GUINEA-BISSAU: ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 DAKAR 000456

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE FOR G, G/TIP, AF/W, AF/RSA, INL, PRM AND G/IWI
ACCRA FOR USAID/WA
BAMAKO FOR TIP OFFICER
BANJUL FOR TIP OFFICER
CONAKRY FOR TIP OFFICER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KWMN ELAB SMIG ASEC PREF PU
SUBJECT: GUINEA-BISSAU: ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT

REF: 06 STATE 202745

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Guinea-Bissau is a source of children trafficked for
forced agricultural work and begging, primarily in Senegal. Muslim
Koranic teachers, known as marabouts, travel from Senegal or send
intermediaries to convince parents to send children purportedly for
a religious education. Those children are routinely beaten and
subjected to harsh treatment; often their families never hear from
them again. There are no statistics or reliable estimates on the
scope of the problem. The GOGB has the political will to combat
this issue, particularly in terms of prevention and assistance to
victims. The Government has detained traffickers, including at
least one marabout, but prosecution would mean getting tough with
widely revered Muslim teachers, a politically unpopular measure.
Police, however, are proactive in stopping traffickers and assisting
victims.


2. (SBU) Children have been required to beg for food and money to
receive education from Koranic schools for generations. Some
fathers and community leaders who send children away to learn to
read the Koran experienced similar situations, although abuse
appears to be growing and education dwindling. Public discussion,
radio programs, and solid NGO efforts, often in conjunction with
police and government, have started to bear results, pushing
traffickers into more remote areas to find subjects. However, there
is also a strong sense among Muslim communities, local officials,
and parliamentarians that parents will continue to send children
away until the GOGB builds local Koranic schools.


3. (SBU) One NGO, "Associaco de Mulher e Crianca" (the Association
for Women and Children, known as AMIC in Portuguese) leads
coordination efforts for government, police, and civil society in
terms of prevention and helping returned victims find their
families. END SUMMARY.


4. (SBU) Responses are keyed to questions in reftel.

Begin TIP report:

PARA 27. OVERVIEW OF A COUNTRY'S ACTIVITIES TO ELIMINATE
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
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A. Guinea-Bissau is a country of origin for trafficked children for
forced begging, primarily to Senegal and to a lesser extent Mali and
Guinea. Children are sent by their parents with a marabout or
intermediary to study the Koran. Key source areas are the cities of
Bafata and Gabu in the east. Instead of getting an education,
children are generally forced to beg and remit daily payments of
anywhere from 50 cents to one U.S. dollar plus a kilo of rice to the
marabout. Failure to meet daily quotas earns severe beatings. Some
Koranic schools in Guinea-Bissau also require children to beg in the
long-standing tradition of these schools, but with less abuse and
more education than they get abroad. Some marabouts have
plantations and require children, primarily boys but also some
girls, to work in fields doing seasonal agricultural work. Boys
then are sent to cities to beg in the off season.

No studies have been completed on the scope of human trafficking in
or from Guinea-Bissau, and no reliable estimates exist. The GOGB
repatriated 92 children from Senegal in 2006 and says there are many
more. Two children were repatriated from Guinea-Bissau, one to
Senegal and one to Guinea.


B. Parents of young children are approached by religious leaders or
intermediaries, usually from neighboring Senegal, and offered the
chance to send children for a religious education where they will be
taught to read the Koran. Because of traditional links between
Islamic communities across borders and the existence of extended
families where distant relatives may be considered "uncles," the
trafficker is often known to the parents. There are only a few
Koranic schools in Guinea-Bissau, but they are not highly regarded;
so parents often feel that sending sons abroad is the only hope for
a religious education. Marabouts are highly respected in Muslim
society (the majority population in target areas) and are able to
operate with little interference. Parents receive no compensation
for sending their children and in many cases, pay for the initial
travel.

Begging is an old practice at Koranic schools, and some middle-aged
adults in Guinea-Bissau went through similar experiences as youths.

DAKAR 00000456 002 OF 005


However, physical abuse of children and profits for marabouts have
become common while education has all but disappeared. The
historical link between begging and Koranic schools creates a level
of acceptance among community members and impedes efforts by NGOs
and government to convince parents to stop sending children. AMIC
noted that some institutions (which they term "madrassas") are
better than others and require little begging.

The primary route to Senegal is through the town of Pirada, where
there are police and migration controls. Another key exit point is
the town of Sao Domingos in the west. Almost all traffic is
overland, reportedly by foot, taxi or animal driven carts to the
border. Non-vehicular traffic can easily avoid border outposts by
walking on foot trails through the bush. Border guards are aware of
the problem and according to the leading national NGO on
trafficking, AMIC, cooperate on interdiction and repatriation. Yet
remoteness, low salaries that are sometimes unpaid for months at a
time, and respect for marabouts makes guards vulnerable to bribes.

Living conditions for trafficked children on the streets of
Senegal's cities can be heartbreaking. Children who cannot raise
the daily payment are beaten so severely that they often don't
return, choosing to sleep in the street rather than face punishment.
It is common for families to go years without receiving any word
from children. Some children seek help from NGOs, neighborhood
women whom they adopt as mother figures or the Bissau-Guinean
Embassy in Dakar. Others simply walk back to Guinea-Bissau. Some
parents seek help from police or NGOs to reunite with children, but
they are the exception. One significant improvement this year is
the number of children repatriated from Senegal. Repatriations and
reinsertion in families and schools require significant cooperation
between NGOs, governments, police and border officials, families and
schools. Last year, 92 children benefited from that cooperation.

Political will exists to assist victims and prevent trafficking
through raising awareness, especially in key institutions such as
the government's Institute of Women and Children, the Department of
Justice, the Foreign Ministry, and among individuals throughout the
police force. In the GOGB's 2006 National Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper, root causes of trafficking are addressed, including
intervention and awareness for street children and those engaged in
the worst forms of child labor; improving education and nutrition;
and strengthening the government institutions charged with
protection. Unfortunately, the plan received little support at the
donor's round table in Geneva last November. Despite these efforts,
there is no high-level coordinated initiative to fight TIP. There
is little evident political will to confront TIP in terms of
prosecutions. According to several people interviewed from local
governments and NGOs, enforcement against marabouts is a politically
complicated issue because politicians believe any action against
them will be interpreted by a major voting bloc as action against
the Islamic faith. The Government has detained one marabout and
other traffickers but has yet to successfully prosecute any.


C. Guinea-Bissau lacks almost everything. Police forces have
received no training on trafficking. They do not have vehicles to
patrol borders; instead they rely on foot patrols. Communication
from border police in Pirada to the central police headquarters in
Gabu, about two hours away by bus and where traffickers are supposed
to be sent once detained, is by landline phone which is often out of
service. Police in Gabu have only one computer and no effective
archive system to facilitate case research. Police are receiving
regular, albeit delayed salaries. Repatriated victims sometimes
live with the Gabu police commissioner until parents can be found, a
process that sometimes takes months because children do not remember
where they are from. Guinea-Bissau's Ambassador to Senegal also
houses children awaiting repatriation when no alternative can be
found. There is no shelter in Gabu, which receives a steady trickle
of children returning from Senegal in search of families.

While corruption is likely a factor in the remote towns and border
areas, AMIC believes there is no high-level corruption on this
issue, and no one in the Government is getting rich off the
trafficking of children.


D. The GOGB does not make systematic efforts and does not publish
assessments of its performance. A police inspector under the
auspices of the Ministry of Interior has official responsibility for
coordinating the government enforcement response and cooperation
with UNICEF, but these efforts are poorly organized.

PARA 28. PREVENTION

DAKAR 00000456 003 OF 005


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A. The Government recognizes the trafficking problem and combats it
on many fronts. The Government contributes eight million CFA francs
(CFAF) (about USD 16,000) per year to the operating budget of AMIC,
the country's strongest advocate in fighting trafficking of
children.


B. Agencies involved include the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of
Interior, and the Institute of Women and Children. There is no task
force; so no agency has a clear lead.


C. AMIC conducts regular awareness efforts on radio stations in the
Gabu area. Guinea-Bissau's Ambassador to Senegal has also
contributed to awareness efforts on the radio. These efforts are
aimed at parents in Muslim communities, notifying them of the
dangers of sending their children away for Koranic studies. AMIC
notes some effectiveness, saying the city itself continues to see a
drop in trafficked children, but traffickers are moving out to
outlying areas where people are not yet as well-informed. AMIC and
police also use radio as a last resort in searching for parents of
repatriated children.


D. As part of a reinsertion program for trafficking victims
implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM),
AMIC, and Senegalese NGOs, the Government assists in repatriating
and educating children and families to avoid re-trafficking. This
program consists of educating parents, getting children in school,
and follow-up visits to check progress and track children.
Migration officials at Pirada claim they do not let anyone leave the
country with a child unless the parent is present, due to
trafficking concerns. Of course the border remains porous, and
guards may be corrupt or unprofessional.


E. Relevant actors cooperate well and recognize the importance of
close coordination. AMIC reports that it gets very good cooperation
from local police in assisting repatriated children and finding
parents. There are a good understanding of issues and updated
policies by border police and migration officials to stop
traffickers from moving children out of the country. AMIC and
police work with religious and community leaders in the regions of
Gabu and Bafata. UNICEF says the Ministry of Justice and the Muslim
NGO ALANSAR are very strong on the issue. Perhaps the biggest and
most noticeable gap is the courts, which could not point to any
successful prosecutions where traffickers served time. Another
concern is the inspector at the Ministry of the Interior who claims
to be the coordinator on enforcement but does not have a clear
picture of prosecution efforts.


F. The Government does not systematically monitor its borders for
TIP, but border guards have been educated by AMIC. Immigration
officials described a process they follow when they identify a
potential trafficker: they detain the male adults if they cannot
prove they are the fathers, contact the police in Gabu, and arrange
transportation back to police headquarters in Gabu. Unfortunately,
these are barely treated as crimes, and traffickers are generally
released while parents are contacted to pick up their children.

Police claim to have increased foot patrols of the border on the
many paths through the bush into Senegal to stem trafficking.


G. With a number of security concerns in the country, such as
increased international drug trafficking and the urgent need for
security sector reform of the bloated, violence-prone military, and
numerous social problems such as a lack of access to adequate
education and health care for most of its citizens, TIP has not
surprisingly been low on the priority list. However, even with
these other issues, the Government is doing what it can with the few
resources it has available to it. The Ministry of Interior has an
inspector in charge of crimes against children who is responsible
for coordination on law enforcement of TIP and cooperation with
UNICEF. The Institute of Women and Children has taken the lead with
respect to public awareness and marshalling efforts of the
government and the international community. The National Assembly's
Ad Hoc Committee for Women's and Children's Issues attempted to get
TIP on the legislative agenda last year, but due to a deeply
entrenched political crisis that left the body almost paralyzed, no
new TIP legislation was passed. The most effective actors continue
to be NGOs and international organizations.


H. There is no national plan of action to combat TIP.

PARA 29. INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS

DAKAR 00000456 004 OF 005


-------------- --------------

A. There has been no new legislation since the last report. There
is no law specifically prohibiting trafficking in people. Other
laws are currently being used, although they are weakly applied.
Laws against removal of minors, sexual exploitation, abuse, and
kidnapping of minors may be used to prosecute trafficking cases.
Prostitution is illegal, as is pimping.


B. There is no trafficking law, but the law against kidnapping,
which may be used in child trafficking, carries a penalty of two to
ten years in prison.


C. Guinea-Bissau is not a source or destination country for labor
abuses and as such has no specific legislation dealing with the
crime. When children are exploited for labor, it is usually through
promises of education that traffickers lure them into servitude, not
through legitimate offers of employment with contracts.


D. The penalty for rape is between one and five years in prison.
Sex trafficking is not specifically covered under the law and in
fact does not appear to be a widespread problem in Guinea-Bissau.


E. The activities of the prostitute, brothel owner, pimp, and
customer are all criminalized. There are no statistics on
enforcement of this crime.


F. There have been no successful prosecutions of traffickers.
Police are generally aware of their responsibility when it comes to
protecting children from traffickers, and they often take
appropriate action. In most cases, this involves coordinating with
NGOs on repatriations. In February, immigration officials on the
border of Guinea worked with police in the city of Gabu to detain a
marabout named Mohamed Bah who entered Guinea-Bissau illegally with
29 young boys, all nationals of Guinea. No documents were presented
at the border crossing. Police contacted AMIC for assistance caring
for the children and also the Public Ministry for assistance in
repatriating them. The marabout's intent is not certain, but AMIC
and officials suspect it was trafficking. It is not clear if
Guinea-Bissau was the intended destination or a transit country.


G. Marabouts from Senegal are the primary traffickers, although few
legitimate marabouts are traffickers. They sometimes use
intermediaries with community connections to recruit and transport
children to Koranic schools. In most cases, they are known to
communities in which they operate, AMIC, and the police. Some have
been photographed by police for the purpose of prevention. They
operate in the open, protected by their stature in the Muslim
community and the fact that politicians in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal
do not have the temerity to confront them.


H. The Government does not actively investigate most cases of
trafficking, but police are proactive in stopping traffickers and
assisting victims.


I. The Government does not provide any special training on
trafficking but has said it welcomes any training that foreign
governments or international organizations can provide. To put this
in context, no policemen have received any kind of training since

1999. Those who joined the force since then have never received
formal training in conducting any kind of police work.


J. Police in Gabu have worked with police in Senegal in the past,
but there were no records of joint investigations during the
reporting period.


K. The Government is not prohibited from extraditing its nationals
but has no record of being asked to do so for TIP.


L. There is no evidence of government involvement in TIP.


M. No GOGB officials are known to have been involved in
trafficking.


N. There is little tourism in Guinea-Bissau, and there are no
reports of child sex tourism.


O. The Government has not ratified ILO Convention 182 concerning
the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the
worst forms of child labor.

ILO Conventions 29 and 105 on forced or compulsory labor were both
ratified February 21, 1977.

DAKAR 00000456 005 OF 005



The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child
pornography was signed on September 8, 2000 and is in the
ratification process.

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime was signed on December 14,
2000 but not yet ratified.

PARA 30. PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS
-------------- -

A. A lack of resources keeps the Government from providing many
services for victims besides basic transportation back from Senegal.
Benevolent individuals, some with the Government, some with police,
and some NGOs, provide most other assistance.


B. Most significant funding comes from abroad. The Government
continues to contribute about USD 16,000 to AMIC's annual operating
budget. It cooperates and coordinates closely with UNICEF, Save the
Children (Dakar),and other foreign NGOs. For example, UNICEF
announced in February it would contribute USD one million to an
education and prevention campaign in Guinea-Bissau. The Institute
of Women and Children will be the implementing agency for the
Government.


C. Police in the primary source areas of Gabu and Bafata generally
coordinate with AMIC to assist victims and locate parents.


D. Victims are not punished or persecuted in any way by anyone
other than their traffickers.


E. Nothing impedes victims from seeking justice from their
traffickers other than a cultural perception that marabouts are
above the law.


F. See above.


G. The Bissau-Guinean Embassy in Senegal is a leader in the fight
against trafficking. It coordinates closely with NGOs in Senegal
and the Red Cross to identify, assist, and repatriate victims. It
uses its operating budget to fund assistance efforts and is
reimbursed upon justification to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


H. The GOGB provides shelter, medical aid, and food generally with
the assistance of NGOs and the Red Cross.


I. As noted above, the Government has no funds to support even a
modest victim assistance program. It relies heavily on NGO and
international donor support not just for TIP assistance, but for
many basic government functions, including payment of civil service
salaries. A non-exhaustive list includes the Red Cross, AMIC,
RADDHO (Dakar),Save the Children (Dakar),UNICEF and IOM.


5. (U) The TIP officer for Guinea-Bissau, Gregory Holliday, who is
resident in Dakar, Senegal, can be reached by phone at 221-823-4296
x2415 and by e-mail at hollidaygx@state.gov. Embassy TIP officer
spent approximately 20 hours preparing for this year's TIP report.
Embassy Dakar Pol FSN spent about 5 hours.

JACOBS