VZCZCXYZ0021
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAR #0182/01 0631623
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041623Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7616

UNCLAS ACCRA 000182 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF SMIG ELAB KTIP KCRM KFRD GH
SUBJECT: ACCRA 2009 ANNUAL TIP REPORT 
 
REF:  STATE  132759 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:   The Government of Ghana (GoG) continued to make 
progress during the reporting year toward combating trafficking in 
persons.  The Ghana Police Service (GPS) was involved in several 
rescues, particularly of children; during July and August of 2008, 
nearly 200 children were rescued.   In February, 2009, a Chinese 
prostitution ring in Accra was broken up, with three Chinese 
nationals arrested and seven women freed.  The GoG allocated money 
to the Human Trafficking Fund in December, 2008, the first 
contribution in the reporting year.  Training continued, 
particularly through the support of a DOL attorney housed within the 
Criminal Investigation Department of the Police.  Through this 
effort over 350 officials received training in counter-trafficking. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Despite the progress made, the GoG continued to have 
difficulty bringing traffickers to trial, and no convictions were 
obtained in the reporting year. Officials recognize the need for 
better planning prior to large rescues, but social service 
component, including the number of shelter beds, and the support 
available to victims of trafficking, remains limited and 
under-resourced.  GoG officials recognize this deficiency, but lack 
resources to address.  Statistics on trafficking remain difficult to 
assess, due to the lack of a centralized system for record keeping. 
¶3. (U) Embassy Accra's TIP POC is Paul Stevenson, Political Officer, 
(233) 21 741 851. 
¶4. (U) The points below correspond to the numbering/lettering per 
reftel. 
¶5. (SBU) Ghana's TIP Situation  (Question 23) 
¶A. (SBU) Available sources of information on trafficking in persons 
from the Government of Ghana (GoG) include the Ministry of 
Employment and Social Welfare (MESW, formerly the Ministry of 
Manpower, Youth and Employment), the Ghana Police Service's (GSP) 
Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and Domestic Violence 
Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU),  the Ministry of Women and Children's 
Affairs (MOWAC).  International and non-governmental organizations 
include the International Organization for Migration and the 
International Labor Organization, UNICEF, and NGOs such as the 
Enslavement Prevention Alliance, West Africa.  Ghana's 2005 Human 
Trafficking Act (HTA) established a Human Trafficking Management 
Board to make and coordinate counter-trafficking policy. 
¶B. (SBU) Ghana is a country of origin, transit and destination for 
internationally trafficked women and children.  Internal 
trafficking, particularly of children, is more common than 
cross-border trafficking.  Children are trafficked from rural areas 
to urban areas, and from rural areas to other rural areas, such as 
from farming to fishing communities.  The GoG has identified a 
number of source regions for child trafficking, which include the 
Central, Western, Volta and Greater Accra regions.  Children from 
Central and Western Regions are trafficked to the Volta Region for 
work in the fishing industry.  Children from the Northern Region are 
often trafficked to the more populated commercial centers of the 
south, including Accra, where they work as domestic servants, 
informal street sellers, and porters.  A 2007 report by MOWAC on 
kayaaye, or street porters, in Accra, finds that the majority are 
from the northern regions of Ghana.  Over 30,000 children are 
believed to be working in kayaaye in Accra alone. 
Male children trafficked to the Volta Region are mainly used in 
fishing, while girls are used as domestic servants. The children 
often work long hours with limited food and medical care.  Children 
are used to free nets entangled in underwater snags in Lake Volta, a 
human-made impoundment.   The IOM reports numerous deaths annually; 
many deaths are believed to not be reported. 
International trafficking also occurs, with children both brought 
into and taken out of Ghana to work in agriculture and fisheries in 
Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria  and Togo.  Trafficking of children from 
Burkina Faso is also believed to occur.  Women are trafficked for 
the sex trade.  In February, 2009, a group of Chinese nationals were 
freed from a prostitution ring in Accra.  The traffickers were 
Chinese.  In 2007, police broke up a prostitution ring moving West 
African women to Europe, via Ghana, a process which involved corrupt 
Ghanaian immigration officers. 
¶C. (SBU) Economic conditions are the main cause of child trafficking 
in Ghana.   Parents are often unable to provide adequate support for 
their children and so resort to sending their children to work for 
others, sometimes relatives, in the belief that the trafficking 
provides better opportunities for the children. 
¶D. (SBU) Children from poor families are at risk of being trafficked 
in Ghana, primarily as a result of economic issues. See 5 B for 
additional information. 
¶E. (SBU) In many cases, the traffickers are often known to members 
of the source community.  Some may be former victims themselves or 
be related to the source family.  Typically, they promise to find 
work for the children, and parents sometimes agree to "sell" their 
children.  International traffickers do operate in Ghana.   There is 
no evidence that marriage brokers or tourism agencies are involved. 
Employment agencies may be involved; the GPS is aware of a Ghanaian 
woman trafficked to Kuwait for employment purposes, although the 
exact method of her trafficking is not known. 
¶6. (U) Setting the Scene for the GoG's Anti-TIP Efforts (Question 
24) 
¶A. (U) The GoG acknowledges that trafficking is a problem. 
¶B. (SBU) Several agencies are involved in anti-TIP activities.  The 
Ghana Police Service's CID investigates and makes arrests.  The GPS 
also has a Domestic Violence Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) which is 
involved in enforcement.  The Ministry of Employment and Social 
Welfare operates a shelter for trafficked children, and conducts 
programs to prevent the exploitation of children, including in the 
cocoa industry.   The MESW has responsibility under the Human 
Trafficking Act for countering child labor and child trafficking. 
The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs plays an advocacy role, 
conducts surveys, provides training, and administers the Human 
Trafficking Fund.  Activities are coordinated by a Human Trafficking 
Management Board which is coordinated by MOWAC. 
¶C. (SBU) The GoG has limited resources in order to counter 
trafficking. There is a lack of trained personnel and financial 
resources. Law enforcement agencies have limited staff, 
transportation and other resources to enforce laws, and Ghana's 
long, porous borders makes cross-border trafficking relatively easy. 
 Cultural issues also play a part-many Ghanaian communities do not 
see as exploitive the sending of children to work in urban areas, 
for example.   A major constraint, evident in 2008-9, is the 
limitation on the resources of social service agencies and NGOs, 
including in the limited number of shelter beds available for 
rescued children or women.  The Department of Social Welfare has one 
shelter in the Greater Accra area capable of housing up to one 
hundred children.  Some private shelters exist, but are of limited 
capacity.  Rescues-including several in 2008-result in significant 
planning and logistical issues in order to safely house children.  A 
group of ten girls, rescued in August 2008, for example, spent the 
night in an Accra bus park while shelter was arranged for them the 
following day. In Western Ghana, a police rescue  of 155 children 
being transported in four mini-buses to Cote d' Ivoire required the 
local chief to intervene and find local families for the children to 
stay with until they could be transported home.  The MESW, GPS and 
others are aware of this problem, but lacked funds to create more 
shelter space. The Managing Director (chief civil servant) in the 
Ministry asked for assistance in creating more shelters.  Along with 
beds, other support services, including counseling, are needed.  The 
GOG's funding of the Human Trafficking Fund in late 2008 provided 
some resources. The fund was allocated 100,000 cedis ($75,000). 
¶D. (SBU) The GoG attempts to monitor anti-trafficking activities 
through communication between governmental and NGO agencies. 
However, there is no single data base of victims, for example, so 
any statistics provided are potentially prone to over or under 
counting. The GoG readily provides information to EMBOFFs and others 
when requested and individual agencies produce regular reports. 
¶7. (U) Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers (Question 25) 
¶A. (SBU) Ghana's Human Trafficking Act (HTA) became law in December, 
¶2005.   The law defines trafficking as "...the recruitment, 
transportation, transfer, harboring, trading or receipt of persons 
within and across national borders...".  Trafficking in persons for 
the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation is covered under 
a provision of the law which states that "Exploitation shall include 
at the minimum, induced prostitution and other forms of sexual 
exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar 
to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."  Act (1) (4) of the 
law protects child victims, stating that, "the consent of the child, 
parents or guardian cannot be used as a defense in the prosecution." 
 This clause is particularly important given cultural practices 
which include giving a child away to a distant relative.  In 2008 
Ghana's Parliament amended the act to amend the definition of 
trafficking to include "for the purpose of exploitation."  The 
phrase had been mistakenly omitted from the definition when the law 
was passed in 2005.  Section 39 of the HTA states that a criminal 
charge arising from an act of trafficking "does not afect the 
rights of a victim to pursue a civil claim for damages." 
¶B. (SBU) The HTA does not differentiate penalties between 
trafficking for labor or for sexual exploitation.  All convicted 
traffickers are to be sentenced to no less than five years in 
prison. 
¶C. (SBU) As explained above, the law does not have different 
penalties for trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation. 
According to the Act, Section (3) (1), "a person who provides 
another person for the purposes of trafficking commits an offense 
even when the person is a parent."   Conviction for trafficking 
leads to a term of imprisonment of not less than five years.  The 
law also provides for the punishment of labor recruiters.  The HTA 
does not include specific punishments for the confiscation of 
documents or for the switching of work contracts. 
¶D. (SBU) The mandatory sentence for rape in Ghana is 7 to 25 years 
in prison, compared to the HTA's "for a term of not less than five 
years" for trafficking. 
 
¶E. (SBU) There were no prosecutions under the HTA in Ghana during 
the reporting period.  In northern Ghana an Islamic religious 
instructor was charged under the Children's Act for the abuse of 
fifteen children who he forced into begging for alms.  Despite 
requests from the CID, it is not clear why the regional public 
prosecutor did not amend the charge to Human Trafficking.   Four 
Chinese nationals were arrested in February, 2009, for organizing a 
prostitution ring involving Chinese women.  The case remains under 
investigation as of the date of this report with three traffickers 
in jail. The CID reports eleven additional cases under 
investigation. In six of the cases for which information is 
available, the trafficked victims were being exploited for their 
labor.  In nine of the eleven cases, the victims were known to be 
under the age of eighteen; information was not available for the 
other cases.  There were no convictions under the HTA during the 
reporting year.   In 2008 the Public Prosecutors Office opened an 
anti-trafficking desk with three prosecutors who have received 
training in the HTA. 
¶F. (SBU) In 2008 the GoG, working with an OPDAT funded DOJ 
prosecutor based in Accra, did provide training to officials in how 
to recognize, investigate and prosecute traffickers.  The training 
reached over 350 officials in the Police Service, Social Welfare 
Department, Immigration Service and the Public Prosecutors Office. 
The training included a module on planning for large group rescues. 
The CID's Chief Superintendent for Organized Crime attributed 
several rescues in 2008 to better training.  The OPDAT program ended 
in July, 2009. The MOWAC was, in late 2008, developing an 
educational curriculum on trafficking for use with security 
agencies.  The Ministry, along with the Police, continued efforts to 
inform judges and others in the criminal justice system about the 
provisions of the HTL.   Two judges and three public prosecutors 
received additional training, allowing for the creation of a TIP 
desk at the Attorney General's office. 
¶G. (SBU) The GoG cooperates with other governments in the 
investigation of trafficking cases.  The ECOWAS/ECCAS agreement 
signed in 2006 covers regional cooperation on trafficking issues. 
Ghana has in past reporting years cooperated with Nigeria, Togo and 
Cote d'Ivoire on trafficking issues. 
¶H. (SBU) The GoG extradites persons charged with trafficking in 
other countries, including Ghanaian nationals.  There were no 
extraditions during the reporting period. 
¶I. (SBU) There is no evidence of widespread GoG involvement in or 
tolerance in trafficking during the reporting period. In early 2008 
an immigration official at Accra's international airport were 
transferred after several Nigerian women, on false travel documents, 
were trafficked through the airport.  The official was believed to 
be taking bribes, but was not arrested.  It is possible that such 
activities, particularly at the airport, may continue to occur. 
¶J. (SBU) No GoG officials were found to be involved in trafficking 
during the reporting period. 
¶K. (SBU) Prostitution is a crime in Ghana.  If arrested, prostitutes 
and others involved in related activities (such as pimping) are 
changed with a misdemeanor which involves payment of a fine, but no 
jail time.  Prostitution laws are rarely enforced.  Ghana's laws 
also do not make patronizing a prostitute a crime, unless some other 
offense has occurred, such as defilement (sexual intercourse with a 
child under the age of sixteen). In 2008, Accra newspapers reported 
that some police officers were arresting prostitutes and releasing 
them in return for bribes or the performance of sexual acts. 
¶L. (SBU) Ghana contributes military to UN and AU peacekeeping 
operations.  There have been no known reports of Ghanaian 
peacekeepers involved in trafficking or the exploitation of victims 
of trafficking. 
¶M. (SBU) International organizations, as well as local and 
international NGOs, work with trafficking victims.  The 
International Organization of Migration (IOM) has a nationwide 
program to rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate children who had 
been trafficked to southern Ghana to work in fishing villages along 
the Volta River and Lake.   The IOM, working with the GoG, provides 
counseling and medical care to trafficking victims and assists them 
to return to their home villages.  The IOM also provides 
micro-credit assistance to parents to improve their economic 
condition and help reduce re-trafficking. 
The International Labor Organization (ILO) operates the LUTRENA 
project, which received initial funding from the U.S. Department of 
Labor and later support from DANIDA.  LUTRENA focuses on child 
trafficking in the lower Volta basin, and introduced child 
trafficking watchdog communities in the sending communities. 
The African Centre for Human Development (ACHD), Action Aid, Save 
the Children UK, Children in Need, Catholic Relief Services, Street 
Girls Aid, Enslavement Prevention Alliance-West Africa, UNICEF, the 
ILO/IPEC , the Gender and Human Rights Documentation Centre are 
organization working in the area of child labor and trafficking. 
The organizations conduct studies, support rescue operations, and 
provide post-rescue support and training and education for victims 
of trafficking and abuse.  Re-trafficking, especially of children, 
remains a problem, however. 
The ILO, with a $4.5 million USDOL grant, supports the Time Bound 
program, which works in twenty districts of Ghana.  The program 
seeks to eliminate the worst forms of exploitive child labor, with 
the goal of withdrawing 4,700 children from such conditions and 
preventing another 5,300 from entering exploitive child labor.  The 
program is funded through mid-2009. 
¶8. (U) Protection and Assistance to Victims (Question 26) 
¶A. (SBU) The HTA requires the Ministry of Women and Children's 
Affairs to provide temporary basic material support for the care and 
protection of victims of trafficking.  Protection may include safe 
havens.  In practice, the GoG works with NGOs to provide safe 
havens, such as for the Chinese women rescued in February, 2009, 
from a prostitution ring.  However, resources are in practice 
limited. 
¶B. (SBU) The Department of Social Welfare operates one shelter in 
the Greater Accra Region, with a capacity for one hundred children. 
NGOs operate a handful of additional shelters, such as the Osu 
Children's Home and the Ark (and some also serve orphans).  WISE, a 
local NGO, operates a small shelter for women, including trafficking 
victims. Foreign victims have access to the limited shelter space. 
There are no shelters that specialize in care for male victims. 
¶C. (SBU) The HTA requires the Ministry of Women and Children's 
Affairs to assist trafficking victims with counseling services and 
to assist with rehabilitation and reintegration, including job or 
skills training or financial assistance.  The ILO Time Bound program 
(funded by a $4.5 million grant from the USDOL) has, among other 
activities, provided job and skill training for women brought out of 
the sex trades (although these women may not necessarily meet the 
definition of trafficked).  In December, 2008, the MOWAC 
administered Human Trafficking Victims Fund was allocated by the GoG 
100,000 cedis ($75,000). This is the first allocation in over two 
years.  The fund is available to assist victims with basic material 
support, tracing of families, the construction of reception centers, 
and other support activities.  The GOG at the same time requested 
donor support for the fund. 
¶D. (SBU) The HTA allows for both temporary and permanent legal 
status for trafficking victims to remain in Ghana.   A victim may 
remain in the country legally during the period of the investigation 
and prosecution of the crime.  If it is in the best interest of the 
trafficked person, the person may granted permanent status in Ghana, 
with the approval of the Minister of the Interior.  The GoG is 
required, per the HTA, to provide shelter assistance. 
¶E. (SBU) The GoG has limited resources to assist with longer-care 
shelter or other benefits for victims.  The Trafficking Victims Fund 
was without an allocation until late in 2008. The HTA includes 
provisions for longer term shelter care. 
¶F. (SBU) Post is not aware of a formal GoG referral process to 
transfer victims detained or in protective custody to short or long 
term care facilities.   An informal system is more likely used, as 
case by case circumstances warrant. 
¶G. (SBU) The Ghana Police Service reports 98 identified trafficking 
victims during the reporting year.  In all but seven of the cases, 
the victims were being trafficked for labor; the other seven 
involved a prostitution ring.  However, statistics are not kept in a 
centralized manner, and  the number of victims is not comprehensive. 
  In August, police in Western Ghana stopped four mini-vans carrying 
155 children in the direction of Cote d'Ivorie, possibly for work in 
agriculture.  The children were returned to their families. The case 
of fifteen children (including two Togolese children who have since 
been repartiated) rescued in July from an Islamic instructor in 
Northern Region also do not appear to be included in the statistics. 
 The GoG did not allocate funds to its Human Trafficking Fund until 
late in 2008, so none of the victims received assistance from that 
source.  It is not known how many of the victims received assistance 
from non-governmental social service agencies. 
¶H. (SBU) Agencies within the GoG do attempt to proactively identify 
victims of trafficking among high risk populations.   Informal steps 
are taken; please see 9-B for additional information. 
¶I. (SBU) In general, victims' rights are respected.  There were no 
known cases in the reporting period of victims being jailed, fined 
or prosecuted for other law violations. 
 
¶J. (SBU) The GoG encourages victims to assist in the investigation 
and prosecution of trafficking.  However, in many cases the victims 
are children who are often unable or afraid to provide significant 
help in the investigation.  In one case, the traffickers 
administered oaths to the child victims as a means of intimidation. 
In the case of seven Chinese women trafficked to Ghana for a 
prostitution ring, the victims were encouraged to give, and did 
provide, statements to be used in court.  Under Ghanaian law (and 
supported by the HTA), victims are able to file civil suits against 
their traffickers, although in reality this happens seldom, if at 
all.  Victims may also sue for restitution. 
¶K. (SBU) MOWAC in late 2008 was developing a curriculum of 
instruction on trafficking for use with the security agencies. 
The GoG does not provide training to its embassies in destination or 
transit countries.  Ghana, like many African nations, has a limited 
number of foreign missions.  In January, 2009, the Ghana Police 
approached POLOFF for advice on a Ghanaian victim of trafficking in 
Kuwait; Ghana does not have a diplomatic presence there.  The number 
of victims assisted by Ghana's embassies is not known, but believed 
to be limited. 
¶L. (SBU) The GoG has limited resources to provide assistance to its 
nationals in need of repatriation home. 
 ¶9. (U) Prevention (Question 27) 
¶A. (SBU) The GoG conducted anti-trafficking information and 
education campaigns during the reporting period.  The MOWCA and the 
Ghana Police Service continue efforts inform government officials, 
including local government officials, about the HTA.  Education 
programs are also conducted with community leaders and the general 
public. 
¶B. (SBU) The GoG in 2008 began to collect data at ports of entry. 
However, law enforcement officials do not systematically screen for 
trafficking along the borders but are alert to obvious signs of 
trafficking, such as vehicles with numerous children.  In August, 
2008, police rescued twelve children in a vehicle near the CDI 
border; five of the children were reportedly from Benin.  In July, 
police stopped four mini-vans in the Western Region, heading toward 
CDI, carrying 155 children.  In another case, seventeen children 
were turned away from a border crossing on suspicion of being 
trafficked; the traffickers were later arrested but were released on 
bail.  Immigration officials received anti-trafficking training from 
the DOJ OPDAT official posted to Ghana. 
¶C. (SBU) The HTA mandates the creation of a Human Trafficking 
Management Board.  The Boards membership includes representatives of 
the involved GoG agencies (MOWAC, Police, Immigration, MESW, Local 
Government, Attorney-General , and the Ministries of Health and 
Education) and also four at large members and a member of the Ghana 
Journalist Association.  IOM serves as a member, as do NGOs. In 
early 2009 planning has begun forming a coordinating council or 
coalition of involved NGOs, but such an organization does not 
currently exist.  The Management Board is required to meet at least 
once every three months. 
¶D. (SBU) The GoG in 2006 approved a National Plan of Action on Human 
Trafficking. The GoG is working to implement the plan through the 
HTA. 
¶E. (SBU) Post is not aware of any steps the GoG has made to reduce 
the demand for commercial sex acts. 
¶F. (SBU) Post is not aware of any steps taken by the GoG to reduce 
the participation of its nationals in international child sex 
tourism.   There is little documented evidence of child sex tourism 
in Ghana-two Europeans were arrested 3-5 years ago in separate cases 
involving Ghanaian children.  There is no evidence that Ghanaian 
adults travel abroad for the purpose of sex tourism. 
¶G. (SBU) The Ghana Armed Forces regularly contributes troops to 
international peace keeping missions. Prior to peacekeeping 
deployments personnel receive training on human rights issues; 
however, this training does not include specific training on 
trafficking issues.  A course on trafficking is being developed at 
the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.  ACOTA 
program training also deals with human rights issues and includes 
information on trafficking. 
TEITELBAUM