VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0550 1622314
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112249Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060550 

SIPDIS 

E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG NS
SUBJECT: SURINAME -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND 
DEMARCHE 

REF: (A) STATE 59732 (B) STATE 005577 

¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10. 

¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will 
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a 
press conference in the Department's press briefing room. 
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic 
and foreign news outlets. Until the time of the Secretary's 
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or 
country narratives contained therein is prohibited. 

¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press 
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter. Also provided 
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government 
of Suriname of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent 
release. The text of the TIP Report country narrative is 
provided, both for use in informing the Government of 
Suriname and in any local media release by Post's public 
affairs section on June 16 or thereafter. Drawing on 
information provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide 
the host government with the text of the TIP Report narrative 
no earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, 
AF, EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 
for SCA and EAP posts. Please note, however, that any public 
release of the Report's information should not/not precede 
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16. 

¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at 
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 
release. Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts 
in all countries appearing on the Report. The Secretary's 
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of 
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and 
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis 
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website 
shortly after the June 16 event. Ambassador de Baca will 
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign 
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 

¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on 
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local 
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform 
the appropriate official in the Government of Suriname of the 
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points 
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of 
the country narrative provided in para 8. For countries 
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it 
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the 
Report being released in Washington on June 16. 

¶6. Action Request continued: Please note that, for those 
countries which will not receive an action plan with 
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw 
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement 
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the 
Recommendations section of the second paragraph of the 
narrative text. This engagement is important to establishing 
the framework in which the government's performance will be 
judged for the 2010 Report. If posts have questions about 
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they 
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, 
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. 

¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared 
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the 
press guidance provided in para 11. If Post wishes, a local 
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP 
Report's country narrative provided in para 8. 

¶8. Begin Final Text of Suriname,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 

-------------------------------- 
Suriname (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 

Suriname is a destination and transit country for men, women, 
and children from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Guyana, 
Colombia, Haiti, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China trafficked for 
the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced 
labor. Suriname is also a source country for women and 
children trafficked within the country for sexual 
exploitation and forced labor, as well as women trafficked 
transnationally for forced labor. Foreign trafficking 
victims are exploited in illegal urban brothels and the 
western district of Nickerie. Guyanese women and girls are 
forced into street prostitution and are trafficked into the 
sex trade near both legal and illegal gold mining camps in 
the Amazon jungle. At least one criminal network traffics 
Brazilian women among gold mining sites in both Suriname and 
French Guiana. Women from urban areas are recruited for 
domestic work at these mining camps and subsequently coerced 
into sexual servitude. Some Chinese men are subjected to 
forced labor in the construction industry, while some Chinese 
women are forced into prostitution in massage parlors and 
brothels. Chinese men and women are forced to labor in 
grocery stores. Some Haitian migrants transiting Suriname 
are forced to work in agriculture. Traffickers fraudulently 
promised at least 23 Surinamese women that they would be 
given well-paying jobs in Europe after finishing cooking 
school in Trinidad and Tobago. The women were intercepted in 
Curacao and returned to Suriname. Although Chinese organized 
crime units traffic some people to and through Suriname, most 
traffickers in Suriname operate through smaller, local 
networks. 


The Government of Suriname does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite 
significant resource constraints, the government increased 
anti-trafficking law enforcement actions, and modestly 
improved victim assistance and prevention efforts. Reports 
of officials, complicity in trafficking, however, continue 
and the government has made no efforts to reduce demand for 
commercial sex acts. 


Recommendations for Suriname: Continue investigating, 
prosecuting, and adequately punishing trafficking offenders; 
investigate and prosecute corrupt public officials who 
allegedly facilitate trafficking; investigate reports of 
forced labor; consider measures to better protect both 
foreign and Surinamese trafficking victims; and sponsor 
public campaigns to reduce the demand for commercial sex 
acts. 

Prosecution 
----------- 
The Surinamese government strongly increased its 
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the last year. 
Suriname prohibits all forms of human trafficking through a 
2006 amendment to its Criminal Code, which prescribes 
sufficiently stringent penalties of five to 20 years, 
imprisonment ) penalties that are commensurate with those 
prescribed for other grave crimes. An interagency, 
public-private working group (IWG) coordinates government 
efforts to investigate and prosecute traffickers. The public 
prosecutor reported nine trafficking arrests between March 
2008 and February 2009. Three offenders were convicted: A 
Korean boat captain was sentenced to six years, imprisonment 
for the forced labor of four Vietnamese, and two nightclub 
owners, a Chinese and Brazilian couple, were convicted of 
trafficking nine Brazilian women into prostitution. The 
husband was sentenced to 12 months' and the wife to four 
months' imprisonment. A case with three defendants accused 
of trafficking a 16-year old Guyanese girl for sexual 
exploitation at a nightclub was before the courts in March 
¶2009. Two additional cases are pending. The TIP Police Unit 
regularly inspected places where trafficking victims might be 
found, and conducted random brothel checks to ensure the 
women were not mistreated, no minors were present, and that 
owners did not keep the women,s airline tickets and 
passports. The government requested the extradition of four 
Surinamers from Curacao, in connection with the probable 
trafficking of 21 Surinamese men and two women en route to 
Europe through Trinidad and Tobago; three more Surinamers 
were arrested in Suriname in connection with the case, and 
are in jail pending trial. Investigations continue in the 
case of 11 Indonesians rescued from forced labor at a 
motorbike assembly plant. The government initiated 
investigations of some Surinamese officials who reportedly 
facilitated trafficking into the country by accepting money 
and favors from suspected traffickers, though no prosecutions 
were begun. 

Protection 
---------- 
The government continued to provide moderate protection for 
victims of trafficking during the year. The government 
provided free legal services to trafficking victims, and 
instituted a formal mechanism for referring victims to a 
local foundation which, in collaboration with the TIP Police 
Unit and the Ministry of Justice and Police, coordinates the 
provision of shelter, medical care, and psychological 
services to identified foreign and Surinamese victims. 
Surinamese law does not grant foreign victims temporary or 
permanent residency status or legal alternatives to removal 
to countries where they may face hardship or retribution, 
though victims who participated in law enforcement 
investigations and prosecutions were allowed to stay during 
these proceedings. There were reports that some foreign 
victims were incarcerated and deported for immigration 
violations, though identified foreign victims are generally 
not penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result 
of being trafficked. The same local foundation is charged 
with arranging shelter and services for as long as victims 
are needed for the investigation and court case, then works 
with embassy or consulate officials to arrange victims, 
repatriation. Foreign victims were required to remain in the 
country until they could issue a sworn statement and a judge 
determined that they could leave Suriname. Victims who had 
been found working illegally in Suriname could not seek 
temporary employment while awaiting trial proceedings. The 
Ministry of Justice and Police is reviewing draft legislation 
that would grant foreign victims legal resident status. The 
government encourages victims to assist in the investigation 
and prosecution of trafficking offenders. During the year, 
at least 28 victims cooperated with police. None chose to 
file a civil suit for restitution against their traffickers, 
although that option is available. 

Prevention 
---------- 
The government continued its solid prevention efforts during 
the year. Senior officials continued to condemn and draw 
public attention to the problem of human trafficking in 
Suriname. The government ran an education campaign for 
journalists, religious groups, youth organizations, 
officials, labor unions, brothel owners, and NGOs, and 
conducted a specialized campaign in the Marowijne District. 
The IWG systematically monitored government anti-trafficking 
efforts. Immigration police monitored visa applications and 
ports of entry for patterns that might indicate trafficking. 
Police closed a brothel in Nickerie district for exploiting a 
minor in prostitution. The Ministry of Labor along with the 
Youth Affairs section of the Police Force and the Commission 
for Child Rights educated and informed the public on the 
worst forms of child labor and child exploitation. The 
government made no discernable efforts to reduce demand for 
commercial sex acts. 

---------------------------------------- 

¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer 
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to 
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report 
country narrative: 

(begin non-paper) 

-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), 
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to 
Congress. The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and 
create partnerships around the world in the fight against 
modern-day slavery. The USG approach to combating human 
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in 
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime (commonly known as the Palermo Protocol). The TVPA 
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in 
which the victims, labor or services (including in the sex 
industry) are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, 
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological 
manipulation. While much attention has focused on 
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol 
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a 
showing that the victim was moved. 

-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that 
only countries with a significant number of trafficking 
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, 
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of 
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of 
three tiers. Countries assessed as meeting the minimum 
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking 
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1. Countries 
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, 
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum 
standards are classified as Tier 2. Countries assessed as 
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making 
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. 

-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a 
Special Watch List to Congress later in the year. 
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to 
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the 
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of 
each year. Countries are included on the Special Watch 
List if they move up in tier rankings in the annual TIP 
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been 
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. 

-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: 
(1) not to have made increasing efforts to combat human 
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant 
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over 
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of 
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim 
population. As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been 
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after 
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier 
¶3. Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this 
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP 
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch 
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to 
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report). The new law allows for a waiver 
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a 
determination by the President that the country has developed 
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make 
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the 
minimum standards. 

-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory 
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on 
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance 
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for 
participation by government officials or employees in 
educational and cultural exchange programs. In addition, 
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to 
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other 
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, 
trade-related or certain types of development assistance) 
with respect to countries on Tier 3. Countries classified as 
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's 
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in 
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier 
classification, would avoid such sanctions. Guidelines for 
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared 
by Posts with host governments. 

-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of 
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of 
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and 
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon: fraudulent 
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in 
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor 
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the 
flawed design of some destination countries, sponsorship 
systems that do not give foreign workers adequate legal 
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor. As the 
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced 
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and 
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion. The 
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the 
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated 
cost of coercion. 

-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on 
website www.state.gov/g/tip. 

-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the 
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State 
Department. We are providing you an advance copy of your 
country's narrative in that report. Please keep this 
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June 
¶16. The State Department will also hold a general briefing 
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 
17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 

(end non-paper) 

¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country 
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web 
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as 
possible after the TIP Report is released. Funding for 
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human 
Rights Report. Posts needing financial assistance for 
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX 
office. 

¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use 
with local media. 

Q1. Why is Suriname again given a ranking of Tier 2? 

¶A. The Government of Suriname does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite 
its considerable resource constraints, the government 
increased anti-trafficking law enforcement actions, and 
modestly improved victim assistance and prevention efforts in 
the past year. Reports of officials, complicity in 
trafficking, however, continue and the government has made no 
efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts. 

Q2. What is the nature of the trafficking situation in 
Suriname? 

¶A. Suriname is a destination and transit country for men, 
women, and children from South America, the Caribbean, and 
Asia trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual 
exploitation and forced labor. Suriname is also a source 
country for women and children trafficked within the country 
for sexual exploitation and forced labor, and has recently 
become a source for women trafficked transnationally, 
presumably for forced labor. Foreign trafficking victims are 
exploited in illegal urban brothels and the western district 
of Nickerie. Guyanese women and girls are forced into street 
prostitution and are trafficked into the sex trade near both 
legal and illegal gold mining camps in the Amazon jungle. At 
least one criminal network traffics Brazilian women among 
gold mining sites in both Suriname and French Guiana. Women 
from urban areas are recruited for domestic work at these 
mining camps and subsequently coerced into sexual servitude. 
Some Chinese men are subjected to forced labor in the 
construction industry, while some Chinese women are forced 
into prostitution in massage parlors and brothels. Chinese 
men and women are forced to labor in grocery stores. Some 
Haitian migrants transiting Suriname are forced to work in 
agriculture. Traffickers fraudulently promised at least 23 
Surinamese women that they would be given well-paying jobs in 
Europe after finishing cooking school in Trinidad and Tobago. 
The women were intercepted in Curacao and returned to 
Suriname. Although Chinese organized crime units traffic 
some people to and through Suriname, most traffickers in 
Suriname operate through smaller, local networks. 

Q3. How can Suriname show further progress in its 
anti-trafficking efforts? 

¶A. To advance its efforts to combat trafficking, the 
government could continue investigating, prosecuting, and 
adequately punishing trafficking offenders; investigate and 
prosecute corrupt public officials who allegedly facilitate 
trafficking; investigate reports of forced labor; consider 
measures to better protect both foreign and Surinamese 
trafficking victims; and sponsor public campaigns to reduce 
the demand for commercial sex acts. 

¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON