VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0557 1622324
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112256Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY ACCRA IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060557 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG GH
SUBJECT: GHANA -- 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 Ghana 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 Ghana, 
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 Ghana 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 Ghana,s  country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
------------------------------- 
 
Ghana   (TIER 2 Watch List) 
------------------------------- 
 
Ghana is a source, transit, and destination country for 
children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced 
labor and commercial sexual exploitation.  Trafficking within 
the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking 
and the majority of victims are children.  Both boys and 
girls are trafficked within Ghana for forced labor in 
agriculture and the fishing industry, for street hawking, 
forced begging by religious instructors, as porters, and 
possibly for forced kente weaving.   Over 30,000 children are 
believed to be working as porters, or Kayaye, in Accra alone. 
 Annually, the IOM reports numerous deaths of boys trafficked 
for hazardous forced labor in the Lake Volta fishing 
industry.  Girls are trafficked within the country for 
domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.  To a lesser 
extent, boys are also trafficked internally for sexual 
exploitation, primarily for sex tourism. 
 
Transnationally, children are trafficked between Ghana and 
other West African countries, primarily Cote d,Ivoire, Togo, 
Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Gabon for the same purposes 
listed above.  Children are trafficked through Ghana for 
forced labor in agriculture in Cote d,Ivoire, including on 
cocoa farms.  Women and girls are trafficked for sexual 
exploitation from Ghana to Western Europe, from Nigeria 
through Ghana to Western Europe, and from Burkina Faso 
through Ghana to Cote d,Ivoire.  During the year, Chinese 
women were trafficked to Ghana for sexual exploitation and a 
Ghanaian woman was also trafficked to Kuwait for forced 
labor.  In 2008, the UN reported that a form of ritual 
servitude called Trokosi, in which young girls are subjected 
to forced labor and sexual servitude, continues in at least 
23 fetish shrines. 
 
The Government of Ghana 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.  During the year, Ghanaian police 
intercepted a greater number of trafficking victims than the 
prior year.  Despite these efforts, the government 
demonstrated weak efforts in prosecuting and punishing 
trafficking offenders or ensuring that victims receive 
adequate care; therefore, Ghana is placed on Tier 2 Watch 
List. 
 
Recommendations for Ghana:   Increase efforts to prosecute 
and convict trafficking offenders, including those who 
subject children to forced labor in the Lake Volta fishing 
industry and those who force Ghanaian children and foreign 
women into prostitution; establish additional victim 
shelters, particularly for sex trafficking victims; continue 
to apply Trafficking Victim Fund monies to victim care; and 
train officials to identify trafficking victims among women 
in prostitution and to respect victims, rights. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Ghana demonstrated minimal efforts to 
combat trafficking through law enforcement efforts during the 
last year.  Ghana prohibits all forms of trafficking through 
its 2005 Human Trafficking Act, which prescribes a minimum 
penalty of five years, imprisonment for all forms of 
trafficking.  This penalty is sufficiently stringent and 
commensurate with penalties prescribed for rape.  The 
government reported arresting 16 suspected traffickers during 
the year, five of whom were prosecuted.  In March 2009, the 
government obtained the conviction of a woman for trafficking 
a Togolese girl for forced labor, and she was sentenced to 
eight years, imprisonment.   Eleven suspected traffickers 
remain under investigation.   There were no reported criminal 
investigations or prosecutions of acts relating to the forced 
labor of children in the Lake Volta fishing industry. 
Although four Chinese nationals arrested in February 2009 
were prosecuted for trafficking seven Chinese women to Accra 
for sexual exploitation, a verdict has not yet been 
delivered. A religious instructor arrested in July 2008 for 
subjecting 15 children to forced labor and one child to 
sexual servitude has not yet been prosecuted.  Rather than 
being charged with the offense of trafficking, he was charged 
under the more lenient Children,s Act and remains free on 
bail.  During the year, the public prosecutor dropped a case 
against suspected traffickers arrested in November 2007 for 
forcing 17 women into prostitution, despite significant 
evidence against them, such as video recordings of them 
bribing immigration officials. The case was dropped when the 
victims, all of whom have returned to Nigeria, would not 
agree to testify. The government also failed to prosecute 
traffickers arrested in January 2008 for sexual exploitation 
of children, despite videotaped evidence of this exploitation 
at an Accra brothel, which remains open for business.   In 
2008 the Public Prosecutor,s Office opened an 
anti-trafficking desk staffed with three prosecutors trained 
about trafficking. 
Protection 
----------- 
The Ghanaian government demonstrated increased efforts to 
identify trafficking victims, but took inadequate steps to 
provide them with care during the year.  The government 
contributed personnel to its Madina shelter, which is funded 
primarily by IOM to provide care to child victims of 
trafficking in the fishing industry.  At the shelter, staff 
from the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) provided 
rehabilitation assistance to child victims rescued and 
referred by IOM.  DSW staff provided rehabilitation 
assistance to victims in their communities of origin as well 
once the children were reunited with their families.  The 
government continued to lack shelters for sex trafficking 
victims.  Police rescued 221 child labor trafficking victims, 
and seven adult Chinese women forced into prostitution.  The 
government was unable to provide comprehensive information 
about how many of these victims it provided with care. 
Fifteen child victims were provided with care in a DSW 
shelter in northern Ghana by a government-salaried   social 
worker, while an NGO and private donor provided food, 
clothing, and education for the children.  The government 
returned three of the child victims to the suspected 
trafficker, who remains out on bail.  Two of the victims were 
repatriated to Togo by an NGO, while the remaining victims 
were returned to their families in Ghana.  The government 
released ten girl victims of forced child labor identified in 
August 2008 into the custody of a man claiming to be from the 
children,s village.  He housed them at a bus station until 
NGOs requested that the government move them to an NGO 
shelter.  In December 2008, the government allocated $75,000 
to the Human Trafficking Fund it established in 2007 to 
provide victim care.  In April 2009, the government provided 
a portion of these funds to a local NGO to help care for sex 
trafficking victims the NGO has sheltered at a hotel since 
their rescue in February 2009.   Police provided limited 
security at the hotel. 
 
While authorities increasingly employ procedures to identify 
forced labor trafficking victims among immigrants at border 
posts, they do not follow procedures to identify trafficking 
victims among females found in prostitution.  The government 
encouraged victims to assist in investigation and prosecution 
of traffickers, though many victims were children afraid to 
provide testimony.  During the year, police interviewed seven 
Chinese sex trafficking victims to assist with prosecution. 
During the trial, however, officials forced these women to 
testify in court against their will, causing them emotional 
trauma.  The government provided limited and temporary legal 
alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries 
where they face hardship or retribution; generally victims 
may remain in Ghana only during the period of investigation 
and prosecution.  With the Interior Minister,s approval, 
however, a trafficking victim may remain permanently in Ghana 
if it is deemed to be in the victim,s best interest. 
 
Prevention 
----------- 
The Government of Ghana demonstrated weak efforts to prevent 
trafficking over the last year.  The government conducted 
anti-trafficking information and education campaigns during 
the reporting period.  Counter-trafficking officials appeared 
regularly with anti-trafficking messages on radio talk shows 
and on television.  The police held anti-trafficking public 
awareness meetings in areas of the country with a high 
incidence of trafficking and provided anti-trafficking 
educational materials to rural officials and local 
magistrates.  The government also reached out to Nigerian 
officials through video conferences to request guidance in 
forming a national anti-trafficking agency.  In June 2008, in 
collaboration with private cocoa companies, the government 
released a report on the incidence of child labor and adult 
forced labor in its cocoa sector.  The Human Trafficking 
Board established in July 2007 met eight times in 2008.  The 
government provided Ghanaian troops with anti-trafficking 
awareness training through a donor-funded program before 
being deployed abroad as part of international peacekeeping 
missions.  Ghana took minimal measures to reduce demand for 
commercial sex acts by conducting a raid on a brothel 
exploiting trafficking victims, and prosecuting the suspected 
traffickers.  The government failed to close down a brothel 
prostituting children, however.  It took no discernable steps 
to address the demand for forced labor.  Ghana has not 
ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. 
 
¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer 
technical and legal l 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 has Ghana been downgraded to  Tier 2 Watch List? 
 
A:   The Government of Ghana 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.  During the year, Ghanaian police 
intercepted a greater number of trafficking victims than the 
prior year.  Despite these efforts, the government 
demonstrated weak efforts in prosecuting and punishing 
trafficking offenders or ensuring that victims receive 
adequate care; therefore, Ghana is placed on Tier 2 Watch 
List. 
 
 
Q2:  What progress has Ghana made in the last year? 
 
A:  The government reported arresting 16 suspected 
traffickers during the year, five of whom were prosecuted. 
In March 2009, the government convicted a woman for 
trafficking a Togolese girl for forced labor and imposed a 
sentence of eight years, imprisonment. The Department of 
Social Welfare (DSW) provided rehabilitation assistance to 
child victims rescued by the IOM from forced labor in the 
fishing industry.  DSW staff provided rehabilitation 
assistance to victims in their communities of origin as well 
once the children are reunited with their families.  The 
government continued to lack shelters for sex trafficking 
victims.  Police rescued 221 child labor trafficking victims, 
and seven adult Chinese women forced into prostitution. 
During the year, the government conducted anti-trafficking 
information and education campaigns.  In June 2008, in 
collaboration with private cocoa companies, the government 
released a report on the incidence of child labor in its 
cocoa sector. 
 
Q3:  What can Ghana do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A:  Increase efforts to prosecute and convict trafficking 
offenders, including those who subject children to forced 
labor in the Lake Volta fishing industry and those who force 
Ghanaian children and foreign women into prostitution; 
establish additional victim shelters, particularly for sex 
trafficking victims; continue to apply Trafficking Victim 
Fund monies to victim care, and train officials to identify 
trafficking victims among women in prostitution and to 
respect victims, rights. 
 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON