MOZAMBICAN POLICE ON "MAXIMUM ALERT" FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING CRIMES

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000441



SIPDIS



SIPDIS



AF/S - HTREGER, G/TIP - RYOUSEY, AF/RSA - MHARPOLE, INL/HSTC

- MGORELICK

STATE PASS USAID



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ELAB, MZ

SUBJ: MOZAMBICAN POLICE ON "MAXIMUM ALERT" FOR HUMAN

TRAFFICKING CRIMES



REF: MAPUTO 242



1. (U) During the April 10 opening session of the Interior

Ministry's sixteenth annual meeting, Minister Jose Pacheco

identified cross-border trafficking-in-persons as a criminal

focus area in which the Mozambican police are on "maximum

alert." He said police were working to neutralize and

punish organized human trafficking networks and, to that

end, were concentrating law enforcement efforts in key

border areas, particularly on the South African frontiers.

Minister Pacheco highlighted the recent arrests of six human

traffickers in mid-February (reftel) as a successful example

of the "maximum alert" policy, which also covers trafficking

of narcotics and illicit firearms.



2. (U) Other important political players are citing

trafficking as a growing problem as well. In his April 11

three-hour annual report to the legislature, Attorney

General Joaquim Madeira said that cross-border trafficking

of Mozambican minors persists for the purposes of forced

labor and sexual exploitation, and even acknowledged that it

in some cases occurs with the knowledge and/or connivance of

relatives. He said that trafficking is an act that clashes

with the international conventions to which Mozambique is a

signatory, and mentioned the need to strengthen existing

legislation for prevention and prosecution.



3. (U) COMMENT: While it's true that human trafficking is an

issue relatively new in the Mozambican political

consciousness, the above-cited occasions mark the first time

both a Mozambican interior minister and an attorney general

have publicly acknowledged trafficking-in-persons as a

national problem and have cited it as a law enforcement

priority. The obstacle that continues to hamper

Mozambique's fight against human trafficking is a critical

lack of resources, the result of competing national

priorities which include eliminating absolute poverty,

providing sufficient classrooms, restoring degraded

infrastructure, and, most serious, battling the ever-growing

HIV /AIDS pandemic. Fortunately, a strong and relatively

well-organized group of civil society organizations is

pushing hard on human trafficking, spurring government

players to do more.