VZCZCXYZ0031
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLC #0179/01 1061259
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151259Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0287

UNCLAS LIBREVILLE 000179 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR G/TIP V ZEITLIN AND AF/C S SARDAR 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM GB
SUBJECT:  GABON:  FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON 2008 TRAFFICKING IN 
PERSONS REPORT 
 
Ref:  Libreville 0146 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (SBU) Post has consulted closely with Ambassador Reddick, 
currently presenting credentials in Sao Tome, and provides these 
additional comments concerning trafficking in persons in Gabon and 
the proposed placement of Gabon on the Tier 2 Watch List.  This 
cable reflects her views.  Credible independent observers tell us 
that they believe the amount of child trafficking in Gabon has 
declined over the last 2-3 years, due to a combination or greater 
public awareness, better services to victims, and law enforcement 
efforts.  We agree with those observations.  Because Gabon has made 
progress on TIP criteria, we believe it is not appropriate to place 
Gabon on the Tier 2 Watch List.  End Summary. 
 
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Context 
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¶2.  (SBU) We respectfully request that those carrying out the TIP 
Tier analysis consider the following additional points.  As we 
understand it, most of the concern about Gabon's performance centers 
on Gabon's law enforcement response to trafficking, including 
prosecutions and convictions.  Our comments therefore focus largely 
on these issues. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Out the outset, however, we would like to point out that 
Gabon is a small and somewhat unusual country, heavily bureaucratic, 
without adequate systems for generating the statistical data that 
would do much to document better or worse performance on TIP 
criteria.  Gabon has made, and continues to make, a serious effort 
to combat trafficking.  Its reception centers, for instance, are 
well-organized and--we suspect--as good or better than any in 
sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) It is important to recognize the close collaboration 
between Government and NGO efforts to combat trafficking, and to 
avoid artificial distinctions between those efforts.  Indeed, these 
are precisely the kinds of public-private partnerships that should 
be encouraged.  As described in our reporting, Government has 
provided financial and other support to a call center where victims 
of trafficking can call in to get help.  The government operates its 
own reception center, and supports and works closely with the two 
NGO-operated reception centers in Libreville.  And, as detailed 
below, the police and other authorities collaborate closely with 
both the government-run center and the private centers and 
subsequent stages of the process, including rescuing victims, 
arresting traffickers, and taking appropriate follow-up action. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Finally, we urge that Gabon's law enforcement response be 
considered in its entirety, and in view of the realities on the 
ground.  We have therefore attempted to provide further detail on 
some of the ways Gabonese law enforcement system, including its 
system of arrest and prosecution, impacts the fight against 
trafficking. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Law Enforcement Response:  Rescue 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The police act on referrals from the call center, and on 
reports brought directly to them, and rescue victims of trafficking. 
 The victims are either (a) brought for further evaluation by the 
responsible government ministry, or (b) taken directly to one of 
three reception centers.  Thus the police regularly bring 
trafficking victims to both public and private receptions centers. 
 
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Arrest 
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¶7.  (SBU) Collaboration does not stop there.  The police arrested at 
least 16 suspected traffickers in 2007.  These suspected traffickers 
spent significant amounts of time in detention--and indeed some 
remain in detention awaiting trial. 
 
---------------------- 
Detention Before Trial 
---------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Detention following arrest should not be confused with a 
lack of due process.  Indeed, lengthy detentions, and the lack of 
successful prosecutions and convictions, are attributable in part to 
the procedural rights which the accused enjoy in the Gabonese legal 
system.  Arrest and detention are parts of due process, not contrary 
to due process. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Nevertheless, lawful detention does function as a de facto 
punishment and a de facto deterrent to trafficking in Gabon.  This 
is a reality acknowledged by all the participants in the process. 
 
-------------------------- 
Forcing Traffickers to Pay 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The assistant director reception centers informed us on 
April 14 that her center had repatriated 80 trafficking victims to 
their countries of origin last year.  In almost all cases, the 
suspected traffickers paid for the repatriation--including the costs 
of air tickets, visas and other expenses.  The police authorities 
were instrumental in forcing the traffickers to pay these costs. 
The police and other authorities also ensure that repatriations 
occur without interference from the traffickers and repatriations 
have proceeded without incident. 
 
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Release Without Prosecution 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) We obtained further information on one group of suspected 
traffickers--an official from one reception center said there were 
10-15 such cases last year--who were arrested, detained, and 
subsequently released without prosecution.  Most of these 
individuals, according to our source, were immigrants from Niger, 
many of whom had physical handicaps like blindness.  When their 
children were observed begging or in other inappropriate 
circumstances--generally raising money for their parents--the 
children were brought to the reception centers and the parents were 
arrested.  The parents protested that this kind of activity was 
normal in their "nomadic" culture, where children did not go to 
school.  According to our informant, the authorities subsequently 
decided not to prosecute these cases, but only after officials from 
the reception centers, in collaboration with the police, were 
satisfied that the detainees had been properly advised on Gabonese 
law.  Children were allowed to rejoin these families only after 
government officials were satisfied that they would not again be 
trafficked. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) These arrest outcomes, which involved active government 
participation, were not convictions.  However, the traffickers 
experienced significant de facto punishment and government officials 
collaborated with reception center personnel to make a serious 
effort to ensure that the arrested persons would not return to 
trafficking. 
 
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Prosecutions 
------------ 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Post has already provided the data we were able to obtain 
from the government on prosecutions.  However, it is important to 
note that Gabon has no centralized reporting system for tracking 
criminal prosecutions, including prosecutions related to 
trafficking.  Therefore all "data" on this subject should be treated 
cautiously.  We spoke April 14 to three officials at one Libreville 
reception center, all of whom agreed that during 2007 they were 
personally familiar with certain traffickers who had been both 
arrested and convicted. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) We have no/no confirmation of this assertion from 
government sources.  The only data we were able to obtain--notably 
from the Ministry of Social Affairs, not the Ministry of 
Justice--has already been reported:  16 persons arrested in 2007, of 
whom five were released, three escaped and eight are awaiting trial 
and judgment. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) In this context government efforts to centralize crime 
reporting, and establish special courts to handle trafficking cases, 
clearly represent steps in the right direction. 
 
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And Finally . . . 
----------------- 
 
¶16.  (SBU) More substantively, credible independent observers tell 
us that the number of child trafficking victims in Libreville has 
appeared to decline substantially in the last 2-3 years.  We share 
this view--although this trend is This is difficult to quantify. 
 
And there are concerns that some child trafficking may have shifted 
away from open-air markets and similar public venues to private 
homes, and out of Libreville to provincial centers.  But the 
observed decline in the number of child trafficking victims, and the 
fact that traffickers have been forced to either get out of the 
business or find other methods of trafficking, can be attributed to 
public awareness, good work by reception centers and others 
assisting the victims, and--yes--significant law enforcement efforts 
by the Government.  We very much recognize that more needs to be 
 
done, and that we and others need to keep the pressure on.  However, 
Gabon's efforts, including law enforcement efforts, are bearing 
fruit, and for that reason post respectfully contends that it is 
inappropriate to place Gabon on the Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
REDDICK