US embassy cable - 05ASUNCION173

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASUNCION 000173 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR INL/LP (ABBY SMITH), G/TIP (LINDA BROWN), WHA/PPC 
(MICHAEL PUCCETTI) 
DEPT PASS USAID LAC/AA 
NSC FOR KIMBERLY BREIER 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, PGOV, PREL, ELAB, ASEC, KCRM, PINR, PA 
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS DEVELOPMENTS 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1. (U) Summary: 
--------------- 
--IADB project moving forward 
--Japanese Embassy announces bilateral project 
--NGO Luna Nueva finishes major TIP study 
--More Paraguayan women rescued in Argentina and Spain 
--Paraguay and Spain negotiating TIP agreement 
--President considering decree to establish government-wide 
TIP Commission 
 
IADB project moving forward 
--------------------------- 
2. (U) The Interamerican Development Bank released the final 
document announcing its USD 185,000 bilateral anti-TIP 
project with the GOP.  The project has been in the planning 
stages for the past six months.  The bulk of the funds will 
be dedicated to increasing awareness of the trafficking 
problem through a public education campaign and working with 
the Paraguayan media to increase coverage of TIP. 
Additionally, the project provides funds to the GOP to 
enhance its capacity to keep records and maintain statistics 
on TIP. 
 
Japanese Embassy announces bilateral project 
--------------------------- 
3. (U) The Embassy of Japan in Asuncion announced that the 
Japan Special Fund will provide USD 400,000 for an 
anti-trafficking program.  The funds will be administered by 
the Interamerican Development Bank and the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs.  The program will be wide-ranging, 
incorporating training for prosecutors in the Attorney 
General's Office, training for teachers to permit them to 
recognize sexually exploited children in their classes, and 
projects with municipalities to enable neighborhood watch 
committees to identify trafficking attempts.  The program 
will initiate in April and is scheduled to run for 24 months. 
 
NGO Luna Nueva finishes major TIP study 
--------------------------- 
4. (SBU) Luna Nueva, an Asuncion-based NGO that assists 
sexually abused women and children, will issue a major report 
on trafficking in persons during the first half of February. 
Luis Bogado Poisson, regional representative of the 
International Organization for Migration, told PolOff that 
the IOM contracted with Luna Nueva last year to carry out the 
study, which it will deliver to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs.  The study will be wide-ranging, according to 
Bogado, identifying major trafficking routes and criminal 
groups involved with trafficking in Paraguay, and apparently 
implicates agents within the GOP in trafficking activities. 
Bogado also noted that the report is not to be released to 
the public (though Post will receive a copy of the report), 
as it will serve law enforcement purposes.  Bogado added that 
the report will include statistics covering criminal 
investigations and prosecutions of TIP in Paraguay, but did 
not comment on the methodology that Luna Nueva used to 
compile them.  He said that the report itself would provide 
such details. 
 
More Paraguayan women rescued in Argentina and Spain 
--------------------------- 
5. (U) During January, there were three significant rescues 
of Paraguayan women who had been trafficked into prostitution 
in Argentina and Spain.  Two of the incidents were in the 
province surrounding Buenos Aires, with five women rescued in 
the first case and two in the other.  The IOM paid for the 
women's return to their families in Paraguay.  Luz Gamelia of 
the Secretariat for Repatriations told PolOff that one of the 
rescued women, a minor, claimed that her stepfather had sold 
her to a trafficker, but was unwilling to press charges 
against him.  In the Spanish city of Valladolid, police freed 
nine women (one of whom was Paraguayan) from forced 
prostitution.  Press reports indicate that the Paraguayan 
woman was expelled from Spain for entering illegally. 
 
Paraguay and Spain negotiating TIP agreement 
--------------------------- 
6. (U) Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Martinez Lezcano 
announced on January 20 that Paraguay is negotiating an 
agreement with Spain to cooperate on TIP.  Martinez noted 
that the GOP is very concerned by the increasing numbers of 
Paraguayan women and children working in the sex trade in 
Spain, and cited several cases in which Paraguayan women have 
been trafficked to Spain with the promise of legitimate 
employment there. Carlo Arce, an official with the 
Interamerican Development Bank who consulted for the Foreign 
Ministry on the issue, told PolOff that the GOP seeks an 
agreement to include both cooperation between the two 
countries' judicial systems and expanded services for 
Paraguayan trafficking victims in Spain. 
 
President considering decree to establish government-wide TIP 
Commission 
--------------------------- 
7. (SBU) Kathya Bareiro of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
the coordinator of the National Anti-Trafficking Action Plan, 
told PolOff that the Interagency Roundtable on Trafficking in 
Persons has sent President Duarte a draft executive order 
creating a national commission on TIP.  The draft order 
includes establishment of a permanent database on trafficking 
prosecutions, officially mandates the national 911 telephone 
system to receive trafficking complaints, and instructs GOP 
ministries to cooperate with foreign government and 
international organizations on TIP.  The order will charge 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with coordinating anti-TIP 
efforts across ministries. 
JOHNSON