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DE RUEHC #0602 1630035
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O 120011Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY MAPUTO IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 060602 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG MZ
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE -- 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 Mozambique 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 Mozambique 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 Mozambique 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 Mozambique,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
------------------- 
MOZAMBIQUE (TIER 2) 
------------------- 
 
Mozambique is a source and, to a much lesser extent, a 
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked 
for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. 
The use of forced and bonded child laborers is a common 
practice in Mozambique's rural areas, often with the 
complicity of family members.  Women and girls, often with 
promises of employment or education, are trafficked from 
rural to urban areas of Mozambique, as well as to South 
Africa, for domestic servitude and commercial sexual 
exploitation; young men and boys are trafficked to South 
Africa for farm work and mining.  Trafficked Mozambicans 
often labor for months in South Africa without pay and under 
coercive conditions before their exploiters have them 
arrested and deported as illegal migrants.  Traffickers are 
typically part of small networks of Mozambican and/or South 
African citizens; however, the involvement of larger Chinese 
and Nigerian syndicates has been reported.  Small numbers of 
Mozambican children and adults are reportedly trafficked to 
Zambia for agricultural labor, while adults are trafficked to 
Portugal for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. 
 Zimbabwean and Malawian women and girls are trafficked to 
Mozambique for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude.  A 
recent NGO report found that human trafficking of Mozambican 
children and adults for the forcible removal of body parts is 
significant; so-called witchdoctors in Mozambique and South 
Africa seek various body parts of live victims for 
traditional medical concoctions commonly purchased to heal 
illness, foster economic advancement, or hurt enemies. 
 
The Government of Mozambique does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. 
Mozambique demonstrated an increased commitment to combating 
trafficking in 2008, particularly through the enactment of 
comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, the creation of 
an anti-trafficking police unit, and the conviction and 
sentencing of two child traffickers. 
 
Recommendations for Mozambique:  Utilize new anti-trafficking 
legislation to prosecute and convict suspected trafficking 
offenders; launch a nationwide public awareness campaign; 
build the capacity of the new police anti-trafficking unit 
and victim support units to investigate cases and provide 
short-term protection to victims; and investigate and 
prosecute public officials suspected of accepting bribes to 
overlook trafficking crimes or free traffickers. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The government demonstrated progress in its anti-trafficking 
law enforcement efforts during the reporting period.  In 
April 2008, the National Assembly passed the final version of 
a comprehensive human trafficking law.  In June, the 
president signed the bill into law; it went into force in 
September after being gazetted.  The law provides for 
penalties of 16 to 20 years, imprisonment for those 
recruiting or facilitating the exploitation of a person for 
purposes of prostitution, forced labor, slavery, or 
involuntary debt servitude; these penalties are sufficiently 
stringent and exceed those for other grave crimes.  The 
government budgeted $360,000 to support the enforcement of 
this new law, though this funding has not yet been allocated 
to any government entity.  Following passage of the law, the 
Mozambican Police created a six-person anti-trafficking unit 
to apprehend trafficking offenders, investigate cases, and 
reintegrate victims.  This unit began developing procedures 
for interviewing potential victims and transferring them to 
the care of other organizations.  In 2008, the Ministry of 
Justice launched a juvenile court system in Maputo 
specifically designed to handle trafficking cases, as well as 
other sensitive cases involving children; this new court has 
yet to hear a child trafficking case.  In July 2008, under 
child abuse laws, a Maputo court sentenced two Turkish 
citizens to a year in prison and fined each $3,100 for 
physically and sexually abusing 17 children whom they brought 
to the capital under pretense of providing an Islamic 
education, but actually used for domestic servitude at their 
private residence.  In mid-2008, the Ministry of Interior 
worked closely with South African authorities to develop 
evidence needed for the trial of a Mozambican sex trafficker 
in Pretoria.  During the reporting period, police also 
reported breaking up several trafficking schemes, arresting 
several drivers and facilitators, but not the organizers 
behind the operations. 
 
Many low-ranking police and border control agents reportedly 
accept bribes from traffickers, severely hindering 
Mozambique's prosecution efforts.  In response, the 
government institutionalized training on human trafficking as 
a standard part of the mandatory training program for new 
border guard and police cadets.  In addition, the Ministry of 
Interior,s Office for Assistance to Women and Vulnerable 
Children began implementing a plan to augment trafficking 
awareness training for police officers; it also increased the 
availability of victim support services in each of the 
country,s police stations. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The government's efforts to protect victims of trafficking 
continued to suffer from limited resources and a lack of 
political commitment; government officials regularly relied 
on NGOs to provide shelter, food, counseling, and 
rehabilitation.  Moreover, the government continues to lack 
formalized procedures for identifying potential victims and 
transferring them to NGOs with the capacity to provide care. 
The Office of Assistance to Women and Vulnerable Children, 
however, continued collaboration with a network of 
anti-trafficking NGOs to respond quickly to tips on potential 
trafficking cases and provide care and protection to victims. 
 Each of the 204 police stations has designated staff to 
respond to cases of women and children victimized by 
violence; these victim support centers registered complaints 
and filed reports of trafficking crimes before transferring 
victims to the care of NGOs.  The Mozambican police force 
reportedly rescued more than 200 Mozambican children being 
trafficked to South Africa in the first half of 2008.  The 
government also provided shelter and medical care for two 
Mozambican girls rescued from sex trafficking in South Africa 
in March 2008; the trial of their Mozambican trafficker is 
ongoing in Pretoria.  The government encouraged victims to 
assist in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers, 
and did not penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a 
direct result of their being trafficked.  The government 
neither systematically seeks to identify trafficking victims 
among vulnerable groups nor provides legal alternatives to 
the removal of foreign trafficking victims to countries where 
they would face hardship or retribution. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The government's prevention efforts remained weak during the 
reporting period; it has yet to launch a nationwide campaign 
to foster public awareness of human trafficking among 
government officials and private citizens.  As a result, most 
Mozambicans, including many law enforcement officials, 
reportedly still do not have a clear understanding of what 
constitutes trafficking.  In the year following the March 
2008 arrest of a Mozambican sex trafficker in South Africa, 
the government-owned and private press ran frequent articles 
on updates to the case, the need for passage of the 
anti-trafficking law, and suspected cases of trafficked 
Mozambican children, including children abducted from school 
playgrounds in Maputo and Matola.  At year,s end, police and 
Ministry of Justice officials began regularly meeting with 
NGOs to develop a viable anti-trafficking strategy for the 
2010 World Cup, which is expected to increase the incidence 
of Mozambicans trafficked to South Africa for sexual 
exploitation.  Radio Mozambique and Television Mozambique 
continued to produce and air, with the assistance of 
international organizations, child-to-child programs focused 
on children,s themes, including child trafficking.  Radio 
Mozambique aired an IOM-produced radio drama on human 
trafficking.  The government, however, did not take any 
significant measures during the reporting period to reduce 
the demand for forced labor or commercial sex acts during the 
year. 
 
 
¶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:  Why was Mozambique upgraded from Tier 2 Watch List to 
Tier 2? 
 
A:  Mozambique demonstrated an increased commitment to 
combating trafficking in 2008, particularly through the 
enactment of comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, the 
creation of an anti-trafficking police unit, and the 
conviction and sentencing of two child traffickers.  In 
addition, the Ministry of Justice launched a juvenile court 
system in Maputo specifically designed to handle trafficking 
cases, as well as other sensitive cases involving children. 
The police force reportedly rescued more than 200 Mozambican 
children being trafficked to South Africa in the first half 
of 2008.  The government also provided shelter and medical 
care for two Mozambican girls rescued from sex trafficking in 
South Africa.  Police and Ministry of Justice officials began 
regularly meeting with NGOs to develop a viable 
anti-trafficking strategy for the 2010 World Cup, which is 
expected to increase the incidence of Mozambicans trafficked 
to South Africa for sexual exploitation. 
 
Q2:  What can Mozambique do to further the fight against 
trafficking in persons? 
 
A: To advance its anti-trafficking efforts, the Government of 
Mozambique could:  utilize new anti-trafficking legislation 
to prosecute and convict suspected trafficking offenders; 
launch a nationwide public awareness campaign; build the 
capacity of the new police anti-trafficking unit and victim 
support units to investigate cases and provide short-term 
protection to victims; and investigate and prosecute public 
officials suspected of accepting bribes to overlook 
trafficking crimes or free traffickers. 
 
¶12. Post may want to highlight the work of Inacio Sebastiao 
Mussanhane, one of Heroes in the Global Effort to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons honored by the Secretary of State in 
her 2009 TIP Report, in its engagement of local media. 
 
Inacio Sebastiao Mussanhane, a Mozambican lawyer, was 
studying in South Africa when he heard that Mozambican girls 
were being kept as sex slaves at an upscale brothel in 
Pretoria.  In 2008, he met three girls who had fallen victim 
to a powerful organized network that lures young girls from 
Mozambique for sexual exploitation.  Pretending to be a 
client, Mr. Mussanhane went to the brothel and gained the 
confidence of the girls.  Despite attempts by the criminal 
gang to bribe him, threaten his life, and kidnap him, Mr. 
Mussanhane began to work closely with the South African 
police, a local trafficking shelter, the Mozambican embassy, 
and the South African Ministry of Justice.  Police freed the 
girls and arrested the network,s organizer.  The case went 
to court in October 2008 and is ongoing.  Throughout the 
case, Mr. Mussanhane has been educating the Mozambican and 
South African governments, police, and courts on the nature 
of human trafficking.  He continues to risk his life to 
protect the Mozambican girls, ensure the prosecution of the 
perpetrators, bring international attention to the issue, and 
disrupt a profitable multinational criminal organization. 
 
¶13. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON