US embassy cable - 05KINGSTON1611

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINGSTON 001611 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (BENT) AND WHA/PPC (PUCCETTI) 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP (OWEN) AND (ETERNO) 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD AND J7 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, KWMN, OPRC, PHUM, PREL, SMIG, JM, TIP 
SUBJECT: A DEFENSIVE NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER HOSTS TIP 
MEETING 
 
REF: A. STATE 097853 
 
     B. KINGSTON 001444 
 
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Summary 
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1. (U) On June 24, at the request of National Security 
Minister Peter Phillips, Charge, USAID Mission Director, and 
Poloff (notetaker) attended a meeting hosted by Phillips on 
the subject of trafficking in persons (TIP) at the Ministry 
of National Security (MNS).  Unfortunately, Phillips used the 
opportunity to criticize the 2005 TIP Report and Jamaica's 
downgrade to Tier 3, and to lament what he disingenuously 
termed an unfortunate failure to communicate between Post and 
the GOJ.  Phillips then presented actions taken to date by 
the GOJ to combat trafficking, and asked to know definitively 
what further steps would be required for Jamaica to receive a 
"passing grade" and avoid Tier 3 sanctions.  The GOJ also 
promised working-level engagement with Post on TIP as soon as 
possible.  End Summary. 
 
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Phillips Criticizes US for Poor Communication... 
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2. (U) On June 24, Charge, USAID Mission Director, and Poloff 
(notetaker) attended a meeting at the Ministry of National 
Security at the request of National Security Minister Peter 
Phillips.  Joining Phillips in the 90-minute meeting were 
approximately fifteen GOJ representatives, including Gilbert 
Scott, Permanent Secretary, MNS; Woodrow Smith, Principal 
Director, MNS; Ann-Marie Bonner, Principal Director, Policy 
Analysis and Planning Unit, Office of the Cabinet; Gladys 
Young, Attorney General's Chambers, Ministry of Justice; 
Allison Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Child Development 
Agency; George Williams, Assistant Commissioner of Police, 
Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF); Raymond Wolf, 
Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT), and Pamela Ingleton, 
Acting Deputy Director, International Organizations 
Department, MFAFT.  Reporters from the Jamaica Information 
Service appeared before and after the meeting with photo and 
video equipment; as Phillips clearly intended, the meeting 
received prominent coverage in the weekend news. 
 
3. (U) Phillips devoted the early part of the meeting to 
lamenting Jamaica's downgrade to Tier 3 status in the 2005 
Trafficking in Persons Report (Ref A).  Specifically, he 
expressed dismay that he had not been personally notified 
earlier of the trafficking issue and the potential for a 
downgrade to Tier 3.  Phillips described as "unfortunate" the 
lack of communication between Post and the GOJ "at the 
political level."  Phillips asserted that his first exposure 
to the trafficking issue and the implications of a downgrade 
came from "junior" levels within the Jamaica Defense Force 
(JDF).  (Comment:  In fact, only after Charge and Pol/Econ 
repeatedly found MNS, Finance Ministry, and other GOJ 
interlocutors unresponsive as the April 30 TIP final update 
deadline approached, did Post's Military Liaison Office raise 
the issue of trafficking and the implications of a downgrade 
at a previously scheduled meeting with the JDF.  Though 
Phillips may have resented hearing the message from "junior" 
JDF colleagues, the JDF deserve credit for appreciating the 
stakes and attempting to focus Phillips on addressing it. 
End comment.)  He conceded only briefly that poor internal 
communication within the GOJ may have been partly to blame. 
Charge replied that Post had made several attempts to contact 
senior GOJ officials, including Finance Minister Omar Davies, 
to discuss trafficking and the 2005 TIP Report.  Phillips 
insisted that Charge should have called him directly, given 
the "ease and regularity" with which they normally 
communicate. 
 
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...And Lack of Specific Evidence 
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4. (U) Phillips went on to challenge the 2005 TIP Report for 
what he said was its lack of specificity.  Pursuing a line of 
criticism that has been common in the Jamaican media since 
the public release of the report on June 3, Phillips demanded 
"more detail" and evidence on the areas of USG concern, 
including the internal trafficking of children, outlined in 
the report.  He added that the GOJ would also like more 
information on how it should respond to the proposed USG 
action plan, and asked how Jamaica was expected to "pass the 
exam" without knowing "what the passing mark is."  Concluding 
approximately 15 minutes of opening remarks, Phillips added 
that Jamaica has always taken child's rights seriously, and 
that "if there is anything we can do, we want to do so." 
 
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GOJ Working Toward a Passing Grade 
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5. (U) Responding to Phillips' question on how to "pass the 
exam," Poloff explained that the GOJ's anti-trafficking 
efforts would be evaluated according to the Trafficking 
Victim Protection Act of 2003, which broadly seeks "serious 
and sustained efforts" in the areas of prosecution, 
protection, and prevention.  Poloff added that the Tier 3 
Action Plan delivered to the Foreign Ministry on June 2 
contained specific suggestions for action within each of 
those three areas.  For clarification of a concept that 
appears to remain unclear in the media, Poloff pointed out 
that any child involved in commercial sex is, by definition, 
a trafficking victim, and that this area was of particular 
concern to the Department.  Phillips took the opportunity to 
ask ACP George Williams of the JCF and Allison Anderson of 
the Child Development Agency to comment on whether they had 
found any evidence of child trafficking victims in Jamaica. 
Both replied that they had not.  Williams explained that JCF 
officers had investigated a well-known "sex market" in 
Culloden, Westmoreland, where many young women are known to 
be recruited to work in nightclubs, but had found all of the 
eighty people present to be "adults."  He added that no 
minors had been found at other targeted locations.  Anderson 
contributed that she was unaware of any specific cases of 
trafficking, though she added that her agency regularly 
encountered children who were victims of abuse and 
exploitation. 
 
6. (U) Ann-Marie Bonner, Principal Director of Policy 
Analysis and Planning, Office of the Cabinet, circulated two 
documents for review.  The first was a three-page "Plan of 
Action," which documented nine "actions taken," eight items 
planned for "short term action," and 11 further steps for 
"long term action" to address trafficking in Jamaica.  In 
addition to these actions, Phillips pointed out that the GOJ 
had undertaken a review of Jamaican laws to determine which 
legislation could be used in the fight against trafficking. 
The second document that was circulated outlined the six 
pieces of legislation that had been identified, including the 
Child Care and Protection Act, Offenses Against the Person 
Act, Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens Act, Aliens 
Act, Labor Officers Act, and Recruiting of Workers Act. 
 
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GOJ Seeking International Assistance to Combat Trafficking 
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7. (U) Following a brief review by the group of the two GOJ 
documents, it was agreed that a follow-up meeting should be 
scheduled to discuss anti-TIP progress.  Phillips stressed 
that the actions being taken by the GOJ to fight trafficking 
are a "reflection of our own standards as a country," and 
that relegation to Tier 3 status is reflecting badly on 
Jamaica.  He hoped, he said, that the USG appreciated the 
magnitude of the Tier 3 rating, and repeated that he would 
have liked to receive news of the downgrade before it 
happened.  He went on to call the report and its findings 
"untrue, unfair, and unjust in the absence of detailed 
information."  Before adjourning the meeting, Phillips 
pointed out that the GOJ had held recent meetings on the 
subject of trafficking with three United Nations agencies - 
UNICEF, UNDP, and UNFPA - and had made a request to the 
Inter-American Development Bank for assistance in developing 
anti-trafficking programs. 
 
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Comment 
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8. (SBU) With three weeks remaining until the July 14-15 
visit of G/TIP representatives to Kingston, Post had grown 
concerned by the lack of communication from the GOJ on 
trafficking since the release of the TIP report, and was 
pleased to receive Phillips' invitation to discuss the issue. 
 However, the presence of media, the size of the team that 
Phillips had assembled (a total of 15 GOJ officials), and his 
opening monologue set an unfortunate tone for the meeting. 
Phillips aspires to become Jamaica's next prime minister, and 
his campaign's biggest liability is the country's spiraling 
murder rate for which he as National Security Minister 
receives much criticism.  Evidently, Phillips has calculated 
that he cannot also afford to take the blame for Jamaica's 
downgrade to Tier 3 despite his Ministry's sustained 
non-responsiveness to repeated Embassy outreach efforts and, 
eventually, warnings on TIP. 
9. (SBU) Comment (cont'd):  The Minister's assertion that he 
was taken by surprise by the downgrade is patently untrue, 
and he used the meeting to save face in front of his team and 
to give himself political cover in the media.  Indeed, in a 
brief private conversation with Charge following the June 24 
meeting, Phillips essentially admitted that his remarks were 
disingenuous, conceding that he had been kept out of the loop 
on this issue by his own government.  We note further that, 
at a May 31 meeting with Charge to discuss the imminent 
release of the 2005 TIP Report, Phillips had also claimed 
ignorance of and surprise at the issues raised in it until 
Pol/Econ Chief outlined for him Post's repeated and 
unsuccessful efforts - including in writing to MNS - urging 
the GOJ to engage with us to ensure that the 2004 TIP report 
accurately reflected any relevant GOJ efforts. 
Unfortunately, Phillips' continued public criticisms of the 
TIP report and his claims that its findings were "untrue" and 
"unfair" echo the tenor of many public statements made to 
date by defensive senior GOJ officials.  Regrettable though 
the Minister's public posturing has been, however, with 
little time remaining before the G/TIP visit and the 
September 2 Presidential Determination, he seems fully seized 
with the issue.  Without prejudging the eventual outcome, at 
this stage we are cautiously optimistic that the possibility 
of sanctions has focused the GOJ's attention on fulfilling 
the TIP Action Plan and establishing and maintaining a viable 
anti-TIP strategy.  If the price for such an outcome is a bit 
of public ministerial disingenuousness, so be it.  End 
Comment. 
TIGHE