VZCZCXRO7438
RR RUEHMR
DE RUEHMR #0038/01 0361155
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051155Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY MASERU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4580
INFO RUEHMR/AMEMBASSY MASERU 5016

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000038 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IIP: ALVIN MURPHY & AF/PD:PATRICIA EHRNMAN AND 
LYNN ALLISON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KPAO LT
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR SSI SPEAKER ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP); 
THEME: DEMOCRACY, CIVIL SOCIETY, AND THE RULE OF LAW 
 
¶1.  PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:  Embassy Maseru requests a speaker to 
talk about trafficking in persons (TIP) under the theme of 
"Democracy, Civil Society, and the Rule of Law."  This is in 
line with the Embassy's Mission Strategic Plan(MSP) goal to 
advance democracy and promote human rights while mitigating the 
threat of transnational crime.  In 2009, Lesotho became a Tier 
Two Watchlist country for trafficking, the first year it had 
ever been ranked.  Since the publication of the TIP report, it 
has become an even more urgent mission goal to work with the 
government, local NGO's, and other partners on the issue of 
human trafficking.  The country is attempting to address the 
problem by drafting a law, increasing awareness of the issue, 
and looking for partners to help conduct a study which would 
evaluate the actual degree to which trafficking is occurring in 
the country, something that has never been done in Lesotho 
before.  Lesotho is thought to be mainly a country of origin and 
transit for human trafficking activities and though there is no 
reliable evidence, isolated cases have shown that the country 
does experience some degree of internal and international human 
trafficking.  Economic factors appear to be the reason for 
trafficking from the country, and extreme poverty combined with 
very high unemployment and a large orphan population make 
Lesotho extremely vulnerable to this threat. 
 
¶2.  TIME FRAME:  Post requests a one week program.  We hope to 
share the speaker with Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, and 
could easily program the speaker during their desired time frame 
from late March to either April or May 2010.  We could not 
support the speaker during the week immediately preceding or 
following Easter, or during the World Cup, mid-June to mid-July. 
 
¶3.  PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM:  This speaker program will support 
the MSP priorities highlighted above.  We expect to ask the 
speaker to do a workshop with the inter-sectoral committee on 
trafficking, which includes several government ministries; NGOs 
such as the Lesotho Child Counseling Unit; members of the United 
Nations family; representatives of the Lesotho Mounted Police - 
particularly its Child and Gender Protection Unit; and border 
control personnel.  We would also hope to work with the Ministry 
of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Gender, which are the lead 
Ministries on the Committee, to identify public audiences which 
could most benefit from the speaker's expertise in defining and 
explaining trafficking.  We will also target youth audiences, 
hoping to have a public Town Hall meeting where the issues of 
trafficking can be discussed, including the opportunity to ask 
questions of the government Ministries working on the issue. 
Our underlying purpose is to support the government's efforts to 
address this issue, and to help them keep up the momentum that 
they have gathered on this issue within the past year. 
 
¶4.  AUDIENCES:  The speaker will addressed Embassy-facilitated 
public events at venues such as the American Room at the 
National Library and the National University of Lesotho.  We 
hope to address student groups at some of the largest local high 
schools to sensitize them on the issue.  We also expect to 
convene a multiple-day workshop to facilitate and encourage the 
efforts of the government's inter-sectoral committee to fight 
human trafficking (described above).  Finally, the Public 
Affairs Section will also arrange radio and television 
interviews to broaden the impact of these presentations. 
 
¶5.  PROPOSED TOPICS AND NATURE OF EVENTS:  Discussions and 
presentations will center on the definition of human 
trafficking, main actors in human trafficking, trafficked 
persons and traffickers, geographical dynamics (Lesotho is 
completely land-locked by South Africa), root causes, current 
legal framework, current projects and programs, legal actions 
and possible policy amendments.  We expect to address specifics 
of drafting legislation with the inter-sectoral committee, and 
to spend time with border control agents and law enforcement to 
discuss ways that current laws could be use to apprehend 
traffickers. 
 
¶6.  LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT: No interpreters needed, all sessions 
will be conducted in English.  Where necessary, Post Public 
Diplomacy staff can provide on the spot interpretations of 
complicated questions and answers. 
 
¶7.  PROGRAM OFFICER AND CONTACT INFORMATION: 
Program Officer 
Sara E. Devlin 
Public Diplomacy, Economic, and Political Officer 
Office:  +226 2231-2666, ext. 4104 
Cell:  +266 5885-3093 
Email:  Devlinse@state.gov 
 
Back Up Locally-Employed Staff Member 
Mathabang Fanyane 
Cultural Assistant 
Office:  +266 2231-2666, ext. 4117 
 
MASERU 00000038  002 OF 002 
 
 
Cell:  +266 5888-4312 
Email:   FanyaneMR@state.gov 
 
¶8.  FUNDING:  All funding would need to be provided by the IIP 
speaker's program.  As post does not have an separate Public 
Diplomacy budget, Post will likely approach AF/PD to request 
additional funds for workshops and other Public Diplomacy 
activities which are not funded under the IIP speaker's program. 
 
¶9.  SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:  Embassy Maseru expects to share 
this speaker with Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as 
other interested posts. 
NOLAN