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RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
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RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 0039
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0032
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0471
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0418
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0401

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 16 CONAKRY 000267 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR G/TIP ? Veronica Zeitlin 
ALSO FOR G, INL, DRL, PRM, AF/RSA, AF/W 
PLEASE PASS ALSO TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12598:  N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN ELAB SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF GV
SUBJECT: GUINEA 2007 TIP REPORT 
 
REF: 06 STATE 202745 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Over the past year, the Government of 
Guinea has made concentrated efforts to address trafficking 
in persons.  Most importantly, it has successfully 
investigated and prosecuted a trafficking case, sentencing 
the perpetrator to time in prison.  The judicial sector is 
plagued by endemic corruption and lack of institutional 
capacity.  Trafficking, like other crimes, is punished 
unevenly.  This first conviction sends a strong signal that 
impunity for traffickers is unacceptable.  There has been 
continued progress in raising awareness on trafficking, 
significant cooperation with neighboring countries, and 
solid collaboration with civil society to implement the 
national action plan.  The Guinean armed forces initiated 
an action plan to combat trafficking and continue training 
officers and soldiers on related issues.  In balance, the 
Government of Guinea has demonstrated the political will 
and concrete actions to address trafficking in persons. 
The following sections are keyed to the criteria in reftel 
paragraphs 27-30.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
OVERVIEW OF GUINEA'S ACTIVITIES TO ELIMINATE 
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
A) Guinea is a country of origin, transit, and destination 
country for men, women, and children trafficked for sexual 
exploitation and domestic and commercial labor.  The 
Guinean government does not have reliable statistics on the 
exact numbers in each group.  Estimates run in the 
hundreds.  The most recent report on trafficking in Guinea, 
completed by Stat-View for UNICEF in August of 2003, 
indicated that the majority of child trafficking was 
internal to Guinea.  The report concluded that trafficking 
in Guinea is "marginal in magnitude according to the 
international definition". 
 
-- The primary sources of information on trafficking in 
persons are the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons and the national and international NGOs that work 
in collaboration with this committee.  Statistics are 
unreliable because there are no established mechanisms to 
collect the necessary data to regularly update them. 
Studies have so far been dependent on international 
funding, but the government plans to undertake more 
thorough documentation of trafficking.  The Ministry of 
Justice initiated a project with the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) to synthesize past and 
present reports to develop a more robust system to 
centralize and track this information. 
 
-- The Guinean government initiated a comprehensive study 
with a focus on the issue of trafficking, working with the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) via the 
International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor 
(IPEC) to undertake an exhaustive analysis of child labor 
in Guinea.  The research project is nearing completion and 
has collected data on the numbers of children who work in 
the mining sector, as street vendors, as domestics, and who 
are associated with drug or arms sales.  Since the number 
of Koranic schools is growing, the study also examines how 
children are treated in these institutions, since some 
schools are reported to exploit students as workers. 
Results have not yet been released. 
 
-- Guinean children are internally trafficked to Conakry, 
mainly from the impoverished rural areas of Upper and 
Middle Guinea.  The problem exists across all ethnic 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  002 OF 016 
 
 
groups, partly as a result of the country's economic 
crisis.  Families employ girls as domestics, and boys work 
as shoe shiners and street vendors.  Traffickers place boys 
from Guinea's rural regions in Koranic schools, where they 
work for the schoolmasters and may be forced to beg for 
their meals.  Some children work as agricultural laborers 
on plantations or in artisanal gold and diamond mining 
operations.  Like last year, children are not being 
recruited from refugee camps to participate in armed 
regional conflicts.  The ICRC reported that trafficking of 
children was a problem among repatriates from Sierra Leone 
and Liberia, some of whom hoped to gain advantage from 
reunification projects intended to reconstitute families 
separated through war. 
 
B) There has been no significant change in the trafficking 
situation in Guinea since the last report.  The Government 
of Guinea has steadily continued its efforts, demonstrating 
the political will to address trafficking in persons 
issues.  It made marked progress in the area of 
prosecution, a key aspect that had been previously 
identified as a problem.  The government continued to make 
progress in other areas initiated in its successful effort 
to be removed from the "Special Watch List" in 2006.  There 
has been considerable progress in raising awareness on 
trafficking, continued cooperation with neighboring 
countries based on recent bilateral and multilateral 
accords, and solid collaboration with civil society to 
implement the national action plan.  The National Committee 
to Combat Trafficking in Persons, bringing together 
government, NGO, and IO partners, continued to operate. 
 
-- To further strengthen efforts in the sub-region, the 
National Committee hosted a July 24 workshop with Economic 
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) representatives 
to evaluate the conformity of the country?s action plan 
with ECOWAS standards and common guidelines.  The Committee 
concluded that Guinea is in compliance with ECOWAS 
standards and has made significant progress in prevention 
and awareness.  Through attendance at regional conferences, 
committee representatives continue to develop specific 
terms of reference with its neighbors to collect reliable 
data on human trafficking.  The Government of Guinea has 
encouraged its partner NGOs to collaborate with regional 
NGOs to develop and strengthen networks and systems to 
support its efforts. 
 
-- Successful government partnerships have ensured that 
populations in all regions of Guinea are becoming more 
knowledgeable about trafficking and the resources available 
to combat the problem.  While Guinea has demonstrated 
concrete efforts during the year, prosecution of 
traffickers remains an area where progress remains slow due 
to fundamentally weak judicial system with limited capacity 
to prosecute any crimes.  There is a chronic lack of 
resources to identify and investigate traffickers, although 
for the first time, there are several cases in the system 
with active investigations where suspected perpetrators are 
charged with trafficking crimes.  There is a paucity of 
resources available for victim protection and the 
government relies almost entirely on its NGO and IO 
partners to provide these services. 
 
-- Guinea is a source country for women and girls 
trafficked to Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Nigeria, South 
Africa, Spain, and Greece, for domestic servitude and 
sexual exploitation.  Traffickers occasionally use Guinean 
men for agricultural labor.  The majority of trafficking in 
girls destined for Guinea originates in the sub-region in 
Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso, with smaller 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  003 OF 016 
 
 
numbers coming from Liberia, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. 
The vast majority of trafficked victims leave indigent 
homes hoping for better economic opportunities elsewhere. 
Their families are approached by friends, other family 
members, influential members of their communities, or 
persons of greater economic means with promises for a 
better life.  In exchange for money and promises of future 
payments, the victims are sold or given by their families 
to traffickers who have gained their trust or admiration. 
Cases of abduction are rare, but exist. 
 
-- There is a growing number of third country nationals 
destined for Guinea.  Many of these victims are women and 
girls from China brought to Guinea for sexual exploitation 
for an increasing population of Chinese businessmen and 
workers on large infrastructure projects.  Organized 
trafficking networks from Nigeria, China, India, and Greece 
use Guinea as a transit point.  Traffickers take advantage 
of the fact that Guineans do not need a visa for entry into 
some North African countries and that Guinean documents are 
easy to obtain.  False documents are commonly used to move 
the victims.  The female victims are transported through 
the Maghreb countries to Europe, notably Italy, Ukraine, 
Switzerland and France.  A network of Indian operators also 
exists which transports young adult men from India and 
Pakistan through Nigeria and Senegal to Guinea where they 
are housed before being transported for labor in European 
countries, although this latter practice probably falls 
within illegal migration. 
 
C) The Guinean government is severely limited in its 
ability to address trafficking in persons.  The economy is 
in deep crisis, a situation that led to a nationwide 
grassroots movement to protest dire political and economic 
conditions and leaders who failed to perform.  Over the 
last year, Guinea has grappled with the violence and 
crippling effects of three general strikes, a state of 
siege, and related killings and massive public and private 
property damage.  Many of the state administrative offices 
in Conakry and the interior have been destroyed.  Inflation 
is over 30% at the same time currency depreciation posed a 
major challenge. 
 
-- Funding for police and judicial institutions is meager. 
The government has insufficient resources for its social 
and administrative programs; operating budgets are slim or 
non-existent.  Therefore, the government focuses its anti- 
trafficking activity on structural and policy changes, 
which are powered by funding and implementation from NGOs 
and other multilateral programs. 
 
-- Corruption is an acknowledged and persistent problem in 
Guinea.  Although no statistics are available, it is 
possible that some customs, immigration and border 
officials or higher-level officials are individually 
complicit in trafficking incidents.  There were no arrests 
or prosecutions of corruption cases connected to 
trafficking during the year.  Some traffickers and their 
accomplices are reportedly protected by powerful actors and 
have not been brought before the criminal justice system. 
 
-- In spite of limited resources and capacity, the 
government has undertaken efforts to improve awareness 
through the Ministry of Pre-University Education to 
integrate TIP-related issues into the primary school 
curriculum.  The government has also sought to establish 
more community-based victim protection services to place 
children into welcoming families.  By enlarging the 
community of donors who can provide support to combat TIP, 
the government has been able to initiate several projects 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  004 OF 016 
 
 
over the last year, ensuring through the National Committee 
that they are coordinated in their approach. 
 
D) The Guinean government continues to monitor TIP issues 
through the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons, formally established in February 2006.  Guinea 
also monitors its effort through compliance with its anti- 
trafficking convention with ECOWAS, signed in 2001.  The 
treaty confers investigation rights and extradition 
privileges related to trafficking to the member countries. 
 
-- Recent bilateral and multilateral accords seek to 
increase regional cooperation, harmonize legislation, and 
promote information exchange.  A significant monitoring 
component of the multilateral accord is the Permanent 
Regional Monitoring Commission (CRPS) that ensures 
signatories are implementing the agreements, exchanging 
necessary information, and proposing solutions to combat 
trafficking.  Each state signatory is also charged with 
creating a National Monitoring Commission (CNS); the 
members of Guinea's National Commission have been 
identified, and have begun their work.  The government 
cooperates and integrates its trafficking-related programs 
with UNICEF, Save the Children, Plan Guinea International, 
WACAP and other NGO programs, to reinforce its financially 
strained victim protection services. 
 
---------- 
PREVENTION 
---------- 
 
A) The Guinean government acknowledges that trafficking is 
a problem.  All of the relevant government ministries have 
appointed representatives for the National Committee to 
Combat Trafficking in Persons.  The Ambassador and DCM have 
engaged the government at the highest levels, including 
with the Minister of Justice and Minister of Social 
Affairs, who recognized the gravity of the problem and 
called on all relevant actors to implement recommendations 
set forth in Guinea's plan of action. 
 
B) The National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons 
is charged with the development, planning, coordination, 
and implementation of policies, programs, and other 
measures to prevent, repress, and punish all forms of 
trafficking in persons.  There are sixteen ministries 
represented on the Committee.  The Ministry of Social 
Affairs and the Promotion of Women and Children takes the 
lead and has the Committee Presidency.  Other members are: 
Ministry of Justice, Vice President; Ministry of Security, 
Rapporteur; Ministry of Labor; Ministry of Territorial 
Administration and Decentralization; Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs; Ministry of Tourism; Ministry of Cooperation; 
Ministry of Pre-University Teaching and Civic Education; 
Ministry of Vocational Teaching and Professional Training; 
Ministry of Transportation; Ministry of Economy and 
Finance; Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture; Ministry of 
Public Health; Ministry of Information; Ministry of Fishing 
and Aquaculture; Ministry of Agriculture and Animal 
Husbandry.  A non-governmental agency, the Guinean 
Employers' Association (Patronat), is also represented. 
 
-- The National Committee is a crucial leader in Guinea?s 
anti-trafficking efforts but it lacks the depth to be 
efficient in its efforts.  While it has broad-based 
membership, the larger group rarely meets.  The Committee 
President reports that this is due to severe resource 
constraints and a lack of an operating budget, which makes 
it impossible even to provide refreshments for members when 
they gather.  The executive committee members tend to be 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  005 OF 016 
 
 
extremely knowledgeable and active, generally meeting at 
least one time per month.  However there is little 
knowledge transfer to the rest of the committee.  Many 
representatives, particularly from those ministries not 
traditionally involved in this issue, make only nominal 
contributions.  Several ministries have not yet fully 
engaged the issue and integrated it into policy and 
programming. 
 
-- While it is not formally part of the National Committee, 
the Ministry of National Defense, through its Directorate 
of Operations and Instruction and Office for Protection of 
Children?s Rights, is actively engaged on trafficking 
issues.  As a result of long-term training of Guinea?s 
security forces, the armed forces have developed a 2007 
action plan to combat trafficking in children.  The plan?s 
objective is to ?put in place and make functional at the 
heart of the armed forces, a mechanism to combat 
trafficking in children and initiate actions integral to 
Guinea?s national plan to combat trafficking in persons.? 
While the armed forces have not yet developed its own 
concrete activities, its designation of officers to work 
specifically on this issue is significant. 
 
C) Guinea's national action plan to combat trafficking in 
persons includes public awareness campaigns as a priority. 
The government continues to view this as the most important 
component of its efforts.  Beginning in 2005 and continuing 
through the reporting period, with support from UNICEF (and 
partially financed through FY2005 ESF funds), the 
government launched an intensive national information and 
education initiative.  The campaign focuses on the supply 
side of trafficking of children, aiming to reduce the 
number of potential victims.  The overall objectives of the 
media campaign are to inform and raise awareness of 
Guineans on trafficking and the rights of children.  By 
including information on the international and national 
legislation related to trafficking, the campaign informs 
the population of the consequences of trafficking on a 
national scale. 
 
-- The information and education campaign includes the 
production of a film that uses a series of fictional 
vignettes to raise awareness of trafficking issues.  The 
film shorts are in French and in local languages, featuring 
stories from all regions of Guinea.  They have been 
broadcast to wide acclaim on national television and in 
community centers, schools, and neighborhoods across the 
country.  Working with the NGO Mano River Women for Peace, 
the media campaign engaged traditional communicators in all 
four regions to conduct a grassroots effort to strengthen 
understanding of trafficking and children's rights. 
Although the campaign is focused on curbing the demand for 
trafficking, its messages will also target victims by 
educating them about the resources available for 
assistance.  Government representatives supported children 
who put on a play in April and an acrobatic performance in 
June that featured anti-trafficking themes, in the 
children?s own words.  Although a formal evaluation of the 
campaign has not been concluded, its activities have 
resulted in a marked increase in levels of awareness in 
many communities throughout Guinea. 
 
D) The national action plan includes activities in the 
areas of prevention, repatriation, reinsertion, protection, 
and coordination.  The strategic areas in the Guinean armed 
forces action plan complement these foci.  These anti- 
trafficking initiatives are an integral component of 
Guinea's comprehensive national planning document, which 
includes education campaigns, child registration drives, 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  006 OF 016 
 
 
and efforts to more accurately document births.  The 
government in partnership with the NGO Plan Guinea 
continued its pilot program in the Forest Region to 
register 87% of new births, a significant increase from the 
30% of births currently registered nationwide.  Guinea's 
national poverty reduction strategy includes a program to 
combat child labor. 
 
-- Prevention programs target schools, especially in the 
areas most affected by trafficking, engage NGO partners, 
and create networks of professionals including teachers and 
police, to keep young girls in school and promote 
awareness.  There is a national emphasis on girls, teacher 
training, materials, and early childhood development. 
Repatriation programs are underway in cooperation with the 
International Refugee Committee (IRC) and UNHCR. 
Reinsertion initiatives include education and programs to 
train youth in revenue-producing activities.  Protection 
efforts aim to erect appropriate legislative safeguards and 
begin data collection, and to foster high-level 
coordination of existing strategies. 
 
E) Guinea's national action plan is a product of input from 
numerous national and multinational NGOs, civil society 
organizations, and labor unions, all active members of the 
National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons.  These 
organizations include the national organizations Mano River 
Women's Network for Peace (REFMAP), the National Guinean 
Coalition/Rights and Civil Liberties for Women (CONAG/DCF), 
Action Against the Exploitation of Children and Women 
(ACEEF), Sabou-Guinea, and the Association for Children and 
Young Workers (AEJT).  Each of these NGOs has specific 
programs that address awareness-raising, prevention, and 
victim protection. 
 
-- Guinea?s newly powerful labor unions represent an 
estimated 85% of Guinea's entire formal government and 
private sector workforce.  Over the last year, the trade 
union movement has also represented the informal sector, 
students, retirees, and the larger population in its goals 
and demands.  Their participation on the committee is 
intended to facilitate outreach and education throughout 
the country.  The international organizations with 
representatives on the committee are International Refugee 
Committee, International Organization for Migration, and 
Terre des Hommes.  All of these organizations report 
excellent relationships with government officials that have 
resulted in extremely strong collaboration. 
 
-- Guinea also works closely with the International Labor 
Organization, UNICEF, and Save the Children to promote the 
rights of children.  Together they have completed train- 
the-trainers programs preparing instructors who now teach 
government officials, police and security officers.  With 
Sabou-Guinea, the government has addressed child protection 
before, during, and after armed conflicts.  This liaison is 
implemented with UNICEF and prepares a cadre of military 
officers who train their colleagues to respect the rights 
of children.  The organizations continue to train officers 
and soldiers who are then deployed to educate others. 
 
F) Guinea's borders are porous and the government has no 
consistent program to monitor movements across them.  The 
government, along with other ECOWAS countries, has 
introduced a regional travel document program.  Guinea now 
uses a common machine-readable passport similar to those 
used in Schengen countries, with a scanned photo and other 
safeguards.  Over the last year, Guinea has made 
significant improvements in its passport technology in an 
effort to reduce document fraud. 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  007 OF 016 
 
 
 
-- The government has not effectively monitored immigration 
and emigration patterns for evidence of trafficking.  The 
government continues to work with national NGOs and the 
transporter union to train drivers, raising their awareness 
of trafficking patterns and offering them specific tools to 
combat trafficking and information about resources to refer 
victims.  To address the weak immigration controls along 
the border areas, UNICEF worked closely with the Ministry 
of Security to begin mixed patrols consisting of members of 
security forces and civilian representatives from the local 
community.  Local officers in the border areas were 
provided vehicles and other resources to enable them to 
carry out this mission. 
 
G) In practice, the National Committee to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons is the agency charged with 
addressing trafficking-related matters.  The new mandate of 
the Committee tasks its Permanent Secretariat to meet twice 
per month and upon convocation by the Committee president. 
In addition, the Committee is assigned to present a report 
three times per year to the Minister of Social Affairs on 
the implementation of the National Action Plan to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons.  These meetings and mandated 
reporting are the key mechanisms that ensure coordination 
and communication between various agencies.  However as 
addressed previously, there are no regular meetings or 
information exchanges among the larger group.  The point of 
contact is the Committee President, Mr. Issa Traore.  The 
government has a public corruption task force located in 
the Ministry of Economy and Finance, an agency also 
represented on the National Committee. 
 
H) The government has a national action plan, initially 
drafted in 2003 and updated as necessary.  Over this 
reporting period, the Ministry of Defense also developed 
its own action plan for 2007, complimenting the cross- 
ministerial national roadmap.  The National Committee 
sponsored seminars during the year to evaluate progress 
made on the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons.  Most notable was the two-day July workshop with 
the ECOWAS expert to evaluate Guinea?s progress under 
common standards.  The committee acknowledges significant 
progress was made in prevention, data collection, and 
awareness.  However, resources continue to pose a problem ? 
especially over the most recent reporting period.  The 
National Committee President reported that his activities 
were delayed for months because he was unable to mobilize 
the resources to provide basic office supplies and other 
equipment necessary for basic operations of the committee. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
A) Guinea has not enacted any new legislation since the 
last TIP report.  Guinea's Penal Code (1998) outlaws 
trafficking in persons under Article 337 which punishes 
"any person who has sealed an agreement which has as its 
objective the prevention of liberty of a third person, 
either for free or monetary profit."  This crime carries a 
penalty of five to ten years imprisonment and the 
confiscation of any money or property received from 
trafficking activities.  This law was enacted to address 
internal forms of trafficking, but has also been used as 
the basis for transnational trafficking.  Since 
independence in 1958, any form of slavery is illegal in 
Guinea. 
 
-- This article also prohibits the exploitation of 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  008 OF 016 
 
 
vulnerable persons for unpaid or underpaid labor, 
punishable by six months to five years prison time and a 
fine of 50,000 GF to 300,000 GF (approximately 10 to 57 
USD).  The last part of the article prohibits the 
exploitation of vulnerable persons to conditions of work or 
shelter that are incompatible with human dignity.  This 
offense carries a fine of 50,000 GF to 500,000 GF 
(approximately 10 to 96 USD) and prison time of one month 
to five years.  A law on transnational trafficking is part 
of a larger project on transnational crimes that is still 
in the drafting process. 
 
-- The government is in the process of drafting a more 
specific and stringent law prohibiting trafficking in 
persons, based on the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, 
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially 
Women and Children.  Guinea?s law concerning trafficking in 
children remains in the revision and legislative process. 
For minors, the changes will be integrated into a 
comprehensive Child Code.  Although the government planned 
to adopt the code during the year, it has gone back to a 
joint committee of government and NGO experts to 
incorporate new provisions that would allow organizations 
and advocates to file suit on behalf of victims.  This 
component will fundamentally overhaul the current judicial 
process that requires a victim claim for prosecution.  In 
December, the government sponsored a workshop to 
collaborate with its NGO and IO partners to improve the 
draft.  The draft legislation includes more severe 
penalties than those now in force for trafficking-in- 
persons crimes, especially for those involving children. 
The draft legislation specifically targets pedophilia, 
child pornography, the sale of children, and child 
abduction.  The Ministry of Justice is reviewing the law to 
ensure its conformity with the current Penal Code.  It will 
then be sent to the National Assembly for ratification. 
 
-- In addition to these laws, the penal code includes 
several sections making illegal the following activities 
that may be related to trafficking in persons: hostage 
taking, pawning a human being, threats, assault, and 
pushing another person into delinquent activities, 
including prostitution.  Taken together, the laws are 
sufficiently broad to cover the full scope of trafficking 
in persons, if applied.  While some officials favor the 
amendment of these laws to carry stricter penalties, others 
argue that the government must begin by successfully being 
able to prosecute at least one case and to effectively 
ensure the perpetrator serves time in prison. 
 
B) The article that outlaws trafficking does not make a 
distinction between the motives of trafficking people for 
sexual exploitation or for labor exploitation.  In both 
cases, the crime carries a penalty of five to ten years 
imprisonment and the confiscation of any money or property 
received for trafficking activities. 
 
C) The prescribed penalties for labor exploitation are 
rarely imposed.  The government?s laws provide for jail 
time of five to ten years but we are not aware of any case 
where the government has prosecuted or convicted a person 
under this law.  Labor recruiters engage in techniques 
using knowingly fraudulent and deceptive offers that result 
in workers being exploited in Guinea and in other 
countries.  In practice, there have been no convictions or 
criminal punishments in such cases. 
 
D) The Guinean Penal Code stipulates a five-to-ten year 
prison term for rape.  Aggravated rape, defined as rape by 
an authority (teacher, public official), or sexual 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  009 OF 016 
 
 
violation of someone less than 14 years old, a mentally ill 
or physically impaired person, carries a penalty of ten-to- 
twenty years in prison.  These penalties are comparable to 
crimes involving trafficking. 
 
E) In Guinea, prostitution has not been legalized or 
decriminalized.  It remains a violation of the Penal Code. 
However, a person prostituting him/herself cannot be tried 
under the law.  The minimum age for this activity is 18 
years, but girls under the age of 14 were involved in 
prostitution.  The government did not take action when 
prostitution of minors was brought to its attention, and it 
did not monitor actively child or adult prostitution.  The 
clients, pimps, and enforcers are criminalized but in 
practice, almost none of these laws are enforced.  Due to 
the severe funding limitations and the lack of capacity for 
investigations and prosecutions, the government has not 
focused its resources in this area.  Instead, it has chosen 
to focus on prostitution with victim protection and re- 
insertion programs. 
 
F) The government of Guinea is in the process of 
investigating and prosecuting several cases against accused 
traffickers.  The case reported last year, of a man living 
in Macenta in Upper Guinea who was arrested in January 2006 
for attempting to sell his five year old daughter, was 
successfully investigated, prosecuted, and the perpetrator 
was sentenced to prison.  He had begun serving prison time 
in N?Zerekore, the regional state facility.  Unfortunately, 
during the January strike and state of siege, there was a 
fire at the prison and several prisoners escaped, including 
the trafficker.  By the end of the reporting period, he 
remained at large.  Deplorable prison conditions that have 
resulted in death, injury, and escape remain a systemic 
problem that the government has not adequately addressed. 
However, this is a separate issue that does not detract 
from the fact that the first trafficking case has 
successfully made its way through Guinea?s justice system. 
 
-- In the current period of analysis, there is data on 
several active and ongoing investigations of trafficking 
crimes.  As there has only been one case that has proceeded 
to the trail phase, there are not comprehensive statistics 
regarding investigations, convictions, and sentencing.  In 
the case from Macenta, we understand the trafficker did not 
pay a fine although by law he should have been required to 
do so.  The courts did not accept a plea bargain; the 
population insisted that the perpetrator be imprisoned and 
punished for his crime. 
 
-- During the year, a 16-year old girl from Conakry was 
reportedly trafficked by her two tutors for labor 
exploitation.  The accused sent her to Monrovia to work as 
a domestic.  While there, she was exploited sexually and 
returned to Conakry pregnant.  The victim and her child are 
being cared for by a national NGO.  The traffickers were 
arrested and their case turned over to the Ministry of 
Justice.  During the judicial proceedings, the girl denied 
she had been a victim and asked that her former tutors be 
released.  The Ministry of Justice closed the case, because 
there was no complaint on which to base a trial.  The 
police completed a thorough investigation of the case and 
found evidence of trafficking. 
 
-- In July, a girl was kidnapped and trafficked to a 
village in Macenta region to be exploited as a domestic 
servant.  The police returned the 7-year old girl to her 
grandmother.  The perpetrator was identified, arrested, and 
the case turned over to the Ministry of Justice.  It 
remains in active investigation and the trafficker is being 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  010 OF 016 
 
 
prosecuted under Guinea?s anti-trafficking law. 
 
-- Guinea is both a labor source and destination country. 
We are not aware of any criminal prosecutions underway for 
labor recruiters or employers or labor agents.  The 
government has made concentrated efforts to combat the 
worst forms of child labor and labor exploitation.  While 
it has addressed trafficking generally, the government has 
not made specific distinctions between trafficking for 
labor and other purposes. 
 
G) Traffickers in Guinea include freelance operators and 
some sub-regional and international networks.  In general, 
it is believed that the majority of the traffickers are 
small crime groups.  Because the formal service sector is 
relatively undeveloped, there are few employment, travel, 
or tourism agencies that could act as fronts for 
trafficking.  There are some reports that government 
officials, or individuals with strong connections at high 
levels of government, may be involved in trafficking. 
These reports have not been confirmed and at present, there 
are no active investigations of government officials for 
trafficking-related offenses.  There are no reports that 
profits from trafficking in persons are being channeled 
into any organizations or institutions other than the 
personal or professional accounts of the perpetrators. 
 
H) During this evaluation period, the government has 
actively investigated several cases of trafficking.  In 
November police rescued 14 Sierra Leonean women and their 
babies in Conakry and placed them in a safe house run by a 
local NGO.  They were victims of a trafficking network that 
was planning to send them to Holland.  No suspects were 
ever arrested but the investigation is ongoing. 
 
-- In the Macenta case from 2005, a neighbor gave a tip to 
the police that a father was trying to obtain 10 million 
Guinean francs (approximately 2,200 USD) for his child. 
Although the police have limited experience and resources, 
they set up a covert sting operation, posing undercover as 
potential buyers.  Their efforts were successful as they 
were able to collect extremely strong evidence of the 
father's purpose, the act, and the identity of the victim ? 
all the necessary components to convict the trafficker. 
 
-- Techniques such as electronic surveillance and 
undercover operations are allowed but the specific 
techniques remain secret during the criminal proceedings as 
part of a sealed portion of the case file.  Because the 
Guinean government has only recently begun investigating 
trafficking cases, none have yet arrived at the stage where 
mitigated punishment or immunity for cooperating suspects 
might be used.  In practice, the judicial system is not 
sufficiently strong to offer these arrangements for any of 
its criminal cases.  The criminal procedure code does not 
prohibit the police from engaging in covert operations, 
however limited resources make these operations rare. 
 
I) In the last year, the government has continued to 
provide specialized training on trafficking for government 
officials, particularly members of the security services. 
Guinean military forces are regularly trained on problems 
related to children in armed conflict.  The Guinean 
military has created an 11-member unit to deal with the 
rights of children and to monitor events that may be 
related to trafficking.  This office has developed an 
action plan to implement these techniques in a more 
systematic way.  The International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) continues to provide human rights training to 
members of the Guinean armed forces in cooperation with the 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  011 OF 016 
 
 
Bureau of International Human Rights in Kissidougou. 
These programs included workshops for hundreds of police 
trainees and student inspectors at the National Police 
Academy.  The Ministry of Security also hosted a series of 
seminars for groups of security services across the 
country. 
 
J) A bilateral accord between Guinea and Mali was signed in 
2005 and builds upon a long history of international and 
regional agreements to promote human rights and to combat 
trafficking in children by focusing on the areas of 
prevention, protection, repatriation, rehabilitation, 
reinsertion, repression, and cooperation.  The agreement 
sets forth specific obligations for standards that must be 
upheld by the Guinean government that include the 
development and implementation of an action plan, creation 
of a national coordinating committee, making sufficient 
funds available to combat trafficking, punishing 
traffickers, harmonizing legislation, developing programs 
and stronger relationships with civil society and donor 
institutions to combat trafficking.  In addition, the 
accord outlines specific responsibilities for the state 
that is identified as a source, transit, and destination 
for trafficking.  As Guinea falls into all three of these 
categories, this agreement binds the government in its 
commitment to combat trafficking in the most important 
domains. 
 
-- Similarly, Guinea signed a multilateral accord among 
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Liberia, Mali, 
Nigeria, and Togo in 2005 to combat trafficking.  The 
signatories have agreed upon almost identical obligations 
and standards as included in Guinea's bilateral agreement 
with Mali.  In July, Guinea?s Minister of Social Affairs 
led a delegation to Abuja where Guinea was signatory to an 
accord between ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central 
African States (ECCAS) to combat trafficking in persons and 
to develop a regional action plan to support these efforts. 
Thus, Guinea has taken the lead on drafting cooperative 
agreements to address trafficking in the region.  The 2005 
multilateral accord creates a Permanent Regional Monitoring 
Commission (CRPS) with a secretariat based in Abidjan. 
This commission follows the activities of the signatories 
and ensures they are implementing the accord, exchanging 
necessary information, and proposing solutions to combat 
trafficking.  Each state signatory is also charged with 
creating a National Monitoring Commission (CNS) composed of 
representatives from the government and civil society. 
 
-- Since these accords have been signed, there are ongoing 
investigations of cooperative international investigations 
on trafficking, although the exact number is not known. 
The outcomes will test the effectiveness of the agreements 
and the ability of these regional actors to coordinate 
their efforts.  In addition, the Guinean police are working 
with Interpol and the Government of France in an ongoing 
investigation of two women who are suspected to be actively 
trafficking children between Guinea and France. 
 
K) The government has extradition agreements with ECOWAS 
members.  There are no reports of extraditions to Guinea in 
the evaluation period.  Guinea's first trafficking case, 
where the alleged perpetrator held dual Guinean and Malian 
nationality, was pre-empted by the perpetrator's 
extradition to Mali.  The bilateral accord had not yet been 
signed when she was extradited, thus the agreement remains 
untested in its effectiveness to guarantee prosecution.  In 
the future, the agreement between the two nations is that 
either the perpetrator would not be extradited and would 
stand trial in Guinea, or that the Malian government would 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  012 OF 016 
 
 
guarantee that the perpetrator would face trial in Mali, 
witnessed by representatives from the Guinean government 
and/or local NGOs. 
 
L) High-level official involvement in trafficking has been 
occasionally reported in newspapers, but most information 
identifies this activity as related to illegal immigration 
schemes, not trafficking.  Evidence suggests that there are 
systemic patters of fraud for obtaining U.S. visas.  Some 
of the cases involve minors.  Some may be women taken to 
the United States by government officials for the purpose 
of sexual and labor exploitation.  Others may be 
beneficiaries of alien smuggling. 
 
M) Government corruption is a problem, but there is nothing 
to indicate that trafficking in persons is a specific focus 
of corruption.  There were no prosecutions of government 
officials for involvement in trafficking or trafficking- 
related corruption.  Corruption remained widespread 
throughout society, including in the executive, 
legislative, and judicial branches of government. 
Connection to powerful individuals sometimes conferred 
exemption from the application of Guinea's laws. 
 
N) Guinea does not have an identified child sex tourism 
problem.  There is no record of any foreign pedophiles that 
the government has ever prosecuted or deported/extradited 
to their country of origin.  The current child sexual abuse 
laws do not have extraterritorial coverage. 
 
O)  The Government has signed and or ratified conventions 
as follows: 
 
-- ILO Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and 
immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of 
child labor was signed by the Government of Guinea on June 
6, 2003. 
 
-- ILO Convention 29 was signed by the Government of Guinea 
on January 21, 1959 and 105 on forced or compulsory labor 
was signed on July 11, 1961. 
 
-- The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of 
the Child (CRC) on the sale of children, child 
prostitution, and child pornography was signed by the 
Government of Guinea in December 2001. 
 
-- The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking 
in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing 
the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime has 
not yet been signed.  The Ministry of Justice is working on 
ratifying the Protocol. 
 
------------------------------------ 
PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS 
------------------------------------ 
 
A) Within its limited means, the government provides 
assistance to victims of trafficking.  The Ministry of 
Social Affairs, through its section for Children at Risk, 
continues to provide assistance to 350 children, 22 of whom 
were trafficking victims.  Most of the children are victims 
of violence, have been abandoned, live in unsafe homes, or 
are orphans.  In each of these cases, the government has 
worked to place these children into welcoming homes, 
working closely with local NGOs in this effort.  A case 
manager follows each child to ensure he or she is 
immediately provided with legal and medical services.  Many 
officials would like to see this program expanded, 
especially with a temporary shelter where these children 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  013 OF 016 
 
 
could be protected. 
 
-- At present, there are no dedicated shelters in the 
country for trafficking victims.  A project was initiated 
in 1997 to outfit a shelter for children in Yattaya, a 
section of Conakry.  The project was to have been completed 
in 1998.  The project donors maintain that all of the 
necessary funds were contributed for the project, yet the 
construction was never completed.  Some reports suggest 
that the government is making annual contributions for the 
maintenance of this shelter that has never been 
operational. 
 
B) The government does not subsidize foreign or domestic 
NGO victim services, but it cooperates with NGOs who 
provide assistance.  It also makes in kind contributions to 
support anti-trafficking programs such as the provision of 
staff to help support the mission.  The National Committee 
to Combat Trafficking in Persons encourages more of this 
type of programmatic collaboration, expanding it to victim 
protection services.  At present, victim protection is 
limited because of lack of resources and capacity to 
effectively manage available funds. 
 
C) At present, there are no comprehensive or formal systems 
for identifying victims of trafficking among high-risk 
persons.  Most law enforcement and social services 
personnel have only starting to become aware of 
trafficking.  Over the last year, several NGOs report a 
distinct increase in the ability for officials to begin 
asking the right questions to identify victims.  However, 
these procedures are inconsistent and rely on individual 
knowledge and exposure to the issues.  This awareness tends 
to be at lower levels in some of the high-risk areas of the 
country, especially near the borders. 
 
-- Over the reporting period, the government, in 
collaboration with national NGOs, initiated a ?green line? 
? a free, 24-hour telephone number that a victim (or 
concerned citizen) can call to provide and receive 
information about resources available for victims of abuse, 
including trafficking.  There is a referral process in 
place to immediately transfer victims into protective care. 
If foreign persons are arrested, authorities help victims 
contact local embassies and process travel documents for 
repatriation.  The police assist victims by contacting 
humanitarian groups that, in turn, provide access to 
shelter and family reunification programs. 
 
D) In general, the rights of victims are respected and they 
are not treated as criminals.  The government sometimes 
gives victims refuge in jails, if no alternatives are 
available.  Their status as victims is recognized and they 
are housed separately from, and given more services than, 
prisoners.  Because there is a paucity of available 
statistics, it is unclear if any trafficking victims have 
been prosecuted for violations of other laws.  Because 
prosecutions for immigration, prostitution, or other crimes 
that may be associated with trafficking are generally rare, 
it is unlikely that victims fall into this category.  The 
government is working to reinforce a greater understanding 
among law enforcement authorities that trafficking victims 
must not be criminalized - a message that remains part of 
the public awareness campaign and government training 
programs. 
 
E) The government encourages victims to assist in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking.  A 
trafficking victim has the right to sue his trafficker in 
Guinea, as long s/he is at least twelve years of age.  A 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  014 OF 016 
 
 
victim who is a citizen of an ECOWAS country may start 
civil legal proceedings in Guinea, but the court procedure 
and decision must take place in the country where the 
trafficking originated.  To date, there have been no such 
cases.  If the victim is a material witness in a court case 
against an employer, the victim is permitted to obtain 
other employment. 
 
-- At present, the victim must have been identified in 
order to prosecute a trafficking case.  This is one of the 
issues under debate within the legislative process for an 
amended trafficking law.  The government has been open to 
suggestions by NGOs and victim-support groups who would 
like to have the opportunity to file suit without having to 
compromise the identity of the victim or if the victim 
cannot be located.  Once a victim has provided the 
necessary information for the trail, there are no barriers 
for the victim leaving the country.  An attorney can 
represent the victim during the judicial process.  If 
Guinean trafficking victims are returned, they are given 
assistance to return to their home, and they have access to 
the social services available to other citizens.  No 
dedicated victim services are provided for restitution. 
 
F) The government has limited ability to provide shelter or 
physical protection for victims and witnesses and in 
practice, does not provide them.  The judicial system 
offers protection of testimony and other evidence during 
and after a trial.  Even after the trial is complete, the 
information is supposed to remain sealed.  However because 
of rampant corruption, there have been several reported 
cases where this information has been compromised, making 
victims and witnesses more wary to assist the process.  The 
government does not typically offer shelter or any other 
benefits to victims to aid them in rebuilding their lives - 
it does not have the resources to do so.  Typically, child 
victims are placed in foster-care type homes with families 
until a more permanent solution can be found.  When these 
families cannot be found, they are placed in orphanages. 
 
G) To address weaknesses in law enforcement, provision of 
victim assistance and protection, the government continued 
to work with ACEEF to train security forces, customs 
agents, judges, prosecutors, social workers, and unions on 
TIP issues.  At the request of the government, regional 
workshops to train police, gendarmes, and military on TIP 
issues and children's rights were conducted by ACEEF, Save 
the Children, and UNICEF.  The armed forces plan to begin 
conducting their own training program for officers and 
soldiers on these issues in 2007. 
 
-- The government does not provide specific training on 
protection and assistance to its diplomatic corps. 
However, all embassies and consulates are supposed to be 
staffed with a legal advisor, who is familiar with Guinea's 
laws and penal code. 
 
H) The government provides limited assistance designed 
specifically for its repatriated nationals who are victims 
of trafficking.  However, there are several programs 
sponsored in partnership with the government to provide 
assistance for several vulnerable groups.  For example, 
working in partnership with the International Organization 
for Migration, employment assistance services have been 
made available for Guinean returnees from Switzerland, 
internally displaced persons, stranded migrants who 
returned to Guinea, and for members of the receiving 
community. 
 
I) A wide range of NGO and IO contacts report excellent 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  015 OF 016 
 
 
working relationships with the Government of Guinea on TIP 
issues.  For example, police contacted NGOs to provide 
protection and reintegration services for the victims in 
the trafficking cases during this reporting period. 
Solid collaboration among Save the Children, the 
International Labor Organization, and the Ministry of 
Education has enabled the government to provide re- 
insertion services including formal, informal, and 
vocational education for thousands of at-risk children. 
 
-- In general, the government lacks the resources and 
administrative structure to assist and protect TIP victims 
comprehensively.  Civil servants are poorly paid and lack 
sufficient training; existing social services are unable to 
address the needs of the general population.  However, 
through collaboration with international organizations and 
NGOs, local authorities are able to provide some services 
for trafficking victims.  These services typically focus on 
re-integration and re-insertion services like counseling 
and vocational education.  Through the National Committee 
to Combat Trafficking, the government has been able to 
identify the key areas within the national plan of action 
where the timeline for each activity is coordinated with 
relevant partners and sources of funding.  This mechanism 
has made it easier for all actors to identify what efforts 
still must be targeted. 
 
-- The Government of Guinea has consistently demonstrated 
the political will to address the problem of trafficking in 
persons, but lack of resources, institutional capacity, and 
endemic corruption have hampered its efforts.  Over the 
past year, Guinea has made great improvements and achieved 
concrete progress.  This is particularly true in the area 
of prosecutions where, for the first time, cases are 
successfully making their way through a judicial system 
that has been unable to address impunity in most other 
areas.  The Government of Guinea continues to engage its 
population to combat trafficking, although it is not 
currently its highest priority issue. 
 
------------------------ 
POST CONTACT INFORMATION 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) Political/Economic Section Chief Jessica Davis Ba 
can be reached by email at davisbajl@state.gov.  The 
Embassy telephone number is (224) 30-42-08-61/62/63; Fax 
number (224) 30-42-08-73.  After July 6, the embassy 
contact for trafficking issues will be the new 
Political/Economic Section Chief, Shannon Cazeau, who can 
be reached using the same telephone and fax information. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
MAJOR INVESTMENT OF TIME AND RESOURCES 
FOR A WORTHY CAUSE 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Post recognized the importance of this report and a 
focus on TIP issues.  We spend an extraordinary amount of 
time on trafficking in persons issues, integrating it into 
our programming and reporting priorities.  We also 
recognize the value of using TIP as a diplomatic tool to 
pursue our policy goals of democracy, good governance, and 
human rights.  We have appreciated the support and funding 
from the Department to enable us to further engage the 
government and national organizations on trafficking- 
related issues. 
 
¶4.  (U) The hours below represent those spent by Embassy 
officials preparing the trafficking in persons report: 
 
CONAKRY 00000267  016 OF 016 
 
 
 
FSN Grade 8-2:  22 hours 
Political Officer FS-03: 20 hours 
Deputy Chief of Mission:  3 hours 
Ambassador:  2 hours 
 
MCDONALD 
MCDONALD