VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0565 1622337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112308Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060565 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA -- 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 Nigeria 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 
Nigeria, 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 Nigeria 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 Nigeria,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------- 
 
Nigeria  (TIER 1) 
-------------------- 
 
Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for 
women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced 
labor and commercial sexual exploitation.  Within Nigeria, 
women and girls are trafficked primarily for domestic 
servitude and commercial sexual exploitation.  Boys are 
trafficked for forced labor in street vending, agriculture, 
mining, stone quarries, and as domestic servants.  Religious 
teachers also traffic boys, called almajiri, for forced 
begging.  Women, girls, and boys are trafficked from Nigeria 
to other West and Central African countries, primarily Gabon, 
Cameroon, Ghana, Chad, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, and 
The Gambia, for the same purposes listed above.  Benin is a 
primary source country for boys and girls trafficked for 
forced labor in Nigeria,s granite quarries.  Nigerian women 
and girls are trafficked through Libya, Morocco, and Algeria 
to Europe, primarily for the purpose of commercial sexual 
exploitation, and to the Middle East, particularly Saudi 
Arabia, for forced prostitution and forced labor.  While 
Italy is the primary European destination country for 
Nigerian victims, other common destinations are Spain, the 
Netherlands, Belgium, Austria,  Norway, Denmark, Finland, 
Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, France, and Greece.  Children 
from Nigeria and other African countries are trafficked from 
Lagos to the UK,s urban centers for domestic servitude and 
forced labor in restaurants and shops. 
 
The Government of Nigeria fully complies with the minimum 
standards for the elimination of trafficking.  Over the last 
year, the government more than doubled the number of 
trafficking offenders convicted, while it improved assistance 
given to victims, demonstrated strong awareness-raising 
efforts, and increased funding to its anti-human trafficking 
organization, the National Agency for the Prohibtion of 
Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).  Nigeria,s strengthened 
anti-trafficking record over the last year reflects the 
cumulative impact of progressively increasing efforts made by 
NAPTIP over the last several years. 
 
Recommendations for Nigeria: Continue strong efforts to 
prosecute and convict trafficking offenders; reconsider the 
practice of interrogating suspected traffickers in Lagos in 
the same building where trafficking victims are sheltered; 
and ensure that victims, rights are respected and that they 
are not detained involuntarily in shelters. 
 
Prosecution 
------------ 
The Government of Nigeria demonstrated increased law 
enforcement efforts to combat trafficking during the last 
year.  Nigeria prohibits all forms of trafficking through its 
2003 Trafficking in Persons Law Enforcement and 
Administration Act, which was amended in 2005 to increase 
penalties for traffickers.  This law,s prescribed penalties 
of five years, imprisonment for labor trafficking, 10 
years, imprisonment for trafficking of children for forced 
begging or hawking, and a maximum of life imprisonment for 
sex trafficking are sufficiently stringent and commensurate 
with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as 
rape.  Nigeria,s 2003 Child Rights Act also criminalizes 
child trafficking, though only 20 of the country,s 36 states 
have enacted it. 
 
During the year, NAPTIP reported that it investigated 209 
trafficking cases, 37 of which were prosecuted, resulting in 
the conviction of 19 sex traffickers and four labor 
traffickers.  Sentences imposed on convicted traffickers 
ranged from six months to 40 years, imprisonment.  One sex 
trafficking offender received a sentence of 40 years, 
imprisonment, two received sentences of 24 years, 
imprisonment, and others received two-, five-, and seven-year 
sentences.  Six sex traffickers received sentences of one 
year,s imprisonment or less.  While one labor trafficker was 
sentenced to 20 years, imprisonment, one was sentenced to 
one year imprisonment and two were given the option of 
serving one to two years in prison or paying fines of between 
$65 and $600.  Over the year, the government provided 
anti-trafficking training for 823 law enforcement officials 
and integrated a trafficking training course in the National 
Police Force,s standard curriculum.  For several months in 
2008, NAPTIP cooperated with European law enforcement 
counterparts in Operation Koovis. This resulted in the arrest 
of 60 Nigerian trafficking suspects in Europe, where they 
will be prosecuted. 
 
Protection 
----------- 
Nigeria intensified its efforts to protect trafficking 
victims during the last year.  NAPTIP continued to operate 
seven shelters in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Sokoto, Enugu, Uyo and 
Benin City.  The Ministry of Women,s Affairs operates two 
additional shelters, one in Kano and one in Akwa Ibom. The 
government collaborated with NGOs and international 
organizations to provide victims with care.  NAPTIP continued 
to provide care to victims with HIV/AIDS through agreements 
with hospitals whereby the government pays portions of this 
care and hospitals agree to provide care at lower cost or 
sometimes for free. The government reported that between 
October 2007 and September 2008 it identified 887 trafficking 
victims, of whom NAPTIP rescued 291, the Immigration Service 
rescued 215, the Nigerian Police intercepted 304, the Civil 
Defense Corps intercepted 56, the Federal Road Safety rescued 
18, the State Security Service intercepted two, and a 
Nigerian Embassy rescued one. NAPTIP reported that from 
February 2008 to February 2009 932 victims -- 387 of whom 
were children -- received care at its seven shelters.  The 
agency,s largest shelter in Lagos, with a capacity for 120 
victims, housed an average of 35 to 40 victims at any given 
period during the year.  This shelter offers victims 
vocational training and has 12 full-time counselors trained 
to treat trauma.  NAPTIP detains suspected traffickers for 
questioning in the same building containing the Lagos 
shelter, a practice that threatened to jeopardize the safety 
of victims and contribute to their psychological distress. 
The government also reported that some of its shelters lack 
adequate vocational training facilities.  NAPTIP repatriated 
45 victims back to Nigeria with some assistance from IOM and 
repatriated 54 foreign victims back to their African 
countries of origin.  In August 2008, NAPTIP launched the 
Victims, Trust Fund, which accepts donations to provide 
restitution to victims on a case-by-case basis.  In November 
2008, Nigeria approved a National Policy on Protection and 
Assistance to Trafficked Persons to increase protection and 
rehabilitation efforts, though implementation has not begun. 
The government also operated hotlines for assistance to 
victims in each of NAPTIP,s zonal areas.  The government 
encouraged victims to participate in investigations and 
prosecutions of trafficking crimes, as victim testimony is 
usually required to prosecute traffickers.  Because cases 
take so long to go to trial, victims often returned to their 
home communities before they could give testimony in court. 
 
Nigeria provided a limited legal alternative to the removal 
of foreign victims to countries where they face hardship or 
retribution ) short-term residency that cannot be extended. 
The government also placed foreign victims in shelters under 
guard until they were repatriated.  Although there were no 
reports of victims inappropriately incarcerated, fined, or 
penalized for unlawful acts committed as a result of being 
trafficked, police and immigration officers did not always 
follow procedures to identify trafficking victims among 
females arrested for prostitution.  While NAPTIP 
investigators follow formal procedures to identify sex 
trafficking victims, such procedures have not been formalized 
within the National Police Force or the National Immigration 
Service.  In March 2009, NAPTIP dismissed two officers for 
attempting to extort bribes from trafficking victims during 
investigations. 
 
Prevention 
----------- 
The Government of Nigeria demonstrated strong efforts to 
raise awareness about trafficking over the last year.  In 
August 2008, on its five-year anniversary, NAPTIP organized 
the First Trafficking Awareness week, a series of 
anti-trafficking, awareness-raising events, including the 
launch of the &Red Card,8 a leaflet distributed to the 
public with information on the human trafficking phenomenon, 
including hotline numbers.  In November 2008, Nigeria and 
Benin hosted a four-day, anti-trafficking forum attended by 
representatives from Togo, Gabon, and Congo.  During the 
year, NAPTIP provided guidance to counterparts in Ghana on 
establishing a similar anti-trafficking agency.  In August 
2008, Nigeria adopted a new National Plan of Action on 
Trafficking in Persons, though implementation has not yet 
begun.  In 2008, the government provided NAPTIP with $9.3 
million in funding, up from $7.2 million in 2007.  NAPTIP 
hosted two national stakeholders, forums during the year 
attended by government, NGO, and international organization 
representatives.  Nigerian troops receive anti-trafficking 
awareness training through a donor-funded program before 
being deployed abroad as part of international peacekeeping 
missions.  The Government took steps to reduce the demand for 
commercial sex acts within Nigeria by closing down two 
commercial establishments for trafficking activities in July 
¶2008. 
 
 
¶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 is Nigeria on Tier 1? 
 
A:  The Government of Nigeria fully complies with the minimum 
standards for the elimination of trafficking.  Over the last 
year, the government more than doubled the number of 
trafficking offenders convicted, while it improved assistance 
given to victims, demonstrated strong awareness-raising 
efforts, and increased funding to its anti-human trafficking 
organization, the National Agency for the Prevention of 
Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).  Nigeria,s strengthened 
anti-trafficking record over the last year reflects the 
cumulative impact of progressively increasing efforts made by 
NAPTIP over the last several years. 
 
Q2:  What progress has Nigeria made in the last year? 
 
A: The Government of Nigeria demonstrated increased law 
enforcement and victim protection efforts to combat 
trafficking during the last year.  During the year, NAPTIP 
reported that it investigated 209 trafficking cases, 37 of 
which were prosecuted, resulting in the conviction of 19 sex 
traffickers and four labor traffickers.  Sentences imposed on 
convicted traffickers ranged from six months to 40 years, 
imprisonment.  For several months in 2008, NAPTIP cooperated 
with European law enforcement counterparts in Operation 
Koolvis. This resulted in the arrest of 60 Nigerian 
trafficking suspects in Europe, where they will be 
prosecuted.  The government reported that it identified 887 
trafficking victims.  NAPTIP reported that  932 victims -- 
387 of whom were children -- received care at its seven 
shelters.  NAPTIP repatriated 45 victims back to Nigeria with 
some assistance from IOM and repatriated 54 foreign victims 
back to their African countries of origin.  In November 2008, 
Nigeria approved a National Policy on Protection and 
Assistance to Trafficked Persons to increase protection and 
rehabilitation efforts. In 2008, the government provided 
NAPTIP with $9.3 million in funding, up from $7.2 million in 
2007 
 
 
Q3: How can Nigeria further the fight against trafficking in 
persons? 
 
A:  Continue strong efforts to prosecute and convict 
trafficking offenders; reconsider the practice of 
interrogating suspected traffickers in Lagos in the same 
building where trafficking victims are sheltered; and ensure 
that victims, rights are respected and that they are not 
detained involuntarily in shelters. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON