EQUATORIAL GUINEA -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 060554

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG EK
SUBJECT: EQUATORIAL GUINEA -- 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 Equatorial Guinea (EG) 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 EG, 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 EG 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 EG,s country narrative in the 2009
TIP Report:

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

Equatorial Guinea (TIER 2 Watch List)
--------------

Equatorial Guinea has been primarily a destination for
children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and
possibly for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Children
are believed to be trafficked from nearby countries,
primarily Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, and Gabon for domestic
servitude, market labor, ambulant vending, and other forms of
forced labor, such as carrying water and washing laundry.
Most victims are believed to be trafficked to Malabo and

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Bata, where a burgeoning oil industry created demand for
labor and commercial exploitation. Women may also have been
trafficked to Equatorial Guinea from Cameroon, Benin, other
neighboring countries, and China for labor or sexual
exploitation. In the last year, there was a report that
women of Equatoguinean extraction were also trafficked to
Iceland for commercial sexual exploitation.

The Government of Equatorial Guinea does not fully comply
with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking; however it is making significant efforts to do
so. The government continued to provide anti-trafficking
training to law enforcement officials and to maintain police
stations in open air markets to monitor situations of child
labor exploitation. The government has also publicly
denounced human trafficking. Despite these efforts, the
government did not show evidence of progress in prosecuting
trafficking offenders or providing protection to victims, and
therefore, Equatorial Guinea is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.
While the government has the financial resources to address
trafficking, its efforts to combat trafficking remained weak,
in part because of its crippled judiciary.

Recommendations for Equatorial Guinea: Make greater use of
the country,s 2005 anti-trafficking law and law enforcement
and judicial personnel to investigate, prosecute and convict
trafficking offenders; train additional law enforcement
officials and Conciliation Delegates to follow formal
procedures to identify trafficking victims among child
laborers, illegal immigrants, and women and/or girls in
prostitution; establish a formal system for providing
trafficking victims with assistance; cease deportation of
any foreign trafficking victims from Equatoguinean territory
without providing them with care and safe and voluntary
repatriation; and increase efforts to raise public awareness
about trafficking.

Prosecution
--------------
The Government of Equatorial Guinea demonstrated law
enforcement efforts to combat trafficking during the
reporting period. The government prohibits all forms of
trafficking through its 2004 Law on the Smuggling of Migrants
and Trafficking in Persons, which carries adequate prescribed
penalties of 10 to 15 years, imprisonment. However, no
human trafficking cases have yet been prosecuted under the
relevant portion of this law. Police stationed at posts
within open-air markets continued to monitor vendor activity
for child labor explotiation, though during the reporting
period, the government did not report any investigations or
arrests of suspected trafficking violators. The government
continued to fund anti-trafficking training seminars for
police and navy officers provided by a foreign contractor.
In the last year, the contractor has trained 590 additional
officers in specific, anti-trafficking sessions included in a
broader training program. The government distributed to law
enforcement officials a wallet-sized checklist of steps to
take when presented with any potential crime; the guidance is
not specific to human trafficking crimes but was triggered by
related concerns. The steps include indentifying and
investigating the crime, detaining the suspect, notifying
appropriate officials, assisting the victims, and launching
judicial action. In the last year, the government has
instituted photograph and fingerprinting procedures at
airports in Malabo and Bata, in order to aid identification
and possible prosecutions in suspected trafficking cases.
Protection
--------------
The Government of Equatorial Guinea demonstrated inadequate
efforts to protect trafficking victims in the last year. The
government has not yet implemented victim care shelters or
other organized victim care mechanisms. Two proposed
women,s shelters, which the government has indicated will
double as trafficking victims shelters, have not been
constructed. The government did not employ formal procedures
for identifying and providing care to trafficking victims.
During the year, the government reported no cases in which it
provided victims with care or collaborated with NGOs to
provide victim assistance. Authorities reported that victims
of cross-border trafficking are sometimes removed from
Equatoguinean-Guinean territory without being provided with
any assistance. Along with posters for police stations and
security checkpoints, the government distributed to law
enforcement officials a wallet-sized checklist specifically
addressing the needs of trafficking victims, including
shelter, medical attention, clothing, food, translations
services, a consular visit, and legal assistance. No systems
have yet been put into place to provide victims with these
services. During the year, the government reached out to a
foreign donor to request technical assistance in developing a
system for providing victim care.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has primary responsibility for

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providing care to destitute children in the country, but it
did not have staff trained to care for trafficking victims
during the last year. The Ministry employs over 100
Conciliation Delegates, community workers who assist victims
of abuse. In the course of their duties, these workers
sometimes educateeducated families about the dangers of child
labor, but they did not employ procedures to identify
trafficking victims among vulnerable populations. The
government did not encourage victims to assist in trafficking
investigations or prosecutions, nor, in the absence of cases,
did it provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign
victims to countries where they may have faced hardship or
retribution.

Prevention
--------------
The Government of Equatorial Guinea demonstrated some
progress in raising awareness about trafficking. During the
year, the President of Equatorial Guinea made two public
announcements recognizing the need for increased
counter-trafficking activity. The government took steps to
reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, with law
enforcement officials regularly visiting night clubs, hotels
and restaurants to monitor for illegal commercial sex
activities.



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

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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 did Equatorial Guinea remain on the Tier 2 WL?

A: The Government of Equatorial Guinea does not fully
comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking; however it is making significant efforts to do
so. The government continued to provide anti-trafficking
training to law enforcement officials and to maintain police
stations in open air markets to monitor situations of child
labor exploitation. The government has also publicly
denounced human trafficking. Despite these efforts, the
government did not show evidence of progress in prosecuting
trafficking offenders or providing protection to victims, and
therefore, Equatorial Guinea is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.


Q2: What progress has Equatorial Guinea made in the last
year?

A: Police stationed at posts within open-air markets
continued to monitor vendor activity for child labor
exploitation and the government continued to fund
anti-trafficking training seminars provided by a foreign
contactor for police and navy officers. In the last year,
the contractor has trained 590 officers in specific, anti-TIP
sessions included in a broader training program. Along with

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posters for police stations and security checkpoints, the
government distributed to law enforcement officials a
wallet-sized checklist specifically addressing the needs of
trafficking victims, including shelter, medical attention,
clothing, food, translations services, a consular visit, and
legal assistance. During the year, however, the government
reached out to a foreign donor to request technical
assistance for providing victim care. During the year, the
President of Equatorial Guinea made two public announcements
recognizing the need for increased counter-trafficking
activity.

Q3: What can Equatorial Guinea do to further the fight
against trafficking in persons?

A: Make greater use of the country,s 2005 anti-trafficking
law and law enforcement and judicial personnel to
investigate, prosecute and convict trafficking offenders;
train additional law enforcement officials and Conciliation
Delegates to follow formal procedures to identify trafficking
victims among child laborers, illegal immigrants, and women
and/or girls in prostitution; establish a formal system for
providing trafficking victims with assistance; cease
deportation of any foreign trafficking victims from
Equatoguinean territory without providing them with care and
safe and voluntary repatriation; and increase efforts to
raise public awareness about trafficking.


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