US embassy cable - 05ATHENS1268

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 001268 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/SE FOR PARENTE AND YOUNTCHI 
EUR/PGI FOR BETKA 
G/TIP FOR DONNELLY 
INL/CTR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2009 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KWMN, GR, TIP 
SUBJECT: MOLYVIATIS FOLLOWS UP ON TIP ISSUES IN GREECE 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. Charles P. Ries.  Reasons 1.4(b/d) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  In a May 9 meeting with Ambassador 
(following a May 5 Interministerial Council on TIP --the 
result of Molyviatis's April 29 telcon with U/S Burns), 
Molyviatis undertook to speed up agreement with Albania on a 
child repatriation protocol, to provide more comprehensive 
trafficking statistics, to implement a nation-wide, long-term 
anti-TIP public awareness campaign, and to try to convince 
the Greek Justice Ministry to accept the need for a mandatory 
screening mechanism.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) U/S Burns called Molyviatis April 29 to lay out five 
urgent TIP priorities for Greece: (1) sign a child 
repatriation protocol with Albania; (2) provide data on, and 
try to increase number of, convictions of traffickers; (3) 
conduct nation-wide public awareness campaign to 
educate/inform both the general public and victims; (4) 
increase the number of women referred to anti-TIP shelters; 
and (5) develop a screening mechanism for law enforcement to 
identify victims, and a referral mechanism for NGOs to direct 
victims to appropriate care.  Ambassador reviewed the points 
with Molyviatis on May 3.  On May 5 Molyviatis convened a 
high-level TIP discussion in the Interministerial Trafficking 
Committee specifically to respond to these points. 
 
3.  (C) In their May 9 meeting, Molyviatis briefed Ambassador 
on the results of the 5/5 Interministerial Committee meeting 
(see text at para 4) and provided some additional comments on 
the five identified priorities: 
 
-- Molyviatis acknowledged the need to rapidly conclude a 
child repatriation agreement with Albania.  One hour after 
the meeting, Molyviatis's Chef d'Cabinet called PolCouns with 
an update:  the MFA had "all but finalized" its revisions to 
the draft document received from Tirana.  The Ministry of 
Public Order is still working on one new paragraph on 
cooperation between police forces.  The MFA is pressuring the 
MPO to finalize the draft so it can be returned to Tirana for 
their review.  (NOTE: Only after both sides agree on the text 
can the text be sent to Parliament for approval.  END NOTE.) 
 
-- Molyviatis agreed to request more complete data on number 
of traffickers in prison and length of sentences from the 
Ministries of Justice and Public Order. 
 
-- Molyviatis agreed to support nation-wide, long-term public 
awareness campaigns to educate the general public of the 
trafficking problems and inform victims and potential victims 
of their rights. 
 
-- Molyviatis explained that, of all the priorities, the 
screening mechanism was the most problematic.  The Justice 
Minister had been advised that the screening mechanism would 
abrogate the State's powers by turning over to NGOs 
responsibility for victim identification.  Ambassador 
clarified that the involvement of NGOs would not replace the 
frontline security responsibilities of the Greek police. 
NGOs, could however, be enormously helpful to the Greek 
authorities as the civilian face of the state -- reassuring 
victims of their status and arranging for any required care. 
Molyviatis agreed to call Papaligouras today to explain that 
it was important to agree on a mechanism to institutionalize 
the role of NGOs in this process. 
 
4.  (U) BEGIN TEXT MFA DOCUMENT: 
 
Informal Note 
 
Subject: Meeting of Interministerial Committee on Human 
Trafficking (May 5th) 
 
 
The Committee which met on the 5th of May decided inter alia: 
 
A new Draft Agreement on Children-Trafficking is to be sent 
to the Albanian side in the next weeks.  A new Greek law, 
necessary for the agreement, regarding the appointment of a 
temporary Guardian entrusted with escorting children to their 
country of origin, has already been sent to the Parliament by 
the Ministry of Justice. 
 
Available data on arrests, related to trafficking as well as 
to convictions, will be given to the press.  According to 
these, since 2002, 357 suspects, 25 of which in the first 
three months of 2005, have been prosecuted and 71 persons 
convicted. 
 
Already existing cooperation with Non-governmental 
organizations will be strengthened, especially in the field 
of public awareness, victims information and shelter keeping. 
 
A systematic campaign to inform public opinion on the problem 
of trafficking will be launched by the General Secretariat 
for Gender Equality with the presence of members of the 
Interministerial Committee and the NGOs, and it will 
complement the ongoing information circulated through the 
media.  One of the aims of the campaign will be to encourage 
victims to refer to the authorities of relevant NGO,s. 
 
END TEXT. 
Ries