2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

S Y R I A
192
Protection
The government continued to improve its victim
protection efforts during the reporting period. In
2006, cantonal immigration authorities offered 39
trafficking victims 30-day stays of deportation, up
from 30 victims in 2005. The government continued
to encourage victims to participate in trafficking
investigations and prosecutions. Three victims
were offered short-term residency permits to stay in
Switzerland for the duration of the legal proceedings
against their traffickers, down from 18 in 2005.
Three victims were granted long-term residency
permits on the grounds of personal hardship, down
from eight in 2005. The government provided funding
to NGOs for trafficking assistance services and
shelter; local victim assistance centers counseled
126 victims during the reporting period, up from
84 the previous year. In 2006, three cantons signed
written agreements with NGOs that formalized
victim referral processes. Federal authorities successfully
raised awareness among cantonal immigration
authorities in order to reduce the possibility of
trafficking victim deportations. NGOs report that
regulations staying deportations and improved
coordination with law enforcement officials have
led to a considerable increase in the number of
victims participating in trafficking investigations
and prosecutions. The government ensured that
victims were not penalized for unlawful
acts committed as a direct result of their
being trafficked.
Prevention
Switzerland continued its prevention
efforts during the reporting period. The
government again provided more than $1
million for victim assistance and trafficking
prevention programs in multiple
source countries, including Moldova,
Montenegro, Russia, Lebanon, and Iran. The
government provided approximately $225,000 to
support a trafficking hotline in Russia. In January
2007, the government appropriated funding for
the launch of trafficking awareness prevention
campaigns in preparation for the 2008 European
Soccer Cup.
SYRIA (Tier 3)
Syria is a destination country for women from
South and Southeast Asia and Africa trafficked
for the purpose of domestic servitude, and from
Eastern Europe and Iraq for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation. Women from
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Ethiopia,
and Sierra Leone are recruited for work in Syria
as domestic servants, but some face conditions
of involuntary servitude, including long hours,
non-payment of wages, withholding of passports
and other restrictions on movement, and physical
or sexual abuse. Similarly, Russian, Ukrainian
and Belarusian women recruited for work in Syria
as cabaret dancers are not permitted to leave their
work premises without permission, and they have
their passports withheld — indicators of involuntary
servitude; some of these women may also be
forced into prostitution. Women and children in
the Iraqi refugee community in Syria are reportedly
forced into commercial sexual exploitation. One
anecdotal report suggested that Syria may also be a
transit country for Iraqi women and girls trafficked
to Kuwait, the U.A.E., and Lebanon for forced
prostitution.
The Government of Syria does not fully comply with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,
and is not making significant efforts to do so.
Although the government began drafting a comprehensive
anti-trafficking law, Syria reported no law
enforcement efforts to punish trafficking offenses
this year. In addition, the government did not offer
protection services to victims of trafficking, and
may have arrested, prosecuted, or deported some
victims for prostitution or immigration violations.
Syria should prosecute and punish more traffickers;
improve protection for victims by providing shelter,
medical, and psychological services; and cease the
detention and deportation of victims.
Prosecution
Syria made negligible progress in punishing trafficking
crimes this year. Syria does not specifically
prohibit any form of trafficking in persons, but can
use statutes against kidnapping and sexual assault to
prosecute some trafficking cases. In November, the
government issued Decree 81 that regulates recruitment
agencies bringing domestic workers into the
country. Though this decree sets guidelines for conditions
of domestic workers and requires agencies to
have a license to operate, penalties for violation,
including imprisonment for an unspecified length
of time or fines of only $2 or both, are not sufficiently
stringent to deter the offense of forced labor.
Furthermore, Syria did not report any investigations,
arrests, prosecutions, or convictions of trafficking
offenses this year. There was an anecdotal report
that the government uncovered one case of corruption
within the Ministry of Interior’s Immigration
Department and that this resulted in the firing of
some high-level immigration officials. If true, it is not
known whether this led to prosecutions for complic-