THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 060548 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG CF SUBJECT: THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO -- 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 the Republic of Congo (ROC) 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 the ROC, 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 the ROC 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 the ROC,s country narrative in the 2009 TIP Report: -------------- The Republic of Congo (TIER 2 Watch List) -------------- The Republic of the Congo (ROC) is a source country for children trafficked within its borders for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation, as well as a destination country for children trafficked from other African countries for the same purposes. Within the ROC, boys and girls are trafficked from rural areas, primarily from the Pool Region, to Point Noire and Brazzaville for forced street STATE 00060548 002 OF 005 vending and domestic servitude. Girls are trafficked from rural areas primarily to Brazzaville, but also to Pointe Noire, for commercial sexual exploitation. Transnationally, children are trafficked from other African countries to Pointe Noire for domestic servitude, forced market vending and forced labor in the fishing industry. The majority of these victims are girls and most are from Benin, although some are also trafficked from Mali, Guinea, Togo, Senegal, and Cameroon. The Beninese Consulate in Brazzaville has estimated that 1,800 Beninese children may be subjected to domestic servitude in the ROC. UNICEF reported that young girls, lured by promises of jobs in the ROC or onward voyages to France, Canada, and South Africa, are trafficked from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Brazzaville for organized prostitution. Children may be trafficked to the ROC from the DRC for forced commercial activities, such as street vending, domestic servitude, tailoring, hairdressing, and food service. The Government of the ROC does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. Despite these efforts, the government did not show evidence of progress in anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts and in the protection of trafficking victims; therefore, the Republic of the Congo is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. In late April 2009, the government enacted the Child Protection Code, which contains provisions prohibiting child trafficking. Since 2003, the ROC has struggled to recover from six years of civil conflict that crippled its institutions, ravaged its economy, and rendered its children more vulnerable to being trafficked. Recommendations for the ROC: Train law enforcement officials to identify traffickers and arrest them under relevant laws; train social workers and law enforcement officials to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, and refer them to foreign government consulates, foster families, international organizations, faith-based groups, or NGOs for care. Prosecution -------------- The Government of the ROC demonstrated weak law enforcement efforts to combat trafficking during the last year. The ROC does not prohibit all forms of trafficking. Penal Code Article 344 criminalizes the pimping of children, however, prescribing penalties of from six months, to two years, imprisonment and a fine, punishments that are neither sufficiently stringent nor commensurate with those prescribed for rape. The government reported no trafficking prosecutions or convictions under related laws in the last year. In January 2009, two girls from the ROC, ages six and 16, arrived with fraudulent travel documents into Paris on a flight from Brazzaville. The girls were accompanied by two other young girls from Kinshasa, but no parent or guardian accompanied the four children. The Government of the ROC is neither investigating on its own nor collaborating with French officials to determine whether this case involved child trafficking. On April 30, 2009, a Child Protection Code that includes provisions against child trafficking was passed by Parliament. Between April and August 2008, the government collaborated with UNICEF to conduct several training workshops about this law for Central African government officials and representatives from the Consulates of Benin, Togo, and the DRC. The government contributed the training sites and personnel to assist with logistics. Protection -------------- The ROC government continued poor efforts to protect trafficking victims over the last year. The government neither operates a trafficking victim shelter nor collaborates with NGOs to provide rescued victims with food, shelter, or other assistance. The government has not yet developed formal procedures through which police and government social workers may identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, such as street children, child laborers, illegal immigrants and women in prostitution. As a result, victims may be inappropriately incarcerated or otherwise penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. The ROC government reported rescuing an unknown number of trafficking victims during the year. Government staff worked with UNICEF, the NGO Action Against Trafficking of West African Children, and other civil society groups, to help repatriate victims back to their African home countries, particularly Benin. The government did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution. The government did not encourage victims to assist in trafficking investigations or prosecutions. Prevention -------------- STATE 00060548 003 OF 005 The Government of the ROC made limited efforts to prevent incidents of trafficking during the reporting period. A plan of action against trafficking in Point Noir, which the government developed with UNICEF over the past three years, was finalized in 2008. With funding from UNICEF, the government helped implement the plan in May 2008 in Point Noire by providing sites for UNICEF-conducted trafficking awareness training. One workshop, hosted by the Ministry of Health, educated local NGOs about trafficking. Additional workshops raised awareness among Central African and foreign government representatives and resulted in the creation of an anti-trafficking working group headed by the Ministry of Health and consisting of law enforcement officials, local community leaders, and representatives from the Consulates of Benin, Togo, and the DRC. The government has not taken measures to reduce the demand for forced labor or commercial sex acts in the ROC. The ROC 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. STATE 00060548 004 OF 005 -- 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 the Republic of Congo on the Tier 2 Watch List? A: The Government of the ROC does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. Despite these efforts, the government did not show evidence of progress in anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts and in the protection of trafficking victims; therefore, the Republic of the Congo is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. Q2: What progress has the Republic of Congo made in the last year? A: In late April 2009, the government enacted the Child Protection Code, which contains provisions prohibiting child trafficking. Between April and August 2008, the government collaborated with UNICEF to conduct several training workshops about this law for Central African government officials and representatives from the Consulates of Benin, Togo, and the DRC. During the year, government staff worked with UNICEF and civil society groups to help repatriate victims back to their African home countries, particularly Benin. A plan of action against trafficking in Point Noir, which the government developed with UNICEF over the past three years, was finalized in 2008. With funding from UNICEF, the government helped implement the plan in May 2008 through awareness-raising events.. Q3: What can the R.O.C do to further the fight against trafficking in persons? STATE 00060548 005 OF 005 A: Finalize and enact the draft Child Protection Code prohibiting child trafficking; train law enforcement officials to identify traffickers and arrest them under relevant laws; train social workers and law enforcement officials to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, and refer them to foreign government consulates, foster families, international organizations, faith-based groups, or NGOs for care. A: Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers; develop systematic procedures for identifying trafficking victims among women and girls in prostitution; step up efforts to educate government officials about trafficking, particularly child sex trafficking; intensify efforts to provide care to trafficking victims by making available funds allocated for construction of victim shelters; ensure that trafficking victims are not penalized for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. ¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the preceding action requests. CLINTON