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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0547 1622310
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O 112245Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060547 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE 
AND           DEMARCHE 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 
     ¶B. (B) STATE 005577 
 
¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10. 
 
¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will 
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a 
press conference in the Department's press briefing room. 
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic 
and foreign news outlets.  Until the time of the Secretary's 
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or 
country narratives contained therein is prohibited. 
 
¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press 
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter.  Also provided 
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government 
of Cote d,Ivoire of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's 
imminent release.  The text of the TIP Report country 
narrative is provided, both for use in informing the 
Government of Cote d,Ivoire, and in any local media release 
by Post's public affairs section on June 16 or thereafter. 
Drawing on information provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post 
may provide the host government with the text of the TIP 
Report narrative no earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday 
June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local 
time Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts.  Please note, 
however, that any public release of the Report's information 
should not/not precede the Secretary's release at 10:00 am 
EDT on June 16. 
 
¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at 
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 
release.  Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts 
in all countries appearing on the Report.  The Secretary's 
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of 
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and 
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis 
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website 
shortly after the June 16 event.  Ambassador de Baca will 
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign 
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on 
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local 
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform 
the appropriate official in the Government of Cote d,Ivoire 
of the June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the 
points in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the 
text of the country narrative provided in para 8.  For 
countries where the State Department has lowered the tier 
ranking, it is particularly important to advise governments 
prior to the Report being released in Washington on June 16. 
 
¶6. Action Request continued:  Please note that, for those 
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with 
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw 
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement 
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the 
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the 
narrative text.  This engagement is important to establishing 
the framework in which the government's performance will be 
judged for the 2010 Report.  If posts have questions about 
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they 
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, 
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. 
 
¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared 
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the 
press guidance provided in para 11.  If Post wishes, a local 
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP 
Report's country narrative provided in para 8. 
 
¶8. Begin Final Text of Cote d,Ivoire,s country narrative in 
the 2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
Cote d,Ivoire (TIER 2 Watch List) 
--------------------------------- 
Cote d,Ivoire is a source, transit, and destination country 
for women and children trafficked for forced labor and 
commercial sexual exploitation.  Trafficking within the 
country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, and 
the majority of victims are children.  Within Cote d,Ivoire, 
women and girls are trafficked primarily for domestic 
servitude, restaurant labor, and sexual exploitation.  A 2007 
study by the German government,s foreign aid organization 
found that 85 percent of females in prostitution in two 
Ivoirian districts were children. Boys are trafficked within 
the country for agricultural and service labor.  They are 
also trafficked from Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, 
and Ghana to Cote d,Ivoire for forced agricultural labor, 
including work in the cocoa sector.  Boys from Guinea are 
trafficked to Cote d,Ivoire for forced mining, from Togo for 
forced construction labor, from Benin for forced carpentry 
work, and from Ghana and Togo for forced labor in the fishing 
industry.  Women and girls are trafficked to and from other 
West and Central African countries for domestic servitude and 
forced street vending.  Women and girls are trafficked from 
other West African countries, most notably from Ghana, 
Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, to Cote d,Ivoire for commercial 
sexual exploitation.  Women are trafficked from and through 
Cote d,Ivoire to Europe for sexual exploitation. 
 
The Government of Cote d,Ivoire does not fully comply with 
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  The 
government,s law enforcement efforts to address trafficking 
increased with the conviction of sex traffickers over the 
last year.  Despite these efforts, the government did not 
demonstrate progress over the last year in prosecute 
traffickers of children for prostitution or forced labor; 
therefore, Cote d,Ivoire is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
Recommendations for Cote d,Ivoire:  Increase efforts to 
investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers; develop 
systematic procedures for identifying trafficking victims 
among women and girls in prostitution; step up efforts to 
educate government officials about trafficking, particularly 
child sex trafficking; intensify efforts to provide care to 
trafficking victims by making available funds allocated for 
construction of victim shelters; ensure that trafficking 
victims are not penalized for acts committed as a direct 
result of being trafficked. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Cote d,Ivoire demonstrated increased 
efforts to address trafficking though law enforcement during 
the reporting period.  Ivoirian law does not prohibit all 
forms of trafficking.  However, Penal Code Article 378 
prohibits forced labor, prescribing a sufficiently stringent 
penalty of one to five years, imprisonment and a fine of 
approximately $800 to -$2,200.  Penal Code Article 376 
criminalizes entering into contracts that deny freedom to a 
third person, prescribing a sufficiently stringent punishment 
of five to 10 years, imprisonment and a fine.  Penal Code 
Articles 335 to 337 prohibit recruiting or offering children 
for prostitution, prescribing penalties of one to 10 years, 
imprisonment and a fine, which are sufficiently stringent and 
commensurate with penalties prescribed for rape.  Ivoirian 
law does not criminalize the trafficking of adults for 
commercial sexual exploitation.  Conscription of children for 
armed conflict is prohibited by Article 2 of the military 
code.  The government,s 2007 draft law prohibiting child 
trafficking and child labor awaits approval by the National 
Assembly, but the Assembly,s mandate ended in December 2005 
and new legislative elections have not yet been held. 
 
From April to July 2008, Ivoirian police investigated three 
trafficking cases and sent one suspected trafficker to a 
tribunal for prosecution.  The suspect was released without 
being charged.  A different suspect arrested in April 2008 
for trafficking two Beninese children for construction labor 
in the housing industry was also released without being 
formally charged.  In October 2008, the UN Operation in Cote 
d,Ivoire reported that a Beninese man allegedly forced five 
children from Benin to work long hours on cocoa plantations 
and in restaurants in Vavoua.  Officials from the Forces 
Nouvelles (FN), which carried out the 2002 rebellion and 
remain in control of some areas of the country, arrested and 
placed him in prison.  When the man agreed to pay the 
equivalent of $1,600 to house and eventually repatriate the 
victims, the FN released him.  The government reported that 
in 2008, it obtained the convictions of four Nigerien 
nationals who had trafficked women from Niger and Nigeria to 
Cote d,Ivoire for sexual exploitation.  The court imposed 
penalties of from 12 to 36 months, imprisonment and fines on 
the convicted traffickers.  The government did not report any 
prosecutions of individuals subjecting children to 
trafficking in prostitution or in the cocoa sector. 
 
Police reported quarterly raids on brothels.  Officials 
reported that in two cases during the year, police questioned 
women in prostitution to identify whether they were 
trafficking victims.  NGOs reported that law enforcement 
officials continued to exploit women in prostitution, 
sometimes threatening to arrest foreign women without 
documentation if they refused to engage in sex.   During the 
year, Ivoirian police conducted a joint investigation with 
Ghanaian authorities to pursue a Ghanaian trafficker who had 
taken two Togolese children into Cote d,Ivoire.  The 
government also paid to lodge judges who attended a 
donor-funded anti-trafficking training course. 
 
Protection 
----------- 
The Ivoirian government did not fully protect victims of 
trafficking during the last year.  There are no government 
shelters for victims.  Victims are referred to NGOs and 
international organizations for care.  While the government 
allocated $600,000 to build centers in its 2007 ) 2009 
national action plan against the worst forms of child labor 
and child trafficking, it has not yet made funds available to 
begin construction. 
 
The government continued to operate community education 
centers and mobile schools for victims of child trafficking 
and the worst forms of child labor.  The National Committee 
Against Trafficking also repatriated 25 child victims of 
trafficking to their home countries during the reporting 
period.    The committee referred an additional 21 children 
to the NGO BICE (Bureau International Catholique de 
l,Enfance) for repatriation.  There is currently no formal 
government program for Ivoirian nationals repatriated to Cote 
d,Ivoire, although the Ministry of Family is occasionally 
called on to provide assistance.  In September 2008, the 
Ministry of Family (MOF), in collaboration with UNICEF, 
published a manual detailing government procedures for 
providing care to child labor and trafficking victims. 
 
The MOF is responsible for all aspects of foreign victim 
repatriation, including notifying the victims, consular 
offices or embassies, informing officials in the victims, 
home countries, contacting NGOs with the means to assist with 
shelter and repatriation, and organizing transportation 
expenses for victims and their escorts during the 
repatriation process.  Once victims reach their country of 
origin, MOF representatives entrust them to government 
authorities. 
 
Both the MOF and the National Police employed social workers 
to assist victims immediately upon their identification. 
During the year, however, police did not identify any 
children being prostituted in a brothel as trafficking 
victims, instead characterizing them as consensually in 
prostitution.  The government systematically encouraged 
victims to assist in trafficking investigations and 
prosecutions.  The government provided temporary residence 
permits to foreign victims from countries where they might 
face hardship or retribution.  ECOWAS nationals, including 
trafficking victims, may legally reside and work in Cote 
d,Ivoire. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Government of Cote d,Ivoire demonstrated efforts to 
prevent trafficking during the reporting period.  The 
Ministry of Family conducted awareness-raising campaigns to 
educate local government officials, community leaders, and 
members of anti-trafficking village committees about the 
problem.   In June 2008, the Ministry of Family launched a 
donor-funded national awareness campaign against trafficking 
and child labor.  The Ministry organized UNICEF and 
ILO-sponsored events, such as public conferences and a film 
for children.   The government also published a study 
conducted jointly with private cocoa companies on the 
incidence of child labor and forced adult labor in its cocoa 
sector in June 2008.  The study found the incidence of child 
labor exploitation to be significant. 
 
During the year, the police reported that they took steps to 
reduce demand for commercial sex acts by raiding brothels, 
but did not follow systematic procedures in all cases to 
identify trafficking victims among females in prostitution. 
Cote d,Ivoire,s 2008 budget allocated $4.3 million toward 
implementing all aspects of the national action plan against 
child trafficking and the worst forms of child labor; 
however, no funds were disbursed during the reporting period. 
 The government did not take measures to insure that its 
nationals deployed abroad as part of peacekeeping missions do 
not engage in or facilitate trafficking.  Cote d,Ivoire has 
not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. 
 
 
¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer 
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to 
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report 
country narrative: 
 
(begin non-paper) 
 
-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), 
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to 
Congress.  The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and 
create partnerships around the world in the fight against 
modern-day slavery.  The USG approach to combating human 
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in 
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol").  The TVPA 
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in 
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex 
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, 
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological 
manipulation.  While much attention has focused on 
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol 
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a 
showing that the victim was moved. 
 
-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that 
only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking 
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, 
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of 
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of 
three tiers.  Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum 
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking" 
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1.  Countries 
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, 
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum 
standards are classified as Tier 2.  Countries assessed as 
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making 
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. 
 
-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a 
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year. 
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to 
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the 
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of 
each year.  Countries are included on the "Special Watch 
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP 
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been 
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: 
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human 
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant 
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over 
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of 
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim 
population.  As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been 
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after 
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier 
¶3.  Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this 
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP 
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch 
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to 
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report).  The new law allows for a waiver 
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a 
determination by the President that the country has developed 
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make 
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the 
minimum standards. 
 
-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory 
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on 
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance 
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for 
participation by government officials or employees in 
educational and cultural exchange programs.   In addition, 
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to 
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other 
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, 
trade-related or certain types of development assistance) 
with respect to countries on Tier 3.  Countries classified as 
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's 
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in 
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier 
classification, would avoid such sanctions.  Guidelines for 
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared 
by Posts with host governments. 
 
-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of 
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of 
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and 
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon:  fraudulent 
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in 
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor 
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the 
flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship 
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal 
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor.  As the 
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced 
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and 
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion.  The 
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the 
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated 
"cost of coercion." 
 
-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on 
website www.state.gov/g/tip. 
 
-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the 
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State 
Department.  We are providing you an advance copy of your 
country's narrative in that report.  Please keep this 
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June 
¶16.  The State Department will also hold a general briefing 
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 
17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
(end non-paper) 
 
¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country 
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web 
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as 
possible after the TIP Report is released.  Funding for 
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human 
Rights Report.  Posts needing financial assistance for 
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX 
office. 
 
¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use 
with local media. 
 
 
Q1. Why did Cote d,Ivoire remain on the Tier 2 Watch List? 
 
A:  The Government of Cote d,Ivoire does not fully comply 
with the minimum standards for the elimination of 
trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do 
so.  The government,s law enforcement efforts to address 
trafficking increased with the conviction of sex traffickers 
over the last year.  Despite these efforts, the government 
did not demonstrate progress over the last year in prosecute 
traffickers of children for prostitution or forced labor; 
therefore, Cote d,Ivoire is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
 
Q2:  What progress has Cote d,Ivoire made in the last year? 
 
A:  The government reported that in 2008 it obtained the 
convictions of four Nigerien nationals who had trafficked 
women from Niger and Nigeria to Cote d,Ivoire for sexual 
exploitation.  The court imposed penalties of 12 to 36 
months, imprisonment and fines on the convicted traffickers. 
 During the year, Ivoirian police conducted a joint 
investigation with Ghanaian authorities to pursue a Ghanaian 
trafficker who had taken two Togolese children into Cote 
d,Ivoire.  The government continued to operate community 
education centers and mobile schools for victims of child 
trafficking and the worst forms of child labor.  The National 
Committee Against Trafficking also repatriated 25 child 
victims of trafficking to their home countries in the last 
year.    The committee referred an additional 21 children to 
an NGO for repatriation.   The Ministry of Family conducted 
awareness-raising campaigns to educate local government 
officials, community leaders, and members of anti-trafficking 
village committees about the problem. 
 
Q3:  What can the Cote d,Ivoire do to further the fight 
against trafficking in persons? 
 
A:  Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict 
traffickers; develop systematic procedures for identifying 
trafficking victims among women and girls in prostitution; 
step up efforts to educate government officials about 
trafficking, particularly child sex trafficking; intensify 
efforts to provide care to trafficking victims by making 
available funds allocated for construction of victim 
shelters; ensure that trafficking victims are not penalized 
for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON