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249983 2/22/2010 15:12 10LISBON71 Embassy Lisbon UNCLASSIFIED 10STATE2094 VZCZCXRO0240 PP RUEHLA RUEHPA RUEHPD RUEHSL DE RUEHLI #0071/01 0531512 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 221512Z FEB 10 FM AMEMBASSY LISBON TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8123 INFO RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 0130 RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0413 RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0001 RUEHBM/AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST 0248 RUEHCH/AMEMBASSY CHISINAU 0139 RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KIEV 0194 RUEHLU/AMEMBASSY LUANDA 0606 RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 2732 RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 0552 RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0551 RUEHPG/AMEMBASSY PRAGUE 0163 RUEHPA/AMEMBASSY PRAIA 0281 RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 0318 RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 0408 RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 0083 RUEHPD/AMCONSUL PONTA DELGADA 0670 RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 0037 RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 0001 RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 0001 RUEAORC/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PRO WASHINGTON DC RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC RHEFHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 16 LISBON 000071
SIPDIS
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID DEPT PLEASE PASS TO INL/G-TIP JENNIFER DONNELLY, G-LAURA PENA, INL, DRL, PRM, AND EUR/PGI
E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP, KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ASEC, PREF, ELAB, KMCA, PO SUBJECT: PORTUGAL: TENTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT
REF: STATE 2094
Per reftel, this cable addresses questions in paragraphs 25-30. Embassy Lisbon's point of contact on trafficking is Gina Felix, the Embassy's Political/Economic Assistant, tel: 351-21-770-2331, fax: 351-21-770-6547. The Political-Economic Assistant spent over 120 hours researching and meeting with Embassy contacts in preparation of this TIP report cable.
(U) Summary: During the reporting period, the Portuguese government, in collaboration with civil society, undertook vigorous efforts to combat trafficking in persons, focusing on prevention, prosecution of traffickers, and assistance to victims. In 2009, Portugal handed down the first sentence for the specific crime of human trafficking under the 2007 amendments to the Penal Code. The court convicted and sentenced seven Romanian traffickers to an average of 12 years each, the maximum allowable. The government took the lead in coordinating and implementing an EU-wide TIP database, and continued to train government officials and civil society leaders and to proactively raise public awareness to combat TIP. Post believes that Portugal,s previous Tier 2 ranking should be reconsidered in light of the government,s demonstrated political will to combat trafficking in persons and its continuous efforts to strengthen its commitment to preventing TIP, protecting victims, and prosecuting traffickers.
25. (U) THE COUNTRY'S TIP SITUATION:
A. Portugal has numerous sources of credible information on trafficking in persons, including:
Office of the Coordinator of the National Action Plan Against Trafficking in Persons and National Rapporteur of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), Presidency of the Council of Ministers; Monitoring Center for Trafficking in Persons, Ministry of the Interior(www.otsh.mai.gov.pt); Ministry of Justice; Association for Family Planning (APF); Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF); Judiciary Police (PJ); High Commission for Immigration and Inter-cultural Dialogue (ACIDI); Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV); International Organization for Migration (IOM); Commission for the Equality and Rights of Women (CIDM).
Credible information on trafficking can also be found on the Cooperation, Action, Investigation and World Vision (CAIM) web site (www.caim.com.pt) (see paragraph 25B for information on the government's anti-trafficking project CAIM). This comprehensive site has been available since February 2007 and provides a wealth of information, including CAIM's objectives, national/international partnerships and legislation, links to government and NGOs for assistance to victims, information guide for victims, media coverage of trafficking cases, and national and international trafficking reports. Trafficking statistics in Portugal, including
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numbers of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions, are available on the website since April 2008. Access to sensitive data is closely controlled and only available through passwords obtained from CAIM on an as needed basis. At Portugal,s request, various countries, including Brazil, have incorporated the CAIM link into their TIP websites.
Since 2008, the Portuguese Ministry of the Interior has been leading and coordinating the transnational project "Trafficking in Persons - Data Collection and Harmonized Information Management System." Partner countries include Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The main goal of this data-gathering project, co-financed by the European Commission, is to develop, consolidate, and share common trafficking indicators to strengthen anti-trafficking policies and programs in partner countries.
B. Portugal is a country of origin, transit, and destination for internationally trafficked men, women, and children for commercial sexual exploitation and/or forced labor. Trafficking occurs across a mostly uncontrolled border with Spain and also within Portugal, including the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores. It does not occur in territory outside the government's control. A full-time body run by the Ministry of Interior (with assistance from other government agencies and NGOs) to monitor and gather data on trafficking-related developments has been in operation since January 2007. Trafficking data are collected in a central database using input from the various entities that track trafficking cases, including police, security sources, and NGOs. According to this monitoring center, most victims identified in 2009 were foreigners found in the northern region of Portugal, their average age was 30 years old, and 75 percent were women.
Women: The majority of victims is from Brazil and is trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation in bars and clubs. Typically, victims are women with little education. The majority is legal immigrants with proper documents and valid visas. Traffickers of these women often use Portugal as a springboard to other European Union destinations.
Men: Victims are mainly from Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Romania), Brazil, and African lusophone countries. They are trafficked for forced labor in the construction, agricultural, and hotel industries.
Children: Neither government authorities nor NGOs have direct knowledge of trafficking of children but estimate that there may be 50-100 Roma minors, who were brought to Portugal by family networks and are forced by parents or relatives to work as street beggars.
There have been no changes in the origin or destination of trafficking victims since the last TIP report. The persons trafficked are mainly women from Brazil (for sexual exploitation) and, to a lesser extent, from Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Romania), Brazil, and African countries (Nigeria and lusophone countries). Some trafficking victims transit through Portugal en route to other European countries.
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Portugal is not a significant country of origin; however, there have been media reports of Portuguese victims of forced labor in Spain and the Netherlands.
Since its election in March 2005, the Socialist government has initiated key measures to address human trafficking. In December 2005, it launched a pilot project (CAIM - Cooperation, Action, Investigation and World Vision) to combat the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation in Portugal. In 2007, this project added combating trafficking for labor exploitation to its list of objectives. Task forces from the Ministries of Justice and Interior, the Commission for the Equality and Rights of Women (CIDM), the High Commission for Immigration and Inter-Cultural Dialogue (ACIDI), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), various NGOs, and security forces collaborated in designing the CAIM project and have been working together on a regular basis to carry out its objectives. As its main goals, CAIM established a full-time unit in the Ministry of Interior to monitor trafficking-related developments through the creation of a centralized comprehensive database that has been operational since January 2007. This monitoring center includes a registry for filing legal complaints (see paragraph 28F). In 2007, the GOP opened the first government-financed safe house specifically for trafficking victims.
C. Women trafficked for sexual exploitation are kept in rooms/apartments in or near brothels or clubs. Upon arrival, their passports may be withheld and turned over to a brothel or club operator. Many, especially Brazilian women, initially consent to prostitution activities but may later be subject to threats and violence. Trafficked men are housed in similar conditions, usually close to construction sites where they work. They usually consent to the labor activity but are sometimes victims of violence, threats, fraud, coercion, peonage, and debt bondage. Police and NGOs have reported that Roma children, brought from Romania to Portugal by family networks, are sometimes forced by family members to beg on street corners.
Trafficking victims are not normally kept locked up. However, credible reports from former TIP victims describe limited freedom of movement, such as accompanied shopping trips.
D. Persons more at risk of being trafficked are women, mostly from Brazil, for sexual exploitation, but there were also reports of men with little education and low socio-economic status being trafficked for forced labor.
E. SEF reports that the majority of traffickers are Portuguese, Eastern European, and Brazilian men between the ages of 20 and 50, who are either independent businessmen or employees of prostitution-related commercial establishments. Victims are often promised lucrative jobs - as domestic servants, exotic dancers, or as prostitutes - and are usually approached by friends of friends.
Brazilian and lusophone victims mostly arrive through one of
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Portugal,s various international airports. Victims from Eastern European countries enter Portugal mainly in cars or vans through the Spanish border. False documents are seldom used. Employment, travel, and tourism agencies and marriage brokers are rarely involved with or fronting for traffickers.
26. (U) SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS:
A. The Portuguese government recognizes that human trafficking is a problem and has undertaken serious efforts to address it, working closely with local and international NGOs on prevention, prosecution of traffickers, and protection of victims.
B. The following government agencies, led by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), are involved in anti-trafficking efforts:
Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), under the Ministry for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers; Monitoring Center for Trafficking in Persons, Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Labor and Social Security; Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF); Judicial Police (PJ); Republican National Guard (GNR); Public Security Police (PSP); High Commission for Immigration and Inter-cultural Dialogue (ACIDI); Commission for the Equality and Rights of Women (CIDM); and Association for Family Planning (APF).
C. In spite of severe financial constraints, the current government has undertaken serious efforts to address the trafficking problem by providing supplementary funds to agencies linked to the CAIM project. Given the importance placed by the government on combating trafficking, additional funds have been made available for police training and for subsidies to NGOs that shelter and assist victims, as well as for the establishment and operation of the Monitoring Center for Trafficking. ACIDI depends on government funds and has received extra resources to address trafficking.
Institutional corruption is not a problem.
The government has increased resources to aid victims. It funds a safe house for trafficking victims (see paragraph 28B), and continues to refer victims to NGOs, for both protection and assistance. One of these NGOs, the Association for Victim Support (APAV), has a funding agreement with the government to receive subsidies covering 80 percent of its expenses (see paragraph 28C).
D. Since January 2007, the Monitoring Center for Trafficking Victims has been the official government entity specifically charged with gathering and processing trafficking data. Its
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website (www.caim.com.pt) makes publicly available government assessments of anti-trafficking efforts. Upon request, it provides to regional/international organizations, privately and directly, a password for access to more detailed data. The center is further tasked with sharing its information with appropriate legal, judicial, and health authorities and preparing public awareness campaigns. As an integral part of the CAIM project, the center collaborates with CAIM partners in devising the GOP's trafficking policy responses. It also plays a key role in fostering collaborative anti-trafficking efforts with other governments. Between mid 2008 and 2009, the Monitoring Center published and made available, publicly and privately, two comprehensive TIP reports.
The implementation of the CAIM project has resulted in greater coordination among government entities and NGOs, facilitating statistical data gathering and making it more reliable and accurate. With the current penal code defining human trafficking as a distinct crime, annual statistical summaries compiled by the GOP now include TIP in its own statistical category. The Judiciary Police (PJ) and the Justice Ministry also monitor and gather trafficking statistics. Information gathering is also carried out by the government's High Commission for Immigration and Inter-Cultural Dialogue (ACIDI), the chief organization that coordinates assistance to rafficking victims and immigrants. All of these agencies pass their information to the Monitoring Center, working together in a concerted effort to produce reliable and accurate TIP statistics.
E. The government revised the nationality law (Organic Law 2/2006, regulated by Decree-Law 237-A/2006) and the Immigration Law (Law 23/2007) to improve the identification of local populations. The revisions allowed for Portuguese nationality to be granted directly to the third generation and simplify the legal requirements for the second generation, in addition to granting all legal immigrants uniform legal status and helping to combat human trafficking and illegal immigration. Following these measures, the government implemented inter-ministerial strategies, such as the National Inclusiveness Action Plan, which targets more than just immigrant and ethnic minorities, and the Immigrant Integration Project (Council of Ministers Resolution 63-A/2007).
--F. The Inspectorate General of Internal Administration (IGAI), created in 1995, gathers information on all of the country,s security forces and produces a comprehensive annual report with an in-depth assessment of law enforcement efforts. The IGAI carries out regular inquiries and on-site inspections of police force departments, some as a result of public complaints by individuals and civil society organizations.
27. (U) INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS:
A. Portugal has laws specifically prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons. They are covered in Article 160 of the revised Portuguese penal code, in effect since September 15, 2007. These laws cover both internal and external (transnational) forms of trafficking. They broaden the
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previous definition of trafficking to cover both sexual and labor exploitation, and impose tougher penalties for trafficking crimes. Article 160 states the following:
1) Whoever offers, transfers, recruits, obtains, transports, holds or houses a person for the purpose of sexual or labor exploitation or extraction of organs: a) Through the use of violence, kidnapping or serious threat; b) Through deception or fraud; c) Through abuse of power resulting from a relationship of hierarchical, economic, work or family dependency; d) Taking advantage of psychological incapacity or a situation of special vulnerability of the victim; or e) By obtaining the consent of the person who controls the victim; is subject to a prison sentence of 3 to 10 years. 2) The same sentence is applicable to whomever, through any means, entices, transports, houses or harbors a minor, or transfers, offers or accepts the minor for the purpose of sexual or labor exploitation or the extraction of organs. 3) In the case of paragraph 2, if the agent uses any of the means stipulated in paragraph 1 or acts in a professional capacity or with monetary intentions, he/she is subject to a prison sentence of 3 to 12 years. 4) Whoever, through payment or other compensation, offers, transfers, solicits or obtains a minor, or obtains or provides consent for his/her adoption, is subject to a prison sentence of 1 to 5 years. 5) Whoever, having knowledge of the practice of the crime stipulated in paragraphs 1 and 2, uses the services or organs of the victim, is subject to a prison sentence of 1 to 5 years, if a harsher sentence is not applicable through other laws. 6) Whoever confiscates, hides, damages or destroys identification or travel documents of a victim of crimes stipulated in paragraph 1 and 2 is subject to a prison sentence of up to 3 years, if a harsher sentence is not applicable through other laws.
Furthermore, an immigration law (Law 23/2007, Section V, Articles 109-115), in effect since July 4, 2007, includes automatic residency permits for immigrant victims of labor and sexual trafficking who agree to cooperate with authorities to bring traffickers to justice. In 2009, the government granted six permanent residency permits to victims of trafficking.
There are laws against slavery (5 to 15 years in prison under Article 159 of the penal code) and the exploitation of prostitution by means of force, fraud or coercion (1 to 8 years in prison under Article 169).
Traffickers may also be prosecuted under other laws, such as labor-related crimes. By citing violations of multiple provisions, judges may hand down longer sentences.
On January 19, 2008, Portugal ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Persons.
B. The penalty for human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation is 3 to 12 years imprisonment (see paragraph
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27A).
C. The penalty for labor trafficking is 3 to 12 years imprisonment (see paragraph 27A). The trafficking laws provide for criminal punishment for labor recruiters in Portugal who engage in recruitment of laborers using knowingly fraudulent or deceptive offers that result in workers being trafficked in the destination country. Articles 159 (slavery, up to 15 years in prison) and 160 (trafficking - up to 12 years in prison) punish employers or labor agents who confiscate workers' passports or travel documents, switch contracts without the workers, consent or withhold payment of salaries as means of keeping the worker in a state of compelled service.
Before the revisions to the penal code went into effect, employers were held responsible for trafficking crimes under specific labor laws, outside of the penal code. Under the revised penal code, employers are now held criminally accountable for trafficking crimes and slavery. (See paragraph 27E for convictions.)
D. The Portuguese penal code stipulates penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for rape or forcible sexual assault.
E. The Portuguese government investigated and prosecuted cases against human trafficking offenders during the reporting period. Final 2009 numbers of investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences imposed have not been fully compiled by the Ministry of Justice. They will be made available to Post in mid-March. The Monitoring Center has informally provided us with the following unofficial interim data (for the first six months of 2009) for our reference, which should not/not be used in the TIP report as it is pending approval for dissemination:
33 criminal proceedings in the trial phase involving the crimes of trafficking in persons for commercial sexual exploitation; 8 persons convicted for trafficking in persons; 172 persons convicted for trafficking in persons for commercial sexual exploitation; 3 persons convicted for trafficking of minors for commercial sexual exploitation.
One of the convictions is especially noteworthy. In May 2009, a Portuguese court sentenced seven Romanians to a total of 83 years in prison (an average of 12 years each) and deportation. This was the first sentence handed down for the specific crime of human trafficking under the 2007 amendments to the Penal Code. The human trafficking, criminal association, and pandering were proven and the court handed out heavy sentences to the four men and three women, who had been held in preventive detention since 2007, following their arrest in an SEF operation in Lisbon. The group trafficked into Portugal young women from poor families in Romania, some of them minors, for prostitution. At least nine victims testified.
F. SEF officials and interns, as well as the GNR, receive periodic specialized training on how to recognize,
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investigate, and prosecute instances of trafficking. Since 2005, SEF training of its incoming inspector class (approximately 300 annually) has included a specific module on TIP enforcement. SEF has been using various documentaries, including "Lilya 4Ever," a film featuring an actual trafficking victim, in its training classes. Trainees are also prepared to treat victims of trafficking, as distinct from illegal immigrants and criminals.
As a result of training and awareness programs, the three national police forces (GNR, PSP, and PJ) have collaborated more closely with each other and with SEF authorities in -- restrictions on repatriation of capital have affected all investors, not just the Portuguese.
9. (C) Monteiro acknowledged that the MFA has received complaints from Portuguese business owners, including complaints over the difficulty of importing raw materials into Venezuela, but, like Ferreira, underscored that "everything in Venezuela is very bureaucratic." He characterized the delay in payment as more bureaucratic than political, and universal, affecting other countries as well. He estimated that there are 600,000 Portuguese in Venezuela, most of them dual nationals who initially operated businesses in traditional sectors, such as food distribution, public works, and hospital equipment distribution, and subsequently expanded into less traditional markets. Since the 1990s, Portuguese companies have signed agreements with Venezuela in areas such as pharmaceuticals and shipping, supplying medicine to hospitals and maintaining vessels for the Venezuelan off-shore oil industry. Monteiro said 85 percent of the Portuguese in Venezuela emigrated from the Portuguese island of Madeira in the 1950s and 1960s when the island was among Portugal's poorest regions.
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10. (C/NF) Portugal has been soft on the Chavez regime because of its desire to do business with the oil-rich country and because of the large Portuguese community in Caracas. In recent years, Portugal has courted Chavez as part of the GOP's economic diplomacy, forging stronger ties with economic cooperation agreements and frequent high-level visits. GOP contacts have publicly praised ties with Venezuela, but have privately criticized Chavez's unpredictability, citing high turnover of government officials and tight fiscal control as impediments to investment. The MFA acknowledged that Portugal will proceed "very slowly" in the wake of recent developments. While the Venezuelan government's payment delay is not likely to deter Portugal's commercial interest in Venezuela or change its stance toward the Chavez government, it will likely slow investment as Portuguese companies think twice before investing in Venezuela's potentially lucrative but bureaucratically and politically difficult market.
For more reporting from Embassy Lisbon and information about Portugal, please see our Intelink site:
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/portal:port ugal BALLARD
