VZCZCXRO7034
OO RUEHBZ
DE RUEHC #0548/01 1622311
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112247Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE IMMEDIATE 1441

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 060548 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG CF
SUBJECT: THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO -- 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 the Republic of Congo (ROC) 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 the ROC, 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 the ROC 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 the ROC,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
The Republic of Congo (TIER 2 Watch List) 
------------------------------------------- 
 
The Republic of the Congo (ROC) is a source country for 
children trafficked within its borders for the purposes of 
forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation, as well as a 
destination country for children trafficked from other 
African countries for the same purposes. Within the ROC, boys 
and girls are trafficked from rural areas, primarily from the 
Pool Region, to Point Noire and Brazzaville for forced street 
 
STATE 00060548  002 OF 005 
 
 
vending and domestic servitude.  Girls are trafficked from 
rural areas primarily to Brazzaville, but also to Pointe 
Noire, for commercial sexual exploitation.  Transnationally, 
children are trafficked from other African countries to 
Pointe Noire for domestic servitude, forced market vending 
and forced labor in the fishing industry.  The majority of 
these victims are girls and most are from Benin, although 
some are also trafficked from Mali, Guinea, Togo, Senegal, 
and Cameroon. The Beninese Consulate in Brazzaville has 
estimated that 1,800 Beninese children may be subjected to 
domestic servitude in the ROC.  UNICEF reported that young 
girls, lured by promises of jobs in the ROC or onward voyages 
to France, Canada, and South Africa, are trafficked from the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Brazzaville for 
organized prostitution.   Children may be trafficked to the 
ROC from the DRC for forced commercial activities, such as 
street vending, domestic servitude, tailoring, hairdressing, 
and food service. 
 
The Government of the ROC does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite 
limited resources.  Despite these efforts, the government did 
not show evidence of progress in anti-trafficking law 
enforcement efforts and in the protection of trafficking 
victims; therefore, the Republic of the Congo is placed on 
Tier 2 Watch List.  In late April 2009, the government 
enacted the Child Protection Code, which contains provisions 
prohibiting child trafficking. Since 2003, the ROC has 
struggled to recover from six years of civil conflict that 
crippled its institutions, ravaged its economy, and rendered 
its children more vulnerable to being trafficked. 
 
Recommendations for the ROC:  Train law enforcement officials 
to identify traffickers and arrest them under relevant laws; 
train social workers and law enforcement officials to 
identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, 
and refer them to foreign government consulates, foster 
families, international organizations, faith-based groups, or 
NGOs for care. 
 
Prosecution 
------------ 
The Government of the ROC demonstrated weak law enforcement 
efforts to combat trafficking during the last year.  The ROC 
does not prohibit all forms of trafficking.  Penal Code 
Article 344 criminalizes the pimping of children, however, 
prescribing penalties of from six months, to two years, 
imprisonment and a fine, punishments that are neither 
sufficiently stringent nor commensurate with those prescribed 
for rape.  The government reported no trafficking 
prosecutions or convictions under related laws in the last 
year.  In January 2009, two girls from the ROC, ages six and 
16, arrived with fraudulent travel documents into Paris on a 
flight from Brazzaville.  The girls were accompanied by two 
other young girls from Kinshasa, but no parent or guardian 
accompanied the four children.  The Government of the ROC is 
neither investigating on its own nor collaborating with 
French officials to determine whether this case involved 
child trafficking.  On April 30, 2009, a Child Protection 
Code that includes provisions against child trafficking was 
passed by Parliament.  Between April and August 2008, the 
government collaborated with UNICEF to conduct several 
training workshops about this law for Central African 
government officials and representatives from the Consulates 
of Benin, Togo, and the DRC. The government contributed the 
training sites and personnel to assist with logistics. 
Protection 
------------ 
The ROC government continued poor efforts to protect 
trafficking victims over the last year. The government 
neither operates a trafficking victim shelter nor 
collaborates with NGOs to provide rescued victims with food, 
shelter, or other assistance. The government has not yet 
developed formal procedures through which police and 
government social workers may identify trafficking victims 
among vulnerable populations, such as street children, child 
laborers, illegal immigrants and women in prostitution.  As a 
result, victims may be inappropriately incarcerated or 
otherwise penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct 
result of being trafficked.  The ROC government reported 
rescuing an unknown number of trafficking victims during the 
year.  Government staff worked with UNICEF, the NGO Action 
Against Trafficking of West African Children, and other civil 
society groups, to help repatriate victims back to their 
African home countries, particularly Benin.  The government 
did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign 
victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution. 
The government did not encourage victims to assist in 
trafficking investigations or prosecutions. 
 
Prevention 
----------- 
 
STATE 00060548  003 OF 005 
 
 
The Government of the ROC made limited efforts to prevent 
incidents of trafficking during the reporting period.  A plan 
of action against trafficking in Point Noir, which the 
government developed with UNICEF over the past three years, 
was finalized in 2008.  With funding from UNICEF, the 
government helped implement the plan in May 2008 in Point 
Noire by providing sites for UNICEF-conducted trafficking 
awareness training.  One workshop, hosted by the Ministry of 
Health, educated local NGOs about trafficking.  Additional 
workshops raised awareness among Central African and foreign 
government representatives and resulted in the creation of an 
anti-trafficking working group headed by the Ministry of 
Health and consisting of law enforcement officials, local 
community leaders, and representatives from the Consulates of 
Benin, Togo, and the DRC.  The government has not taken 
measures to reduce the demand for forced labor or commercial 
sex acts in the ROC.  The ROC 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. 
 
 
STATE 00060548  004 OF 005 
 
 
-- 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 is the Republic of Congo on the Tier 2 Watch List? 
 
A:  The Government of the ROC does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite 
limited resources.  Despite these efforts, the government did 
not show evidence of progress in anti-trafficking law 
enforcement efforts and in the protection of trafficking 
victims; therefore, the Republic of the Congo is placed on 
Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
Q2:  What progress has the Republic of Congo made in the last 
year? 
 
A:  In late April 2009, the government enacted the Child 
Protection Code, which contains provisions prohibiting child 
trafficking. Between April and August 2008, the government 
collaborated with UNICEF to conduct several training 
workshops about this law for Central African government 
officials and representatives from the Consulates of Benin, 
Togo, and the DRC. During the year, government staff worked 
with UNICEF and civil society groups to help repatriate 
victims back to their African home countries, particularly 
Benin.  A plan of action against trafficking in Point Noir, 
which the government developed with UNICEF over the past 
three years, was finalized in 2008.  With funding from 
UNICEF, the government helped implement the plan in May 2008 
through awareness-raising events.. 
 
Q3:  What can the R.O.C do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
 
STATE 00060548  005 OF 005 
 
 
A:  Finalize and enact the draft Child Protection Code 
prohibiting child trafficking; train law enforcement 
officials to identify traffickers and arrest them under 
relevant laws; train social workers and law enforcement 
officials to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable 
populations, and refer them to foreign government consulates, 
foster families, international organizations, faith-based 
groups, or NGOs for care. 
 
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