US embassy cable - 05ATHENS589

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 ATHENS 000589 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR USAID 
FOR G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, 
FOR EUR/PGI AND EUR/SE PARENTE AND YOUNTCHI 
FOR G/TIP DONNELLY 
FOR INL/CTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ASEC, PREF, ELAB, GR, TIP 
SUBJECT: GREECE PART 1: FIFTH ANNUAL TIP REPORT SUBMISSION 
 
REF: A. 2004 STATE 273089 
 
     B. ATHENS 415 
     C. 04 ATHENS 2662 
     D. 3/1 GRISSETTE/DONNELLY EMAIL 
     E. THESSALONIKI 007 
     F. 04 ATHENS 3071 
     G. 04 ATHENS 2199 
 
1.  The following is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please 
Protect Accordingly. 
 
2. (SBU)  Below are Embassy Athens' responses to the Fifth 
TIP report questionnaire.  Text is keyed to requests under 
"Overview" and "Prevention." 
 
-------- 
Overview 
-------- 
 
A.  Greece is a destination country for international 
trafficking, mainly in women and children.  There are no/no 
reliable estimates of the problem.  In November 2004 an 
academic observer estimated there were 13,000 victims of sex 
trafficking (women and teenage girls) but many observers 
believe that these estimates are high.  The same academic 
observer estimated there were 20,000 victims in 2003. 
Anti-child trafficking NGOs estimate - roughly - that 
hundreds of children, mainly Roma from Albania, are victims 
of labor trafficking.  The primary anti-child trafficking NGO 
reported that of 173 children it identified begging in the 
streets of four major Greek cities in the first 11 months of 
2004, 22 were victims of trafficking.  There are sporadic 
reports of labor trafficking of adult men, generally from 
South Asia, in the greater context of illegal migration to 
work in the agriculture sector.  There are reports that 
Greece is also a transit country for trafficking, with 
victims being trafficked on to Italy and other EU countries, 
as well to the Middle East. 
 
B.  Persons are trafficked to Greece from all over the world, 
but NGOs and police agree that most victims are women from 
former Soviet states and the Balkans.  In 2004 the Hellenic 
Police reported TIP victims were identified from Russia (50 
victims), Ukraine (21), Belarus (8), Moldova (10), Bulgaria 
(10), Romania (41), and Albania (9).  Smaller numbers of 
trafficking victims were identified from the following 
countries: Dominican Republic (1), Armenia (1), Austria (1), 
Georgia (2), Ghana (1), Greece (2), Eritrea (1), U.K. (3), 
Lithuania (4), Morocco (1), Nigeria (3), the Netherlands (2), 
Uzbekistan (5), Poland (1), Thailand (1) and the Czech 
Republic (3).  Child trafficking victims are almost 
exclusively Roma from Albania trafficked for labor, or 
teenage girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. 
Anecdotal reports on labor trafficking involve trafficking of 
adult men - undocumented migrants - from South Asia, the 
Balkans, and Eastern Europe. 
 
C.  The child trafficking phenomenon continues to diminish, 
according to NGO and police officials.  The past practice of 
Albanian parents "renting" or "selling" their children to 
traffickers has dramatically decreased according to NGOs and 
police as it has become easier for Albanian parents to 
emigrate to the country.  Child anti-trafficking NGOs report 
that as a result of immigrant legalizations, many previous 
child TIP victims are now legally resident in Greece and are 
exploited for labor by relatives or purported relatives.  The 
primary child anti-trafficking NGO reported that at least 50 
percent of exploited Albanian children they detected during 
street work between September 2003 and December 2004 were in 
Greece along with both of their natural parents. 
 
Police and NGOs agree that there are fewer sex-trafficking 
victims entering Greece from trafficking source countries 
without legal documentation, that is to say, more victims now 
enter Greece with visas and sometimes also possess work 
permits.  This complicates their identification as victims 
and removes the TIP screening that may occur when illegal 
immigrants are arrested on immigration or prostitution 
violations.  Police and NGOs also agree that incidences of 
sex-trafficking victims being held in abject slave-like 
conditions have decreased; women are more often given small 
amounts of money and are less frequently kept locked in 
confinement. 
 
NGOs, IOM, and police report the increasing trend of West 
African, especially Nigerian, illegal immigrants/ prostitutes 
who are reportedly under a "spell" which means they either 
will not or can not speak to either police or NGOs and refuse 
assistance offered to them as possible TIP victims.  There 
were additional reports of Nigerian women who, when applying 
for refugee status, identified their white male benefactors 
and travel facilitators as "friends" whom they did not work 
for.  For these reasons, it remains unclear to the Greek 
authorities and NGOs whether or not these subjects are TIP 
victims. 
 
A final trend that surfaced in 2004 is that of young pregnant 
women, sometimes from Bulgaria, who arrive in Greece in order 
to sell their newborn babies.  Police dismantled rings of 
such so-called "baby-selling" operations in Athens and Crete 
during 2004 and arrested traffickers and at least one Greek 
couple who had attempted to purchase a baby.  As the trends 
and methods of trafficking change, police and NGOs agree that 
the phenomenon has become more difficult to track and that 
increasingly savvy traffickers remain "one step ahead" of 
anti-TIP efforts. 
 
D.   Ambassador received a commitment from the Ministry of 
Health on February 7 to undertake research into the magnitude 
of the TIP problem in order to track trends (Ref B).  After 
dialogue on the issue with MFA, Post passed guidance from 
G/TIP on methodology used in U.S. studies on trafficking on 
February 9.  The MFA has since entered into consultation with 
an academic on the subject, and we will continue to encourage 
completion of a survey or study. 
 
E.  Women are trafficked to bars, brothels, and strip clubs; 
children are trafficked to beg in the streets of major 
cities.  In 2003, labor unions, media and police reported 
that South Asian and other migrants are forced to pay off 
debts in flower farms and other agricultural work.  According 
to victim testimony, NGOs, and police, TIP victims are 
subjected to violence, threats, withholding of documents, and 
debt bondage.  An IOM representative reported in 2005 that he 
believes the practice of debt bondage persists, though there 
is no current information on this practice available. 
 
F.  Not applicable - Greece is not a country of origin for 
TIP victims. 
 
G.  There is political will at the highest levels of 
government to combat trafficking in persons.  In November, 
Greece appointed Ambassador Frangiskos Verros from the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the National Coordinator for 
Anti-Trafficking.  Nine Secretaries General (of Foreign 
Affairs; Justice; Public Order; Health and Social Solidarity; 
Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization; 
Employment and Social Protection; Education and Religious 
Affairs; Economy and Finance and Equality) comprise an 
inter-ministerial coordinating committee that meets at least 
twice per month (the last meeting was February 8, 2005) to 
coordinate work for the implementation of the 2002 
anti-trafficking law and the 2003 Presidential Decree. 
Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice, Panayiotis 
 
SIPDIS 
Panouris, co-chairs the meetings with Ambassador Verros.  The 
Justice Minister and Secretary General Panouris spoke 
publicly about Greece,s commitment to fight trafficking at 
two recent conferences.  The Ministers of Justice, Foreign 
Affairs, Health, Interior, Public Order, and the Mayor of 
Athens, among others, have discussed TIP with Ambassador on 
numerous occasions.  There is willingness to prosecute police 
incriminated in TIP (See Prosecution - K).   High-level GOG 
officials have not been implicated in TIP rings as they have 
in some Balkan countries.  In December, the need to protect 
and assist TIP victims was raised in Parliament by an 
opposition MP (See Prosecution - D). 
 
Overview of GoG resources devoted to prevention: The 
coordinating committee produced the August 2004 National 
Action Plan to Fight Trafficking, which assigns specific 
anti-TIP responsibilities to each ministry (detailed in 
Prevention - J).   The MFA doubled its 2004 budget for 
anti-trafficking projects to 3.1 million euros, much of which 
has gone to NGOs.  Anti-TIP NGOs carry out public awareness 
campaigns, street work, cooperation with source country NGOs, 
research, and lobbying, among other activities (See 
Prevention section). 
 
  Overview of GoG resources devoted to prosecution:  The 
first conviction under the new trafficking law occurred in 
January.  The GoG sponsored a number of seminars and 
trainings on TIP for police, judges, and prosecutors.  Law 
enforcement participated in multinational, region-wide 
anti-trafficking efforts.  Two special prosecutors have been 
assigned "the handling of the trafficking phenomenon" (Ref 
C). At the February 8 inter-ministerial meeting on 
trafficking, it was reportedly decided to give additional 
prosecutors outside of Athens responsibility for handling 
trafficking cases (See Prosecution section). 
 
Overview of GoG resources devoted to protection:  The 
Ministry of Health (MOH) has contributed resources to the 
creation of two medium-term shelters (one in Athens and one 
in Thessaloniki) and one short-term shelter run by the 
National Center of Immediate Social Assistance (EKAKV- a part 
of the MOH).  EKAKV has a national center that operates an 
SOS hotline for general social and psychological assistance. 
There is at least one additional government-supported NGO 
hotline and four government-supported NGO shelters, with an 
additional GoG-funded NGO shelter under construction. 
Hellenic Aid funded anti-TIP Olympics-related projects. 
Additional Hellenic Aid funds to NGOs provide social and 
psychological support to victims, advocacy and social 
reintegration. The GoG collaborates with IOM and NGOs on 
voluntary repatriation of victims and conducted 12 such 
repatriations in 2004.  The MPO has published a multilingual 
"know-your-rights" pamphlet, available in police stations 
around the country, that was designed to inform persons 
identified as possible trafficking victims of their rights 
and resources at their disposal (See Protection section). 
H.  The Hellenic National Police (HNP) are making significant 
efforts on TIP -- perhaps more so than any other ministry -- 
including the deployment of specialized anti-trafficking 
units in Athens and Thessaloniki since 2003 and their planned 
expansion to five other cities.  However NGOs and the media 
report that some local police facilitate trafficking, accept 
bribes to assist traffickers, or simply ignore the problem. 
During 2004, three police officers were sentenced to between 
three and five and a half years imprisonment on corruption 
charges related to their providing protection to a nightclub 
that used trafficked women, and three officers were given 
suspended sentences on charges related to a makeshift brothel 
where two trafficked women were held (see Prosecution - D). 
There have been no reports of high-level officials involved 
in trafficking crime rings. 
 
I.  While the HNP is very large (50,000 members), not all 
officers have been sensitized to the TIP problem in Greece. 
The MPO had made efforts to address this challenge by 
introducing police training, printing a "know your rights" 
informational brochure for victims, and issuing a directive 
from the Chief of Police reinforcing how to recognize, 
question, and assist victims of TIP (see Prosecution - G, ref 
D).  Some corruption within the Greek bureaucracy and a slow 
judicial system contribute to limitations on the GoG,s 
ability to address trafficking in practice.  Finally, Greeks 
are tolerant of prostitution, especially by foreign women 
and, as demonstrated in a recent TIP case in northern Greece, 
a local community may be more supportive of a fellow villager 
and accused trafficker, than of a foreign TIP victim 
perceived to be a prostitute by choice.  (Ref E, see 
Prosecution - D) 
 
J.  We request and receive reports from various ministries on 
anti-trafficking efforts.  Monitoring and reporting 
statistics of arrests is good, but reporting on convictions 
is not as comprehensive.  The MFA reported to the Embassy 
progress on action items that we requested for the G/TIP 
Interim Assessment in November.  In February, the MFA 
provided a reported on completed and pending actions of the 
GoG,s National Action Plan  (see Prevention - J.)  One 
component of the National Action Plan is the creation of a 
national database, with ministries providing statistics on 
traffickers arrested and prosecuted, numbers of victims 
identified and protected, NGO actions taken, and statistics 
on the number of entries and exits from specific countries of 
origin, inter alia.  The statistics provided in this report 
are a result of information gathering efforts to support the 
creation of this database.  The GoG also reports on its 
anti-trafficking efforts in local and international 
conferences. 
 
K.  Prostitution and brothel ownership is legal and regulated 
by the state.  Prostitutes must register at the local 
prefecture and carry a medical card that is updated every two 
weeks.  The minimum age is 18 (according to Article 6 of law 
1193/81).  Most prostitution in Greece is illegal -that is, 
the women are not licensed by the state - and is arranged by 
newspaper ads, in bars, or in strip clubs. 
 
---------- 
Prevention 
---------- 
 
A.  The GOG acknowledges that trafficking is a problem in 
Greece. 
 
B.  The following ministries are involved in anti-trafficking 
efforts: 
 
Health (medical care for victims, operation of shelters, 
operation of telephone hotline, repatriation program with IOM) 
Public Order (TIP task force, TIP busts, arrests, victim 
screening, education of police) 
Justice (victim screening, prosecutions, convictions, 
education of prosecutors and judges, assignment of special 
TIP prosecutors, amendment of legislative framework) 
Foreign Affairs (Hellenic Aid programs and shelter funding, 
bilateral agreements, funding free legal aid for victims, 
funding of conferences and training seminars for police, 
judges, and prosecutors) 
Finance (authorizing funding for TIP efforts) 
Interior (amendment of legislative framework regarding 
residence permits, granting of residence permits, detention 
of illegal migrants) 
 
The Education and Labor Ministries are also mentioned in 
anti-trafficking legislation and the National Action Plan as 
having some responsibilities for education, vocational 
training, and job placement of victims, but those programs 
remain in planning stages as of February 2005. 
 
C.  There have been GoG-funded anti-trafficking campaigns. 
The GoG funded the NGO Stop Now! to produce leaflets aimed at 
informing the general public (passed to G/TIP officials 
January 31).  The leaflet defines trafficking, addresses 
common misperceptions about victims, explains why victims 
cannot escape their traffickers, and describes Greece's 
anti-TIP legislation.  GoG funded Stop Now! television and 
radio PSAs show dramatic images relating to child sex 
trafficking and abuse of TIP victims.  The PSAs targeted both 
the general public and clients, and were reportedly well 
received and effective.  Stop Now! did not have funding to 
run the television ads in 2004, but ran radio PSAs and print 
ads targeting the general public and clients.  Stop Now! also 
distributed small items such as cigarette lighters printed 
with questions that introduced TIP themes, such as "children 
in prostitution; do you agree?"  The child anti-trafficking 
NGO ARSIS is launching a national ad campaign on child 
prostitution as part of the Nathalie II project financed by 
MFA.  ARSIS also runs a weekly column on child trafficking in 
Thessaloniki newspapers and began publishing a periodical. 
 
The GoG-funded NGO &Klimaka,8 which recently opened a 
shelter for victims, produced leaflets and posters in Greek, 
English, Russian, Turkish, and Arabic, addressing trafficking 
victims which are posted at bus stations, on buses, and at 
Metro stations, and the NGO president reports receiving many 
calls based on the posters.  Klimaka,s brochure describes 
the problem, the Greek law, and the NGO action.  It reads in 
part, "Klimaka has developed support and aid services to the 
victims of trafficking with emphasis on social and 
psychological support and rehabilitation, social integration, 
or voluntary repatriation of the victims."  Klimaka's 
attractive poster reads "She thought this was a way to leave 
the miserable conditions of her country.  Is there any way 
for her to leave forced prostitution?  Trafficking in persons 
for sexual exploitation is a MODERN FORM OF SLAVERY."  The 
poster states that Klimaka has a program to support victims 
of trafficking and exploitation and lists contact 
information, also noting that the program is financed by the 
MFA through Hellenic Aid. 
 
The GoG-funded NGO of the Greek Orthodox Church, Solidarity, 
publicized its independent hotline and reported that its 
anti-TIP messages and hotline number would be printed on the 
back of bus tickets and phone cards as of February 15. 
Solidarity also included information about TIP prevention and 
fundraising in materials, such as their 2005 day planner. 
Solidarity,s brochure of global programs includes 
information about its new shelter and anti-TIP program in 
Romania. 
 
The privately-funded, church affiliated NGO KESO produced 
awareness raising leaflets which describe the TIP problem in 
Greece as follows:   &Trafficking constitutes an immediate 
danger to the society, undermines democracy and is a stigma 
for our culture.   Nations are destroyed when their values 
and human dignity are undermined.  One million Greek citizens 
are the customers of 20,000 illegal and forcibly prostituted 
foreign women who were imported as a commodity into our 
country, and are victims of the transnational crime of 
trafficking.  For these victims of sexual exploitation, KESO 
has a shelter (Mother's Hearth), where it provides support 
and assistance while victims are in Greece and until they are 
repatriated.  KESO has suggested amendments to the law with 
strict penalties for traffickers as well as penalization for 
clients." 
 
The Hellenic Aid-funded NGO "ACT UP," distributed 
multi-lingual information sheets on sexually transmitted 
diseases (STDs) and prostitution at bars and on the streets 
during the period of the Olympic Games, operated a bilingual 
telephone hotline, and attempted to detect trafficking 
victims, sometimes through information from clients.  ACT UP 
does street work and focuses on STD identification and 
prevention especially among migrant prostitutes, and is a 
member of TAMPEP (Transnational AIDS/STD Prevention Among 
Migrant Prostitutes in Europe), a European network with 24 
member countries that works on issues of migrant prostitution 
and promotion of anti-trafficking policies. 
 
EKAKV, under the MOH, has started a public awareness campaign 
regarding its new victim telephone hotline, and has plans for 
additional PSAs on television.  The EKAKV director reported 
that the hotline is becoming widely known and receives many 
calls, though many are not related to TIP.  Additionally, the 
announcement of the GoG National Action Plan on TIP and 
hotline inauguration received media coverage (Refs F, G). 
The Mayor of Athens reported that the municipality's 
emergency hotline received and referred TIP calls. 
D.  In the widest sense, the GOG uses organizations like the 
Interior Ministry's General Secretariat for Gender Equality 
and sponsors a number of programs for immigrants, especially 
women, that are part of TIP prevention efforts.  Hellenic Aid 
also sponsors cooperation with anti-TIP programs in countries 
of origin to prevent trafficking. 
 
E.  Yes, the GoG is able to support prevention programs 
through the 3.1 million euro Hellenic Aid budget for 
anti-trafficking projects.  These funds support such programs 
in foreign countries that operate hotlines and information 
campaigns about realities of working in the EU with the 
ultimate goal of preventing potential victims from being 
lured into TIP. 
 
F.  Under the new government, NGOs and IOs meet with the 
inter-ministerial council at the "permanent forum" instituted 
under the National Action Plan for dialogue between the GoG 
and NGOs.  The first permanent forum meeting after the August 
announcement of the National Action Plan was held in November 
2004 and the next meeting is planned for March 2005.  The GoG 
has a productive, close relationship with IOM and some NGOs. 
Certain NGOs report that they are not as well connected with 
the highest-level policymakers on TIP as they were in the 
previous administration, but they have an audience with the 
Secretaries General at the permanent forum.  Some NGOs claim 
 
SIPDIS 
that the there is a political divide between the new 
"conservative" government and the NGOs.  Access and 
coordination at the lower levels -- for NGOs to visit 
possible victims in detention centers, for example -- is 
inconsistent and often based on interpersonal relationships. 
 
G.  Greece has acceptable border controls in general, though 
thousands of illegal immigrants are smuggled into the country 
every year.  Police received updated TIP screening questions 
in a December Directive (see Prosecution ) G) and border 
patrol officers along the Bulgarian and Macedonian borders 
are informed on TIP.  There have been isolated cases of 
police identifying and referring TIP cases from the airport 
and police stations, but there is no systematic monitoring of 
immigration and emigration patterns for evidence of 
trafficking.  Many victims of sex trafficking come with 
tourist or temporary visas, implying that better screening is 
required at foreign Greek consulates than with border police. 
 Bulgarians do not need visas to enter Greece, which could 
contribute to the problem for Bulgarian victims.  The 
National Action Plan provides for statistics on the number of 
entries and exits from specific countries of origin to be 
kept in the national database, and as of February 2005, 
collection of database information was still underway. 
 
H.  In August 2004, an inter-ministerial level coordinating 
committee was established at the Secretary General level. 
The committee meets at least twice per month.  The police 
have an internal affairs office to investigate police 
corruption. The Ombudsman's office is a watchdog for general 
government corruption and human rights complaints. 
 
I.  The GOG has excellent cooperation with Interpol, Europol, 
SECI, and other regional groups with anti-TIP initiatives. 
In 2004, law enforcement officers participated in a 
multinational, region-wide SECI anti-TIP operation called 
"Mirage 2004."  The Greek Chapter of the International Police 
Association held a trafficking conference in November 2004, 
sponsored by the GoG, which brought together law enforcement 
officers from throughout Greece, from Eastern European and 
former Soviet source countries, as well as officers from the 
FBI and Scotland Yard to share best practices and law 
enforcement tactics to fight trafficking as well as to hear 
from NGOs and academics on victim realities and trafficking 
trends. 
 
J.  In August 2004, the GoG presented a national plan of 
action to address trafficking in person, entitled 
&Integrated Program: Actions for the Suppression of 
Trafficking in Human Beings.8  The plan covers 
inter-ministerial activities as well as specific activities 
of eight ministries.  A copy of the plan was passed to G/TIP 
officials on January 31 and Post can pass an electronic 
English version upon request.  NGOs were consulted in the 
development of the national action plan.  The Secretary 
General of the Ministry of Justice and nine of his 
counterparts presented the national action plan at a press 
conference on August 4 (Ref F).  The government has taken 
steps to disseminate the National Action Plan via its public 
release and press conference, at international conferences 
and meetings, as well as by delivering it to international 
organizations such as the IOM, SECI, OSCE, and EU. 
 
K.  The inter-ministerial council discusses and develops 
anti-trafficking programs within the government.  Ambassador 
Verros from the MFA, assisted by Mr. Moskoff of Hellenic Aid, 
are primarily responsible for coordinating this effort. 
 
Fifth Annual Greece TIP Report Submission Continued Septel.