US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE1446

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 001446 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, PGOV, PHUM, SMIG, NL 
SUBJECT: G/TIP MILLER MEETS DUTCH FOREIGN AND JUSTICE 
MINISTERS WHO RESPOND TO CONTINUING ACTION PLAN 
 
REF: SECSTATE 115541 
 
SUMMARY 
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1. During a June 7 meeting with G/TIP Director Miller, Dutch 
Foreign Minister Bot and Justice Minister Donner acknowledged 
a shared commitment for concrete action against Trafficking 
in Persons (TIP).  Although critical of the tone and 
unilateral nature of the U.S. benchmarks outlined in the TIP 
Continuing Action Plan (reftel) and insistent on tackling the 
problem in their own way, the Ministers agreed clear 
guidelines to measure progress in fighting TIP were 
desirable.  Both sides agreed to continue their dialogue on 
TIP in a constructive manner and expressed confidence we 
would come to a solution. 
 
MILLER MEETING WITH FOREIGN AND JUSTICE MINISTERS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
2. The Secretary is considering Tier 1 placement for the 
Netherlands in the 2004 TIP Report, with a re-assessment in 
November 2004.  At the direction of the Deputy Secretary, 
G/TIP Director John Miller visited The Hague June 7.  With 
Amb. Sobel, he met with Dutch Foreign Minister Bot and 
Justice Minister Donner to discuss the quantifiable, specific 
benchmarks in the TIP Continuing Action Plan (reftel) on 
which the Dutch will be evaluated in November.  Other U.S. 
participants included G/TIP Acting Deputy Director JoAnn 
Schneider, EUR/PGI Doug Hoyt, DCM Danny Russel, and Global 
Issues officers Drew Mann and Erin Webster-Main.  Dutch 
participants were P.P. (Peter) van Wulfften Palthe, MFA DG of 
Regional Policy and Consular Affairs, Arie Ijzerman, MoJ 
Director of International Criminal Affairs & Drugs Policy, 
and Marjo Crompvoets, MFA Senior Policy Advisor on Judicial 
and Police Cooperation. 
 
3. The initial reception by the Dutch was cold with 
considerable "push back."  Both Ministers Donner and Bot 
criticized the harsh tone of the benchmarks and the apparent 
unilateral imposition of U.S. TIP priorities upon the Dutch. 
FM Bot said "this is not how sovereign nations should deal 
with each other."  He acknowledged the "terrible scourge" of 
TIP and reiterated the Dutch commitment to eradicate the 
problem.  Still, as a sovereign country, Bot said, the 
Netherlands would tailor its TIP approach to national 
circumstances and priorities.  For example, Donner noted the 
benchmarks laid a heavy emphasis on licensed brothels in the 
Amsterdam Red Light District, when a more pressing concern 
for the Dutch was the phenomenon of "lover boys" preying on 
minors, against which the Dutch had undertaken information 
campaigns and increased prosecutions. 
 
4. Mr. Miller first reviewed the possibility of the Secretary 
doing a conditional Tier 1 placement to be reassessed in 
November and listed the conditions we felt necessary to 
maintain that rating in our evaluation.  He expressed 
G/TIP,s view that the Dutch decision to legalize 
prostitution and maintain a sex industry with zones like the 
Amsterdam Red Light District created a magnet for TIP crimes. 
 As such, the Dutch shouldered special obligations to rid the 
legalized sector of TIP victims.  The Ministers agreed a link 
existed between prostitution and trafficking, but they 
distinguished the two activities and stated that licensing 
and regulating prostitution was, in fact, a Dutch effort to 
stop TIP.  The Ministers questioned whether G/TIP,s focus on 
legalized prostitution exceeded the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act mandate. 
 
5. Both Mr. Miller and the Ministers agreed the goal is to 
reduce the number of TIP victims and increase the number of 
trafficker prosecutions.  In fact, both countries share many 
similar tactics in their fight against TIP.  Mr. Miller and 
the Ministers acknowledged several of the steps indicated in 
the benchmarks were, in fact, already being undertaken by the 
Dutch. 
 
6. Noting the common ground between the two countries in 
shared goal and means, Amb. Sobel stressed the need for a 
continued real time dialogue on TIP issues.  Rather than 
relying upon proclamations and gestures, everyone recognized 
the importance of establishing concrete, measurable targets 
in the TIP effort.  Bot and Donner agreed, noting that 
progress against TIP is made "at the street level, not the 
paper level" and the Dutch plan to deal with TIP issues in 
the expanded EU during the Dutch Presidency.  Donner affirmed 
that national and EU-wide progress on TIP was a top Dutch 
priority and urged that we move forward together on solutions 
and avoid "problems of tone."  The meeting ended with the 
promise by both sides to continue talking. 
 
7. After the meeting, Mr. Miller indicated to the Amb. and 
DCM alternative benchmarks might be acceptable, but the 
Deputy Secretary required conditions as substantial, specific 
and measurable as the benchmarks outlined in the Continuing 
Action Plan.  Mr. Miller said he could accept such clearly 
defined and measurable alternative benchmarks developed 
jointly by the Dutch and U.S. (including G/TIP) if done 
quickly (i.e., within a month). 
OTHER MEETINGS 
-------------- 
 
8. Prior to his meeting with the Ministers, Mr. Miller toured 
De Roggeveen Shelter for victims of domestic violence and 
trafficking.  He discussed the need for improvements in the 
government's B-9 status (e.g., allowing TIP victims to work) 
with the shelter's social workers.  Following the shelter 
visit, Mr. Miller met two former TIP victims who had started 
Atalantas, an NGO working to inform other victims of their 
rights under Dutch law.  They spoke of their particular 
efforts to focus more attention on victims rather than 
prosecutions by reaching out directly to them, former to 
current victim. 
9. In another meeting, the National Rapporteur told Mr. 
Miller of several areas of progress since their last meeting 
in September - a new joint investigative team involving 
German, Belgian, Bulgarian, Dutch, EUROPOL and EUROJUST 
officials to combat TIP; and an EU twinning project with the 
U.K. in the Czech Republic.  She said her third report would 
likely be released during the summer (to include 2002 figures 
- final 2003 figures are expected shortly after its 
publication).  Mr. Miller also met with Rob Coster, National 
Police Project Leader for Prostitution and TIP, who discussed 
the shift in police focus from the legal to the illegal 
prostitution sector (including escort services).  Coster also 
clarified the Dutch were re-allocating 100 detectives from 
the regional level up to the national level to deal more 
effectively with transnational crimes such as TIP.  Coster 
echoed the National Rapporteur,s remarks that the 
Netherlands was instituting new TIP demand reduction 
programs.  Finally, a police tour of Amsterdam,s Red Light 
District after the meeting with the Ministers revealed that 
police checked all legal brothels for TIP victims once every 
six weeks on average. 
 
COMMENT 
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10. Embassy believes the next step is a strong push for 
prompt joint development of clear, measurable benchmarks that 
closely conform to domestic Dutch realities.  This will help 
ensure continued bilateral, shoulder-to-shoulder cooperation 
in the fight against TIP, and hopefully ease Dutch 
pre-occupation with the process of producing our yearly 
report.  Minister Bot committed the Dutch to attack TIP 
during their upcoming EU presidency.  With continued 
bilateral engagement, the U.S. and the Netherlands will be 
able to multiply our individual efforts against TIP at a time 
when EU border policies are under review and its enlarged 
borders increase the risk of trafficking. 
 
11. G/TIP Director Miller has reviewed and cleared this cable. 
SOBEL