An American In Cyprus: Seeing Past The Postcard Façade

Cyprus’ spectacular natural beauty, Mediterranean food and warm people make it a choice diplomatic posting, says Amy Dahm (’97), who just completed two years of service with the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia. However, as the U.S. government’s human rights and trafficking-in-
persons (TIP) officer, she often delved into the seamier side of life on the island nation.

“Cyprus is the only European Union country on the U.S. State Department Tier 2 Watch List,” Dahm says. According to the State Department’s Web site, countries placed on the list “deserve special scrutiny for failure to show evidence of increased efforts to combat human trafficking and fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” established in the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Alumna Amy Dahm (left) and a friend work an olive press in Cyprus.

The Cypriot police officially identified 79 trafficking victims in 2006 and 40 last year, but “the suspected number is much higher because of the difficulty in identifying them,” Dahm explains. “Many are ashamed and afraid to come forward.” Most are from the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Eastern Europe, places where employment opportunities are limited. The young women, including some university students, are lured by the promise of legitimate jobs. Once in Cyprus, they are often held hostage and forced into prostitution.
“In my eyes, sex trafficking is one of the worst crimes imaginable,” says Dahm, who has interviewed victims. “It’s using a woman’s innate femininity and sexuality as a weapon against her.”

She describes her role as “kind of like an investigative reporter.” She received assignments from Washington, checked sources, found information and “reported both formally and informally” back to D.C. on recent developments.

The island crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Cyprus’ strategic location makes it “one of the most diplomatically sensitive environments on earth,” she says, noting that Nicosia, where she lived, is the world’s only divided capital. The country’s largest city is split into northern and southern sectors by the Green Line, a United Nations-created buffer zone. Since 1974, when the country was officially separated, the southern two-thirds of the country are under Greek Cypriot control while the northern third is claimed by Turkish Cypriots.

“Every day is different, which is probably part of the reason I like my job so much,” says Dahm, who received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 and an invitation to join the State Department within 24 hours of finishing her last exam. “Most of my training has been on the job,” she says, and has included learning a “smattering of Greek and Turkish” languages.

At SMU, the history and international studies major took advantage of study abroad opportunities. A President’s Scholar and former student member of the SMU Board of Trustees, Dahm spent her junior year in Japan. For a taste of Europe, she participated in the inaugural season of the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project – the excavation of an Etruscan settlement near the modern town of Vicchio, Italy. She revisited in 2004 as a project volunteer.

The direction of her future was clear by the time she graduated in 1997. In a Rotunda profile, Dahm expressed her hope of becoming a foreign service officer in Italy.

“I haven’t made it to Italy yet, but I’m working on it,” she says. She’s now back in Washington for Spanish language training, after which she will head to Costa Rica for her next assignment. “My focus will shift to such consular work as helping American citizens and screening potential visa applicants to the U.S.”

– Patricia Ward