US embassy cable - 05ROME2532

UNCLAS  ROME 002532 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FOR IIP/G/EUR CSIEMONH; EUR/PPD; EUR/WE AYOUNG; INL/G/TIP 
CTETSCHNER; INL/G/TIP JDONNELLY; IIP/T/TP RCOSTEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: DVC OIIP 
SUBJECT:   DVC ON SUPPLY AND DEMAND: BEHIND THE BUSINESS OF 
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, JULY 21, 2005 
 
1.  DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY:  As a part of a series of 
Mission activities on trafficking issues, PA Rome and the 
U.S. Embassy to the Holy See organized a multipoint DVC to 
address the `supply' and `demand' aspects of the market of 
trafficking in persons.  The U.S. and Italian interlocutors 
shared experiences and expertise, and discussed 
possibilities of continued contact.   In Rome the audience 
included selected key Italian Government officials and 
Parliamentarians, high-ranking key representatives of the 
Holy See, faith based organizations and religious orders, 
NGO members, and media types. The following report is 
submitted by PA Rome and PA Vatican.  Embassy Vatican will 
report septel on the broader implications of the event from 
that post's perspective. 
 
2. DATES: July 21, 2005; QUARTER:  FOURTH; FISCAL YEAR: 
2005. 
 
3. JUSTIFICATION/OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the program was 
to continue an on-going a dialogue with Italian policy 
makers, opinion leaders, and NGO representatives on ways to 
combat trafficking in persons by examining links between 
supply and demand in this modern-day form of slavery. The 
overall objective was to raise global concern about the 
business of trafficking by bringing together U.S., Italian 
government and Holy See officials, faith-based 
organizations, religious orders, and non-governmental 
organizations (NGO) representatives to discuss aspects of 
supply and demand, to share best practices for effective 
legal and social responses to sexual exploitation, to 
cooperate on launching innovative solutions for prevention 
and rehabilitation programs, and to promote joint action in 
the fight against this modern slavery. 
 
4. MPP UMBRELLA THEMES:  MPP 5 - Global Issues: Combating 
Trafficking in Persons. 
 
5.  AUDIENCE REACHED:  Over 50  GOI officials; 
Parliamentarians; Vatican officials; religious workers; NGO 
representatives; media representatives. 
 
6.  RESULT/IMPACT:  Post was very pleased with the outcome 
of the DVC. 
The conversation analyzed the situation and efforts 
currently underway in both the U.S. and Italy and then 
examined NGO and government legal and social policies.  The 
DVC facilitated the dialogue and contributed to effectively 
increasing international cooperation between Government 
leaders, Vatican officials and NGO representatives. 
Speakers on all sides were excellent. U.S. Speakers included 
Amb. John R. Miller, Director of the State Department's 
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; Terry 
Coonan, Executive Director, Florida State University Center 
for the Advancement of Human Rights; and Norma Hotaling, 
Founder and Executive Director SAGE (Standing Against Global 
Exploitation), San Francisco.  Amb. Miller made positive 
comments about Italy's legislation on immigration, 
particularly article 18 of law No. 40, although he 
reiterated the need for attentive screening of immigrants 
and the importance for Italy of providing continuous updated 
national level enforcement statistics.  He stressed the need 
to promote bilateral initiatives with Italy and other 
countries to prevent forced prostitution.  Ms. Hotaling 
addressed supply and demand from a highly personal 
perspective, focusing on educational and counseling programs 
for men, while Terry Coonan, spoke about the supply side 
from a state and national perspective. Finally, Marina 
Torregiani from the Department of Social Policies of Rome 
City Hall illustrated their projects on reintegration for 
exploited victims under the Roxanne Project. 
In Rome, the audience included Senator Enrico Pianetta, 
president of the Italian Senate's Committee on Human Rights, 
who opened the floor with comments of support for G/TIPS' 
efforts; high-level officials from the Ministries of 
Interior, Justice, Equal Opportunity, Foreign Affairs; high- 
ranking officials from the Vatican (officials from the 
Secretariat of State and from the Council for the Pastoral 
 
SIPDIS 
Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, and the President of 
C.I.S.M., responsible for overseeing activities of all male 
religious orders in the Lazio region), representatives from 
religious and international NGOs and media representatives. 
As a follow up to the DVC Counselor Fausto De Santis, 
Director General of the Office of Statistics, Italian 
Ministry of Justice, will have a meeting at PA and Embassy 
Rome to discuss the possibility of working on common 
projects. De Santis also proposed involving the Italian 
Minister of Justice in future conversations on this topic. 
Additionally, Alessandra Barberi from the Ministry of Equal 
Opportunity has expressed an interest in traveling to the 
U.S. on a VOLVIS project focusing on trafficking issues. 
Leading news agencies ANSA, AGI, Ap-Biscom, FIDES, ZENIT and 
the Vatican Radio reported extensively on the DVC and in 
 
particular on Ambassador Miller's presentation and comments 
on Italy and the 2005 G/TIP Report. 
 
7. Non-USG Sources of in-country Funding/In-kind Support: 
None 
 
8. Quality of U.S. Support: Excellent. PA Rome thanks IIP 
Program Officers Cathy Siemonh, Rhobyn K. Costen and Sandra 
Bruckner for making this program possible.  Kilner 
 
 
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2005ROME02532 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED