VZCZCXRO9833
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHFN #0261 1551140
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031140Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY FREETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1948
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS FREETOWN 000261 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/ILCSR (MITTELHAUSER), G/TIP (STEINER) 
PLEASE PASS TO DOL/ILAB (RIGBY) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SL
SUBJECT: SIERRA LEONE: MANDATORY REPORT ON FORCED LABOR AND 
CHILD LABOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS 
 
REF: A. STATE 43120 
     ¶B. GARMS E-MAIL 05/01/08 
     ¶C. GARMS/LEMAR CALL 05/07/08 
 
¶1. Forced and child labor are known to be problems in Sierra 
Leone, primarily for the provision of services and in diamond 
mining. Exploitation is also suspected in quarries, and the 
rubber, timber, and fishing industries. These particular 
industries are the subject of in-country research by an 
independent consultant contracted by DOL/ILAB through Macro 
International. While post intended to consider any gaps 
remaining from that particular research initiative, the 
researcher has yet to share her findings. Thus, pursuant to 
discussions with DOL/ILAB, poloff focused 
information-gathering efforts on forced labor in the 
gold/coltan mining sectors in Sierra Leone. 
 
¶2. Meetings with government officials, international 
organizations, and non-governmental organizations, as well as 
a literature review, revealed no substantive information to 
suggest that exploitative child labor or forced adult labor 
is present in either. Gold mining is a very small part of the 
extractive industries, and, while not regarded as 
well-regulated, interlocutors were unaware of exploitative 
labor involved in that activity. Coltan is not currently 
mined in Sierra Leone. Embassy sources confirmed that there 
are no rumors or concerns that the one company holding a 
coltan prospecting license is exploiting its workers. 
PERRY