US embassy cable - 05KINGSTON1041

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 001041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (BENT) 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR G/TIP (OWEN) AND WHA/PPC (PUCCETTI) 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD AND J7 (RHANNAN) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: JM, KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, ELAB, SMIG, ASEC, KFRD, PREF, TIP 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON ANTI-TIP EFFORTS IN JAMAICA 
 
REF: A. KINGSTON 00576 
 
     B. SIEBENGARTNER - BENT 04/11/2005 EMAIL 
 
1. This cable provides an update on GOJ anti-TIP efforts 
since Post's initial input (ref A) for the 2004-2005 anti-TIP 
report.  Post will continue to report any substantive 
developments in advance of the April 30 submission deadline. 
 
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Senior Officials Form Multi-Agency Task Force 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
2. On April 8, the GOJ convened a meeting of its newly formed 
trafficking in persons task force at the Ministry of National 
Security in Kingston.  Eleven representatives from seven 
government agencies attended the meeting, which was chaired 
by Principal Director Woodrow Smith of the Ministry of 
National Security (MNS).  In addition to Smith, attendees 
included: Karl Hamilton, Security, Intelligence, and 
Operations Division, MNS; Carol Charlton, Senior Director for 
Immigration, Citizenship, and Passports, MNS; Winston Bowen, 
Director of Programs, Child Development Agency (CDA); Audrey 
Budhi, Director of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation, CDA; 
Glenda Simms, Executive Director, Bureau of Women's Affairs 
(BWA); Jennifer Williams, BWA; Pamela Ingleton, TIP 
coordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade 
(MFAFT); members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) High 
Command and organized crime unit; and members of the Ministry 
of Development. 
 
3. The task force met with the primary objective of 
formulating a unified national strategy on TIP and to 
implement that strategy throughout the government by engaging 
agencies integral to combating human trafficking in Jamaica. 
Ingleton explained to Poloff on April 8 that the meeting was 
born primarily out of concern for the well-being of Jamaican 
citizens who may be victims of trafficking, but was also a 
response, at least in part, to the counter-trafficking 
seminar hosted in March by the Organization of American 
States (OAS).  At that Washington seminar, members of the 
Jamaican delegation, including Charlton and Williams, 
espoused a view of trafficking in Jamaica that was not 
consistent with the official GOJ position (ref B).  "Deeply 
concerned" by what transpired, the task force sought to 
clarify the GOJ's official position for those in attendance. 
 
4. The meeting, which lasted approximately 90 minutes, 
successfully avoided the antagonism that has in the past 
surrounded the issue of TIP in Jamaica by prohibiting any 
debate of the existence or extent of the country's 
trafficking problem.  The task force also denied requests by 
some attendees for an academic exploration of the 
socioeconomic conditions in Jamaica that cause trafficking. 
Organizers presumed that all those in attendance were already 
well aware of these causes, and pushed for constructive 
solutions to the problem at hand. 
 
5. The task force assigned a core team, including Hamilton, 
Ingleton, Budhi, and Simms, to explore Jamaica's 
anti-trafficking legislation and its commitments to 
international protocols on trafficking.  The team's findings, 
Smith told Poloff, would serve to build a case for improved 
domestic trafficking legislation, which would be presented to 
the Cabinet for deliberation.  The core team was scheduled to 
meet again by the end of April to discuss its findings. 
 
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GOJ Requests Assistance in Fighting TIP 
--------------------------------------- 
 
6. Smith mentioned to Poloff that he had attended a United 
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) meeting in Vienna 
from March 6-14.  Smith said that he used the opportunity to 
request from UNODC officials training and assistance for 
immigration and law enforcement officers to combat human 
trafficking in Jamaica.  MFAFT's Ingleton has also made it 
clear to Poloff that the GOJ, while willing to tackle 
trafficking, will require assistance to launch an effective 
campaign. 
 
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Cabinet-Level Engagement 
------------------------ 
 
7. Separately on April 7, USAID Mission Director met with 
Minister of Health John Junor and used the pre-scheduled 
meeting to raise the issue of trafficking in persons in 
Jamaica, and to make clear to the Minister USG concerns about 
the issue, as well as the real possibility (and likely 
consequences) of a downgrade to Tier 3.  Junor was receptive 
to the message, and noted that his ministry was already 
addressing some issues related to TIP, and that he was 
willing to pursue projects focused specifically on the 
prevention of trafficking and the protection of victims.  He 
made clear that there is a need to "further define the issue" 
in order to formulate a strategy that is effective in the 
Jamaican context.  Junor supported Post's proposal to engage 
other cabinet ministers on TIP in an effort to continue to 
clarify the issue for the GOJ and to develop an effective 
strategy to combat the problem. 
 
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Workshops Underway for Government Agencies 
------------------------------------------ 
 
8. With the cooperation of the GOJ, People's Action for 
Community Transformation (PACT), a local USAID-funded NGO, 
has developed a series of trafficking sensitization workshops 
focused on prevention and victim assistance.  Seven of these 
workshops, designed for government agencies, will take place 
throughout April and May.  On April 7, approximately 35 
members of the Ministry of Education, representing all of the 
departments within the ministry, attended one such workshop. 
Reports from meeting organizers and feedback from attendees 
have been encouraging.  One senior education official, 
Phyllis Reynolds, the Head of Core Curriculums, approached 
PACT organizers following the workshop and suggested a 
meeting with Minister of Education Maxine Henry-Wilson in 
order to brief her on Jamaica's trafficking situation.  On 
April 14, nearly 40 officials from the Child Development 
Agency (CDA) attended the same workshop.  The CDA officials, 
primarily social workers, attended from around the island and 
were exposed -- most for the first time -- to basic concepts 
in trafficking.  Poloff attended the morning session and 
observed that, once they understood the definition, most of 
the attendees seemed to recognize cases of trafficking from 
their own experience working with children across the island. 
 Similar workshops will be held in coming weeks for law 
enforcement officers, youth groups, and other government 
agencies. 
 
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Comment 
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9.  The Foreign Ministry's TIP officer expressed frustration 
and disappointment when informed by Poloff of last month's 
public outburst by the Jamaican delegation at the OAS 
counter-trafficking conference in Washington.  She insisted 
that individuals who attended the conference did not 
represent official GOJ policy, which is to accept the 
country's trafficking problem and to work within the GOJ's 
means to prevent the situation from worsening.  Last week's 
task force meeting, while doubtless the product of real 
concern for Jamaica's trafficking victims (and, perhaps, the 
possibility of Tier 3 sanctions), was likely also an attempt 
to educate key players in the government about TIP and to 
push for a unified national strategy that would avoid similar 
embarrassing flare-ups in the future.  While the Foreign 
Ministry was integral in pushing for the meeting, oversight 
of the group is now the responsibility of the National 
Security Ministry.  In the face of serious resource 
limitations, the GOJ depends on NGOs like PACT for assistance 
in some of its programs.  GOJ cooperation with PACT in 
developing anti-TIP programs is a welcome step in the right 
direction, and a (belated) expression of GOJ political will 
to combat human trafficking in Jamaica.  End Comment. 
TIGHE