VZCZCXYZ0008
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAR #1234/01 3241127
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 201127Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8527

UNCLAS ACCRA 001234 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR KTIP AND AF/RSA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG PGOV
ELAB, GH 
SUBJECT: Corrected Copy: 2009 TIP Interim Assessment-Ghana 
 
SECSTATE 112432 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) In 2009, Ghana has increased its investigation and 
prosecution of individuals involved in human trafficking, convicting 
at least five people and sentencing them to terms in prison.  At 
least nine investigations remain in progress, and 18 trafficking 
victims were rescued.  Ghana collaborated with neighboring 
countries, including Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria, as well as 
international organizations such as the International Organization 
for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF.  The Government maintains two 
shelters, and cooperates with an NGO that runs a third.  However, 
the lack of adequate facilities to protect victims remains a 
weakness. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The government has a Human Trafficking Secretariat within 
the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC). This 
Secretariat is responsible for coordinating human trafficking issues 
in Ghana. It oversees policy formulation, police review, 
implementation, advocacy, monitoring, and evaluation of trafficking 
cases. The secretariat also ensures proper data collection and 
conducts research into trafficking issues and activities in Ghana. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On August 25, President John Atta Mills appointed members 
to the Human Trafficking Management Board (HTMB) as the old board 
was disbanded when Mills' predecessor left office after the December 
election. It is an inter-sectoral board chaired by the Minister for 
Women and Children's Affairs and comprised of police, immigration 
officials, health and education ministries, and NGOs. In addition, 
the government has asked representatives from IOM and UNICEF to sit 
on the board as official observers. The Board will advise the 
Minister on trafficking policy, and promote strategies to prevent 
trafficking and the rehabilitation and re-integration of trafficking 
victims. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In 2009, the government took steps to establish four 
regional Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) in the Western, 
Central, Northern, and Ashanti Regions to manage cases more 
effectively at the regional and district levels, and has identified 
individuals to staff these units. In 2009, the AHTU created a 
website, www.ahtu.org, to promote trafficking awareness.  In July, 
the Ghana Parliament passed a law to amend the definition of 
trafficking included in the 2005 Human Trafficking Act. The 
amendment added the phrase 'for the purpose of exploitation' to 
ensure that the Ghanaian definition of human trafficking was in 
accord with the definition contained in the Protocol of the United 
Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. 
 
Ghana TIP Plan of Action: 
 
Prosecution of Trafficking Offenders 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Ghana has a legal framework to protect trafficking victims, 
and the Ghanaian police made several high profile arrests and had 
multiple convictions as a result of increased police awareness, 
according to Patience Quaye, head of the Ghana Police Anti-Human 
Trafficking Unit. 
 
¶6. (SBU) As of November 2009, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit 
database contained a listing of twenty cases. Of the listed cases, 
seven are currently under investigation. In two of the cases under 
investigation, the accused is at-large, and in one case the victim 
was returned to her family in Togo while the investigation 
continues. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In one case under investigation, four Nigerian women were 
trafficked from Nigeria to Ghana. Ghanaian authorities worked 
closely with their counterparts in Nigeria to investigate the case, 
arrest the Nigerian trafficker, and rescue the victims. The victims 
were returned to their families, and the accused trafficker is 
awaiting trial in Nigeria. 
 
¶8. (SBU) During 2009, the Ghanaian government has prosecuted seven 
trafficking cases.  In five of the cases, the defendants were held 
without bail and the cases are ongoing. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The government obtained convictions in two of the cases 
listed in the database. In one case, the government convicted three 
Chinese nationals of trafficking eight Chinese women to Ghana for 
prostitution.  The traffickers received a combined sentence of 41 
years. In the second case, the trafficker received a jail sentence 
of eight years for trafficking three Ghanaian children from Ghana to 
Cote D'Ivoire. 
 
¶10. (SBU) In three of the cases listed in the database and under 
investigation, Ghanaian law enforcement has so far been unable to 
locate and arrest the traffickers.  However, two of the victims in 
these cases were returned to their families for reintegration and 
another victim was placed into a shelter. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The government is currently working with UNICEF and IOM on 
a case involving a 17-year-old Ghanaian girl who had been trafficked 
to Senegal. The trafficker died before the victim was identified, 
and the girl is currently in school in Senegal. The victim is in 
touch with her family in Ghana, and the Ghanaian government is 
working with IOM to reintegrate her. 
 
¶12. (SBU) In addition to the cases recorded in the Anti-Human 
Trafficking Unit database, the government successfully prosecuted a 
28-year-old man in the Western Region for attempting to sell his 
eight-year-old brother.  He was sentenced on October 12 to four 
years in prison.  In the Ashanti region, Ghanaian authorities are 
currentlyrxT$J~QTQHf&AQ4der daughter for trafficking a 
12-year-old Togolese girl from Ghana to Nigeria. 
 
¶13. (SBU) On October 7, police arrested a 46 year-old woman in the 
Ashanti Region for attempting to traffic an employee in her kiosk to 
Cote d'Ivoire for ritual purposes. In November, police in New Ningo 
arrested two sisters who attempted to sell their 15-year-old nephew 
for 600 Ghana cedis. The accused admitted sending their nephew to 
Guinea to work in the fishing industry. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Furthermore, police in the Volta Region are collaborating 
with the NGO Challenging Heights to prosecute a case involving a boy 
who was rescued from a fishing village.  Police are working with the 
same NGO to investigate a second case involving children trafficked 
to work in the fishing sector in the Volta Region. 
 
¶15. (SBU) In September, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Task Force 
demolished a brothel known locally as the Soldier Bar. This brothel 
was raided by the police in 2008 after reports that it was being 
used for child prostitution. 
 
Shelters 
-------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) The government operates two shelters, one in Madina and 
the other in Osu, both of which need renovations and additions. In 
addition an NGO, the Ark Foundation, operates one shelter 
exclusively for women. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Lack of shelters remains a challenge for law enforcement 
and other government agencies that rescue trafficking victims. 
According to the Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, the 
Human Trafficking management Board plans to open shelters in all 
regions of Ghana, with priority given to shelters in the most 
heavily affected areas of the Central, Volta, Western and three 
Northern regions.  The MOWAC minister is receptive to finding 
funding for additional shelters.  The AHTU is also working with the 
Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs to secure funding to build 
additional shelters. 
 
Trafficking Victims' Fund 
-------------------------- 
 
¶18. (SBU). While the previous administration established an account 
to assist human trafficking victims, the account has not been funded 
for several years, and had no funds when the current government took 
office in early 2009. The AHTU is working with MOWAC to establish a 
separate account for the Victims' Fund so that any money put into 
the Fund in the future would remain separate from ministry operating 
funds. 
 
¶19. (SBU) After prosecutors convicted three Chinese nationals of 
trafficking eight Chinese women to Ghana for commercial sex, the 
government seized $14,560 found in the brothel.  The government used 
these funds to pay for airline tickets to return the women to China 
and, to provide them with pocket money for their return. 
 
Training to identify trafficking victims and respect victims' 
rights. 
------------------------------ 
 
¶20. (SBU) A wide range of organizations have provided training for 
Ghana police, investigators, prosecutors, AHTU staff, and judicial 
officials. In 2009, personnel participated in more than forty 
training sessions sponsored by INTERPOL, IOM, ILO, UNICEF, the U.S. 
Embassy, the German Embassy, the British High Commission, the 
University of Ghana, MOWAC and The Ministry of Employment and Social 
Welfare. In September, the Ghanaian Police and INTERPOL hosted a 
regional workshop on human trafficking for law enforcement officials 
from English speaking West African countries. 
 
¶21. (SBU) The training sessions included seminars on disseminating 
good practices in combating child trafficking, training for 
anti-human trafficking unit staff members, child and youth migration 
training, trafficking awareness/sensitization, and 
counter-trafficking. Police state that training to identify 
trafficking has resulted in more arrests. In addition, the training 
has led to an increase in attention law enforcement officials are 
paying to human trafficking issues, as well as their capacity to 
mount undercover operations in the regions. 
 
TEITELBAUM