US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA756

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 000756 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, INL/LP, WHA/PPC, PRM/PRP, AND WHA/CEN 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SMIG, KWMN, KCRM, ELAB, ASEC, PGOV, KJUS, HO 
SUBJECT:  EMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA FY2004 ANTI-TIP BILATERAL 
PROJECT PROPOSAL 
 
REF: (A) Tegucigalpa 576 
     (B) State 28738 
     (C) State 7869 
 
1. As one of the focus countries for the President's 
Initiative to combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) (ref B), 
Post is pleased to present an anti-TIP bilateral project 
proposal.  Post understands that several of the Mission's 
proposed anti-TIP activities in the areas of prevention, 
assistance to victims, and prosecution of TIP offenders will 
be under strong consideration for funding under the 
President's initiative. 
 
2. Post shares G/TIP's desire to produce immediate tangible 
results.  The best approach in Honduras - particularly with 
respect to effective prosecution of TIP offenders - would be 
to build on existing POL/INL and USAID criminal justice sector 
strengthening and training programs. 
 
3. At Post, POL/INL and USAID provide training to Honduran 
prosecutors and law enforcement on issues of priority to the 
U.S., such as drug trafficking, money laundering, alien 
smuggling, and extradition.  During the past four years, 
POL/INL helped the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
sponsor training, technical assistance, and conferences 
directed at combating alien smuggling and TIP.  Historically, 
POL/INL has directed training efforts toward prosecutors, 
investigators, and police at all levels in Honduras in the 
area of law enforcement investigations, and USAID has been 
responsible for the training of prosecutors and judges in the 
areas of prosecutions and trial methods.  In addition, given 
that trafficking in persons is a crime in Honduras (as is 
illegal migration), POL/INL should manage the law enforcement 
investigations training for this project. 
 
4. USAID has worked closely with the Honduran Attorney 
General's office providing significant technical assistance in 
the development of a new oral, adversarial criminal justice 
system under the new Criminal Procedure Code.  This work has 
been ongoing for the past four years and USAID has developed 
an excellent working relationship with the Public Ministry in 
the process.  Given this track record, USAID should be 
responsible for training prosecutors and judges on TIP- 
specific projects. 
 
5. USAID and the Public Affairs Section (PAS) should oversee 
any U.S. assistance to support a campaign that promotes public 
awareness in the Honduran context.  PAS has a wealth of 
established contacts in the Honduran media that are 
unsurpassed.  The Ambassador looks to PAS to take the lead on 
public information aspects of issues, such as TIP, in 
Honduras.  Moreover, PAS has successfully partnered with 
Honduran public institutions and NGOs in the past on similar 
projects.  USAID may also be able to contribute significantly 
to this campaign, as it has worked successfully with local 
NGOs on public information campaigns in the areas of anti- 
corruption and judicial reform. 
 
6. In summary, Post is convinced that a country-based and well- 
coordinated approach on TIP investigations, prosecutions, and 
a public awareness campaign is the key to helping Honduras 
develop a more effective, indigenous anti-TIP law enforcement 
and prevention strategy. 
 
7. Goal:  Post will provide a two-year project including 
training, technical assistance, equipment, and public 
awareness campaigns that will facilitate strengthened laws, 
institutionalization of a specific police investigative unit 
working in cooperation with prosecutors and judges focused on 
TIP and TIP-related crimes, and a more fully developed public 
awareness campaign that will help bring the justice sector and 
the NGO community closer together in this urgent fight against 
trafficking in persons. 
 
8. Objectives:  This project will provide for three equally 
important and intertwined objectives: the establishment and 
institutionalization of a Ministry of Public Security 
investigative unit that will focus solely on TIP and TIP- 
related crimes; the strengthening of laws that govern this 
type of crime (already underway by the GOH) as well as the 
capabilities of the prosecutors and judges to prosecute and 
convict perpetrators of TIP crimes; and a well-defined public 
awareness campaign that will reach the population that is most 
vulnerable to TIP crimes. 
 
9. Activities:  The Ministry of Public Security (MoPS - 
police) and the Public Ministry (prosecutors), as well as 
Post, have acknowledged a need to focus specific attention on 
TIP.  In furtherance of this acknowledgement, Post, through 
its INL program, proposes to provide training, technical 
assistance, and equipment to the Ministry of Public Security 
to strengthen a well-trained TIP investigative unit that will 
also work closely with POL/INL, DHS, and other U.S. law 
enforcement agencies in the investigation of TIP crimes. 
Training, technical assistance, and equipment will be provided 
by USAID to prosecutors and judges to form a countrywide group 
of prosecutors and judges that will work closely with 
investigators to prosecute TIP crimes.  USAID and PAS will 
work closely with Honduran NGOs and Honduran government 
agencies to expand and strengthen implementation of a national 
public awareness strategy. 
 
10. Timeline:  The project as a whole should be 
institutionalized and turned over to the Government of 
Honduras (GOH) in two years.  Using Post resources, POL/INL 
and PAS can begin providing training, technical assistance, 
and equipment within 30 days of receiving funds and USAID 
within 90 days of receiving funds.  It is estimated that this 
project as a whole will be completed within a two-year period 
if funding request levels are met. 
 
11. Sustainability:  At the completion of this two-year plan 
to strengthen the capabilities of the (GOH), the GOH will be 
expected to fund the infrastructure and necessary budget to 
insure continued success in the investigation and prosecution 
of TIP crimes.  The GOH has already demonstrated their 
commitment to this issue by providing adequate budget in the 
MoPS five-year strategic plan and budget for the Special 
Investigation Unit of the Frontier Police.  The Public 
Ministry continues to support its Organized Crime Unit, which 
is made up of prosecutors that have worked closely with 
POL/INL, DHS, and other U.S. agencies on TIP-related crimes 
and issues.  The assistance provided for a public awareness 
campaign would be sustained and continued through efforts by 
the GOH and NGOs, as well as other international donors. 
 
12. Performance Indicators:  This three-pronged project will 
produce strengthened capabilities of the investigative unit 
and prosecutors as well as the increased prosecution and 
cooperation with the U.S. on TIP-related crimes.  In addition, 
public awareness of this predatory crime will have reached 
many rural areas outside the major cities of Tegucigalpa and 
San Pedro Sula. 
 
13. Evaluation Plan/Process:  The three portions of this 
project will be discussed on a monthly basis at Post's 
Democracy Working Group.  In addition, on a quarterly basis, 
Embassy officials in charge of the three projects will meet 
with their Honduran counterparts to discuss and review 
statistics gathered on arrests, prosecutions, and reports of 
attempted TIP crimes to determine the level of activities 
being undertaken by the units receiving assistance under this 
project, as well as to discuss problematic areas and propose 
solutions to those problems.  In addition, annual inventories 
and end use monitoring of all donated equipment will be 
conducted by Post. 
 
14. Cost:  The cost estimate for the first year of this 
proposed two-year project is $800,000.00: 
 
Investigative support (POL/INL) 
 
a. Training $60,000 (including "train the trainer" training 
for investigators, as well as a field training program that 
will provide assessment of impact of classroom training and 
feedback on investigative techniques) 
 
b. Technical assistance and operational support 
$170,000 (in addition to the technical assistance and 
operational support that is already provided and ongoing by 
POL/INL, DHS and other U.S. law enforcement agencies, 
technical advisors specializing in specific TIP-related 
forensic, crime scene, investigative techniques, use and 
control of informants and information will be utilized.  In 
addition, services for mobile phones and satellite phones, as 
well as other operational support mechanisms, will be funded.) 
 
c. Equipment $90,000 (provide equipment used in the 
investigation of TIP-related crimes such as surveillance 
equipment, a small amount of vehicles, and a server-based 
computer system which can be connected to the current Honduran 
criminal information database.) 
 
Prosecutorial and Judicial Support (USAID) 
 
d. Training $ 170,000 (included will be TIP-specific "train 
the trainer" training for the Public Ministry and Supreme 
Court training departments, as well as TIP-specific training 
courses for prosecutors and judges based on Honduran laws.) 
 
e. Technical Assistance $130,000 (included will be TIP- 
specific technical assistance to facilitate the strengthening 
of laws and/or regulations that impact TIP crimes and 
prosecution.) 
 
f. Equipment $90,000 (the organized crime unit which will have 
a special TIP unit of prosecutors will be provided with a 
computer system that will enable them to access the criminal 
information database.) 
 
Public Awareness Campaign  (USAID and PAS) 
 
g. Training $40,000 (provide training seminars to reporters 
and NGO's in furtherance of the public awareness campaign 
against TIP-related crimes.) 
 
h. Technical Assistance $50,000 (provide funding and technical 
assistance to insure distribution of information and seminars 
to the population of Honduras, specifically to those who are 
most vulnerable to TIP crimes.) 
 
Palmer