Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ACCRA1215
2009-11-17 16:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Accra
Cable title:  

GHANA TENTH ANNUAL TIP REPORT SUBMISSION

Tags:  KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG PGOV 
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VZCZCXYZ0012
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAR #1215/01 3211644
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 171644Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8488
UNCLAS ACCRA 001215 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR KTIP AND AF/RSA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG PGOV
ELAB, GH
SUBJECT: GHANA TENTH ANNUAL TIP REPORT SUBMISSION

SECSTATE 112432

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SUMMARY
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UNCLAS ACCRA 001215

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR KTIP AND AF/RSA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG PGOV
ELAB, GH
SUBJECT: GHANA TENTH ANNUAL TIP REPORT SUBMISSION

SECSTATE 112432

--------------
SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) In 2009, Ghana has increased its investigation and
prosecution of individuals involved in human trafficking, convicting
at least five people and sentencing them to terms in prison. At
least nine investigations remain in progress, and 18 trafficking
victims were rescued. Ghana collaborated with neighboring
countries, including Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria, as well as
international organizations such as the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF. The Government maintains two
shelters, and cooperates with an NGO that runs a third. However,
the lack of adequate facilities to protect victims remains a
weakness.


2. (SBU) The government has a Human Trafficking Secretariat within
the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC). This
Secretariat is responsible for coordinating human trafficking issues
in Ghana. It oversees policy formulation, police review,
implementation, advocacy, monitoring, and evaluation of trafficking
cases. The secretariat also ensures proper data collection and
conducts research into trafficking issues and activities in Ghana.


3. (SBU) On August 25, President John Atta Mills appointed members
to the Human Trafficking Management Board (HTMB) as the old board
was disbanded when Mills' predecessor left office after the December
election. It is an inter-sectoral board chaired by the Minister for
Women and Children's Affairs and comprised of police, immigration
officials, health and education ministries, and NGOs. In addition,
the government has asked representatives from IOM and UNICEF to sit
on the board as official observers. The Board will advise the
Minister on trafficking policy, and promote strategies to prevent
trafficking and the rehabilitation and re-integration of trafficking
victims.


4. (SBU) In 2009, the government took steps to establish four
regional Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) in the Western,
Central, Northern, and Ashanti Regions to manage cases more
effectively at the regional and district levels, and has identified
individuals to staff these units. In 2009, the AHTU created a

website, www.ahtu.org, to promote trafficking awareness. In July,
the Ghana Parliament passed a law to amend the definition of
trafficking included in the 2005 Human Trafficking Act. The
amendment added the phrase 'for the purpose of exploitation' to
ensure that the Ghanaian definition of human trafficking was in
accord with the definition contained in the Protocol of the United
Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime.

Ghana TIP Plan of Action:

Prosecution of Trafficking Offenders
--------------


5. (SBU) Ghana has a legal framework to protect trafficking victims,
and the Ghanaian police made several high profile arrests and had
multiple convictions as a result of increased police awareness,
according to Patience Quaye, head of the Ghana Police Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit.


6. (SBU) As of November 2009, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit
database contained a listing of twenty cases. Of the listed cases,
seven are currently under investigation. In two of the cases under
investigation, the accused is at-large, and in one case the victim
was returned to her family in Togo while the investigation
continues.


7. (SBU) In one case under investigation, four Nigerian women were
trafficked from Nigeria to Ghana. Ghanaian authorities worked
closely with their counterparts in Nigeria to investigate the case,
arrest the Nigerian trafficker, and rescue the victims. The victims
were returned to their families, and the accused trafficker is
awaiting trial in Nigeria.


8. (SBU) During 2009, the Ghanaian government has prosecuted seven
trafficking cases. In five of the cases, the defendants were held
without bail and the cases are ongoing.


9. (SBU) The government obtained convictions in two of the cases
listed in the database. In one case, the government convicted three
Chinese nationals of trafficking eight Chinese women to Ghana for
prostitution. The traffickers received a combined sentence of 41
years. In the second case, the trafficker received a jail sentence
of eight years for trafficking three Ghanaian children from Ghana to
Cote D'Ivoire.


10. (SBU) In three of the cases listed in the database and under
investigation, Ghanaian law enforcement has so far been unable to
locate and arrest the traffickers. However, two of the victims in
these cases were returned to their families for reintegration and
another victim was placed into a shelter.


11. (SBU) The government is currently working with UNICEF and IOM on
a case involving a 17-year-old Ghanaian girl who had been trafficked
to Senegal. The trafficker died before the victim was identified,
and the girl is currently in school in Senegal. The victim is in
touch with her family in Ghana, and the Ghanaian government is
working with IOM to reintegrate her.


12. (SBU) In addition to the cases recorded in the Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit database, the government successfully prosecuted a
28-year-old man in the Western Region for attempting to sell his
eight-year-old brother. He was sentenced on October 12 to four
years in prison. In the Ashanti region, Ghanaian authorities are
currently prosecuting a woman and her daughter for trafficking a
12-year-old Togolese girl from Ghana to Nigeria.


13. (SBU) On October 7, police arrested a 46 year-old woman in the
Ashanti Region for attempting to traffic an employee in her kiosk to
Cote d'Ivoire for ritual purposes. In November, police in New Ningo
arrested two sisters who attempted to sell their 15-year-old nephew
for 600 Ghana cedis. The accused admitted sending their nephew to
Guinea to work in the fishing industry.


14. (SBU) Furthermore, police in the Volta Region are collaborating
with the NGO Challenging Heights to prosecute a case involving a boy
who was rescued from a fishing village. Police are working with the
same NGO to investigate a second case involving children trafficked
to work in the fishing sector in the Volta Region.


15. (SBU) In September, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Task Force
demolished a brothel known locally as the Soldier Bar. This brothel
was raided by the police in 2008 after reports that it was being
used for child prostitution.

Shelters
--------------


16. (SBU) The government operates two shelters, one in Madina and
the other in Osu, both of which need renovations and additions. In
addition an NGO, the Ark Foundation, operates one shelter
exclusively for women.


17. (SBU) Lack of shelters remains a challenge for law enforcement
and other government agencies that rescue trafficking victims.
According to the Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, the
Human Trafficking management Board plans to open shelters in all
regions of Ghana, with priority given to shelters in the most
heavily affected areas of the Central, Volta, Western and three
Northern regions. The MOWAC minister is receptive to finding
funding for additional shelters. The AHTU is also working with the
Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs to secure funding to build
additional shelters.

Trafficking Victims' Fund
--------------


18. (SBU). While the previous administration established an account
to assist human trafficking victims, the account has not been funded
for several years, and had no funds when the current government took
office in early 2009. The AHTU is working with MOWAC to establish a
separate account for the Victims' Fund so that any money put into
the Fund in the future would remain separate from ministry operating
funds.


19. (SBU) After prosecutors convicted three Chinese nationals of
trafficking eight Chinese women to Ghana for commercial sex, the
government seized $14,560 found in the brothel. The government used
these funds to pay for airline tickets to return the women to China
and, to provide them with pocket money for their return.

Training to identify trafficking victims and respect victims'
rights.
--------------


20. (SBU) A wide range of organizations have provided training for
Ghana police, investigators, prosecutors, AHTU staff, and judicial
officials. In 2009, personnel participated in more than forty
training sessions sponsored by INTERPOL, IOM, ILO, UNICEF, the U.S.
Embassy, the German Embassy, the British High Commission, the
University of Ghana, MOWAC and The Ministry of Employment and Social
Welfare. In September, the Ghanaian Police and INTERPOL hosted a
regional workshop on human trafficking for law enforcement officials
from English speaking West African countries.


21. (SBU) The training sessions included seminars on disseminating
good practices in combating child trafficking, training for
anti-human trafficking unit staff members, child and youth migration
training, trafficking awareness/sensitization, and
counter-trafficking. Police state that training to identify
trafficking has resulted in more arrests. In addition, the training
has led to an increase in attention law enforcement officials are
paying to human trafficking issues, as well as their capacity to
mount undercover operations in the regions.

TEITELBAUM