VZCZCXYZ0020
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAR #0674/01 1431424
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221424Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6542
INFO RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 1769
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC

UNCLAS ACCRA 000674 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR AF/W AND INL 
USDOJ FOR MARIE-FLORE KOUAME 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL SNAR KCRM KJUS KWMN GH
SUBJECT: AN OVERVIEW OF THE OVERSEAS PROSECUTORIAL DEVELOPMENT AND 
TRAINING (OPDAT) PROGRAM IN GHANA 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (SBU) On November 19, 2007, the OPDAT Intermittent Legal Advisor 
(ILA) arrived at post and commenced her Trafficking in Person (TIP) 
Program.  To date, the OPDAT ILA has trained law enforcement 
officers from the Ministry of Women and Children (MOWAC), the 
Department of Social Welfare (DSW), the media, the Ghana Police 
Service, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Ghana 
Immigration Service (GIS), the Customs, Excise and Preventive 
Service (CEPS), and the Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit 
(DOVVSU).  The OPDAT ILA has also monitored reports of TIP and has 
provided legal guidance and advice to Interpol and CID in their 
pending TIP cases.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------------- 
TRAININGS AND NGO PARTICIPATION 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Since the inception of the training program, the OPDAT ILA 
has conducted twice-weekly trainings on a variety of topics 
including, (1) Ghana's Human Trafficking Act of 2005 (legislative 
intent and legal analysis), (2) Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
sensitization, (3) available social services for TIP victims, (4) 
psychological profiles of exploited victims, (5) interviewing and 
building rapport with victims, (6) evidence gathering techniques, 
(6) interagency collaboration in victim rescue efforts, and (7) 
promoting regional West African law enforcement collaboration 
regarding TIP cases. The training modules are facilitated by the ILA 
and include lectures by both the ILA and invited resource 
persons--including competent local clinical psychologists, local and 
international NGOs and, by video-conference, federal agents and 
Nigerian law enforcement counterparts in order to ensure that 
Ghana-specific, regional and culture-specific information is being 
provided to the class members. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The training participants from the CID, Ghana's equivalent 
of the FBI, included officers from a variety of sections within the 
CID-including the Crime Scene Bureau, Violent Crime, Firearms, 
Fraud, Organized Crime and the Courts Unit. The Courts Unit is 
composed of police-prosecutors who are tasked with prosecuting many, 
if not most, of the human trafficking cases. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The following NGOs have participated in one or more of the 
training modules:  the International Organization of Migration 
(IOM), the Rescue Foundation of Ghana, and the Legal Resource Center 
of Ghana.  The ILA is currently working with UNICEF, CID and GIS to 
coordinate a national law enforcement anti-TIP conference, which 
will jointly train Police, Immigration and CEPS officers. The ILA is 
also working with Interpol and GIS to plan a UNICEF-sponsored TIP 
training in Ghana.  This training will include law enforcement 
counterparts from Cote d'Ivoire who are interested in developing 
their own training program.  The program will also prepare Ghanaian 
and Ivorian law enforcement officers for future cross-border 
anti-TIP law enforcement operations. 
 
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THE JANUARY BROTHEL RAID AND ITS AFTERMATH 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Soon after the ILA's arrival at post, the ILA received 
information that a large number of girls were being trafficked to 
brothels in Accra for commercial sexual exploitation.  There was 
heightened concern for the victims due to an expected increase in 
demand during the African Cup of Nations football tournament, which 
began on January 20, 2008. Since the police officers would be the 
first to address allegations of human trafficking, both from an 
investigative and prosecutorial standpoint, and due to the quickly 
approaching commencement of the tournament, the ILA began her OPDAT 
program by building the capacity of the "first responders," the 
police. On the evening of January 19, 2008, a raid was conducted on 
a brothel in Accra by members of CID.  The raid resulted in the 
arrest of approximately 78 male clients and the rescue/removal of 
approximately 160 women and children.  Ghanaian media reports and 
government officials hailed the raid as the largest raid involving 
commercial sexual exploitation conducted in Ghana's history.  The 
consensus opinion is that CID did a good job conducting the raid. 
However, the governmental agencies responsible for the 
victim-protection aspects of this case, namely MOWAC and DSW, 
unfortunately, due to their inexperience in handling cases such as 
this, were not as adequately prepared for the volume of adults and 
children that were recovered from the brothel.  As a result, most of 
the alleged victims have left the shelter facilities. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In an effort to improve MOWAC's and DSW's capacity to 
handle such cases, the ILA developed a training program that allowed 
both agencies to receive training with members of DOVVSU.  Together, 
 
MOWAC, DSW and DOVVSU not only learned about the law with respect to 
TIP, but they also discussed the roles and capacity of the various 
agencies in rescuing TIP victims and they obtained a clearer 
understanding of the mandates of the relevant organizations in such 
cases.  Additionally, one of the final training modules for this 
group included a video-conference with representatives from the 
Nigerian Authority for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons 
(NAPTIP).  This video-conference highlighted methods for improving 
the capacity of Ghana's Human Trafficking Management Board, involved 
discussions regarding recent and on-going cases involving TIP 
criminal organizations (at least one of which has a nexus to Ghana), 
fostered interagency collaboration between NAPTIP and Ghana's law 
enforcement and social service agencies, and appeared to motivate 
the participants to strive to create a NAPTIP-like paradigm in 
Ghana.  In addition to the student participants, the ILA also 
invited local and international NGOs that actively engage in TIP 
victim rescue efforts to attend and participate in the discussion. 
 
 
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FUTURE TRAININGS 
------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The ILA is currently working with G/TIP to provide more 
follow-up intensive training to law enforcement, social service 
agencies and NGOs on responding to cases involving large numbers of 
victims who have been subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. 
This training is expected to occur in mid-June.  The ILA also 
expects to train members of the Judiciary and additional prosecutors 
in June. 
 
--- The ILA continues to provide legal advice to the Ambassador, the 
DCM, and the Political Section chief and members of their staff on 
issues involving TIP.  The ILA attends Country Team and Core 
Meetings and regularly contributes information during such meetings. 
 The ILA also acted as an alternate control officer for Bobby 
Pittman, Jr., Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director 
for African Affairs, National Security Council, during President 
Bush's visit to Ghana in February 2008. 
 
BRIDGEWATER