CHAD -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS STATE 060545 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG CD SUBJECT: CHAD -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND DEMARCHE REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 ¶B. (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 Chad 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 Chad, 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 Chad 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 Chad,s country narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: -------------- Chad (TIER 3) -------------- Chad is a source, transit, and destination country for children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Most trafficked children are subjected to domestic servitude, forced begging, forced labor in cattle herding, fishing, and street vending, and for commercial sexual exploitation. A 2005 UNICEF study on child domestic workers, including those in domestic servitude, in Ndjamena found that 62 percent were boys. Young girls sold or forced into marriage are forced by their husbands into domestic servitude and agricultural labor. Chadian children are also trafficked to Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Nigeria for cattle herding. Children may also be trafficked from Cameroon and the Central African Republic to Chad,s oil producing regions for sexual exploitation. The Chadian National Army, Chadian rebel groups, and village self-defense forces conscript Chadian child soldiers. Sudanese children in refugee camps in eastern Chad are forcibly recruited into armed forces by Sudanese rebel groups, some of which are backed by the Chadian government. The Government of Chad does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Although the Chadian government faces resource constraints, it has the capacity to conduct basic anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, yet did not do so during the last year. It showed no results in enforcing government policy prohibiting recruitment of child soldiers. Civil conflict and a heavy influx of Sudanese and Central African refugees continued to destabilize the country. Recommendations for Chad: Pass and enact its draft law prohibiting child trafficking and criminalize the trafficking of adults; increase efforts to prosecute and punish trafficking offenders under related laws; fulfill June 2008 promises to the UN to release child soldiers and allow inspections of Chadian army camps; collaborate with NGOs and international organizations to care for trafficking victims; and increase efforts to raise awareness about trafficking. Prosecution -------------- The Government of Chad demonstrated insufficient efforts to combat trafficking through law enforcement means during the reporting period. While Chadian law does not prohibit all forms of trafficking in persons, Title 5 of the Labor Code prohibits forced and bonded labor. While the prescribed penalty for this crime, a find of approximately $325-$665, is considered significant by Chadian standards, it fails to prescribe a sufficient penalty of incarceration. The 1991 Chadian National Army Law also prohibits the Army,s recruitment of individuals below the age of 18. A joint government-UNICEF plan to develop by 2007 a Child Code of laws that includes anti-trafficking provisions has proceeded slowly since 2004. The government did not report any prosecutions or convictions for trafficking offenses during the year. In June 2008, nine suspected traffickers were arrested, all of whom were later released. In June 2008, the deputy prefect of Goundi arrested an additional six village chiefs suspected of selling children as cattle herders. The suspects were released after paying a fine. In 2008, a UNICEF study on children trafficked for cattle herding reported that the government had not taken legal action against an employer of a child cattle herder who died as a result of the employer,s abuse. A local newspaper reported that two children were rescued after being found in chains and forced to beg by a religious leader in Massaguet. The government has taken no legal action against the teacher. Media sources, however, indicated that in 2008 the government arrested a mother and father for selling their six-year girl into domestic servitude. To date, the parents have not been prosecuted. The judiciary remained crippled by the small number of judges in the country, only 150, and their lack of basic technology to record and process cases through the criminal justice system. Law enforcement officials and labor inspectors also reported that they lack the basic means, such as transportation, to investigate trafficking cases. Some local authorities in Mandoul use intermediaries to recruit child herders, some of whom are trafficking victims. Although officials have raised the problem with the Ministry of Justice, the government has not initiated any investigations into this alleged complicity. Protection -------------- The Government of Chad demonstrated weak efforts to protect trafficking victims during the last year. The government did not operate shelters for trafficking victims due to limited resources. Although the government has a formal system in place through which government officials may refer victims to NGOs or international organizations for care, it provided no information on the number of victims it referred to such organizations last year. The government provided some of the materials for specific vocational training projects, such as tools for carpentry, as part of a UNICEF trafficking victim vocational training program. In response to a June 2008 visit from the UN Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, the Chadian government pledged to release more than 60 children who had been unlawfully conscripted for service in armed groups and who were in detention and agreed to inspections of its Army,s camps to ensure that children were not being exploited. UNICEF access to Chadian Army camps and detention centers has been limited, however, and no children have been demobilized since November 2008. However, UNICEF reported that in 2008, prior to November, it demobilized 56 children. The government contributed some funding to a safe house used in UNICEF,s child solder demobilization effort. The government did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they faced hardship or retribution. Rescued victims were not inappropriately incarcerated or fined for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Prevention -------------- The Government of Chad took some steps efforts to raise awareness of trafficking during the last year. In June 2008, on the Day of the African Child, the government collaborated with NGOs and international organizations by contributing some funding to raise awareness about children trafficked for forced cattle herding. During the last year, the government radio broadcast campaigns to educate parents about religious teachers who exploit their students for their labor. The Ministry of Social Action annually updates its action plan with recommended activities to combat trafficking. The government and UNICEF co-released a report in 2008 on the worst forms on child labor, including trafficking, in Chad. A 2005 Ministry of Justice order to bring Chadian law into conformance with international child labor norms has not progressed to the Presidency for signature. The Chadian government did not take steps to reduce the demand for forced labor, including the demand for conscripted child soldiers, or the demand for commercial sex acts. Chad has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. ¶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 has Chad been downgraded to Tier 3? A: The Government of Chad does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Although the Chadian government faces resource constraints, it has the capacity to conduct basic anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, yet did not do so during the last year. During the reporting period, it showed no results in enforcing government policy prohibiting recruitment of child soldiers. Q2: What progress has Chad made in the last year? A: The government contributed some funding to a safe house used in UNICEF,s child solder demobilization effort. The Government of Chad took some steps efforts to raise awareness of trafficking during the last year. In June 2008, on the Day of the African Child, the government collaborated with NGOs and international organizations by contributing some funding to raise awareness about children trafficked for forced cattle herding. During the last year, the government radio broadcast campaigns to educate parents about religious teachers who exploit their students for their labor. The government and UNICEF co-released a report in 2008 on the worst forms on child labor, including trafficking, in Chad. Q3: What can Chad do to further the fight against trafficking in persons? A: Pass and enact its draft law prohibiting child trafficking and criminalize the trafficking of adults; increase efforts to prosecute and punish trafficking offenders under related laws; fulfill June 2008 promises to the UN to release child soldiers and allow inspections of Chadian army camps; collaborate with NGOs and international organizations to care for trafficking victims; and increase efforts to raise awareness about trafficking. ¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the preceding action requests. CLINTON