GABON: FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON 2008 TRAFFICKING IN

UNCLAS LIBREVILLE 000179

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT ALSO FOR G/TIP V ZEITLIN AND AF/C S SARDAR

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM GB
SUBJECT: GABON: FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON 2008 TRAFFICKING IN
PERSONS REPORT

Ref: Libreville 0146

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Summary
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1. (SBU) Post has consulted closely with Ambassador Reddick,
currently presenting credentials in Sao Tome, and provides these
additional comments concerning trafficking in persons in Gabon and
the proposed placement of Gabon on the Tier 2 Watch List. This
cable reflects her views. Credible independent observers tell us
that they believe the amount of child trafficking in Gabon has
declined over the last 2-3 years, due to a combination or greater
public awareness, better services to victims, and law enforcement
efforts. We agree with those observations. Because Gabon has made
progress on TIP criteria, we believe it is not appropriate to place
Gabon on the Tier 2 Watch List. End Summary.

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Context
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2. (SBU) We respectfully request that those carrying out the TIP
Tier analysis consider the following additional points. As we
understand it, most of the concern about Gabon's performance centers
on Gabon's law enforcement response to trafficking, including
prosecutions and convictions. Our comments therefore focus largely
on these issues.


3. (SBU) Out the outset, however, we would like to point out that
Gabon is a small and somewhat unusual country, heavily bureaucratic,
without adequate systems for generating the statistical data that
would do much to document better or worse performance on TIP
criteria. Gabon has made, and continues to make, a serious effort
to combat trafficking. Its reception centers, for instance, are
well-organized and--we suspect--as good or better than any in
sub-Saharan Africa.


4. (SBU) It is important to recognize the close collaboration
between Government and NGO efforts to combat trafficking, and to
avoid artificial distinctions between those efforts. Indeed, these
are precisely the kinds of public-private partnerships that should
be encouraged. As described in our reporting, Government has
provided financial and other support to a call center where victims
of trafficking can call in to get help. The government operates its
own reception center, and supports and works closely with the two
NGO-operated reception centers in Libreville. And, as detailed
below, the police and other authorities collaborate closely with
both the government-run center and the private centers and
subsequent stages of the process, including rescuing victims,
arresting traffickers, and taking appropriate follow-up action.


5. (SBU) Finally, we urge that Gabon's law enforcement response be
considered in its entirety, and in view of the realities on the
ground. We have therefore attempted to provide further detail on
some of the ways Gabonese law enforcement system, including its
system of arrest and prosecution, impacts the fight against
trafficking.

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Law Enforcement Response: Rescue
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6. (SBU) The police act on referrals from the call center, and on
reports brought directly to them, and rescue victims of trafficking.
The victims are either (a) brought for further evaluation by the
responsible government ministry, or (b) taken directly to one of
three reception centers. Thus the police regularly bring
trafficking victims to both public and private receptions centers.

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Arrest
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7. (SBU) Collaboration does not stop there. The police arrested at
least 16 suspected traffickers in 2007. These suspected traffickers
spent significant amounts of time in detention--and indeed some
remain in detention awaiting trial.

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Detention Before Trial
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8. (SBU) Detention following arrest should not be confused with a
lack of due process. Indeed, lengthy detentions, and the lack of
successful prosecutions and convictions, are attributable in part to
the procedural rights which the accused enjoy in the Gabonese legal
system. Arrest and detention are parts of due process, not contrary
to due process.


9. (SBU) Nevertheless, lawful detention does function as a de facto
punishment and a de facto deterrent to trafficking in Gabon. This
is a reality acknowledged by all the participants in the process.

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Forcing Traffickers to Pay
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10. (SBU) The assistant director reception centers informed us on
April 14 that her center had repatriated 80 trafficking victims to
their countries of origin last year. In almost all cases, the
suspected traffickers paid for the repatriation--including the costs
of air tickets, visas and other expenses. The police authorities
were instrumental in forcing the traffickers to pay these costs.
The police and other authorities also ensure that repatriations
occur without interference from the traffickers and repatriations
have proceeded without incident.

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Release Without Prosecution
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11. (SBU) We obtained further information on one group of suspected
traffickers--an official from one reception center said there were
10-15 such cases last year--who were arrested, detained, and
subsequently released without prosecution. Most of these
individuals, according to our source, were immigrants from Niger,
many of whom had physical handicaps like blindness. When their
children were observed begging or in other inappropriate
circumstances--generally raising money for their parents--the
children were brought to the reception centers and the parents were
arrested. The parents protested that this kind of activity was
normal in their "nomadic" culture, where children did not go to
school. According to our informant, the authorities subsequently
decided not to prosecute these cases, but only after officials from
the reception centers, in collaboration with the police, were
satisfied that the detainees had been properly advised on Gabonese
law. Children were allowed to rejoin these families only after
government officials were satisfied that they would not again be
trafficked.


12. (SBU) These arrest outcomes, which involved active government
participation, were not convictions. However, the traffickers
experienced significant de facto punishment and government officials
collaborated with reception center personnel to make a serious
effort to ensure that the arrested persons would not return to
trafficking.

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Prosecutions
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13. (SBU) Post has already provided the data we were able to obtain
from the government on prosecutions. However, it is important to
note that Gabon has no centralized reporting system for tracking
criminal prosecutions, including prosecutions related to
trafficking. Therefore all "data" on this subject should be treated
cautiously. We spoke April 14 to three officials at one Libreville
reception center, all of whom agreed that during 2007 they were
personally familiar with certain traffickers who had been both
arrested and convicted.


14. (SBU) We have no/no confirmation of this assertion from
government sources. The only data we were able to obtain--notably
from the Ministry of Social Affairs, not the Ministry of
Justice--has already been reported: 16 persons arrested in 2007, of
whom five were released, three escaped and eight are awaiting trial
and judgment.


15. (SBU) In this context government efforts to centralize crime
reporting, and establish special courts to handle trafficking cases,
clearly represent steps in the right direction.

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And Finally . . .
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16. (SBU) More substantively, credible independent observers tell
us that the number of child trafficking victims in Libreville has
appeared to decline substantially in the last 2-3 years. We share
this view--although this trend is This is difficult to quantify.

And there are concerns that some child trafficking may have shifted
away from open-air markets and similar public venues to private
homes, and out of Libreville to provincial centers. But the
observed decline in the number of child trafficking victims, and the
fact that traffickers have been forced to either get out of the
business or find other methods of trafficking, can be attributed to
public awareness, good work by reception centers and others
assisting the victims, and--yes--significant law enforcement efforts
by the Government. We very much recognize that more needs to be

done, and that we and others need to keep the pressure on. However,
Gabon's efforts, including law enforcement efforts, are bearing
fruit, and for that reason post respectfully contends that it is
inappropriate to place Gabon on the Tier 2 Watch List.

REDDICK