Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09STATE60531
2009-06-11 22:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Secretary of State
Cable title:  

BOTSWANA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

Tags:  KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG BC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #0531 1622248
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112216Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY GABORONE IMMEDIATE 0000
UNCLAS STATE 060531 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG BC
SUBJECT: BOTSWANA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND
DEMARCHE

REF: (A) STATE 59732 (B) STATE 005577

UNCLAS STATE 060531

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG BC
SUBJECT: BOTSWANA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND
DEMARCHE

REF: (A) STATE 59732 (B) STATE 005577


1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10.


2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a
press conference in the Department's press briefing room.
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic
and foreign news outlets. Until the time of the Secretary's
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or
country narratives contained therein is prohibited.


3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter. Also provided
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government
of Botswana of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent
release. The text of the TIP Report country narrative is
provided, both for use in informing the Government of
Botswana and in any local media release by Post's public
affairs section on June 16 or thereafter. Drawing on
information provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide
the host government with the text of the TIP Report narrative
no earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA,
AF, EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16
for SCA and EAP posts. Please note, however, that any public
release of the Report's information should not/not precede
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16.


4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16
release. Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts
in all countries appearing on the Report. The Secretary's
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website
shortly after the June 16 event. Ambassador de Baca will
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT.



5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform
the appropriate official in the Government of Botswana of the
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of
the country narrative provided in para 8. For countries
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the
Report being released in Washington on June 16.


6. Action Request continued: Please note that, for those
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the
narrative text. This engagement is important to establishing
the framework in which the government's performance will be
judged for the 2010 Report. If posts have questions about
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report,
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau.


7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the
press guidance provided in para 11. If Post wishes, a local
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP
Report's country narrative provided in para 8.


8. Begin Final Text of Botswana,s country narrative in the
2009 TIP Report:

--------------
Botswana (TIER 2)
--------------

Botswana is a source, transit, and, to a lesser extent,
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked
for the purpose of forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Children are trafficked internally for domestic servitude and
cattle herding, while women report being forced into
commercial sexual exploitation at safari lodges. Botswana is
a staging area for both the smuggling and trafficking of
third-country nationals, primarily from Namibia and Zimbabwe,
to South Africa. Zimbabweans are also trafficked into
Botswana for forced labor as domestic servants. Residents in
Botswana most susceptible to trafficking are illegal
immigrants from Zimbabwe, unemployed men and women, those
living in rural poverty, agricultural workers, and children
orphaned by HIV/AIDS. )Parents in poor rural communities
sometimes send their children to work for wealthier families
as domestics in cities or as herders at remote cattle posts,
where some of these children become victims of forced labor.
Some women from Zimbabwe who voluntarily migrate to Botswana
to work illegally are subsequently exploited by their
employers for forced labor. Batswana families which employ
Zimbabwean women as domestic workers at times do so without
proper work permits, do not pay adequate wages, and restrict
or control the movement of their employees by holding their
passports or threatening to have them deported back to
Zimbabwe.

The Government of Botswana does not fully comply with minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is
making significant efforts to do so. As this is Botswana,s
first year ranked in the Report and available information
suggests that Botswana,s trafficking problem is modest,
Botswana is placed on Tier 2. The government, however,
should address several serious deficiencies over the coming
year. . Although it began useful actions to prevent
trafficking, the government did not make significant or
sustained efforts to proactively identify victims or
prosecute trafficking offenders.

Recommendations for Botswana: Draft and enact comprehensive
legislation that specifically criminalizes the full range of
trafficking offenses; train law enforcement and immigration
officers to identify trafficking victims, especially among
vulnerable populations such as women and children engaging in
prostitution; institute and carry out formal procedures for
proactively identifying victims; expand public awareness
campaigns to educate residents on the nature and dangers of
human trafficking; and keep detailed records of
anti-trafficking efforts undertaken and their results.

Prosecution
--------------
The Government of Botswana made inadequate efforts to
investigate and punish trafficking offenses over the last
year. Botswana did not prosecute, convict, or punish any
trafficking offenses during the past year. Although it does
not have a comprehensive law prohibiting trafficking in
persons, the Penal Code, through its sections 155-158
covering procurement for prostitution and sections 260-262
covering slavery, prohibits some forms of human trafficking.
The sufficiently stringent penalties prescribed for offenses
under these various laws range from seven to 10 years,
imprisonment, and are commensurate with those prescribed for
other serious crimes, such as rape. Evidence presented in
three criminal cases currently being prosecuted suggests that
the defendants may have engaged in trafficking. The
defendants were originally investigated, arrested and charged
for kidnapping, immigration, and fraudulent document
offenses. Botswana shares its long and porous borders with
five countries experiencing serious trafficking problems, yet
only 10 investigators from the Immigration Department covered
transnational trafficking and all other migration-related
crimes. Immigration and law enforcement officials did not
consistently differentiate between smuggling and trafficking,
which continued to obscure the nature and extent of the
trafficking situation in Botswana. The National Central
Bureau of Interpol created a full time position for a desk
officer who works exclusively on trafficking issues and
education.

Protection
--------------
The government showed evidence of minimal but increasing
efforts to protect victims of trafficking. Law enforcement
and social services personnel have not established formal
procedures to proactively identify victims or to refer
victims for protective services. The Ministry of Labor is
responsible for conducting inspections and monitoring for
exploitative child labor, yet the Ministry did not conduct
any such inspections or monitoring visits in the past year
despite a national campaign to end child labor. The
government funded and supported NGO programs that provided
assistance and services to victims of general crimes which
were accessible to any potential victims of trafficking.
Botswana authorities, in partnership with another government
in the region, assisted the safe repatriation of a
trafficking victim to the victim,s country of origin.
Botswana,s laws do not specifically protect victims of
trafficking from prosecution for offenses committed as a
direct result of being trafficked, but the government did not
generally prosecute persons it believed to be victims of any
crime.

Prevention
--------------
The government made moderate efforts to prevent trafficking
in and through Botswana. It placed anti-trafficking
education posters at all of its border posts and included
trafficking awareness segments in some of its law enforcement
training sessions. In 2008, the government approved a
detailed national plan of action for the elimination of child
labor, which is in its final stages of implementation. Two
campaigns promoting an end to child labor, as mentioned
above, raised awareness and educated both the public and
relevant government agencies. Government representatives
attended sessions with NGOs and religious organizations on
the trafficking situations they had seen within the country,
but the government took no action on the information. The
government made only limited and indirect efforts to reduce
the demand for commercial sex acts, largely through a broad
HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.

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



9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report
country narrative:

(begin non-paper)

-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA),
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to
Congress. The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and
create partnerships around the world in the fight against
modern-day slavery. The USG approach to combating human
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol"). The TVPA
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud,
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological
manipulation. While much attention has focused on
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a
showing that the victim was moved.

-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that
only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin,
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of
three tiers. Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking"
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1. Countries
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards,
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum
standards are classified as Tier 2. Countries assessed as
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3.

-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year.
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of
each year. Countries are included on the "Special Watch
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.

-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined:
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim
population. As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier

3. Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report). The new law allows for a waiver
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a
determination by the President that the country has developed
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the
minimum standards.

-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for
participation by government officials or employees in
educational and cultural exchange programs. In addition,
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian,
trade-related or certain types of development assistance)
with respect to countries on Tier 3. Countries classified as
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier
classification, would avoid such sanctions. Guidelines for
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared
by Posts with host governments.

-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon: fraudulent
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the
flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor. As the
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion. The
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated
"cost of coercion."

-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on
website www.state.gov/g/tip.

-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State
Department. We are providing you an advance copy of your
country's narrative in that report. Please keep this
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June

16. The State Department will also hold a general briefing
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June
17 at 3:30 pm EDT.

(end non-paper)


10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as
possible after the TIP Report is released. Funding for
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human
Rights Report. Posts needing financial assistance for
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX
office.


11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use
with local media.

Q1: Why is Botswana included on the Report and ranked on
Tier 2?


A. Botswana was placed on the TIP Report because there is
evidence that it is a country of origin, transit, or
destination for victims of severe forms of trafficking. The
Government of Botswana does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is
making significant efforts to do so. As this is Botswana,s
first year ranked in the Report and available information
suggests that Botswana,s trafficking problem is modest,
Botswana is placed on Tier 2. The government, however, must
address several serious deficiencies in order to retain this
ranking in the future. Although it began useful actions to
prevent trafficking, the government did not make significant
or sustained efforts to proactively identify victims or
prosecute trafficking offenders.

Q2: What is the nature of the trafficking problem in
Botswana?


A. Botswana is a source, transit, and, to a lesser extent,
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked
for the purpose of forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Children are trafficked internally for domestic servitude and
cattle herding, while women report being forced into
commercial sexual exploitation at safari lodges. Botswana is
a staging area for both the smuggling and trafficking of
third-country nationals, primarily from Namibia and Zimbabwe,
to South Africa. Zimbabweans are also trafficked into
Botswana for forced labor as domestic servants. Residents in
Botswana most susceptible to trafficking are illegal
immigrants from Zimbabwe, unemployed men and women, those
living in rural poverty, agricultural workers, and children
orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Parents in poor rural communities
sometimes send their children to work for wealthier families
as domestics in cities or as herders at remote cattle posts,
where some of these children become victims of forced labor.
Some women from Zimbabwe who voluntarily migrate to Botswana
to work illegally are subsequently exploited by their
employers for forced labor. Batswana families which employ
Zimbabwean women as domestic workers at times do so without
proper work permits, do not pay adequate wages, and restrict
or control the movement of their employees by holding their
passports or threatening to have them deported back to
Zimbabwe.

Q3: What serious deficiencies must the government address in
order to retain this ranking in the future?


A. The government should draft and enact comprehensive
legislation that specifically criminalizes the full range of
trafficking offenses; train law enforcement and immigration
officers to identify trafficking victims, especially among
vulnerable populations such as women and children engaging in
prostitution; institute and carry out formal procedures for
proactively identifying victims; expand public awareness
campaigns to educate residents on the nature and dangers of
human trafficking; and, keep detailed records of
anti-trafficking efforts undertaken and their results.


12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the
preceding action requests.
CLINTON