GHANA'S 2006 TRAFFICKING-IN-PERSONS REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 ACCRA 000518

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR G/TIP'S VERONICA ZEITLIN, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, AND AF/RSA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB GH
SUBJECT: GHANA'S 2006 TRAFFICKING-IN-PERSONS REPORT

REF: A. STATE 3836

B. ACCRA 00386

C. STATE 25229

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) As requested ref A, post submits this cable as input for
the sixth annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Ghana has problems
with both domestic and international human trafficking. The GOG,
international and local NGOs have combined efforts to focus on
combating domestic trafficking in children, the cultural complacency
that allows such trafficking, and related hazardous child labor.
Ghana passed anti-trafficking legislation in December 2005. No
traffickers have yet been prosecuted, although there was one TIP-
related arrest since passage of the law. Efforts to combat
international trafficking have been hampered by the lack of human
and material resources common to most developing nations. End
Summary.


2. (SBU) The following responses are keyed to ref A.

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Para 21: Overview
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A. (U) Ghana is a source, transit, and destination country for women
and children trafficked for the purpose of forced domestic and
commercial labor and sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking is
more common than cross-border trafficking. The Government does not
have official figures on the number of trafficked persons, either
domestic or cross-border, and estimates are difficult to come by and
of limited reliability. The International Organization for Migration
(I0M) estimates that the number of trafficked children working in
fishing villages along the Volta Lake is well into the thousands.
(Note: Even IOM, which manages one of the most successful and
organized anti-trafficking programs in the country, has difficulty
collecting this kind of data. End note.) Women and girls are more
vulnerable to cross-border trafficking, particularly for the
purposes of sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Boys and
girls are equally vulnerable to trafficking for the purposes of
labor in the fishing villages and as 'kayaye' (porters) and street
hawking. Kayaye are among the most vulnerable trafficking victims
as many are forced into prostitution after dark.


B. (U) Domestically, most trafficking is in children. The GoG has
identified a number of key child trafficking zones that are
considered source areas, which are primarily in the Central,
Western, Greater Accra and Volta Regions, and to a lesser extent in
the Northern Region. Key destination areas are found along the
fishing villages in the Brong Ahafo, Eastern, and Volta Regions, as
well as the cocoa producing areas in Central and Western Regions.
Children are often trafficked from the north to the more populated
and commercial centers in the south to work as domestic servants,
street sellers, and porters.

Internationally, the majority of trafficking victims are children
shipped to and from the neighboring countries of Cote d'Ivoire,
TOGO, and Nigeria to work as laborers or household help. There are
also many young trafficked women who are shipped to Western Europe,
mainly to work as prostitutes. Some Nigerian women transit through
Ghana on their way to Western Europe to work in the sex industry,
and there is reportedly some trafficking in persons from Burkina
Faso, going through Ghana on their way to Cote d'Ivoire.

GoG officials confirm reports of child trafficking to 'Ghana Town',
a community of Ghanaian fishermen in the Gambia, to work for
Ghanaian masters there. Children have also been trafficked to
Nigeria after their Ghanaian guardians were told they were going to
work in TOGO. (Note: There is a common ethnic group in the border
areas between TOGO and Ghana, and there is greater cultural
acceptance in sending one's child to work for 'relatives' in TOGO
than in sending them to work in Nigeria. End note.)

Ghana's anti-trafficking efforts are hampered by a lack of trained
personnel and resources, as well as a cultural acceptance of some
forms of trafficking. Children from rural communities are commonly
sent by their parents to work as domestic servants for distant
relatives in cities. Given the severe poverty that many rural
families face, Ghanaians generally accept and even encourage sending
a child to work for well-off relations in the city, with the hope
that the child will receive some vocational training or education.
The GOG recognizes as a problem more exploitative forms of
trafficking, such as instances of cross-border trafficking or
recruiting of children by professional human traffickers. Law
enforcement authorities, however, are not equipped with adequate
training or financial resources to deal with the problem. Many
Ghanaian law enforcement agencies lack access to very basic
resources that would improve anti-trafficking efforts, such as
computer equipment to facilitate case management and data
collection, adequate lines of telecommunication both within the
country and across borders, adequate physical office space and
manpower, and transportation for investigations.
Despite these obstacles, the GOG took a major step forward in
fulfilling its commitment to combat trafficking by enacting the
Human Trafficking Act in December 2005. The law established a Human
Trafficking Fund (HTF) aimed at supporting the rescue,
rehabilitation and reintegration of trafficking victims.


C. (U) The GOG has significant political will to combat trafficking
in persons, as was reflected in the passage of the TIP bill this
year. The Ministries of Women and Children and Manpower, Youth and
Employment are committed, including at the top levels. However, the
major obstacle to addressing the TIP problem is a lack of resources.

Donors are assisting in anti-TIP activities. As of February 2006,
UNICEF had committed to significantly contributing to the HTF
established by the law. The fund will draw from donor
organizations, fines on convicted traffickers and other sources.
The GOG is actively soliciting more funds for the HTF.

Since July 2005, the Ghana Police Service (GPS) put more than 200
senior officers, cadets and recruits through Trafficking in Persons
training provided by the USG through the Department of Justice's
ICITAP program. Participants learned how to recognize trafficking
victims and secure evidence against trafficking criminals. TIP
training is now a standard module in the curriculum of the Police
Training Academy in Tesano, Accra.


D. (SBU) The government does not systematically monitor its anti-
trafficking efforts. However, foreign contributions have improved
data collection and case management at some agencies. The data and
assessment measures that do exist, as well as annual reports that
capture budget expenditures on trafficking and related programs, are
readily available when requested by Emboffs and are often released
to the press.

Most surveys on child trafficking are conducted in connection with
specific, localized projects that are jointly carried out by NGOs,
international organizations and the GoG. Such surveys tend to be
qualitative, not quantitative, in nature and involve interviews with
parents, children, traditional rulers, and local government
officials. There has been no survey (and there is no capacity for
such a survey) that would provide accurate nationwide statistics on
trafficking in Ghana.

In 2004, the Department of Social Welfare and ILO/IPEC conducted a
qualitative survey in the Northern Region and the Upper East to
assess the scope of trafficking in those regions. This was the first
trafficking field survey in these regions to date. According to the
report released in January 2005, trafficking is a major problem in
the Northern region. Internal traffickers who exploit the
impoverished conditions of the north (a result of prolonged dry
seasons and lack of employment opportunities) account for the
majority of human trafficking in this region. Children are largely
trafficked to the southern regions. The ILO has acted on some of
the report's recommendations, including providing funding for the
Department of Social Welfare to conduct sensitization in some
Northern Region communities.

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Para 21: Prevention
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A. (U) The GOG openly acknowledges that human trafficking is a
problem. In October 2001, the GOG adopted the ECOWAS Plan of Action,
which mandated that states establish an operational National Task
Force on Trafficking by June 2002 and begin national awareness
campaigns. In early 2002, the Vice President formally launched
Ghana's National Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, three months
ahead of the ECOWAS deadline at an ILO-sponsored conference on child
trafficking in Ghana. The National Task Force is no longer necessary
as Ghana has now passed anti-human trafficking legislation. Its
coordinating role among agencies that combat TIP will be taken over
by a 17-member Human Trafficking Board established under the new
law.

In June 2004, MOWAC and the District Chief Executive (DCE) of a
community in the Eastern Region announced it had identified a child
trafficking zone in that area. The DCE said that it would work with
MOWAC to collect data on children who had been trafficked from that
area and help reintegrate them into the community.


B. (U) The key ministries engaged with trafficking issues are the
Ministry for Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC),the Ministry for
Manpower, Youth, and Employment (MMYE, formerly Manpower,
Development, and Employment; the Department of Social Welfare is
part of this ministry),the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of
Justice.

Other ministries involved in program implementation at the community
level include the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, and
the Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development.
The Ministry of Justice took the lead on developing the new law
against trafficking. The MMYE has responsibilities under the law on
the program level to combating child labor as well as child
trafficking. MOWAC has responsibility as the lead Ministry in
implementing the law, establishing the Fund and the Management
Board.


C. (U) There have been many government-run anti-trafficking public
campaigns. From February 23-24, 2006, MOWAC held a two-day
roundtable meeting for all NGOs and donor agencies involved in
trafficking in persons to improve coordination.

The Department of Social Welfare actively conducts sensitization
campaigns that target the sending villages, especially in the
Central Region. This involves reaching out to parents, schools, and
community leaders to educate them about the issue of trafficking. At
a workshop in April 2004, the head of the Ghana Child Labor Unit
noted that part of its "Operation Bring Your Children Home" campaign
included direct outreach in selected schools. In 2006 MOWAC plans a
nationwide campaign to educate the general public on the provisions
of the new TIP legislation, for which it seeks USG assistance.

The Ghana Education Service stepped up its efforts to protect the
rights and welfare of children. The GoG strongly supported the U.N's
Education for All goals. The Ghana Education Service (GES) actively
campaigned in 2004 for expanded education of girls by providing
scholarships at the Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior
Secondary School (SSS) levels and by providing incentives for female
teachers to teach in rural areas. The GES also placed Girls
Education Officers at the regional and district levels. These
efforts have been accompanied by increased government support of
'informal' schools, which target children who go to school but also
work to help support their families.


D. (U) Due to a scarcity of resources, the GoG supports prevention
programs in a very limited capacity. For example, the host
government contribution (usually in the form of human resources) to
many ongoing ILO/IPEC programs is approximately 10%, depending on
the specific project (e.g., some projects have a slightly higher GoG
contribution, some have a slightly lower contribution). In 2004 and
2005, the MMYE included a line item in its annual budget request for
anti-trafficking programs.

(Note: there was no item E in the tasker. End note.)


F. (U) The Government's relationship with NGOs, international
organizations, and civil society is constructive. Embassies, NGOs
and civil society contacts have been unanimous in their view that
the new ministers at MOWAC and MMYE, who were appointed in February
2005, are cooperative on TIP issues.


G. (U) The Director of the Ghana Immigration is committed to
combating human trafficking and has trained officers to identify
victims. In February 2006, GIS announced its plans for a new border
control unit. This should improve monitoring of trafficking. As of
2003, the GIS began using the Personal Identification Secure
Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) at Accra's international
airport to collect and screen for information on international
travelers. As of February 2006, the use of PISCES was expanded to
the Aflao and Elubo borders with TOGO and Cote d'Ivoire
respectively. In 2004, the Department of Social Welfare increased
its communication with airport officials to be watchful for
potential trafficking through the airport. The Department is
concerned about fraudulent adoption cases and potential criminal
motives behind these cases.


H. (U) There is no formal mechanism in place that coordinates
communication between NGOs. See 22 J.

(Note: there was no item I in the tasker. End note.)


J. (U) Prior to the passage of the anti-trafficking bill, the GOG
had a National Plan to Combat Trafficking as well as a National Task
Force made up of the Ministries of Justice, Manpower Youth and
Employment, and Women and Children's Affairs, the National Police,
Ghana Immigration, and members of civil society. The Task Force
expired with the passage of the law in December 2005.

The Human Trafficking Act provides for the establishment of a Human
Trafficking Management Board. The Board is expected to make
recommendations for a national plan of action against trafficking in
persons and to monitor and report on the plan. At the time of
reporting, MOWAC was in the process of forming the Board.

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23. Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers
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A. (U) The Human Trafficking Act was signed by the President in
December 2005. The law defines trafficking as ".the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring, trading or receipt of persons
within and across national borders.." Trafficking in persons for
the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation is well covered
under one of the provisions of the law which states that
"Exploitation shall include at the minimum, induced prostitution
and other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal
of organs." The law covers both internal and external trafficking.
There is a special provision in the law that seeks to protect child
victims of trafficking. According to Act (1) (4),when a child is
trafficked, "the consent of the child, parents or guardian cannot
be used as a defense in prosecution.." This clause is particularly
important given Ghana's cultural practice of parents sending a
child away to live with distant relatives or with somebody who
promises to find a job for the child. Under the law, the minimum
penalty for convicted traffickers is five year imprisonment (there
is no stated maximum prison term.)

B. (U) The Human Trafficking Act does not have different penalties
for traffickers of people for labor or sexual exploitation. All
convicted traffickers may be sentenced to no less than five years in
prison.


C. (U) In June 1998, parliament passed comprehensive legislation to
protect women and children's rights. The bill doubled the mandatory
sentence for rape, making it punishable by 7 to 25 years in prison.
It also banned the practice of ritual servitude, criminalized
indecent assault and forced marriage, and raised the punishments for
defilement, incest, and prostitution involving children.


D. (U) If caught, prostitutes or perpetrators of related
activities (such as owning/operating a brothel, pimping or being a
client of a prostitute) are charged with a misdemeanor which entails
payment of a fine with no jail time. Prostitution laws are rarely
enforced due to lack of proof when booking a possible suspect. Lack
of human and financial resources within the police department
compound the problem. There was no data recorded or made available
by the police's Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVISU)
on prostitution in 2005.


E. (U) To date, the GOG has prosecuted no traffickers under the new
human trafficking law.


F. (U) Traffickers tend to work as freelance operators rather than
as organized groups. The GOG, NGOs and international communities
involved in all aspects of trafficking agree that there is no
nationally or internationally coordinated effort to engage in
trafficking in Ghana. Within Ghana, brokers or recruiters procure
children from rural areas and move them to the locations where they
will work. One of the main destinations for trafficked children is
fishing village in the Brong Ahafo region. Recruiters may move as
many as ten children at one time. There are no reports available
about where profits from trafficking are being channeled. It is
generally presumed that domestic traffickers keep all profits.


G. (SBU) The GoG actively investigates cases of trafficking. There
are two high-profile cases that highlight the efforts by Interpol
and GoG agencies to identify children who had been trafficked to
other countries. In April 2004, through the coordinated efforts of
the GoG and the Government of The Gambia, twelve Ghanaian girls
were identified and brought home. According to Interpol, a local
Ghanaian informant tipped off UNICEF, which in turn contacted
Interpol-Ghana about the case. Interpol-Ghana contacted Interpol-
Gambia to verify the accuracy of the report. Upon verification of
the report, the Department of Social Welfare worked with Gambian
officials to repatriate the twelve girls.

In a second case in November 2004, Interpol and the Department of
Social Welfare received information from a local informant about
six girls who had been trafficked to Nigeria. After verifying the
case details, the Ghanaian embassy in Nigeria assisted in bringing
the girls to the Ghana-TOGO border in late December 2004. An
Interpol official brought the girls from the border to Accra, at
which point the Department of Social Welfare became responsible for
rehabilitating and reintegrating them. (Note: According to GoG
authorities involved in this case, the Nigerian authorities were
uncooperative in helping to repatriate the girls. The Nigerian
woman accused of trafficking is currently in Nigerian custody and
no information has been shared with the GoG about her case status.
End note.)

Interpol has not heard from the informant in the Nigerian case since
he initially approached them. GOG authorities involved in this case
note that the Nigerian authorities were initially uncooperative in
helping to repatriate the girls. However, Nigerians currently share
information on the status of the case and Ghanaian Interpol
officials are expected to travel to Nigeria with two of the victims
who will testify against the trafficker.

Local law enforcement does not use any special techniques in the
investigation of trafficking. There are several cases that involved
detection of trafficking by law enforcement authorities through tip-
offs by local residents, and arrests have been made. Interpol Ghana
relies on its computer-based program (i24/7) to track details of
criminals and traffickers with its counterparts across the world.

H. (U) In 2005, the Ghana Police Service participated in ICITAP-
funded basic police training, which included training on TIP. The
Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) attempts to identify traffickers and
trafficked persons through the detection of fraudulent
documentation. The GIS has received training from the USG and other
foreign countries on fraud in the past, which has been well-
received. Many government officials and law enforcement agencies
have attended training sponsored by local and international NGOs in
the past year.


I. (U) In September 2005, UNICEF and MOWAC facilitated a meeting of
30 professionals in social work, law enforcement, the judiciary and
ILO from Ghana and the Gambia to deliberate and negotiate a draft
protocol that is to provide a bilateral legal framework for
monitoring and eliminating child trafficking between the two
countries. The directors of Social Welfare in both countries made
graphic presentations on the evidence of child trafficking between
Ghana and the Gambia. See para 23. G for other instances of cross-
border cooperation.


J. (SBU) There have been no extraditions of persons charged with
trafficking in other countries. The new TIP law has a provision for
extraditing a non-citizen but does not address the extradition of
Ghanaian nationals.

A GoG official was implicated in a child trafficking case in early

2004. The daughter of a Member of Parliament (MP) was sentenced in
the U.S. for bringing a Ghanaian woman into the U.S. and forcing her
to work as a domestic servant. The MP allegedly helped facilitate
the woman's entry to the U.S. under false pretenses. The U.S.
requested the extradition of the MP in 2003 and again in 2005, and
has repeatedly raised the request with GOG officials. The MP was re-
elected in December 2004. The GOG has not yet initiated action on
this extradition case.


K. (U) There is no evidence of government involvement in or
tolerance of trafficking, on a local or institutional level.


L. As detailed para J, an MP has been indicted in the U.S. on
trafficking-related charges.


M. (U) Ghana does not have an identified problem with child sex
tourism.


N. (U) Ghana's status on the ILO conventions and UN protocols are as
follows:

ILO Convention 182 - Ratified, 6/13/00

ILO Convention 29 - Ratified, 5/20/57

ILO Convention 105 - Ratified, 12/15/58

UN Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child
pornography - Signed but not ratified, 9/24/03

UN Option Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, especially against Women and Children - Not signed.

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Para 24: Protection and Assistance to Victims
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A. (U) The GoG provides limited resources to assist victims of
trafficking. In many cases, the authorities try to reunite
trafficked and abused children with their families. NGOs have sought
to provide services the police and social services cannot by
establishing a few crisis centers. However, as awareness of the
problem grows and trafficking victims seek assistance, the limited
GOG assistance is becoming more strapped. In February, 2006 MOWAC
and Department of Social Welfare signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with IOM to establish a new center for rehabilitating
trafficked children in Madina, Greater Accra Region. According to
the Department of Social Welfare, the two children's homes it runs
in Accra are stretched beyond capacity. The head of the trafficking
unit at Interpol notes that these two facilities, which are used as
temporary shelters for children who have been rescued before they
are repatriated, are more suitable for younger children than for
some of the older children who have been brought back. She
underscored the need for appropriate space for children and 'victim-
friendly' accommodation.


B. (U) The GOG does not have the financial resources to provide
funding to foreign or domestic NGOs. It seeks donor funding for TIP-
related projects. However, where it can, the government provides
personnel and moral support to NGOs. For instance, the
rehabilitation center in Madina was completely refurbished by the
GOG.


C. (U) There is no such screening/referral process in place.


D. (U) Victims of trafficking found at the borders are deported to
their country. However, since Ghana's problem with trafficking is
mainly internal, and there is virtually no data available on how
many victims are trafficked externally, it is difficult to factually
report on victim rights.


E. (U) The GoG does not have an adequate system in place for victim
interviewing to assist with the investigation and prosecution of
trafficking. Efforts to work with victims for information-gathering
and investigative purposes are hampered by a lack of a formal
communication system between agencies with different roles in the
prevention, prosecution, and protection stages.


F. (U) The GoG does not provide specific protection for victims of
trafficking beyond those available to all crime victims or
witnesses. The new law, however, enjoins the Ministry of Women and
Children's Affairs to provide temporary basic material support for
the care, protection, counseling and reintegration of a rescued
victim of trafficking. The law also mandates the Fund to resource
District Assemblies to protect the welfare of a trafficked person
within its area of authority. As a general note (for all
detainees),prisons in Ghana are very overcrowded and suspects are
often detained for prolonged periods of time as a result of an
overloaded judiciary.


G. (U) The GoG does not provide specialized training for government
officials in recognizing trafficking and in the provision of
assistance to trafficked victims. However, it has taken part in
trainings conducted by the ILO. The GoG does work with its embassies
and consulates in other countries on trafficking issues, although on
a limited, case-related basis.


H. (U) Through the Department of Social Welfare, the government
provides some counseling and shelter to victims of trafficking. It
also provides some start-up assistance when trafficked children are
repatriated to their home communities.


I. (U) Several NGOs, both local and international, work with
trafficking victims. The International Organization for Migration
(IOM) took the lead in 2004 with its nationwide project to rescue,
rehabilitate, and reintegrate children who had been trafficked
(mainly from the south) to fishing villages in the northeast along
the Volta River. The IOM, with GoG in-kind assistance provides
counseling and medical care to trafficking victims for two months
before assisting them back to their home villages. Upon their
return, the IOM provides micro-credit assistance to parents to help
prevent re-trafficking. The IOM also provides support for one year
with the children's school feeds and school uniforms and supplies.
The IOM project also provides micro-credit assistance to fishermen
who agree to release the trafficked children, to enable the
fishermen to explore alternative sources of income. As of the end of
February 2006, 537 children have been rescued through this project.
This number excludes 13 children who were rescued in February, 2006
and are currently undergoing rehabilitation at the Madina center
prior to reintegration into their villages.

The African Centre for Human Development (ACHD),Save the Children
UK, Children in Need, Action Aid, Catholic Action for Street
Children, the Gender and Human Rights Documentation Center, Catholic
Relief Services, Street Girls Aid, ILO/IPEC and UNICEF all work in
the areas of child labor and support for street children. These
organizations, as well as the University of Ghana's Center for
Social Policy Studies, conduct studies into trafficking as part of
their broader agenda, perform some rescue operations for street
kids, provide training and education for victims of trafficking and
abuse, and in some cases, assist with family reunification. Many of
the children helped by ACHD were re-trafficked because of minimal
post-rehabilitation follow-up.