Guinea 2007 TIP Report: Demarche to the Minister of Social

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000831 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR G/TIP SENSITIVE E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM KWMN KPAO SMIG PREL ELAB ASEC GV SUBJECT: Guinea 2007 TIP Report: Demarche to the Minister of Social Affairs REF: A) State 78713 B) State 71163 ¶1. (U) On June 29, as directed in Ref A, Poloff delivered demarche on the 2007 Guinea Trafficking in Persons Report to the Minister of Social Affairs Tete Nabe. Also present were several members of the minister's cabinet and senior officials charged with issues of protection, social development, and child endangerment. Issa Traore, President of the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Legal Advisor at the Ministry of Social Affairs, was also present. ¶2. (U) We provided a French translation of the Guinea country report and informed the minister that the Embassy issued a press release announcing Guinea's Tier Two placement. In order to maximize the impact of the report (per Ref B),we prepared a package also containing the French version of the press release and several articles in French about the TIP report and U.S. policy on trafficking-related issues made available by the Bureau Public Affairs. The press release was picked up by several national electronic and print media outlets. ¶3. (U) The Minister welcomed the report and the ongoing engagement of the United States on TIP issues. She announced a sub-regional conference in July where trafficking issues would be discussed among ministers from Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Togo. The Minister also stated that Guinea would present its efforts to end all forms of female exploitation at an upcoming UN conference in New York. ¶4. (SBU) When Poloff raised the issue of prosecutions, and the fact that Guinea has made little progress in this area, the Minister acknowledged that there is much work still to do. The Minister told us that at the recent government retreat, she took the lead in championing increased inter-ministerial coordination to identify and punish traffickers. The Minister agreed that there were many persons in key government positions who continue to protect and assist traffickers. ¶5. (SBU) The Minister also laid responsibility on third country nationals (making specific mention of Chinese and Nigerian criminals) who were leading trafficking rings and using Guinea as a point of departure for exploiting victims. She asked for our assistance to help Guinea strengthen its law enforcement mechanisms and thanked us for our contributions to UNICEF and other NGOs which are key in combating TIP. On June 27, ministry officials were in attendance as Guinean NGOs formally launched a nationwide network -- the Constitutive Assembly of the NGO Coalition to Combat Trafficking in Persons. ¶6. (SBU) COMMENT. The Minister's discussion of "outside" forces taking advantage of Guinea's weak prosecutorial framework is a departure from the past, when officials denied the involvement of both government officials and foreign nationals. Taking the lead on Guinea's trafficking in persons issues, the Minister of Social Affairs re-affirmed the new government's commitment to making progress on trafficking in persons issues. END COMMENT. KAEUPER