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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0597 1630019
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112354Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY LILONGWE IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060597 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI -- 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 Malawi 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 Malawi 
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 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 Malawi 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 Malawi,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
--------------- 
MALAWI (TIER 2) 
--------------- 
 
Malawi is a source, transit, and destination country for men, 
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced 
labor and sexual exploitation.  The incidence of internal 
trafficking is believed higher than that of transnational 
trafficking, and practices such as forced labor exist, 
particularly on tobacco plantations.  Children are trafficked 
primarily within the country for forced labor in agriculture, 
animal herding, domestic servitude, and to perform forced 
menial tasks for small businesses.  Girls and young women are 
trafficked internally for forced labor and prostitution at 
local bars and rest houses.  Malawian adults and children are 
lured by fraudulent offers of employment into situations of 
forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation in 
Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia.  In 2008, Malawian men 
were also trafficked to Tanzania for forced labor in the 
fishing industry.  Children, as well as a smaller number of 
women, from Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Burundi, and 
Zimbabwe are trafficked to Malawi for forced labor and 
commercial sexual exploitation. 
 
The Government of Malawi does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  While 
the government incrementally improved its efforts to identify 
victims and bring trafficking offenders to justice, the 
largely inconsequential punishments meted out to convicted 
traffickers during the reporting period demonstrated a 
continued lack of understanding of the seriousness of human 
trafficking crimes on the part of judicial and other 
government officials. 
 
Recommendations for Malawi:  Provide additional training to 
judges, prosecutors, and police ) particularly those working 
near border areas ) on how to identify, investigate, and 
prosecute trafficking cases utilizing existing laws; pass and 
enact comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation; expand the 
existing focus on protecting victims of child labor 
trafficking to include children exploited in domestic 
servitude or prostitution; and institute a system to compile 
data on cases investigated and prosecuted and victims 
assisted throughout the country. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Government of Malawi,s anti-trafficking law enforcement 
efforts improved over the last year, though punishments of 
trafficking offenders remained weak, inconsistent, and highly 
dependent on the knowledge level of the judges and 
prosecutors involved in the case.  Malawi prohibits all forms 
of trafficking through existing laws, including the 
Employment Act and Articles 135 through 147 and 257 through 
269 of the Penal Code, though a lack of specific 
anti-trafficking legislation allows for a range of 
potentially weak punishments to be imposed on convicted 
trafficking offenders.  Prescribed penalties under the 
aforementioned statutes range from small fines to 10 years, 
imprisonment; these penalties are sufficiently stringent and 
commensurate with punishments prescribed for other grave 
crimes.  The Child Care, Protection and Justice Bill, which 
defines child trafficking and sets a penalty of life 
imprisonment for convicted traffickers, remains in Cabinet 
and was not passed by Parliament during the reporting period. 
 The Malawi Law Commission continued drafting comprehensive 
anti-trafficking legislation to specifically outlaw all forms 
of human trafficking. 
 
In 2008, the government used laws against child labor, 
kidnapping, and profiting from prostitution to convict 
trafficking offenders; as in past years, the majority of 
trafficking cases involved forced child labor in the 
agricultural sector.  According to the Ministry of Labor, the 
government conducted at least 24 such child labor trafficking 
investigations and prosecuted three cases under the 
Employment Act in 2008.  A court in Mchinji district 
sentenced a man to eight years, imprisonment for trafficking 
children for agricultural labor.  A Mchinji tobacco farm 
employee received a sentence of two years, imprisonment for 
his participation in child labor trafficking.  A Kasungu 
district court sentenced a man to two years, imprisonment 
for attempting to sell his 17-year old daughter into slavery 
for $700.  Most other offenders, however, received a warning 
for the first offense and a small fine for subsequent 
violations.  The Ministry of Labor reported the out-of-court 
settlement of at least 13 possible trafficking cases for 
payment of back wages and repatriation costs.  Responding to 
the trafficking of young Burundian girls for prostitution, a 
Malawian court convicted two Burundian nationals for 
profiting from prostitution; they received fines rather than 
prison sentences.  In 2008, the government deported a 
Zimbabwean sex trafficking victim when her temporary 
residency status expired, resulting in the dismissal of the 
court case against the Malawian truck driver who trafficked 
her to Malawi.  The Anti-Corruption Bureau did not provide 
information on the status of its 2007 investigation into two 
complaints of government corruption relating to trafficking. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
Malawi depends heavily on foreign donors and NGOs to fund and 
operate most of the country,s anti-trafficking programs, 
limiting the government,s discretion in programming and 
placement of resources.  The government funds and operates a 
social rehabilitation drop-in center in Lilongwe for victims 
of trafficking and gender-based violence, but does not 
maintain records specifically on trafficking victims 
receiving assistance or identify trafficking victims among 
the center,s clients.  The government provided shelter and 
legal assistance to one identified Zimbabwean trafficking 
victim in 2008.  Using established procedures, district and 
local officials ) police, social welfare officers, and labor 
officers ) also referred victims to various NGO-run 
facilities that provided protective services and, in some 
districts such as Mchinji, facilitated their return to their 
home districts.  There were no protective services available 
to Malawian trafficking victims returning from other 
countries.  Police stations throughout the country housed 
victim support units to respond to gender-based violence and 
trafficking crimes.  These units provided limited forms of 
counseling and, in some places, temporary shelter, though 
their capacity to identify and assist victims varied greatly 
among stations.  Inter-ministerial district child protection 
committees monitored their districts for suspicious behavior 
and reported suspected trafficking cases to police and social 
welfare officers. 
 
During the reporting period, the Ministry of Women and Child 
Development trained 289 volunteer community child protection 
workers to recognize child victims of all forms of 
exploitation, including trafficking.  In early 2009, it began 
the process of converting these volunteer positions into paid 
positions within the ministry.  The government allocated 
$176,056 to the Child Labor Control Unit for conducting 
inspections in 2008.  The government encouraged victims, 
participation in the investigation and prosecution of 
trafficking crimes and did not inappropriately incarcerate, 
fine, or otherwise penalize victims for unlawful acts 
committed as a direct result of being trafficked.  Government 
officials indicated that foreign victims were usually granted 
temporary residency status; the length of courts proceedings, 
however, sometimes exceeded the duration of this status, 
resulting in deportation and dismissal of cases against 
alleged traffickers. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The government sustained its efforts to prevent human 
trafficking in 2008.  Child trafficking issues fall under the 
purview of both the National Steering Committee on Orphans 
and Vulnerable Children and the National Steering Committee 
on Child Labor, which were created to provide policy guidance 
and coordinate the government,s engagement on children,s 
issues.  Most districts have a district child labor 
committee, a district orphan and vulnerable child committee, 
and a district child protection committee, all of which have 
responsibility for trafficking issues.  There is significant 
overlap and inadequate communication and coordination among 
these committees.  The effectiveness of these committees in 
preventing child trafficking during the reporting period 
varied widely and was often dependent on the capacity of the 
individuals employed or their partnership with NGO- or 
foreign-funded projects in the vicinity.  The government and 
UNICEF continued a child rights information campaign called 
&Lekani8 or &Stop!8 that included billboards, bumper 
stickers, newspaper ads, and radio programs which provided 
messages against trafficking, child labor, child sexual 
exploitation, and commercial sexual exploitation.  Through 
the National Aids Commission,s Action Framework on HIV/AIDS 
Prevention, the government also provided community 
sensitization on the dangers of commercial sexual 
exploitation and attempted to reduce the demand for 
commercial sex acts.  The Malawi Defense Force has a zero 
tolerance policy on human trafficking and provided training 
on human rights, child protection, and the elimination of 
sexual exploitation to its nationals deployed abroad as part 
of peacekeeping missions. 
 
 
¶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 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:  What progress has Malawi made in the last year? 
 
A:  The government conducted at least 24 child labor 
trafficking investigations and prosecuted three cases under 
the Employment Act in 2008.  For example, a court in Mchinji 
district sentenced a man to eight years, imprisonment for 
trafficking children for agricultural labor.  The government 
provided shelter and legal assistance to one identified 
Zimbabwean trafficking victim.  The government funded and 
operated a rehabilitation drop-in center in Lilongwe for 
victims of trafficking and gender-based violence, though 
shelter staff did not screen for trafficking victims among 
the center,s clients.  District and local officials referred 
victims to various NGO-run facilities that provided 
protective services and, in some districts such as Mchinji, 
facilitated their return to their home districts.  During the 
reporting period, the Ministry of Women and Child Development 
trained 289 volunteer community child protection workers to 
recognize child victims of all forms of exploitation, 
including trafficking. 
 
Q2:  What can Malawi do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A: While the government incrementally improved its efforts to 
identify victims and bring trafficking offenders to justice, 
the largely inconsequential punishments meted out to 
convicted traffickers during the reporting period 
demonstrated a continued lack of understanding of the 
seriousness of human trafficking crimes on the part of 
judicial and other government officials.  Most other 
violators received a warning for the first offense and a 
small fine for subsequent violations.  For example, in 
response to the trafficking of young Burundian girls for 
prostitution, a Malawian court convicted two Burundian 
nationals for profiting from prostitution; they received 
fines rather than prison sentences. 
 
To advance its anti-trafficking efforts, the Government of 
Malawi could:  provide additional training to judges, 
prosecutors, and police ) particularly those working near 
border areas ) on how to identify, investigate, and 
prosecute trafficking cases utilizing existing laws; pass and 
enact comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation; expand the 
existing focus on protecting victims of child labor 
trafficking to include children exploited in domestic 
servitude or prostitution; and institute a system to compile 
data on cases investigated and prosecuted and victims 
assisted throughout the country. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON