VZCZCXYZ8204
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTO #0191/01 0630833
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030833Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8628
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0126

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000191 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, AF/RSA, AF/S 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG ELAB KFRD ASEC PREF MZ
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: 2008 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT 
 
REFS: A) 07 STATE 150188; B) 08 STATE 2731 
 
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OVERVIEW 
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¶1. (SBU) Mozambique is a source and possibly a destination 
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes 
of forced labor and sexual exploitation.  The use of forced and 
bonded child laborers is a common practice in Mozambique's rural 
areas, often with the complicity of family members.  Women and 
girls are trafficked from rural to urban areas of Mozambique, as 
well as to South Africa, for domestic servitude and commercial 
sexual exploitation in brothels; young men and boys are 
trafficked to South Africa for farm work and mining.  Trafficked 
Mozambicans often labor for months in South Africa without pay 
before "employers" have them arrested and deported as illegal 
immigrants.  Traffickers are typically part of small networks of 
Mozambican and/or South African citizens; however, involvement 
of larger Chinese and Nigerian syndicates has been reported. 
Zimbabwean women and girls are likely trafficked to Mozambique 
for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude.  The Ministries 
of Interior, Women and Social Action, and Justice are most 
prominently involved in anti-trafficking efforts, although a 
general lack of financial and human resources greatly limited 
their ability to address the problem. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Government of Mozambique does not fully comply with 
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  Mozambique 
is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide 
evidence of significantly increasing efforts to combat 
trafficking in persons over the last year.  To further its anti- 
trafficking efforts, the government should prosecute and convict 
arrested traffickers; ensure the passage of anti-trafficking 
legislation; launch a public awareness campaign; and investigate 
and prosecute public officials suspected of accepting bribes to 
overlook trafficking crimes or free traffickers. 
 
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Prosecution 
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¶3. (SBU) Mozambique took steps toward the passage of anti- 
trafficking legislation during the reporting period, and 
concrete law enforcement efforts increased somewhat.  Mozambique 
does not prohibit any form of trafficking in persons, though its 
penal code includes at least 13 articles under which trafficking 
cases can be charged. Nevertheless, there were no prosecutions 
or convictions of traffickers in 2007. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In August 2007, the Council of Ministers approved and 
forwarded to the National Assembly for final approval a 
comprehensive law against human trafficking that contains 
specific provisions on prevention, prosecution, and protection. 
As of February 2008, the law still had not been placed on the 
Assembly's legislative agenda for a vote. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The law prohibits rape (excluding spousal rape) but was 
not effectively enforced. Penalties ranged from two to eight 
years' imprisonment if the victim is 12 years of age or older, 
and eight to 12 years' imprisonment if the victim is under the 
age of 12.  Prostitution is legal, although it is governed by 
several laws against indecency and immoral behavior and 
restricted to certain areas. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Many lower-ranking police and border control agents are 
believed to accept bribes from traffickers, severely hindering 
Mozambique's prosecution efforts.  Police reported breaking up 
several trafficking schemes, arresting several drivers and 
facilitators, but not the traffickers behind the operations. For 
example, law enforcement officials investigated a case that may 
have involved trafficking.  Some 100 workers at Golden Fields, a 
flower company owned by former Foreign Minister Leonard Simao 
and his wife, were recruited in Tete and Manica provinces, 
promised good working conditions, and provided with 
transportation to Maputo Province.  Instead an inspector from 
the Ministry of Labor found workers in slave-like conditions, 
working long hours without proper protective equipment, living 
in tents, no access to bathrooms, and no access to safe drinking 
water.  When the workers complained to the owner and asked to be 
provided transportation back to their home provinces, they were 
denied.  Following the visit of the labor inspector, the GRM 
immediately suspended the company's operations and ordered the 
return of workers to their home provinces. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In January police in Manica Province stopped a truck 
carrying 39 children (aged 6 to 15) from several northern 
provinces on their way to Maputo, ostensibly to enroll in 
Islamic schools to study the Koran.  Police arrested the driver 
and the only other accompanying adult and conducted an 
investigation into the incident.  The children were traveling in 
the back of a truck without proper seating and little food or 
water. While an investigation by the Attorney General's Office 
concluded that the children were traveling with the consent of 
their parents, no head of any Islamic School in Maputo admitted 
knowing about enrolling the children.  This fact led NGOs and 
the Mozambican police to label the incident as a case of 
trafficking in persons.  Police, with assistance from an 
international children's NGO arranged for all 39 children to be 
transported back to their homes. 
 
¶9. (SBU) A program of one-day police trafficking seminars for 
new police officers in the central provinces (Sofala, Tete, 
Manica, and Zambezia) begun in 2006 was extended in November 
2007 to include the northern provinces.  Training began in 
Nampula and in January commenced in Cabo Delgado and Niassa 
provinces.  There is no evidence of government involvement in or 
tolerance of trafficking. 
 
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Protection 
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¶10. (SBU) The government's efforts to protect victims of 
trafficking continued to suffer from a lack of resources; 
government officials regularly relied on NGOs to provide 
shelter, food, counseling, and rehabilitation for victims of 
trafficking.  The government encouraged victims to assist in the 
investigation and prosecution of traffickers, and it did not 
penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a result of 
their being trafficked. 
 
¶11. (SBU) In December 2007, the Ministry of Interior expanded 
from 151 to 155 the number of police stations with a center 
dedicated to women and children victimized by violence, 
including cases of trafficking; these offices registered 
complaints and filed reports of trafficking crimes before 
turning victims over to NGOs for care.  During the year, these 
offices received 89 kidnapping cases between January and October 
¶2007.  The cases are officially classified as kidnapping due to 
the lack of a formal anti-trafficking law, although the head of 
the office stated the strong possibility that a majority of 
these kidnapping cases involved trafficking in persons.  Police 
officers reportedly returned victims to their homes. A local NGO 
continued to manage the country's only permanent shelter for 
child trafficking victims, which operates on land donated by the 
Moamba District government. 
 
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Prevention 
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¶12. (SBU) The government's prevention efforts remained weak. 
Most anti-trafficking educational workshops were run by NGOs 
with government participation.  Law enforcement officials at 
major border crossings communicated and cooperated with NGOs 
monitoring immigration and emigration patterns to screen for 
potential trafficking victims.  During the year, law enforcement 
officials publicized several trafficking cases and government- 
owned media outlets covered such stories. 
 
¶13. (U) Embassy point of contact on TIP is Leonel Miranda, 
Political officer. Tel: 258 21 492 797 ext. 3423; fax: 258 21 
490 448; cellular phone 258 82 319 8830.  Principal FSO drafter 
(FS-3) spent 80 hours researching and drafting this cable. The 
Charge (FS-01) spent three hours, and the A/DCM (FS-02) spent 
two hours, including the editing/clearing process.  Pol-Econ 
Chief (FS-2) spent 10 hours, and LES political assistant spent 
¶40. Total hours: 135. 
 
CHAPMAN