US embassy cable - 02RANGOON1291

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001291 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G-TIP, EAP/BCLTV, AND DRL 
DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, PHUM, PREL, SMIG, BM, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: BURMESE GOVERNMENT REPORTS TO THE USG ON 
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  The GOB is prepared to act on human 
trafficking, but has not put together programs that will 
fully treat the problem.  In a report presented to the 
Embassy in August, the GOB acknowledges the problem facing 
Burma and lays out the legislative, enforcement, training, 
and preventive measures it has taken to deal with 
trafficking.  Unfortunately, the report is incomplete, with 
little discussion of such key issues as the GOB's funding of 
anti-trafficking activities, its cooperation with destination 
countries, and its handling of repatriated victims of 
trafficking.  Our conclusion: our message on trafficking has 
gotten through.  The GOB is concerned and is prepared to act, 
but has not put together programs that are anywhere near 
commensurate with the scale of the problem here.  End Summary. 
 
Political Commitment 
 
2. (SBU) According to the GOB report, Burma is committed to 
dealing with trafficking.  It established the Myanmar 
National Committee on Women's Affairs (MNCWA) in 1996 
following the Fourth World Conference on Women and assigned 
that committee responsibility for trafficking issues in 
Burma.  The Committee's patron is Secretary One Khin Nyunt, 
whose wife also serves as head of the Committee's Education 
Group.  MNCWA working committees have also been organized at 
the state, division, district, and township levels. 
According to the report, there are now 324 MNCWA township 
working committees in Burma; i.e., one in each of the 
nation's townships. 
 
National Plan of Action and National Initiative 
 
3. (SBU) MNCWA also adopted in 1997 a National Plan of Action 
for Trafficking in Women and Children.  That plan calls for 
an assessment of trafficking in Burma, formation of a 
national task force, a program of national workshops, 
training for concerned officials, rehabilitation of victims 
of trafficking, and the distribution of educational materials 
on trafficking.  In 2000, MNCWA adopted a National Initiative 
on the Trafficking of Women and Children, which includes 
preventive, protection, enforcement, prosecution, and 
reintegration strategies.  Copies of both documents are 
attached to the government's report. 
 
Legal Framework 
 
4. (SBU) There are no specific human trafficking laws in 
Burma, according to the report.  However, there are laws 
which can be applied in cases of trafficking.  These include 
the 1993 Child Law, which includes provisions against the 
sale, abuse, or exploitation of children; the 1949 
Suppression of Prostitution Act, which prohibits any efforts 
to force or entice a woman into prostitution; and the Penal 
Code which forbids kidnapping and any effort to "convey any 
person beyond the limits of the Union of Myanmar without that 
person's consent."  The report also notes that the Supreme 
Court issued Directive No. 1/01 on February 2, 2001 regarding 
punishments for human traffickers.  Copies of the relevant 
laws are attached to the report. 
 
Monitoring the Borders 
 
5. (SBU) Burma's immigration and emigration controls are 
tight, according to the report.  On the Thai border alone, 
there are 23 checkpoints run by the Police, Immigration 
Supervisory Board, and the Customs Department.  During the 
period May 2000 to June 2002, the report states, 22,208 men, 
women, and children were prevented from crossing the border 
"in order to prevent them from becoming involved in nefarious 
activities, including sexual exploitation."  Approximately 
9,000 of these people were women.  According to the report, 
no legal action was taken against any of those who were 
turned back; rather, they were counseled on the dangers of 
illegally working abroad and sent back to their homes.  The 
report also notes that women between the age of 16 to 25 are 
absolutely prohibited from crossing the border unless 
accompanied by a legal guardian. 
 
Law Enforcement 
 
6. (SBU) Many traffickers have also received long sentences. 
According to the report, between 1999 and July 2002, Burma's 
courts have given 104 human traffickers prison sentences 
ranging from 3 to 14 years. 
 
Preventive Measures 
 
7. (SBU) The GOB has put a special focus on education, 
according to the report.  Between 1999 and June 2002, 10,822 
village-level seminars were held by MNCWA and/or NGOs to 
educate poor families to the dangers of trafficking.  In Mon 
State, eastern Shan State, and Kayin State, these seminars 
were carried out in cooperation with the United Nations 
Inter-Agency Project on Trafficking in Women and Children in 
the Mekong Sub-region (UN-IAP). 
Protection of Victims 
8. (SBU) The report asserts that victims of trafficking are 
not treated as criminals.  It also states that there are 
rehabilitation centers, and Vocational Training Centers for 
Women in Yangon, Mandalay, Myeik, and Kengtung, and Women's 
Development Centers in Yangon and Mandalay.  According to the 
report, legal has been taken only against those found guilty 
of trafficking. 
 
Root Causes 
 
9. (SBU) The report argues that the main causes of 
trafficking are poverty and ignorance and marshals all of the 
government's statistics on development to demonstrate concern 
for those issues.  In particular, it notes that the 
government has established twelve training centers since 1992 
in towns adjacent to Burma's borders.  Altogether, these 
centers have provided vocational training to 10,128 girls and 
women over the past decade. 
 
International Cooperation 
 
10. (SBU) Burma is a signatory to the 1950 Convention for the 
Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and Exploitation of the 
Prostitution of Others.  It is also a party to the Convention 
on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and to 
the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  In addition, the 
GOB has become a regular participant in regional and 
bilateral meetings on trafficking (15 in all) since 1997 and 
has cooperated with the UN-IAP on programs to raise awareness 
and build NGO and government capacity in regard to 
trafficking problems. 
 
Non-Governmental Organizations 
 
11. (SBU) According to the report, Burma has enlisted the 
support of NGOs like the Myanmar Red Cross Society, the 
Auxiliary Fire Brigade, the Myanmar Maternal and Child 
Welfare Association, and the Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs 
Association in the fight against trafficking.  As an example, 
it notes that the Maternal and Child Welfare Association has 
implemented a literacy campaign for 410,000 women in remote 
areas, conducted vocational classes, and extended 
micro-credit loans amounting to nearly 150 million kyat over 
the past decade. 
 
Embassy Assessment of the Report 
 
12. (SBU) The MOFA report is obviously intended to put the 
best face on the GOB's counter-trafficking efforts and is, 
unfortunately, packed with a variety of facts and figures 
from GOB programs that are, at best, tangentially related to 
the trafficking.  It is also short of some key statistics. 
While it provides more information than needed on the number 
of pencils and notebooks distributed under various programs, 
it does not provide any significant information on the 
resources that the GOB has specifically allocated to its 
program on human trafficking.  It also provides little 
information regarding the number of trafficking victims it 
has actually assisted or repatriated from neighboring 
countries.  In support of its claim that the Government is 
committed to the international fight against trafficking, it 
details the international meetings it has attended and 
agreements it has signed.  However, it fails to provide any 
significant information on its cooperation with Thailand or 
other destination countries.  Similarly, it provides a lot of 
very specific information on government-affiliated NGO 
programs for women, but does not even hint at any 
coordination with the international NGOs in Burma that are 
working on the issue. 
 
13. (SBU) Oddly, the report gives only passing mention to 
what we consider the most effective anti-trafficking activity 
in the country, the United Nations Inter-Agency Project 
(UN-IAP) on Trafficking in Women and Children in the Mekong 
Sub-region.  This small but active project has pushed hard 
for GOB inter-agency coordination and action on trafficking 
issues, and has created a program for multi-sectoral 
"service-provider" training (i.e., police, immigration, law, 
and social welfare workers, among others).  Since August 
2001, it has held three training workshops for 100 key 
personnel from the police, immigration, health, and education 
services.  The UN-IAP has also actively sought improved 
interaction among international NGOs, GOB personnel, regime 
affiliated NGOs, and others that need to be involved to 
effectively address human trafficking challenges in Burma. 
 
14. (SBU) In spite of these weaknesses, it is clear that the 
Government has focused more attention on trafficking in 
persons this year than it has in the past.  In what appears 
to be a direct response to the Embassy's Trafficking in 
Persons Report, the Government met with Embassy officials 
earlier this year to determine what is needed to comply with 
TIPS criteria.  Since these meetings, the Government has 
initiated an information campaign to highlight the perils of 
trafficking.  An MNCWA delegation, headed by Secretary One 
General Khin Nyunt's wife, has also conducted highly 
publicized visits to border regions to meet with women in an 
effort to discourage them from falling victim to unscrupulous 
traffickers.  The state-controlled press is also running 
almost daily stories on trafficking victims that authorities 
have intercepted, counseled, and returned to their families. 
 
15. (SBU) These activities are a step in the right direction. 
 They demonstrate that the Government is aware of the need to 
act against human trafficking, and they serve to heighten 
public awareness of the potential dangers of trafficking. 
However, they need to be further reinforced by effective 
action specifically targeted at traffickers.  Right now, many 
of the trafficking "busts" described in the newspapers appear 
to be of men and women who are simply attempting to migrate 
(albeit illegally) to Thailand, not trafficking victims. 
Reportedly, only a fraction of the illegal Burmese migrants 
to Thailand are trafficking victims, i.e., people who have 
been deceived, coerced, or forced into working conditions 
they did not choose.  The rest are simply happy to be there, 
and out of Burma, whatever their employment status. 
 
 
16. (SBU) Finally, the government's heavy-handed approach to 
interdicting all illegal migrants has the potential to 
actually drive people into the hands of traffickers.  This is 
particularly true of the government's ban on exit visas for 
women from 16 to 25 who are not accompanied by their legal 
guardian.  For such women, the only recourse is often a 
trafficker. 
 
17. (SBU) In short, it is apparent that the government is 
making an effort to address concerns about human trafficking. 
 MNCWA's national action plan is a good plan.  It is based on 
international models and we will continue to push the 
government to implement it.  However, the government's 
approach does have some rough edges.  It needs to be more 
tightly focused on traffickers specifically.  Other aspects 
of the approach need to be beefed up, particularly in regard 
to cooperation with destination countries and the 
repatriation and reintegration of victims.  Fortunately, 
UN-IAP and a few international NGOs are already working here 
and should prove important allies in bringing the government 
closer to a complete and effective response to its current 
problems with trafficking in persons. 
Martinez