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Viewing cable 09MUNICH48, MUNICH TIP SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS ONGOING CHALLENGES IN

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09MUNICH48 2009-03-10 15:38 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Munich
VZCZCXRO5408
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMZ #0048/01 0691538
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101538Z MAR 09
FM AMCONSUL MUNICH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4679
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUNICH 000048 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CE, EUR/PGI (BUCKNEBERG), DRL/IL, G/TIP, INL/HSTC, AND 
PRM 
STATE - PLEASE PASS USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP KCRM PHUM SMIG ELAB GG
SUBJECT:  MUNICH TIP SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS ONGOING CHALLENGES IN 
COMBATING TIP 
 
REFS: BERLIN 256 
 
1. Summary:  The annual Munich TIP (Trafficking in Persons) seminar 
sponsored by the Hanns Seidel Stiftung focused on the treatment by 
German media of the TIP phenomena, public views on the issue, and 
the need to improve assistance to victims.  Some non-governmental 
participants believed that German media had little interest in 
factual reporting about trafficking in persons and that public 
awareness campaigns needed to be strengthened.   A number of 
contributors pointed out that victims who lack residency permits 
have little incentive to cooperate with investigators given that 
victims are required to leave Germany upon conclusion of legal 
proceedings.  This has the effect of reducing the incentive of 
victims to cooperate with investigators and prosecutors.  Fighting 
TIP in Bavaria enjoys the support of effective cooperation 
agreements among major players.  End summary. 
 
Media Interest in TIP Declining 
------------------------------- 
 
2.  The Munich-based Hanns Seidel Foundation, an NGO close to the 
center-right Christian Social Union, has held a conference on TIP 
around International Women's Day since 2003, and it has become a 
powerful, well-attended event attracting a primarily Bavarian 
audience that examines German-wide issues.  This year the seminar, 
held on March 5, was titled: "Trafficking in Persons and the Media." 
 Media representatives and analysts lamented the fact that public 
interest in the issue was low, unless it concerned spectacular 
cases, e.g. children, or prominent persons.  Speakers suggested that 
this was largely because the majority of victims were non-Germans 
and that the public was often unwilling or unable to differentiate 
between voluntary and enforced prostitution.  In 2006, before the 
world soccer championship in Germany, interest in the issue was 
relatively high, but when fears of an increase in TIP proved 
unfounded at the time, TIP fell from the headlines. 
 
 
New Legal Tools Needed to Combat TIP More Effectively 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
3.  Bavarian Justice Minister Beate Merk has in the past come out 
strongly in favor of criminalizing clients of forced prostitutes. 
Bavarian Labor Minister Christine Haderthauer supported Merk, even 
suggesting something like pillorying clients of prostitutes on the 
internet, a concept that many rejected given that prostitution is 
legal in Germany.  However, a policeman from Augsburg said the more 
immediate problem was finding more effective ways to pursue pimps. 
One participant compared Germany to Italy, where traffickers can be 
sentenced to 10-15 years of imprisonment while in Germany the 
majority of TIP perpetrators charged received suspended sentences. 
(NOTE: We have discussed suspended sentences with MOJ officials and 
prosecutors in the past.  They argued that they had to stick to the 
legal framework and added that it was standard German practice for 
judges to suspend prison sentences of two years or less for all 
crimes, not just TIP-related crimes.  End NOTE.) 
 
4.  NGO representatives noted that German law does not offer TIP 
victims the possibility to stay in Germany if they do not possess 
legal residency documentation.  Even victims who are willingness to 
testify in legal proceedings are made to leave the country following 
the conclusion of trials.  Minister Haderthauer regretted the fact 
that the German public is not aware of the work NGOs were doing. 
"Organizations such as Solwodi (Solidarity with Women in Distress) 
and Jadwiga (a local Bavarian NGO) should be as broadly known as the 
Red Cross," she argued.  From a broader perspective, we note that 
there are formal cooperation agreements in Bavaria on interagency 
anti-TIP working groups and/or task forces that include NGOs, as 
there are in 11 other German Laender. 
 
5.  Journalist Inge Bell, an International Visitor Program grantee 
this year who has worked on this issue for over 10 years, described 
a number of case studies of successful reintegration of traumatized 
TIP victims into their societies.  Further, organizations like the 
Hanns Seidel Foundation, and NGOs supported by the Bavarian Social 
Ministry, such as Solwodi and Jadwiga, work to prevent TIP in source 
countries in Eastern Europe.  As an example, a Bavarian delegation 
will travel to Romania in June this year to advise police and the 
judiciary. 
 
6.  Consulate General Munich coordinated this report with Embassy 
Berlin. 
 
7.  (U) Track Munich reporting at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Germ any. 
 
 
MUNICH 00000048  002 OF 002 
 
 
NELSON