US embassy cable - 03THEHAGUE1855

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 001855 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USAID FOR C. CORRINO; STATE FOR G, G/TIP, DRL, PRM, OES: J. 
CHOW 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, ELAB, KCRM, KHIV, KWMN, PHUM, PTER, SMIG, SNAR 
SUBJECT: A/S JONES' HAGUE VISIT: TRAFFICKING, TERRORISM, 
JUSTICE, AND HIV ISSUES 
 
 
(U) 1.  In a July 15 visit to The Hague, A/S Jones met with 
senior officials from MFA, MoD, and MoJ, parliamentarians, 
the National Rapporteur for Trafficking, and with Mission 
personnel.  This cable reports her discussions on trafficking 
in people and counter-narcotics. The transatlantic 
relationship, the Middle East, OSCE, and issues surrounding 
French-German security ideas are reported septels.  A/S Jones 
cleared this cable. 
 
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Trafficking in People 
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(U) 2.  A/S Jones raised the problem of trafficking in 
persons in meetings with the National Rapporteur for 
Trafficking Korvinus, MoJ Secretary General Joris Demmink and 
MFA deputy Political Director Herman Schaper.  She stressed 
the importance of attacking the problem, both through 
domestic programs and legislation and through multilateral 
cooperation.  A/S Jones welcomed the role of the Netherlands 
in making TIP a priority issue for its OSCE presidency, and 
the Dutch asked for U.S. support for TIP recommendations 
recently approved by the OSCE economic forum.  Dutch 
officials said they will also make TIP a priority of their 
European Union and Council of Europe presidencies in 2004. 
MFA officials cited the linkages among drugs, trafficking, 
and health epidemics.  Together, these three formed a "trail 
of misery" through Central Asia and Eastern Europe.  They 
lament a lack of cooperation between EU and Russia on these 
issues.  All interlocutors agreed that it is essential to 
focus political attention on the problem, with the MFA 
focusing on cooperation internationally, the Justice Ministry 
focusing on police issues, and the Rapporteur serving as the 
prod to the Dutch government, including to offer more 
services to victims. 
 
(U) 3.  A/S Jones inquired about the bill bringing Dutch TIP 
legislation in line with the Palermo Protocol and the EU 
framework decision on trafficking in persons.  Korvinus said 
the bill was approved by the government on June 20, 2003, and 
sent to the Council of State for review, after which it will 
be sent to the Dutch parliament.  National Rapporteur 
Korvinus expects some debate about the definition of 
trafficking and working in slavery-like conditions, but she 
has no doubt that the bill will be adopted.  With respect to 
the UN Palermo Protocol, Korvinus said she is worried that 
the protocol does not protect victims once they return to 
their native countries after a trial.  Korvinus feared that 
this would be an obstacle for victims to testify in court. 
Jones shared her concerns, and suggested this could be an 
area for cooperation. 
 
(U) 4.  A/S Jones asked whether the police are adequately 
equipped to identify TIP victims.  Korvinus replied that 
police officers have been trained to do so.  However, the 
alien police and immigration officers have been raiding 
brothels and streetwalking zones in their search for illegal 
immigrants, particularly Bulgarian and Nigerian women, 
without adequately checking whether the illegal immigrants 
were actually victims of trafficking.  She noted that 
sometimes these officers overrule the regular police.  To 
improve the identification of victims, the Rapporteur,s 
office has suggested setting up multidisciplinary teams. In a 
later meeting, Secretary General Demmink gave a summary of 
Dutch law enforcement efforts, which he described as "going 
in the right direction,"  including a Ministry of Justice 
interagency Task Force and the new trafficking penalty law 
which goes into effect in 2004. 
 
(U) 5. Ambassador Sobel asked Korvinus about possible 
discrimination against foreign victims. Korvinus said that 
the Netherlands, unlike Belgium, has no specific shelters for 
trafficking victims.  TIP victims and victims of household 
violence are put together to give them better police 
protection.  According to Korvinus, there is no 
discrimination against foreign women, but she admitted there 
is an overall capacity shortage.  She noted that TIP victims 
are given three months to consider pressing charges, after 
which they can stay in The Netherlands until the juridical 
process has been completed.  This can take as long as two 
years.  Although victims are given shelter, legal, medical 
and financial assistance, the government does not allow them 
to work.  Korvinus considered this inhumane.  She felt that 
the victims should be offered some sort of legitimate 
employment or training to be able to prepare for a future at 
home. 
(U)  6. A/S Jones also pressed her interlocutors to work 
closely with other countries and through multilateral 
institutions to combat trafficking.  In her meeting with 
Korvinus, A/S Jones noted that the EU needs to focus on TIP 
problems in source countries.  A/S Jones mentioned that the 
U.S. had been pressing the EU Commissioner for External 
Relations, Chris Patten, to focus on the Caucasus and Central 
Asia regions to improve border controls, fight corruption, 
and stimulate prosecution.  She suggested that the EU could 
play a role in the training of law enforcement officers so 
that they can easily recognize TIP victims.  In her meeting 
with Secretary General Demmink, A/S Jones noted that her 
recent visits to countries in Eastern Europe, Moldova in 
particular, indicated to her how "differently and intensely" 
we must work with every country to combat human trafficking. 
She asked about Dutch liaison with source countries for 
victims in the Netherlands and related transit countries and 
pushed for better joint cooperation and investigations.  She 
asked for Dutch support for a new initiative to talk to NATO 
about troops who may be consumers of trafficked prostitutes. 
 
(U) 7. Korvinus remarked that it is not enough to start 
public awareness campaigns in source countries to warn young 
people of the dangers.  It is also very important to educate 
and train young people to improve their chances on the labor 
market and reduce poverty.  Later, Demmink described 
cooperation with source and transit countries as a "mixed 
bag" -- good with countries who are EU candidates or aspire 
to be, not as good with countries like Russia and Moldova and 
not easy with neighbors such as Germany and Austria who give 
trafficking a lower priority.  The Dutch will work on a 
special regional treaty on trafficking in the Council of 
Europe to build on the Palermo Protocol.   The Dutch are also 
encouraging EU and OSCE members to appoint special 
Rapporteurs for trafficking. 
 
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Counternarcotics Issues and Terrorism Issues 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
(U) 8.  A/S Jones raised U.S. concerns about counternarcotics 
with Justice Ministry Secretary General Demmink and with 
senior MFA officials.  A/S Jones asked what measures the 
Dutch were taking to curb Ecstasy production.  MFA officials 
said the Dutch government is committed to finding practical 
areas of cooperation with the U.S. and has cut production. 
Demmink answered that they have stepped up efforts and 
reorganized and centralized their police Ecstasy units.  As 
of July 1, 2003, a new national police operation (National 
Recherche) was set up to fight drug production and 
trafficking on a national level.  Demmink said that National 
Recherche will have a direct link to the National 
Prosecutors, office, which he believes will give them better 
tools to fight drugs. 
 
(U) 9. Ambassador Sobel raised the issue of cocaine 
swallowers.  He noted that the Dutch have no preclearance 
procedures in the Netherlands Antilles and suggested that it 
would be better to stop swallowers from getting on the 
airplane at the source rather than dealing with them at 
Schiphol.  He noted that U.S. Customs had experience with 
preclearance and said that they would be willing to share 
their experiences. Demmink agreed that cocaine swallowers 
from the Caribbean were a major problem for The Netherlands 
and that preclearance was an idea worth considering.  They 
could begin with Aruba -- an island that did not/not have a 
serious drug problem.  If that were to prove successful, 
perhaps they could move on to Curacao in the Dutch Antilles. 
 
Chemical Precursors 
 
(U) 10. A/S Jones raised the issue of precursor chemicals 
coming to the Netherlands from China.  Demmink replied that 
the Dutch Ambassador in Beijing will soon open negotiations 
with the Chinese with the aim of drawing up an MOU.  A/S 
Jones said that the U.S. would be willing to assist should 
that be required. 
Bilateral Follow Up 
 
(U) 11. Ambassador Sobel asked about progress on the Agreed 
Steps from the March 2003 Bilateral.  DDG Ijzerman said that 
things were progressing well and a June 25 meeting had 
clarified several issues.  Both sides would continue to 
follow up on a regular basis.  He also mentioned the recent 
Justice-to-Justice conference at Zutphen as being 
particularly useful in increasing the understanding of both 
sides. 
 
Asset Seizures 
 
(U) 12.  A/S Jones asked Demmink what they were doing on the 
issue of asset seizures.  Demmink said that there is a legal 
framework for this issue but that the difficulty is 
convincing the courts of the proof of linkage between the 
money and the accused.  Marjorie Bonn commented that seizure 
is easy, the problem is confiscation. 
 
Targeting Drug Leadership 
 
(U) 13. DCM Russel noted that The Netherlands should be 
fighting against the major Ecstasy syndicates and not the 
small players.  He suggested that a major campaign conducted 
over a short period of time might have a big effect on the 
market.  Demmink agreed with that strategy, but said that 
there are very few large organizations in the Netherlands - 
most are small groups of operators. 
 
EU Presidency - Law Enforcement Issues 
 
(U) 14. Ambassador Sobel asked what the Netherlands, top 
priorities would be in terms of law enforcement during their 
upcoming EU Presidency in 2004.  DDG Ijzerman noted that with 
25 new members the agenda would have to be very limited.  He 
said that there would be two major law enforcement items on 
the agenda: 1. An EU Action Plan for Illegal Drugs; 2. The 
development of a comprehensive strategy on organized crime. 
 
Terrorism Prosecution 
 
(U) 15.  A/S Jones asked Demmink if prosecution of terrorist 
acts is unnecessarily difficult in the Netherlands as 
indicated by two recent terrorism related cases that were 
dismissed.  Demmink responded that the Ministry of Justice 
was well informed in every stage of those cases that the 
evidence was sometimes thin or based on intelligence that is 
difficult to use for conviction.  He felt that the issues 
raised by these cases were valuable in the process of 
refining counter terrorism laws and policies.  He also talked 
about conspiracy laws that differed in each EU country, 
making an EU arrest warrant difficult.  Similar to 
intelligence information, conspiracy evidence can be used as 
a vehicle for investigation but may not be enough for a 
conviction. 
 
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HIV/AIDS 
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(U) 16.  MFA Western Hemisphere Director Marion Kappeyne 
complimented President Bush's Emergency AIDS Initiative.  She 
said the MFA is committed to cooperating with the U.S. in the 
fight against AIDS and that Dutch and U.S. officials are now 
identifying areas of cooperation in a select group of target 
countries in Africa.  Kappeyne suggested that when possible, 
donor countries should make use of existing mechanisms in 
focus countries, rather than creating new ones.  This 
approach, she said, ensures sustainability.  Rob Swartbol of 
the Prime Minister's office said the PM plans to attend the 
AIDS meeting on the margins of the UNGA in September. 
RUSSEL