US embassy cable - 04SAOPAULO1745

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SAO PAULO 001745 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2014 
TAGS: BR, ELAB, PGOV, PHUM, PREL, Human Rights, TIP 
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS:  VISIT OF AMBASSADOR 
MILLER TO BRAZIL 
 
REF: SAO PAULO 1870 
 
Classified By: This message has been classified by Labor Officer 
Patric 
 
k Del Vecchio.  Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
 
 
1. (C) Begin Summary:  Special Ambassador John Miller visited 
Brazil November 29-December 3 to survey Brazilian efforts to 
combat trafficking in persons.  Ambassador Miller found that 
Brazilian efforts to educate and raise awareness have been 
outstanding in many areas, but more needs to be done 
(including changes in legislation) to arrest, convict and 
imprison traffickers.  Brazil also is in the process of 
improving its efforts for offering counseling, education and 
vocational education for victims.  Ambassador Miller had a 
receptive audience for his arguments that international 
cooperation and changing attitudes among those who frequented 
prostitutes were necessities in dealing with trafficking. 
End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Special Ambassador John Miller visited Brazil November 
29-December 3 to survey Brazilian efforts at combating 
trafficking in Persons.  Program officer Linda Brown 
accompanied Ambassador Miller during visits to Foz do Iguacu, 
Sao Paulo, Goiania and Brasilia.  Subsequently a DOJ/DHS team 
led by Anne Estrada visited Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo 
Horizonte, Recife, Fortaleza, Goiania, Brasilia and Foz do 
Iguacu during the period December 1-11 (reported septel). 
 
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Foz do Iguacu 
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3. (C) In Foz on November 30, Ambassador Miller visited one 
of the Sentinela centers for sexually abused and exploited 
minors.  The center serves as a reference center for children 
and adolescents, who are evaluated and then given counseling, 
medical attention, and other services.  Later, Ambassador 
Miller met with the Committee to Combat Abuse and Sexual 
Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Foz.  The 
Committee outlined the way government and non-governmental 
organizations in Foz work together to prevent the commercial 
sexual exploitation of minors (nearly always trafficked). 
Ambassador Miller also saw a presentation by an educational 
outreach group that carried an awareness campaign concerning 
trafficking into schools. 
 
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Sao Paulo 
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3. (C) December 1, Ambassador Miller visited the newly 
established Sao Paulo State Office to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons.  The State of Sao Paulo established the office after 
several conferences bringing together NGOs, media, 
government, and international experts on the problem of 
trafficking.  The Public Affairs section of the Consulate 
played a key role in helping get the office up and running, 
both supporting the two meetings and providing an initial 
grant of 20,000 dollars to the office.  Ambassador Miller 
toured the office and learned that among other activities, it 
has arranged for the Federal Police to insert a leaflet in 
each new issued passport warning of trafficking, and that the 
office 
will have a reference center at the Sao Paulo international 
airport for victims who have been trafficked internationally 
and are returning to Brazil. 
 
4. (C) Ambassador Miller also met with the State Secretary 
for Justice, Rafael Moreira, and subsequently held a joint 
press conference (covered by five national media outlets). 
Ambassador Miller and the State Secretary emphasized the need 
for international collaboration in ending the problem and 
cited the office as a good example of the kind of cooperation 
that can make a difference--as the office resulted from 
efforts from the Sao Paulo State Government, the Federal 
Ministry of Justice, the USG and the NGOs.  At a lunch with 
NGO representatives and public prosecutors, among others, 
Ambassador Miller learned of some of the difficulties of 
prosecuting trafficking cases in Brazil, given the relatively 
weak legislation.  Ambassador Miller also met with consular 
representatives of various destination countries to learn 
their perspectives on the trafficking. 
 
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Goiania 
------ 
 
5. (C) December 2 in Goiania Ambassador Miller called on the 
newly established State Office to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons.  The Ministry of Justice selected the state of Goias 
as one of its four pilot states for offices to combat 
trafficking because many women from Goias have been 
trafficked to Europe, especially Portugal and Spain.  The 
State Prosecutor Laura Bueno explained that the office is in 
the process of setting up, and will be conducting outreach to 
warn potential victims.    The Federal Police officer in 
charge of Immigration in the state, Luciano Dornelles 
explained that he had an on-going investigation involving a 
ring trafficking to Spain, and that he would be making 
arrests soon.  (As noted reftel, he made the arrests the next 
day.)  He said traffickers took women from Goias exclusively 
to Europe, and that though smuggling of people including 
children into the US existed, he had not discovered 
trafficking of women. 
 
6. (C) Also in Goiania Ambassador Miller visited the 
headquarters of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) to met 
with representatives of the Commission and Catholic Relief 
Services (CRS).  The CPT representatives outlined the problem 
of trafficking men to plantations where they work as forced 
labor.  CRS will execute one of the projects under the 
President's 50 Million Dollar Initiative, designed to raise 
awareness concerning trafficking in the locales where 
recruiters work, to increase legal representation for workers 
who have been trafficked and liberated, and to begin to 
generate other employment opportunities for these workers. 
 
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Brasilia 
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7. (C) In Brasilia, Ambassador Miller met with 
representatives of the office of the National Secretary for 
Justice.  They clarified Brazilian trafficking laws, 
explaining that the Brazilian penal code outlaws only the 
international trafficking of women for sexual exploitation, 
and not any form of internal trafficking, including of 
workers for forced labor.  (Forced labor per se is outlawed, 
but trafficking for that purpose is not specificly punished.) 
 These laws made prosecuting and convicting traffickers 
difficult.  The Ministry of Justice has proposed changes that 
would make all types of trafficking subject to criminal 
penalties.  The Brazilian Congress now has the legislation 
for consideration.  The Director of the Labor Inspectorate, 
Ruth Vilela, confirmed the difficulty of prosecuting 
traffickers in forced labor, but noted that the government 
had found other ways to punish them, including denying any 
form of government-based credit to farms and plantations 
where forced labor had been found.  The Foreign Ministry 
representative stressed that Brazil regarded trafficking as a 
serious problem and that the MFA had strengthened the effort 
to reach out 
to trafficking victims in Brazilian embassies and consulates 
located in destination countries.  Ambassador Miller 
concluded by giving an interview with Folha de Sao Paulo, 
Brazil's largest circulation daily newspaper.  He stressed 
the need for international cooperation, the importance of 
changing attitudes toward prostitution, and highlighted some 
of the on-going efforts to combat trafficking in Brazil and 
other parts of the world. 
DEL VECCHIO