MOZAMBIQUE: 2008 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000191 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, AF/RSA, AF/S E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG ELAB KFRD ASEC PREF MZ SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: 2008 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT REFS: A) 07 STATE 150188; B) 08 STATE 2731 -------------- OVERVIEW -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Mozambique is a source and possibly a destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. The use of forced and bonded child laborers is a common practice in Mozambique's rural areas, often with the complicity of family members. Women and girls are trafficked from rural to urban areas of Mozambique, as well as to South Africa, for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation in brothels; young men and boys are trafficked to South Africa for farm work and mining. Trafficked Mozambicans often labor for months in South Africa without pay before "employers" have them arrested and deported as illegal immigrants. Traffickers are typically part of small networks of Mozambican and/or South African citizens; however, involvement of larger Chinese and Nigerian syndicates has been reported. Zimbabwean women and girls are likely trafficked to Mozambique for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. The Ministries of Interior, Women and Social Action, and Justice are most prominently involved in anti-trafficking efforts, although a general lack of financial and human resources greatly limited their ability to address the problem. ¶2. (SBU) The Government of Mozambique does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Mozambique is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of significantly increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons over the last year. To further its anti- trafficking efforts, the government should prosecute and convict arrested traffickers; ensure the passage of anti-trafficking legislation; launch a public awareness campaign; and investigate and prosecute public officials suspected of accepting bribes to overlook trafficking crimes or free traffickers. -------------- Prosecution -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Mozambique took steps toward the passage of anti- trafficking legislation during the reporting period, and concrete law enforcement efforts increased somewhat. Mozambique does not prohibit any form of trafficking in persons, though its penal code includes at least 13 articles under which trafficking cases can be charged. Nevertheless, there were no prosecutions or convictions of traffickers in 2007. ¶4. (SBU) In August 2007, the Council of Ministers approved and forwarded to the National Assembly for final approval a comprehensive law against human trafficking that contains specific provisions on prevention, prosecution, and protection. As of February 2008, the law still had not been placed on the Assembly's legislative agenda for a vote. ¶5. (SBU) The law prohibits rape (excluding spousal rape) but was not effectively enforced. Penalties ranged from two to eight years' imprisonment if the victim is 12 years of age or older, and eight to 12 years' imprisonment if the victim is under the age of 12. Prostitution is legal, although it is governed by several laws against indecency and immoral behavior and restricted to certain areas. ¶6. (SBU) Many lower-ranking police and border control agents are believed to accept bribes from traffickers, severely hindering Mozambique's prosecution efforts. Police reported breaking up several trafficking schemes, arresting several drivers and facilitators, but not the traffickers behind the operations. For example, law enforcement officials investigated a case that may have involved trafficking. Some 100 workers at Golden Fields, a flower company owned by former Foreign Minister Leonard Simao and his wife, were recruited in Tete and Manica provinces, promised good working conditions, and provided with transportation to Maputo Province. Instead an inspector from the Ministry of Labor found workers in slave-like conditions, working long hours without proper protective equipment, living in tents, no access to bathrooms, and no access to safe drinking water. When the workers complained to the owner and asked to be provided transportation back to their home provinces, they were denied. Following the visit of the labor inspector, the GRM immediately suspended the company's operations and ordered the return of workers to their home provinces. ¶7. (SBU) In January police in Manica Province stopped a truck carrying 39 children (aged 6 to 15) from several northern provinces on their way to Maputo, ostensibly to enroll in Islamic schools to study the Koran. Police arrested the driver and the only other accompanying adult and conducted an investigation into the incident. The children were traveling in the back of a truck without proper seating and little food or water. While an investigation by the Attorney General's Office concluded that the children were traveling with the consent of their parents, no head of any Islamic School in Maputo admitted knowing about enrolling the children. This fact led NGOs and the Mozambican police to label the incident as a case of trafficking in persons. Police, with assistance from an international children's NGO arranged for all 39 children to be transported back to their homes. ¶9. (SBU) A program of one-day police trafficking seminars for new police officers in the central provinces (Sofala, Tete, Manica, and Zambezia) begun in 2006 was extended in November 2007 to include the northern provinces. Training began in Nampula and in January commenced in Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces. There is no evidence of government involvement in or tolerance of trafficking. -------------- Protection -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The government's efforts to protect victims of trafficking continued to suffer from a lack of resources; government officials regularly relied on NGOs to provide shelter, food, counseling, and rehabilitation for victims of trafficking. The government encouraged victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers, and it did not penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a result of their being trafficked. ¶11. (SBU) In December 2007, the Ministry of Interior expanded from 151 to 155 the number of police stations with a center dedicated to women and children victimized by violence, including cases of trafficking; these offices registered complaints and filed reports of trafficking crimes before turning victims over to NGOs for care. During the year, these offices received 89 kidnapping cases between January and October ¶2007. The cases are officially classified as kidnapping due to the lack of a formal anti-trafficking law, although the head of the office stated the strong possibility that a majority of these kidnapping cases involved trafficking in persons. Police officers reportedly returned victims to their homes. A local NGO continued to manage the country's only permanent shelter for child trafficking victims, which operates on land donated by the Moamba District government. -------------- Prevention -------------- ¶12. (SBU) The government's prevention efforts remained weak. Most anti-trafficking educational workshops were run by NGOs with government participation. Law enforcement officials at major border crossings communicated and cooperated with NGOs monitoring immigration and emigration patterns to screen for potential trafficking victims. During the year, law enforcement officials publicized several trafficking cases and government- owned media outlets covered such stories. ¶13. (U) Embassy point of contact on TIP is Leonel Miranda, Political officer. Tel: 258 21 492 797 ext. 3423; fax: 258 21 490 448; cellular phone 258 82 319 8830. Principal FSO drafter (FS-3) spent 80 hours researching and drafting this cable. The Charge (FS-01) spent three hours, and the A/DCM (FS-02) spent two hours, including the editing/clearing process. Pol-Econ Chief (FS-2) spent 10 hours, and LES political assistant spent ¶40. Total hours: 135. CHAPMAN