groups of two to four people who are less organized and have fewer infrastructures at their disposal. The Spanish chapter of Save the Children continues to indicate to Post that there have been numerous instances of minors - especially from Romania - being trafficked into Spain and forced to beg in the streets for money. Methods used by traffickers to maintain control of their victims have included physical abuse, forced use of drugs, withholding of travel documents, and threats to the victim's family, although now traffickers also threaten the victims with informing their families about what they do if they do not pay what they "owe" them. Traffickers also lured some victims from other regions by using violence, intimidation, coercion and deceit. Other methods utilized include abuse of a position of authority or by taking advantage of a victim's needs or vulnerabilities. Often, trafficked victims are lured by false promises of employment in service industries and agriculture, but then forced them into prostitution upon their arrival. The media reported that criminal networks often lured their victims by using travel agencies and newspaper advertisements in their home countries that promised assured employment in Spain. In the case of Romanian organized networks, women were typically forced into prostitution.
8. (SBU) Continue Checklist 25 E. In 2009 Spain confronted several instances of voodoo as a method of intimidation for Nigerian TIP victims who were being sexually exploited. Police in May discovered
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an extensive human trafficking network of women in Seville brought from Nigeria and forced into prostitution in Spain where they were deterred from escape by threats of voodoo curses. Before departing from Nigeria, they were taken to the shrine of a voodoo priest who took pieces of their fingernails and hair and performed a ritual in which he made the women swear they would not reveal the identity of their captors. An SNP Inspector involved in the case assured Post that the woman who brought the trafficking network to the attention of authorities received victim assistance. In August, Spanish authorities - working with German counterparts - disrupted a network of traffickers that brought women against their will from Nigeria to Germany via Spain, using false documentation to facilitate their entrance and employing voodoo as a vehicle of intimidation to force them into prostitution.
//SETTING THE SCENE FOR SPAIN'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS//
9. (SBU) Checklist 26 A. Spain acknowledges that it has a serious trafficking problem and government officials at the highest levels addressed the problem of trafficking during the reporting period and pledged to continue the anti-TIP fight. Spain maintains an active set of political, legal and social mechanisms to combat TIP and coordinates this fight with national and international law enforcement, regional and local governments, and NGOs. Spain has a multi-disciplinary approach to fighting trafficking and includes NGOs and relevant agencies in each case.
10. (SBU) Checklist 26 B. The GOS in 2008 created a Ministry of Equality in part to oversee the final stages of the formulation of and the implementation of the government's long awaited anti-TIP plan. Spain's anti-TIP working group - now under the day-to-day management of the Ministry of Equality, which reports to the Office of the First Vice President - includes the Ministries of Interior, Justice, Labor, and Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Interior continues to coordinate day-to-day law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking and the SNP has a special unit, the Immigration Networks and Falsified Documents Unit (UCRIF), which covers TIP-related issues. The UCRIF intelligence unit analyzes statistical data and trends, while coordinating efforts and sharing data with the GC and Interpol. Regional offices of the SNP conduct quarterly reviews to set goals for combating trafficking and to assess progress in meeting these goals from the previous quarter.
11. (SBU) Checklist 26 C-D. While funding could always be increased, Spain treats TIP efforts as a priority and has funded its three-year national anti-TIP action plan with 44 million euros (roughly $61 million dollars). In a December 2009 report, the Office of the Special Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) praised Spain for providing this "substantial" budget. We have no evidence that there is any TIP-related corruption in Spain's government. GOS efforts over the past year to implement its national action plan against TIP have allowed it to systematically monitor its anti-trafficking efforts on all fronts. The GOS has shared its assessments with relevant NGOs in Spain, and also international organizations such as the OSCE.
12. (SBU) Checklist 26 E. All immigrants in Spain (whether legal or illegal) are obliged to register in the census, in order to have access to social services. The census reflects country of origin, birth date, age, and sex.
13. (SBU) Checklist 26 F. - The GOS has shown itself to be capable of gathering the data required for an in-depth assessment of TIP-related law enforcement efforts. Post points to the new database created and maintained by CICO and the statistics assembled by the Prosecutor's office.
//INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS//
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14. (SBU) Checklist 27 A. Spain has specific laws to prohibit trafficking in persons and other activities related to sexual and labor exploitation. These laws are applied in practice and are adequate to cover the full scope of trafficking offenses. Legislation implemented since 2007 includes a law to allow Spanish judges and prosecutors to pursue suspected TIP mafias outside Spanish borders. Previously, these Spanish officials did not have extra-territorial jurisdiction to follow these cases, but the new law modified the Organic Law of Judicial Power and incorporated "trafficking in persons and illegal immigration" into the category of crimes of "universal jurisdiction," along with terrorism, genocide, prostitution, and drug trafficking. Additionally, the Spanish Congress approved in late 2007 a change of the Spanish Penal Code to allow the pursuit of ships believed to be transporting trafficked persons or illegal immigrants, even if they are not in Spanish waters, and even if the ship's final destination is another EU country.
15. (SBU) Continue Checklist 27 A. Article 318 of Spain's criminal and penal code is the main piece of legislation that penalizes trafficking in persons. In the legislation, trafficking in human beings and trafficking in children are distinct crimes. Different paragraphs in Spain's Criminal Code penalize activities related to trafficking as it is defined in the Palermo Protocol. This includes, for both adults and children, crimes of sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, and slavery or practices similar to slavery, and domestic servitude. Spain also has legal provisions addressing the protection and assistance of victims, protection and assistance of witnesses, special measures for protection and assistance to children, residence permits for victims of trafficking, and compensation of victims. There are several other penal codes related to trafficking in persons, including: Article 312, Crimes Against the Rights of Foreigners; Article 313, Crimes Involving Forced Labor; and the "Ley Organica" (Organic Law for measures related to citizen security, domestic violence and the social integration of the foreigner).
16. (SBU) Continue Checklist 27 A. Illegal immigrants who are forced into prostitution are covered by the recently approved Alien Law of November 2009, which established a reflection period of at least 30 days for them to decide whether or not they will cooperate with the GOS. In the meantime they will benefit from housing, protection, medical and psychological assistance, free legal assistance, interpretation services, and some financial assistance. The Law provides that they will not be deported if they cooperate with the authorities in the investigation against their exploiters, giving them in exchange a residency and work permit, or helping them to return to their countries if so they wish. GOS officials emphasize to Post that - just as Spanish citizens who are TIP victims domestically within Spain - Romanian and Bulgarian victims are exempt from the new law establishing a reflection period of at least 30 days to decide whether they would like to cooperate with police. As EU citizens, they now enjoy freedom of movement and the right to work in all other EU member states and face no deadline by which to denounce their captors and can claim their right to social services or to cooperate with authorities at any time.
17. (SBU) Continue Checklist 27 A. The Council of Ministers, the Zapatero Administration's Cabinet, on November 13, 2009 approved a new draft Penal Code to be sent to Congress for debate and approval. Post understands that the draft has the support of all political parties in Congress and is expected to be approved during 2010. The bill establishes trafficking in persons as its own crime, separate from illegal immigration. The crime will be punished with 5-8 years imprisonment, which can be increased if there are aggravating circumstances. People subject to this punishment are those who recruit, transport, shelter, threaten, lie to, or abuse a national or foreign victim with any of the following goals:
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* Exploitation of his/her labor or services, slavery or similar practices * Sexual exploitation, including pornography * Trafficking in and/or extraction of human organs
18. (SBU) Continue Checklist 27 A. Prostitution and the procurement of prostitutes are decriminalized in Spain, but forcing others into prostitution and organizing prostitution rings are crimes. Furthermore, it is illegal for anyone to profit from the prostitution of another. Spanish law makes it illegal for pimps or brothels to receive money from the prostitute's activities, even if the prostitute consents. Spanish law prohibits the involvement of minors (under the age of 18) in prostitution. The activities of the prostitute are not criminalized, but the activities of the brothel owner/operator, clients, pimps, and enforcers are criminalized. Spain continues to review its laws regarding prostitution. Spain's central government remains the principal authority for anti-trafficking enforcement while leaving the legal status of prostitution to Spain's 17 regional governments.
19. (SBU) Checklist 27 B. Spanish criminal law was amended in September 2003 to adapt Spanish legislation to that of other European Union countries. This amendment raised the penalty for the crime of trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation to a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 10 (previous sentencing guidelines ran from 2-4 years behind bars). Sentencing guidelines in convictions for encouraging, favoring, or facilitating the trafficking of persons from, in transit, or destined for Spain for the purpose of sexual exploitation are subject to imprisonment of 5-10 years, with an increase to 12-15 years if trafficking is carried out with violence, intimidation, deceit or abuse of the victim. Spanish courts at all levels use a combination of available penal codes in prosecuting crimes related to trafficking in persons to ensure a conviction because of a frequent lack of testimony from victims.
20. (SBU) Article one (13) of the above mentioned law modifies Article 318 bis. of the Penal Code: -- Four to eight years in prison for a person who, directly or indirectly, promotes or facilitates the illegal trafficking of people or illegal immigration from, in transit within, or with a destination of, Spain. -- If the human trafficking is for sexual exploitation, the prison sentences range from 5-10 years. -- If the person committing the crime uses his/her position of authority to facilitate the trafficking, or if he/she is a public servant, the penalty will be 6-12 years. -- In the event the victim of the crime is under age or has his/her life put in danger, or if the criminal belongs to an organized crime or trafficking ring, then the sentences applied will be on the higher scale.
21. (SBU) While Article 318 has been designed as the primary statute in TIP cases, the Network highlights that prosecutors in many instances charge TIP defendants with violation of Article 188 of the Penal Code instead. Article 188 covers forced prostitution and profiting from the prostitution of another person and carries a lesser penalty of 2-4 years.
22. (SBU) Spanish judges often combine a trafficking sentence with a sentence for crimes involving theft, illegal detention, forgery of documents, or extortion. When a defendant is convicted of an additional crime two separate sentences must be served. Once sentenced, prisoners generally serve 75 percent of their sentence before being eligible for parole. A Spanish Supreme Court judge ruled in 2006 that each request for a reduction in sentence for good behavior must be applied to each sentence individually, meaning it is now much more difficult for criminals prosecuted on multiple
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counts related to trafficking to see parole.
23. (SBU) Checklist 27 C. Article 313 and the Organic Law 11/2003 cover forced labor. The sentencing guidelines are 4-8 years in prison for the person who, directly or indirectly, promotes or facilitates human trafficking from, in transit within, or to Spain. The GOS worked diligently on a companion strategy, its National Plan against Forced Labor throughout 2009 and it is nearly complete, according to MFA sources in early February 2010.
24. (SBU) Checklist 27 D. The penalty for rape is 6-12 years in prison, increasing to a possible 15 years with aggravating circumstances. The penalty for forcible sexual assault is 1-4 years in prison, 4-10 years with aggravating circumstances. Prescribed penalties for encouraging, favoring, or facilitating the trafficking of persons from, in transit within, or to Spain for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor now stand at 5-10 years, with a possible 12-15 years with aggravating circumstances.
25. (SBU) The GOS has ratified all of the mentioned instruments, and the dates of ratification are: -- ILO Convention 182 (April 2, 2001) -- ILO Convention 29 (August 29, 1932) -- ILO Convention 105 (November 6, 1967) -- Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (December 18, 2001) -- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (March 1, 2002) The Council of Europe's Convention to Fight Trafficking in Persons entered into force in Spain on August 1, 2009, becoming the first "legally binding international instrument" that addresses this problem in a comprehensive manner. It provides for a period of at least 30 days for victims to consider whether they wish to cooperate with authorities as well as receive medical and psychological assistance and the right to compensation.
26. (SBU) Checklist 27 E. The Embassy engaged with relevant Spanish authorities to reinforce the importance of law enforcement and judicial statistics. Our contacts in the SNP, GC, and Ministries of Interior and Justice facilitated our access to prosecution data. Spanish authorities track TIP cases separately from illegal immigration and false documentation. Under Spanish labor laws, the government treats as traffickers and criminally prosecutes employers who confiscate workers' passports and use physical or sexual abuse to keep workers in a state of service. Traffickers serve an average of 75 percent of their sentence before being eligible for parole, but Spanish penal law limits the number of traffickers who receive early parole.
27. (SBU) Continue Checklist 27 E. For the first time, the State's Office of the Prosecutor has included in its annual Memoir, specific information about the number of accusations issued, as well as about the number of victims involved, and the number of people accused. The Special Prosecutor for TIP crimes has informed the Embassy that in 2008 his office started 21 cases of sexual exploitation, affecting 104 victims, and 57 defendants. Final data for 2009 should be available in October 2010. Additional information on specific TIP-related investigations, convictions and sentencing in Spain was available on-line through a subscription service to the Spanish affiliate of WESTLAW (www.westlaw.es). In 2009, our best, preliminary information indicates the government prosecuted 86 people in 26 cases regarding trafficking and secured 60 convictions with an average sentence of more than seven and a half years. Sixty percent of those convicted received a sentence of greater than 4 years while all of the 60 convictions we found were for sentences of 1 year or more. Fifty-eight percent of the 60 convictions received a fine.
28. (SBU) Checklist 27 F. The GOS provides specialized
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anti-trafficking training to law enforcement agencies. Training is provided to new recruits at the SNP academy in Avila, which offers a general version of TIP awareness during basic training and then offers a more detailed version for Inspectors and sub-Inspectors. NGOs continue to remain active in helping law enforcement agencies devise specialized training curriculum for officers who will be working trafficking cases. Officials from Proyecto Esperanza and other NGOs participated throughout the reporting period, at the invitation of the SNP, in a "Specialized Course on Trafficking in Persons Investigations." NGOs continue to tell us the SNP are increasingly sensitized to and trained for the special demands of TIP investigations. During an Embassy-hosted DVC between Spanish TIP officials and G/TIP Ambassador Luis CdeBaca (Ref B), an SNP/UCRIF Inspector remarked that - compared to even five years ago - he personally sees considerably more TIP awareness within the police force. The Office of the Prosecutor works closely with the Spanish Network Against Trafficking in Persons. On January 18, 2010, the Office of the Prosecutor in Galicia and the Autonomous Government of Galicia signed an agreement establishing a pilot project in which a regional prosecutor would work with NGOs to help TIP victims overcome their fears and self-identify themselves to authorities as TIP victims. The project also establishes a wide-ranging program of victim assistance to help them. Spanish prosecutors inform Post that, if the results in Galicia are successful, the central government's intention is to have all of Spain's autonomous communities create similar programs.
29. (SBU) Checklist 27 G. The GOS has bilateral accords with several countries that are major sources of TIP victims in Spain, and the GOS regularly cooperates in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases.
30. (SBU) Checklist 27 H-J. The GOS can extradite persons charged with trafficking, including its own nationals, but there have been no instances during the reporting period of the GOS extraditing -- access to crime scenes, contaminating the scene, and opening the damaged facility to looting.
6. (SBU) Comment: VBIEDs remain the insurgents' top weapon against the GoI. Enhanced crime scene management is critical to apprehension and prosecution of these terrorists. The seminar was an important first step in advancing GoI post-blast exploitation and response capabilities. With the impending withdrawal of U.S. military forces, similar capacity building efforts that review known gaps in the GoI's response to high profile VBIED attacks are critical to the USG's mission in Iraq. End Comment
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