This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 ACCRA 000370 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, AF/RSA 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB GH
SUBJECT: 2004 TRAFFICKING IN PERSON REPORT - GHANA 
 
REF: STATE 7869 
 
The following responses are keyed to reftel. 
 
----------------- 
Para 18: Overview 
----------------- 
 
¶A.  Ghana is both a country of origin and a destination for 
internationally trafficked persons.  Internal trafficking 
appears more common than cross-border trafficking; however, 
internal trafficking has been examined more closely by local 
NGOs and International Organizations than cross-border 
trafficking.  The Government does not have official figures 
on the number of trafficked persons, either domestic or 
cross-border, and estimates are difficult to come by and of 
limited reliability. 
 
¶B.  Domestically, most trafficking is in children.  Children 
are sent from the coastal areas to work in the fishing 
communities along the Volta Lake, and from the northern 
regions to the cities of Accra and Kumasi to work as domestic 
helpers, porters, and assistants to local traders. 
 
Internationally, the majority of trafficking involves 
children between the ages of seven and seventeen being 
shipped to and from the neighboring countries of Cote 
d'Ivoire, Togo and Nigeria to work as laborers or household 
help, or young women to work as prostitutes.  Ghana is also a 
transit country.  There is a growing trade in Nigerian women 
transiting Ghana on their way to Western Europe to work in 
the sex industry, and there is reportedly some trafficking in 
persons from Burkina Faso, going through Ghana on their way 
to Cote d'Ivoire.  Ghana Police Interpol officers have 
recognized a possible trend of Ghanaian expatriates returning 
to Ghana to marry young girls only to engage them in 
prostitution once in Europe. 
 
¶C. Due to a lack of current reliable data, we have not been 
able to detect any appreciable changes in the direction or 
extent of trafficking over the past year. 
 
¶D.  The most detailed surveys to date have been done by the 
African Center for Human Development (April 2002) and the 
Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment in conjuction 
with the ILO (February 2001).  Other NGOs have studied 
specific pockets of domestic trafficking sending and 
receiving areas.  No other studies are currently projected. 
Most efforts to combat trafficking in the past year have 
focused on awareness creation, rescue/repatriation of 
domestically trafficked children and poverty reduction. 
 
¶E.  Ghana is not a major destination for internationally 
trafficked victims.  Those trafficked domestically are used 
primarily for labor.  A February 2002 study funded by the 
Danish government through a local NGO found that the largest 
percentage of trafficked children work in the local fishing 
industry (39 percent), while 30 percent engage in selling, 20 
percent work as domestic laborers, eight percent as porters 
and three percent in farming.  The laborers are either not 
paid at all, or given very low wages.  Many children suffer 
serious abuse, malnutrition, long working hours.  Most are 
denied the opportunity of an education.  Because trafficked 
children are often sent away by families unable to support 
them, and sometimes in exchange for cash payments, they 
cannot easily return home despite their maltreatment. 
 
¶F.  Children from impoverished rural backgrounds are the 
primary victims of trafficking from Ghana to other countries. 
 Recruited children are usually between the ages of seven and 
fifteen, although there are reports of trafficked children as 
young as four.  Much of the recruitment of children is done 
with the consent of the parents, who are sometimes given an 
advance payment or promised regular stipends from the 
recruiter.  The parents are told the children will receive 
food, shelter, and often some sort of vocational training or 
education.  Some children are sent to work for extended 
family members in urban areas, who may treat the children 
relatively well.  Many, however, are given to professional 
recruiters, who, upon reaching the cities, hand the children 
off to those who will be their actual employers.  In many 
cases, the children never receive the promised education or 
vocational training.  Young Ghanaian women are also 
reportedly targeted by international traffickers promising 
jobs in Western Europe.  As mentioned in Para 18, B, police 
officials have noticed a trend of Ghanaian expatriates 
offering young women marriage and a promising new life in 
Western Europe only to end in prostitution.  They are sent 
mostly to Germany, Italy, or the Netherlands, either directly 
or indirectly through neighboring countries.  Some young 
women also end up in the Middle East, where they work menial 
jobs or as domestic help. 
¶G.  Despite its enormous resource constraints, the GOG is 
making a good faith effort to seriously address trafficking. 
Political will exists at the highest levels.  Most efforts 
during the year continued to focus on programs outside the 
legal system - prevention and protection of victims. 
Throughout the year, GOG officials collaborated with 
international donors and NGOs to repatriate trafficked 
children, reintegrate them into the formal education system, 
and offer poverty reduction assistance to parents.  NGOs and 
GOG officials repatriated over 1,000 children during the 
year.  UNICEF and the Ministry of Women and Children's 
Affairs (MWCA) provided vocational training to girls engaged 
in "kayayei" or itinerant portering.  The MWCA also worked to 
encourage parents who sold their children to bring them home 
in exchange for business assistance, vocational training, 
credit facilities, assistance with school fees and school 
uniforms.  The Ministry of Manpower Development and 
Employment worked with Catholic Action for Street Children 
and other NGOs to assist street children.  On June 12 for the 
World Day Against Child Labor, Members of Parliament debated 
the issue of child labor and child trafficking.  In November 
2003, the Vice President condemned the "slavery and 
trafficking of children for labor" in a keynote address at a 
conference on the historic slave trade.  In the annual budget 
statement to Parliament, read at the beginning of February, 
2004, the Minister of Finance announced the administration's 
intention to submit the Human Trafficking Bill to Parliament 
this year, and highlighted efforts taken in 2003 to combat 
trafficking and child labor, assist street children, and 
alleviate poverty, especially through women's development 
programs. 
 
In summer 2003, the World Bank provided a USD 2.3 million 
loan that the GOG has used to assist street children (many of 
whom were likely trafficked) in the major metropolitan areas 
of Ghana (Accra/Tema, Sekondi/Takoradi, Kumasi, and Tamale). 
The Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment continues 
to implement the one-year program, which tests strategies for 
delivering integrated support services (skills development, 
health services, HIV/AIDs awareness, and family services) to 
street children in order to develop a well-rounded policy to 
assist them. 
 
The MWCA established a Women's Development Fund, disbursing 
10 billion cedis ($1.1 million) in credit facilities to 
appproximately 20,000 women.  Mothers of trafficked children 
received over 835 million cedis ($95,000) to assist with 
school fees and uniforms and business assistance. 
 
While the mainstay of GOG and NGO actions focused on social 
solutions to trafficking, the GOG also continued to develop 
the Human Trafficking bill.  The Ministry of Manpower 
Development and Employment finally recruited a permanent 
Chief Director in October, who has since called several 
meetings of the National Human Trafficking Task Force to 
discuss how the draft trafficking legislation could be 
improved.  The Chief Director intends to call one more 
meeting (likely in March) to collect stakeholder comments and 
forward them to the Ministry of Justice before the draft bill 
is submitted to Parliament. 
 
¶H.  There is no evidence that Government authorities, or 
individual members of government forces, act to facilitate, 
condone, or are complicit, take bribes, or assist in 
trafficking operations. 
 
¶I.  The Government is limited in addressing the problem of 
trafficking by both culture and resources.  Child trafficking 
in Ghana is difficult to define.  Children from rural 
communities are commonly sent by their parents to work as 
housemaids for distant relatives in cities; a practice known 
as "fostering."  Given the severe poverty that many rural 
families face, sending a child to work for well-off relations 
in the city, with the hope that the child will receive some 
vocational training or education, is regarded as a genuine 
attempt to improve that child's opportunities.  The idea that 
sending children to live with extended family members under 
these circumstances is "trafficking" would make little sense 
to many Ghanaians.  Other, more exploitative forms of 
trafficking, such as cross-border trafficking or situations 
where the children are recruited by professionals who traffic 
them for profit, are recognized as problems by the 
Government, but resources are scarce.   Law enforcement 
authorities are not equipped with adequate training or 
financial resources to deal with the problem.  Police 
officers complain that lack of legislation criminalizing 
trafficking seriously hampers their efforts to combat the 
crime.  The Government is currently vetting a draft bill that 
in addition to criminalizing trafficking, would also 
establish a victims fund for protection and rehabilitation as 
well as prevention efforts. 
 
¶J.  The Government does monitor anti-trafficking efforts, but 
perhaps more haphazardly than systematically.  The 
International Labor Organization's International Program to 
Eliminate Child Labor (ILO/IPEC) frequently holds stakeholder 
meetings and the Ministry of Manpower Development and 
Employment has hosted several National Human Trafficking Task 
Force meetings in the Fall.  The meetings include the 
Ministries of Interior, Women and Children's Affairs, 
Manpower Development and Employment, members of the Police 
Service, Immigration Service, Customs, NGOs, IOs, 
international donors, trade unions, and employers 
associations.  While ILO/IPEC programs require such 
stakeholder meetings, in effect, they build the capacity of 
the National Task Force, which includes the same players. 
The draft trafficking legislation is expected to better 
formalize the coordinating and monitoring functions of the 
National Task Force. 
 
¶K.  Prostitution is illegal. 
 
¶L.  Forced childhood marriage is illegal and a problem. 
However, child brides are neither bought, sold nor imported 
from abroad, and the government does enforces the law. 
Interpol officers report a recent trend of Ghanaian 
expatriates returning to Ghana to marry young women, who are 
later forced into prostitution in Western Europe.  However, 
these women appear to be tricked into the marriage (not 
bought or sold) in hopes of a better life abroad.  On August 
15, 2003, a Circuit Court in Wa, Upper West Region sentences 
a farmer to prison for 14 years for sexually assaulting and 
marrying a 14 year old girl. 
 
------------------- 
Para 19: Prevention 
------------------- 
 
¶A.  Yes, the Government acknowledges that trafficking is a 
problem and has begun to address the problem on a coordinated 
and systematic basis (see para 18, G). 
 
¶B.  The following government agencies are involved in 
anti-trafficking efforts:  the Ministry of Interior 
(responsible for the Ghana Police Service and Ghana 
Immigration Service); the Ministry of Manpower Development 
and Employment (responsible for vocational training programs 
and the Department of Social Welfare); the Ministry of Women 
and Children's Affairs (responsible for advocacy of women and 
children's rights). 
 
¶C.  Almost all anti-trafficking information or education 
campaigns have been run either in coordination with NGOs and 
International Organizations (IOs) or by the NGOs or IOs 
themselves.  The Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC 
- part of the MWCA) has sponsored formal community gatherings 
to discuss the hazards of trafficking.  The WAJU has 
participated in information campaigns in Kokrobite, a coastal 
village known for sending children to work along the Volta 
Lake, as well as two bus/transit stations in Accra, to 
educate drivers on how to identify trafficking victims.  NGOs 
have initiated anti-trafficking poster campaigns, community 
gatherings, and media campaigns. 
 
¶D.  The Government is very supportive of programs to prevent 
trafficking, but usually relies on outside donor funding to 
maintain them. 
 
The Government of Ghana pays approximately 10 percent of the 
costs of ILO/IPEC programs to combat trafficking and child 
labor, and provides office space to ILO/IPEC staff.  In 
addition, the GOG supports programs designed to empower women 
and children that indirectly helps prevent trafficking (often 
using donated or debt-forgiveness funds).  Certain components 
of the Government's National Poverty Reduction Program are 
designed to alleviate child poverty and improve children's 
access to education, and the Ministry of Women's Affairs runs 
programs which serve to educate women on the importance of 
children's education.  The Ghana Education Service has an 
extensive program to promote girl-child education, and 
includes child labor issues in its curriculum. 
 
¶E.  The Government does support programs (see above), though 
scarcity of resources is always a problem. 
 
¶F.  The Government's relationship with NGOs, international 
organizations, and civil society is very constructive. 
¶G.  The Director of Ghana Immigration is committeed to 
combatting human trafficking.  However, like police 
counterparts, Immigration officers complain they are 
constrained by the lack of legislation criminalizing 
trafficking.  In addition, the GOG does not have the required 
resources to adequately monitor and control Ghana's lengthy 
land borders.  The lack of sufficient data to monitor 
immigration patterns, for example, stems from the lack of 
communication infrastructure between border posts and their 
regional offices. 
 
¶H.  See para 18, G and J.  The National Task Force on Human 
Trafficking currently works on policy, but is projected to 
become a coordinating body after the passage of legislation 
to combat trafficking. 
 
¶I.  In the past, the GOG has particpated in Economic 
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) conferences on 
trafficking in persons, however this year, there have been no 
such conferences.  Security and Social Welfare agencies do 
cooperate with their international counterparts. 
 
¶J.  The GOG does have a National Plan to Combat Trafficking, 
as well as a National Task Force. (Para 18 G and J).  In 
October 2001, Ghana hosted a meeting of ECOWAS Experts 
Against Trafficking in Persons, which resulted in a regional 
plan of action that called for states to establish their own 
action plans, national task forces and national awareness 
campaigns.  The GOG formally launched their task force and 
national plan in March 2002, which was slow to develop due to 
changes in directorships of important Ministries such as 
Manpower Development and Employment.  However, with a 
permanant Chief Director of Manpower Development and 
Employment installed in the summer of 2003, and the UN Office 
of Drugs and Crime offering assistance with the Task Force 
and Plan of Action in the fall, the effort has been revived 
in ernest.  Since then, several Task Force meetings have been 
held to critically review the draft trafficking legislation. 
 
¶K.  The Ministry of Justice has the lead on developing the 
new law against trafficking.  The Ministry of Manpower 
Development and Employment's child labor unit takes the lead 
on programs to combat child labor, and its Social Welfare 
Department offers victims protection.  The Ministry of 
Interior leads law enforcement efforts.  The draft 
trafficking bill will establish the Minister of either 
Manpower Development and Employment or the Minister of Women 
and Children's Affairs as the Chair on the National Task 
Force on Human Trafficking. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Para 20: Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶A.  There is no specific provision in Ghanaian law outlawing 
trafficking in persons.  There are laws against slavery, 
prostitution, rape (including child rape, termed 
"defilement"), use of underage labor, child stealing, 
kidnapping, abduction, manufacture of fraudulent 
documentation, etc.  Traffickers may be prosecuted under 
these statutes, however, police officials claim they are 
often inadequate.  For example, a child trafficker who has 
obtained the child with the parent's consent cannot be 
charged with abduction.  During the fall, the Ministry of 
Manpower Development and Employment organized several 
workshops for stakeholders to review the draft trafficking 
legislation, with the intention of compiling all comments and 
submitting them to the Ministry of Justice to revise the 
draft before it is sent to Parliament.  In February 2004, the 
Minister of Finance announced the administration's intention 
to submit the bill to Parliament this year. 
 
¶B.  There are currently no specific penalties for 
trafficking, but penalties for related offenses range from 
six months to 25 years. 
 
¶C.  Rape is punishable by 7 to 25 years in prison. 
 
¶D.  In the past, traffickers have been prosecuted under 
statutes listed in para 20, item A.  Information on 
sentencing of traffickers is not kept separately from other 
data on sentencing for rape, kidnapping, and other offenses 
for which traffickers can be prosecuted.  During the year, 
police arrested four persons for trafficking-related 
offenses, however, none were convicted, police officials say, 
due to the lack of an anti-trafficking law.  Also during the 
year, a couple in the Eastern Region was sentenced to 2 years 
in prison and fined approximately $1,150 for trying to sell a 
neighbor's 3-year-old son.  A woman accused of taking four 
Ghanaian girls to work as prostitutes in Nigeria was released 
when the girls failed to show up in court to testify.  A 
court in the Upper East Region arraigned a woman who was 
arrested in 2001 for trafficking eight boys and three girls 
to the Gambia.  The trial is still ongoing, as is a 2002 case 
of traffickers intercepted with 50 children. 
 
¶E.  Within Ghana, brokers or recruiters procure children from 
rural areas and move them to the locations where they will 
work (see para 18, F.)  These recruiters may move as many as 
ten children at one time.  Internationally, some trafficking 
groups are reportedly taking advantage of Ghana's growing 
international air links by moving Nigerian women through 
Ghana to Europe. 
 
¶F.  Local law enforcement does not use any special techniques 
in the detection or investigation of trafficking, however, 
there are several cases involving detection of trafficking by 
police through tip-offs by local residents. 
 
¶G.  The National Plan to Combat Trafficking includes a 
training component for police and immigration officers. 
 
¶H.  As per responses to Paragraph 19, the GOG does cooperate 
with other governments, chiefly through the existing ECOWAS 
Plan of Action.  Post is not aware of any international 
investigations. 
 
¶I.  We have no examples of the extradition of accused 
traffickers. 
 
¶J.  There is no evidence of government involvement in or 
tolerance of international trafficking.  However, it is more 
difficult to assess the Government's position on domestic 
trafficking.  It is commonplace for poor children from rural 
areas to go to cities and work as domestic help for extended 
family relations.  This is not viewed as "trafficking" and is 
not illegal in Ghana, but is seen as a way of giving the 
children improved opportunity.  Increasingly, government 
officials are becoming aware that this traditional fostering 
practice can be exploitative and constitute a human rights 
abuse. 
 
¶K.  We are unaware of any Government officials involved in 
trafficking. 
 
¶L.  Ghana ratified the UN Convention on the Rights on the 
Child in 1989 becoming one of the first countries to do so, 
and codified child rights with the 1998 Children's Act.  On 
September 24, 2003, Ghana signed the Optional Protocol to the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of 
children, child prostitution, and child pornography.  The 
Government ratified ILO Convention 182 in May 2001 and ILO 
Convention 29 in 1957.  Ghana has not ratified ILO Convention 
105 or the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish 
Trafficking in Persons. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Para 21:  Protection and Assistance to Victims 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶A.  Social Welfare Offices are present in every Region and 
District in the country.  However, any protection or shelter 
given to the victims of trafficking, either international or 
domestic, is done on a case-by-case basis, as resources are 
limited.  In many cases, the authorities do try to reunite 
trafficked and abused children with their families.  NGOs 
have sought to provide services the police and social 
services cannot by establishing several crisis centers. 
However, as awareness of the problem grows and trafficking 
victims seek assistance, the limited resources available for 
such assistance will be overstretched. 
 
¶B.  See para 19, D. 
 
¶C.  Trafficking victims are generally referred to the Women 
and Juvenile Unit of the Police (WAJU) and to the Social 
Welfare Department. 
 
¶D.  If they are arrested, the victims of international 
trafficking are prosecuted on an occasional, case-by-case 
basis, for offenses such as posession of altered documents. 
There were no cases of trafficking victims prosecuted during 
this reporting period. 
 
¶E.  We are unaware of trafficking victims being encouraged to 
seek redress against traffickers. 
 
¶F. The Government does not provide specific protection for 
victims of trafficking beyond those available to all crime 
victims or witnesses. 
 
¶G.  Much of the specialized training for officials in the 
past year has been sponsored by NGOs with outside donor 
funds.  ILO/IPEC provided training to Ghanaian (and Nigerian) 
security services in October 2003. 
 
¶H.  The Government provides assistance to repatriated 
trafficking victims on an ad-hoc basis.  There has been a 
strong emphasis on repatriating domestically trafficked 
children and providing their parents with assistance and 
credit facilities to help alleviate poverty and better enable 
the parents to care for their children.  WAJU assists victims 
of abuse and violence, including trafficking victims.  Crisis 
centers are few.  The Department of Social Welfare has a few 
children's homes and remand homes, but these are generally 
inappropriate and inadequate to deal with trafficking 
victims.  NGOs, working closely with local authorities, are 
stepping in where official resources are lacking to provide 
safe havens, counseling and transportation back home. 
 
¶I.  Several national and international NGOs as well as 
International Organizations work with trafficking victims. 
African Center for Human Development, Save the Children UK, 
Children in Need, Action Aid, Catholic Action for Street 
Children, Parent and Child Foundation, Ghana NGO Coalition on 
the Rights of the Child, Coalition for Women in Distress, 
ILO/IPEC, International Organization for Migration and UNICEF 
all work in the areas of child labor and support for street 
children.  These organizations conduct studies into 
trafficking as part of their broader agenda, perform some 
rescue operations for street kids, provide training and 
education for victims of trafficking and abuse, and, in some 
cases, offer family reunification.  National and local 
government authorities collaborate with these NGOs to combat 
trafficking in persons. 
Yates