VZCZCXRO9443
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #0163/01 0530938
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220938Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1311
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 000163 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PGOV PHUM PREF SMIG
PREL, MZ 
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE SUBMISSION: TENTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN 
PERSONS (TIP) REPORT 
 
REF: STATE 2094 
 
------------------------ 
OVERVIEW OF TIP SITUATION 
------------------------- 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Mozambique is a source and possibly a destination 
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the 
purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation.  The use of 
forced child laborers is a common practice in Mozambique's 
urban and rural areas, often with the complicity of family 
members.  Women and girls are trafficked from rural to urban 
areas of Mozambique, as well as to South Africa, often with 
the promise of employment and/or education, for domestic 
servitude and commercial sexual exploitation in brothels; 
young men and boys are trafficked to South Africa mainly for 
farm work and mining.  The IOM and the Mozambican Police 
(PRM) estimate that annually 1,000 Mozambicans are trafficked 
to South Africa.  While this is an estimate, for the first 
time in 2009, the PRM kept statistics on victims of 
trafficking. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Trafficking of human organs to support the 
traditional healing industry in South Africa and Mozambique 
is relatively widespread and continues despite awareness 
raised in a 2009 report issued by the League of Human Rights 
(LDH).  Domestic and cross-border trafficking routes are also 
used to smuggle illicit drugs, with facilitators involved 
simultaneously or alternately in trafficking and drug 
smuggling.  Traffickers are typically part of networks of 
Mozambican and/or South African citizens; however, 
involvement of larger Chinese and Nigerian syndicates of 
human traffickers have been reported.  Pakistani, Somali, as 
well as Central and East African nationals were involved in 
the smuggling of primarily Pakistani and Somali nationals 
from several countries including Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, and 
Tanzania, through Mozambique, to South Africa.  These 
smuggling cases included some trafficking.  Zimbabwean and 
Malawian women and girls continued to be trafficked to 
Mozambique for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The Ministries of Interior, Women and Social 
Action, and Justice are most prominently involved in 
anti-trafficking efforts, although a general lack of 
financial and human resources, as well as the absence of 
implementing regulation for the 2008 Trafficking in Persons 
Law, greatly limited their ability to address the problem. 
The responsibility for drafting the implementing regulations 
for the 2008 TIP law resides with the Ministry of Justice, 
which may need some technical assistance if the implementing 
regulations are to be completed in a timely fashion.  Without 
implementing regulations, the PRM is not comfortable 
arresting suspected traffickers under the TIP law, making the 
law of little value. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  The Government of Mozambique (GRM) complies with 
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, 
having made some efforts to do so over the past year.  While 
the GRM did not prosecute and/or convict arrested 
traffickers, it increased the PRM's ability to track and 
assist victims of trafficking and continued to develop public 
awareness. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
SETTING THE SCENE FOR GRM ANTI-TIP EFFORTS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In 2008, Mozambique successfully passed the 
first-ever anti-TIP law in southern Africa, showing clear 
awareness of TIP as a problem in the country; however, 
implementing regulations have not yet been drafted.  Media 
coverage of TIP over the past year was less significant than 
in the previous year.  The Ministries of Interior, Justice, 
and Women and Social Action are the lead ministries in the 
GRM charged with combating sex and labor trafficking. 
However, without implementing regulations for the 2008 TIP 
law, it remains unclear which ministry has the lead on this 
issue.  Funding for victims assistance is rudimentary.  For 
example, UNICEF provided assistance to the police in order to 
establish the first-ever police station specifically designed 
to assist women and children, including victims of 
trafficking, in Maputo.  The police also trained officers on 
how to take action on TIP cases; however, there were 
insufficient resources to place a TIP-trained officer in 
every police squadron in the country. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Transparency International's 2009 Corruption 
Perceptions Index ranks Mozambique in 130th position out of 
180 countries, describing corruption as "rampant."  Bribery, 
though considered a criminal offense, is commonplace. 
 
MAPUTO 00000163  002 OF 003 
 
 
Traffickers commonly use bribery to traffic victims 
domestically and across international borders into South 
Africa and Swaziland, sometimes without passports. 
Mozambican border officials frequently stamp passports 
without the physical presence of the holder, and border 
officials have been known to back-date entry and departure 
stamps.  The GRM took steps to modernize the national 
identification and passport systems in Mozambique; however 
media reports question the transparency of the contract 
awarded by the Ministry of Interior.  There were no arrests 
or convictions to date under the 2008 TIP law; however the 
GRM, in concert with local and international NGOs, took steps 
to increase victim protection and TIP prevention.  The GRM 
did not provide a public assessment of its own anti-TIP 
efforts. 
 
----------------------------- 
INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU)  The 2008 TIP law provides for significant prison 
sentences for those found guilty of recruiting, transporting, 
sheltering, or otherwise assisting in trafficking in persons. 
 The law also outlines protection and prevention measures, 
government support of trafficked persons, and whistleblower 
protection.  The GRM agreed to budget $360,000 in support of 
enforcing the new law.  Unfortunately, implementing 
regulations for this law have yet to be published by the 
Ministry of Justice.  The lag time between the adoption of 
legislation and implementing regulations can be quite lengthy. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Mozambican law prohibits rape but was not 
effectively enforced.  Penalties ranged from two to eight 
years imprisonment if the victim is 12 years of age or older, 
and eight to 12 years imprisonment if the victim is under the 
age of 12.  In June 2009, the Mozambican Parliament passed a 
law prohibiting domestic violence, which increased penalties 
related to domestic violence against women.  Previously 
spousal abuse was considered assault, carrying lesser 
penalties.  Prostitution is not illegal, but is governed by 
several laws against indecency and immoral behavior and 
restricted to certain areas. 
 
¶9. (SBU)  The PRM reported breaking up several trafficking 
schemes, arresting several drivers and facilitators, 
including in at least one case, the trafficker sponsoring the 
entire operation. For example, in January 2010, the police 
arrested a Mozambican woman named Laureciana Clemente 
Fernando aka "Mauncha" in Beira for allegedly running a 
criminal ring involved in both the sale of hard drugs and 
human trafficking for the purposes of domestic prostitution. 
Fernando had at least one police officer on her payroll, 
according to news reports.  In the past year, media coverage 
of trafficking cases decreased significantly compared to the 
prior year. 
 
¶10. (SBU)  In April 2008, 29 year-old Mozambican and South 
African dual-national Aldina "Diana" dos Santos was arrested 
in South Africa and charged with trafficking over 30 
Mozambican girls between the ages of 14 and 20 to South 
Africa to staff her brothel in upscale Moreleta Park, 
Pretoria, operational since 2005.  In the course of the 
trial, which continued at the writing of this report, the 
court heard testimony about how Diana sexually exploited and 
tortured Mozambican young women after having trafficked them 
from Mozambique, many times without passports.  The question 
of sentencing in the Diana case is particularly cumbersome 
given the absence of a TIP law in South Africa.  The Ministry 
of Interior cooperated closely with South African authorities 
to develop evidence in this case. 
 
¶11. (SBU)  The Human Rights League (LDH) published a 
comprehensive report in January 2009 substantiating claims of 
regular mutilations occurring in Mozambique of body parts, 
primarily genitalia, forcibly removed primarily from children 
but also adults, either while the victims were still alive or 
immediately following violent death.  Media covered the 
otherwise-taboo issue following the report, and the GRM 
stated that it was aware of the problem.  These forcible 
removals cause either death or serious disability, and the 
organs are trafficked primarily to South Africa, but also in 
Mozambique to support the traditional healing industry.  GRM 
officials and members of civil society were generally 
unwilling to discuss this issue due to the stigmas associated 
with trafficking in human parts as well as fear of the 
organized crime rings associated with these acts, and media 
coverage of the report was minimal. 
 
¶12. (SBU)  Anti-trafficking seminars for new police officers 
begun in 2006 continued country-wide. The training was 
 
MAPUTO 00000163  003 OF 003 
 
 
supported by several NGOs. There is no evidence of widespread 
government involvement in or tolerance of trafficking; 
however there are known cases of GRM officials facilitating 
both TIP and human organ trafficking.  No GRM officials have 
been prosecuted for complicity in TIP.  There were no cases 
of government involvement in extradition of persons charged 
with trafficking in other countries.  International child sex 
tourism has not been identified by the government as an area 
of concern. 
 
------------------------- 
PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE 
------------------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU)  Mozambican civil society has, over the past year, 
continued to expand awareness of trafficking issues, 
publicizing the issue of trafficking and partnering with the 
GRM to develop a viable anti-trafficking strategy in the 
run-up to the 2010 World Cup, however the GRM itself has 
taken few steps to limit TIP in advance of the 2010 World 
Cup.  While no GRM statistics on trafficking existed until 
recently, victims of trafficking were reportedly taken to 
"training centers" in Swaziland and South Africa in 
preparation for the increased demand for prostitution during 
the 2010 World Cup, according to civil society members.  The 
GRM's efforts to protect victims of trafficking continued to 
suffer from a lack of resources; government officials 
regularly relied on NGOs to provide shelter, food, 
counseling, and rehabilitation for victims of trafficking.  A 
dedicated toll-free number, 116, became fully operational in 
November 2009 allowing persons to report crimes against 
children, including trafficking.  Line 116 received 5,239 
calls from November through December 2009.  An international 
NGO manages the country's only permanent shelter for child 
trafficking victims, which operates on land donated by the 
Moamba District government. 
 
---------- 
PREVENTION 
---------- 
 
¶14. (SBU)  The GRM's prevention efforts remained limited. 
Most anti-trafficking educational workshops were run by NGOs 
with government participation.  Some of these conferences and 
workshops proved very successful, particularly in raising 
public awareness of the issue.  Media coverage of TIP cases 
significantly diminished over the past year.  NGOs continued 
prominent campaigns against TIP, to include billboards, 
posters, and pamphlets displayed at international borders, in 
police stations, and along major transit routes.  Law 
enforcement officials at major border crossings communicated 
and cooperated with NGOs monitoring immigration patterns to 
screen for potential trafficking victims, but these officials 
remained prone to bribery by traffickers. 
 
--------------------------- 
TIP COMMENDABLE INITIATIVES 
--------------------------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU)  The Mozambican League of Human Rights (LDH) 
should be commended for its ongoing attempt to raise 
awareness about trafficking of human body parts for 
non-medical or traditional medicinal purposes, a TIP issue 
that has yet to be defined by international convention. 
Following the January 2009 report which raised awareness of 
the problem, the organization continued to engage both the 
GRM and the public on this issue.  In the GRM, Director of 
the Interior Ministry's Department of Women and Children 
Lurdes Mabunda has been especially helpful in protecting 
vicitms of TIP. 
 
------------ 
POST CONTACT 
------------ 
 
¶16. (U)  Embassy point of contact on TIP is Etienne LeBailly, 
Political officer. Tel: 258 21 492 797 ext. 3423; fax: 258 21 
490 448; cellular phone 258 84 310 7270.  Principal FSO 
drafter (FS-3) and LES political assistant spent 80 hours 
researching and drafting this cable. The DCM (FE-OC) spent 
one hour, other P/E officers spent two hours, including the 
editing/clearing process.  Total hours: 83. 
 
ROWE