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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0573 1622341
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112312Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY FREETOWN IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060573 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG SL
SUBJECT: SIERRA LEONE -- 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 Sierra Leone 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 Sierra Leone 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 Sierra Leone 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 Sierra leone,s country narrative in 
the 2009 TIP Report: 
 
--------------------------- 
Sierra Leone (TIER 2) 
 
--------------------------- 
Sierra Leone is a source, transit, and destination country 
for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced 
labor and commercial sexual exploitation.  The majority of 
victims are children trafficked internally within the 
country, largely from rural provinces, and sometimes from 
refugee communities, to urban and mining centers.  Within the 
country, women and children are trafficked for:  domestic 
servitude; commercial sexual exploitation; forced labor in 
agriculture, diamond mining, and the fishing industry; forced 
petty trading; forced street crime; and forced begging. 
Transnationally, Sierra Leonean women and children are 
trafficked to other West African countries, notably Guinea, 
Cote d,Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and The 
Gambia for the same purposes listed above and to North 
Africa, the Middle East, and Europe for domestic servitude 
and sexual exploitation.  Sierra Leone is a destination 
country for children trafficked from Nigeria, and possibly 
from Liberia and Guinea, for forced begging, forced labor and 
for sexual exploitation. 
 
The Government of Sierra Leone 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.  Sierra Leone demonstrated slightly 
increased law enforcement efforts over the last year by 
convicting a second trafficker under its 2005 
anti-trafficking law.  Sierra Leone also reported referring 
more trafficking victims to IOM for care than the prior 
reporting period.  Overall anti-trafficking efforts remained 
weak, however, as government authorities continued to lack a 
clear understanding of trafficking and relied largely on the 
NGO and international community to tackle it. 
 
Recommendations for Sierra Leone:  Strengthen efforts to 
prosecute and convict trafficking offenders; train law 
enforcement officers and social workers to implement formal 
procedures to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable 
populations, such as females in prostitution, unaccompanied 
foreign children,  and illegal migrants; provide 
comprehensive services to identified victims; improve 
coordination between the central and provincial governments 
for the collection of data on traffickers arrested and 
victims rescued; and increase government participation at 
meetings of the national trafficking task force. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Sierra Leone made slightly increased law 
enforcement efforts to combat trafficking in the last year. 
Sierra Leone prohibits all forms of trafficking through its 
2005 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, which prescribes a 
maximum penalty of 10 years, imprisonment.  This penalty is 
sufficiently stringent, but not commensurate with penalties 
for rape, which carry a maximum sentence of life 
imprisonment.  Comprehensive law enforcement statistics were 
not available due to poor data collection and communication 
among law officials in the interior of the country and 
central government authorities.  According to data collected 
by the Family Support Units (FSU) of the Sierra Leone Police 
(SLP) tasked with addressing trafficking, between January and 
December 2008, the government investigated 38 trafficking 
cases.   More than half of these cases involved female 
victims below the age of 16. During the year, a total of 12 
individuals were charged with trafficking.  In December 2008, 
the government secured the conviction of a man for 
trafficking a child for forced labor; he was given a sentence 
of four years, imprisonment.  In February 2009, the Special 
Court of Sierra Leone, which was operated jointly by the UN 
and the Sierra Leonean government, convicted  two former 
members of the Revoutionary United Front for conscripting 
child soldiers during the country,s 11-year civil war. 
Border officials continue to lack a full understanding of the 
distinction between smuggling and trafficking. 
Protection 
---------- 
The Sierra Leonean government demonstrated some efforts to 
protect trafficking victims during the last year.  The 
government does not provide direct assistance to victims, but 
instead refers them to the country,s only trafficking victim 
shelter, which is located in Freetown and operated by IOM. 
The FSU in 2008 identified 38 trafficking victims, whom it 
referred to the Ministry of Social Welfare (MOSW).  The MOSW 
referred the majority of these victims to IOM,s shelter for 
care, while others were placed in the custody of family 
members.  In 2008, government officials referred 84 victims 
to IOM for care.  Some victims outside Freetown were not 
referred for care, however, due to lack of transport to the 
capital or the difficulty of travel during the rainy season. 
While the Sierra Leonean government has developed a protocol 
for law enforcement and social services authorities, 
identification of trafficking victims, only a small number of 
officials have been trained to follow it.  Authorities do not 
follow procedures to identify trafficking victims among most 
populations vulnerable to trafficking, such as females in 
prostitution, unaccompanied minors, and undocumented 
immigrants.  When identified, however, victims are encouraged 
to participate in the prosecution of their traffickers.  Due 
to lengthy delays in court proceedings, many victims are not 
available to testify in court, often resulting in the 
dropping of trafficking charges against suspected 
traffickers.  Sierra Leone does not provide legal 
alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries 
where they face hardship or retribution.  There were no known 
cases during the year of trafficking victims penalized for 
unlawful acts as a direct result of being trafficked. 
However, a weak understanding among officials of trafficking 
has likely led to some trafficking victims being penalized as 
illegal immigrants or females in prostitution. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
 
The Government of Sierra Leone made inadequate efforts to 
raise awareness about trafficking during the reporting 
period.  Every two months during the year, the MOSW convened 
meetings of the Task Force, a joint government, NGO, and 
international organization entity to coordinate national 
anti-trafficking efforts. These meetings, however, were not 
well attended by government ministries, hampering the 
government,s coordination with donors.  While Sierra 
Leone,s 2007 national action plan was implemented with donor 
funding throughout 2007 and early 2008, implementation halted 
in late 2008 due to lack of support and resources within the 
government.  The government took no measures to reduce demand 
for commercial sexual exploitation.  Sierra Leone 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 is Sierra Leone on Tier 2? 
 
A:  The Government of Sierra Leone 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.  Sierra Leone demonstrated slightly 
increased law enforcement efforts over the last year by 
convicting a second trafficker under its 2005 
anti-trafficking law.  Sierra Leone also reported referring 
more trafficking victims to IOM for care than the prior 
reporting period.  Overall anti-trafficking efforts remained 
weak, however, as government authorities continued to lack a 
clear understanding of trafficking and relied largely on the 
NGO and international community to tackle it. 
 
 
Q2:  What progress has Sierra Leone made in the last year? 
 
A:  In December 2008, the government secured the conviction 
of a man for trafficking a child for forced labor; he was 
given a sentence of four years, imprisonment.  The 
government investigated 38 trafficking cases and a total of 
12 individuals were charged with trafficking.   In February 
2009, the Special Court of Sierra Leone, which was operated 
jointly by the UN and the Sierra Leonean government, 
convicted  two former members of the Revoutionary United 
Front for conscripting child soldiers during the country,s 
11-year civil war.  In 2008, government officials referred 84 
victims to IOM for care. 
 
Q3:   How can Sierra Leone further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A:  Strengthen efforts to prosecute and convict trafficking 
offenders; train law enforcement officers and social workers 
to implement formal procedures to identify trafficking 
victims among vulnerable populations, such as females in 
prostitution, unaccompanied foreign children,  and illegal 
migrants; provide comprehensive services to identified 
victims; improve coordination between the central and 
provincial governments for the collection of data on 
traffickers arrested and victims rescued; and increase 
government participation at meetings of the national 
trafficking task force. 
 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON